Not another travel Blog

This day was ridiculously packed, i'd quickly realized chatting to people and reading up in a few of the hostels books there was no way i was going to see all i wanted to in 4 days. I'd done the fish market and imperial palace but still wanted to look around Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku (which are all fairly close together) Akibara, Rippongi, Tokyo bay, ginza, and so on. I'd said originally i wasn't going to rush any one place, preferring to see less but more of it. Yet everything here was so intriguing i decided i'd go against my own rule and just see how much i could see in the one day. It was a Sunday so it's the main cos-play day in Harajuku, plus there's loads to see and do in the surrounding areas. I thought a start there would be as good as any. I got there to find an empty bridge, obviously cos-players aren't as eager as i was to get out of bed on Sunday morning. No worries the garden that it leads across to is incredible. I got to see a little Japanese wedding and morning prayers, i also wrote a best wishes wooden plak for Joni back home as i missed his birthday and hung it on one these giant trees.
By the time i'd done all that the bridge had begun to gather a crowd, not as many as i hoped but i'd also found out that the kids were back to school that monday and so quite a few would probably be leaving it :( i did get to see the worlds politest punk band though. Dressed in overly cliched punk outfits, they screamed through song after song and in between bowed, smiled and said thank you. Not quite the 'f*** the world' attitude expected, but entertaining never the less. Around the corner the path leads you into the park where all the high quiffed Elvis dancing groups hung around. God knows how they must have their hair during the week as some of them were comically big. They were just out enjoying themselves i think irrespective of whether we were there or not. The park itself tops the list as being the busiest, happiest park i've ever visited. Everyone in there was doing something, not like at home where u get a few kids scrapping and and the others sit in the corner drinking strongbow. Everyone was either skipping, throwing frisbees, practising theater shows, couples were juggling to one another or hula hooping. Loads of people were playing all types of instruments or singing in groups. No-one was doing it for money, just purely to entertain themselves. A girl ran over at one point and dragged me into this massive skipping line thing. It was just amazing to see everyone so busy as a means to relax. Towards the end of the park was this b-boy festival going on. It was free to walk in, they had loads of food stalls, break dancing competitions, a MC stand, Mixing tent. Like i said Tokyo is just busy, i'd planned so much for today and yet finally when i dragged myself away from here half the day had gone. I decided i'd pop over to Shibuya as that was close, so i got my move on and left only to be distracted at the bridge by more cos play people.

The main reason for wanting to visit Shibuya was 'guiltally' the crossing you see in near enough all guidebooks and films based in the city....and for anyone laughing that i went all them miles to see a zebra crossing, well it was ace. End of that, and on to Shinjuku.



The sun was starting to set by now, so really i'd just managed to time the day right. Shinjuku is good for two things; shopping and the neon lights, and seeing as i was on a budget shopping would be a bad idea.
I started to make my way over to the government offices as you're allowed to ride the elevator to the 42nd floor, but i had no idea what time it stopped running and as it was unlikely i'd return here before leaving i got my skates on. The View from here was quality, they say during the day in good weather you can see mt Fuji from the south viewing station..



That was it, my feet were killing now, i was horribly sweaty (god help whoever was sitting next to me on the metro ride home, and my eyes were having difficulty keeping open. On the return to the hostel, i saw Viktoria and a bunch of Manchester lads, 2 of which i'd met the other day, having a drink. You could tell by the way they were dressed they were obviously off out and by the types of lads these were, I knew I'd end up following.. "you coming karoke? It's that one from lost in translation!" "I don't know, I'm an awful singer, and i had a bad experience in Amsterdam" "no worries none of us are". As anyone who knows me, also knows it doesn't take alot for me to change my mind, so I popped to the nearest 7-11, bought a few cans and got up to speed, popped on a different top and was done. Ready for a night out.
I think everyone woke up the next day in a near life threatening state, but there was no rest, we'd decided to go see mt fuji at like half 10. God knows how we dragged our lazy drunken arses out of bed but we did and after pratically racing to the station found out it was booked up for the day. To think I could of stayed in bed, lol, oh well at least I had the day to go explore Tokyo some more. Fuji can come later. There's a section on the metro that leads to Tokyo bay, it's made from reclaimed land and is easily one of the quirkist places I could ever imagine. There was a sort of art instalation piece in the shape of a life size gundam model. I mean I love these things when there like 30 cm big. Seeing one this big was like a life achievement ticked off. Saying that I did keep staring at it hoping it'd start walking on it's own accord, you know like the statue of liberty does in ghost busters *spoiler, sorry!





Next door to this, well 5 mins walk was the sega amusement building, joypolis, a muscle park amusement, a 9 storey mall and a Market called decks 'oh there was also a huge ferris wheel that could be seen a short distance away. Seriously it's the sort of place 10 year olds go to in their dreams. I bumped into 2 of Victorias friends in the sega place and she gave me a little plush toy of stich, as from 'lilo and...' so currently I'm walking around like a Japanese schoolgirl with this fuzzy little blue fella sticking his head out of the side of my bag.



I got back mid afternoon, everyone had gone back to the hostel and there beds, and were still asleep! I gotta admit my hangover had passed but tiredness was kicking me in the face everytime I tried to do anything.
So that's where we started these Tokyo posts, since then I've arrived in nikko. But as for the rest of time in Tokyo.... Once they woke we eventually ended up playing cards and finger twister (funnier than it sounds) into the early hours and i ended up agreeing to going akibara with ben in the morning before leaving for nikko. I really should of gone to akibara mid-day at some other point, but the morning would just have to do as I wasn't going to miss it. Computer games have been a massive part of mine and my brothers life it'd just be wrong to not go to the so called gaming meca while I was here. I kept looking for motorstorm, so I could take a picture to send to work, but no luck. There was some awesome arcades though, there's nothing like seeing a 60 year old dude giving this teenager an absolutle tanning on street fighter 2 turbo. For a country so camera happy, their not big on taking photo's in these places, but I did the best I could.