Lost in Tokyo: Day 3

Ohayou Gozimasu!

Please ignore the publishing date ;) I am pretty far behind on these. Gomen.

Today was our final day in Tokyo, which made me very sad as I am in love with this city and the way it makes me feel. I really do not want to leave and I have already made friends with several of the Showa students who are all the nicest people I have ever met! Today a large group of them met us in the hostel (8 to be exact) and they were to be taking us around Tokyo for for the final dose of sightseeing. However, the group was going to be far too big with 16 of us boarding on the subway and standing all together, we would've easily filled a carriage! So we split into two groups and went to different places at different times.

Our first stop was my dream location: Akihabara. I am a massive anime fan and I love all things to do with J-Pop culture including the music, idols, anime, manga and video games. So for me Akihabara is the mecca of earth and I was thrilled with going there. Sadly when we did go it wasn't really the ideal time as it was a weekday meaning that most of the would be cosplayers were in school or busy during the day as opposed to Saturday. However, there were lots of cute girls in maid outfits advertising maid cafes which sadly I didn't get to visit.

Akihabara is pretty much how I imagined. Anime and manga references everywhere! Disturbingly I could identify almost every show and poster in terms of its origin. Even the music which was playing all over the place originated from anime and I knew them all! I was in paradise and I will definitely have to make sure I go back to do lots of shopping when I have money! However, two things I need to mention about Akihabara. Firstly is its attitude towards cameras. They do not like pictures in pretty much all the shops which makes it hard to show off the splendor of the district. I did however manage to snap this!

Levi from Shinjeki no Kyojin

AKB48 Chibi's :D

The second thing is the amount of adult content. Akihabara is pretty in your face when it comes to adult content. We didn't really go into many of the shops as the majority of our group don't have much interest in anime, but the few that I peered into through the doorways revealed a slightly disturbing amount of what is known as 'Fan Service' which includes mostly inappropriate angles of female anime characters. It really doesn't help the otaku stereotype but I am past the point of it bothering me much, I have after all, seen over 200 anime shows so I am used to the typical fan service. What I would say is that I want to buy more anime/manga/video game posters but I don't want inappropriate ones :'(

After Akihabara we went to Shibuya which is a very high class shopping district and home to the Shibuya crossing which is often seen in films and TV and often named as Japan's Times Square. The place was bustling with life even for a weekday and was crammed with lots of people. Shibuya as well is filled with huge tall buildings and skyscrapers. I loved all of it, even the noisy crowds and cars beeping their horns. Something about it just feels like home, despite not being anything like my actual home!

Shibuya Crossing

In Shibuya we looked around the many shops and found many expensive items that were clearly out of our budget range but it looked very nice and was fun just seeing the different sites the city had to offer. Sadly the weather had taken a bit of a turn and it was starting to get a little gloomy but that in no way dampened our spirits [Pun intended, deal with it ;)] After Shibuya we went to Harajuku which is the trendy fashion district and boy, there were some clothing styles that were very strange, even by Japan's standard. Annoyingly, I filmed most of my travels rather than taking pictures as I have a video camera so again you'll have to wait for the video to be uploaded to see the footage. I'm so sorry :(

Harajuku Shopping Street

Our final stop with the girls from Showa was the Tokyo Sky Tree. This is not to be confused with Tokyo Tower which is a different place entirely. Tokyo Sky Tree is pretty similar to Black pool tower but much more pretty yet still as expensive to go to the top. We decided against going up the tower but thankfully the sky tree rests on a hill which even from the base, gives you an impressive view of the Tokyo skyline. However the weather wasn't on our side which meant we couldn't see as much as we'd like to. Plus by this time it was night. Never the less, the tower was beautiful and it illuminated everything around it.

My group at Toyko Sky Tree. I am on the far right.

Sky Tree! So pretty!

After the sky tree, it was pretty late and the jet lagged group wanted to go back to the hostel. Again, we braved the Tokyo subway on our own as our friends from Showa University had a long way to travel back home so it was easier for them to depart at Tokyo Sky Tree. We bid them farewell for the night and traveled back to the hostel. However, I was left unsatisfied. It was only 9pm when we got back and by time we'd eaten it was 10pm... way too early for going to bed with so much wonder out there just a few train stops away! So.... whilst my group were content with staying indoors.. I grabbed my camera and left on my own to the station. I boarded the train bound for Shinjuku... and it is probably the best decision I have ever made. Shinjuku at night is an unforgettable sight and it's skyline is illuminated by busy shops, skyscrapers and lanterns. Words alone aren't enough to describe the feeling of being there in the heart of Tokyo at night, so I'll leave these pictures;

There are so many pictures that I can upload and I will get to work on setting up a gallery page on my blog so that you can view all the pictures I take. I will also be including the video footage on YouTube very soon so stay tuned! This was my last place to visit at night and was definitely my favorite. I can't wait to come back to Tokyo and explore even more districts and find what sights they have in hold! By the way, listening to Japanese music while walking around Japan is just plain awesome! 

Oyasumi!!