Visiting Tokyo

So. I have never blogged before. It's probably going to take me a few posts to get into the flow of things. I'll do my best, so please be patient! ^^

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There are 2 important things which I quickly learned are good to know when going to Japan:
1) Buy a handkerchief as soon as you get there. It is sooo humid; you will be dripping sweat (Well at least in the month of August it's humid, I don't know about the other months). Just walk to a convenience store and say "towel/handkerchief" and make a wiping motion on your face. They will understand. Best investment ever.
2) You should know how to use the 3 phrases: "Arigatou gozaimasu" "Sumimasen" "[place/item] wa doko ni arimasuka?" With those phrases, Japan is not impossible to get around in.

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8/22/2013 

Getting to our hotel was quite an adventure. We knew that it was near the Shibuya station, but after getting there, we had to ask every policeman we saw where to go. Eventually, we got it figured out, haha! And, now I know all the police in the general area! XD (Sorry for bothering you Mr. Policemen!)

Tokyo Tower (on the train from Narita to Shibuya)

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8/23/2013
Dad and I woke up early, so we could get out to explore Tokyo. But can you believe that at 5:00 it is already turning daylight?? Breakfast at the hotel opened at 7, so we kinda dawdled around until then. We ended up walking to the ATM in the Post Office nearby, then came back and ate. It was really funny watching Dad attempt to use his chopsticks!

Our hotel, Shibuya Tokyu Inn, is right next to and the Hachiko exit of the Shibuya Station! So of course that is the first place in our mini tour of Tokyo. (There is an amazing bakery near our hotel too. I'm going to try to remember to take a picture of it before we leave for Osaka tomorrow.)

Our hotel room at Shibuya Tokyu Inn

The memorial statue of the dog, Hachiko

Next, we decided to go to Harajuku. It was a short train ride away, but trying to get train tickets is a pain (considering our limited knowledge of the language). So once we finally get to Harajuku (after again asking a bunch of people direcitons), we made our way towards the grand Meiji Shrine. This was one of the easiest places to find. Why you ask? Well...

The entrance to the shrine is HUGE! Plus, the city randomly turned into a beautiful forest, then back into city. So as long as you head straight for the mass of trees, you can't go wrong! ^^ The grounds of the shrine were very large, too. You just keep walking and walking down a gravel road surrounded by the luscious forest.

Train Station near the Shrine

Shrine's First Arch

This is where you cleanse your hands before
you pray at the shrine. You rinse your left
hand, then your right, and then you take a
sip of water out of your left hand.

The main entrance to the shrine

There was a traditional wedding taking place when we
went to the shrine.

Ema are wooden prayer boards at the Shinto shrines.
You can write a prayer or wish to the gods, and then hang
it along with all these other on this wall.

Mine is the one in the dead center

Yep. You guys do not get to see the
close up  picture of my board. That
is for me alone. =P (hopefully you
can't see it from here either)

A cool phone booth just outside the temple grounds

At the Shrine, you could buy different good luck charms, along with the ema to write your prayer on. As you saw above, I bought an ema. Dad also bought me a miniature wooden shrine that you are supposed to put on your desk which will bring you success in your studies at school! Haha, I'll  need that! (Question: Why is everything that is miniature of something else so cute? Dunno. But the charm is indeed really cute!)

Within the grounds of the Meiji Shrine, there was a souvenir shop! It had everything you would look for in buying souvenirs in Japan (and air conditioning)! Since Dad is only in Japan for 4 days to drop me off at college, we figured it was a good place to drop by. But of course, while I was there I bought some stuff too....Even though I will be in Japan for a year. Oh well. Get my souvenir shopping done early. Well, that, and I wanted a few personal things for my room, rather than just clothes. So I bought a wooden doll of a shrine maiden (adorable!), some chopsticks (I left my nice ones in America T-T), a cool tea cup that changes design when it is heated up, a ornament handkerchief, a mirror with a temple engraved on the outside of it, and a bell key chain with the rooster on it. I'll post pictures later, but since I'm traveling to Kyoto and Osaka still, I didn't want to take everything out of its packaging.

After visiting the Meiji Shrine, we walked around Harajuku until we came across Takeshita Dori St. We didn't really know what was on this street, but since there was a ton of traffic, we decided to walk down it. This was such an awesome street! The shops were so cool! And in such a large variety too! There were crepe shops, gothic dress shops, clothes shops, knick knack stores, souvenir shops, and my favorite: a Kpop shop!!! (Figures that I would be able to randomly find the a Kpop shop within less than 5 hours of exploring Tokyo. Guess I'm just drawn to it, haha! I don't know whether to call it luck or skill. But I did manage to find one quickly!) Needless to say, I dragged Dad indoors, and went and looked around. It was like being in heaven within heaven! <3<3<3<3<3<3 I ended up buying a SuJu poster, Beast and SuJu cd, and Shinee calender and postcards. Don't judge.

We also went to the Togo Shrine which was right next door to Takeshita Dori St. Though I'm unsure about the history of this shrine, I think it is a memorial built for a General who won a battle/war against the Russians. After Takeshita, this place was very relaxing!

After that, we rested in our hotel before going out and exploring again. This time we went to Central Gai, which was just a few streets away rather than a train ride. I didn't find it quite as interesting as Takeshita Dori St, but it was still fun to walk down. We also went to Tower records, an 8ish floor building filled with cds. Each floor as a different genre. It was AWESOME! It has music from all around the world. It took me awhile, but on the Jpop floor I managed to find all my favorite bands. But I ran into an issue. All the Jpop cds have the song titles in Japanese (I mean, it makes sense, but I only know like 300 kanji!), so I didn't know what albums I wanted. I will have to look into that before I go back. Well, assuming I go back to Tokyo. So! Since I couldn't read the Japanese song titles, I went to the world music floor and found Kpop! And Yiruma! Luckily, most Kpop songs have English titles, so I bought another Kpop cd. So, I now have 4 cds: Yiruma, Super Junior, Beast, and U-kiss. I also really wanted a few others like Big Bang and FT Island, but they only had mini albums or full cds (with dvds) that were super expensive.

This does seem completely logical, but: Tea in Japan is so much better than in America! I don't really like tea, but here it is very yummy! Or maybe it's just the fact that I'm in Japan and immersed in the culture, so I have more of a tolerance towards it. Who knows? But either way it is very refreshing!

Sorry for such a long post, but a lot happened in one day! Plus, it was my first day in Japan, so I am excited.