for the festive season and will resume posting at the end of January 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY 2009 EVERYONE!
Browsing Junkgirl™ blog archives for December, 2008.
(Sun, Dec 24 2006)
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We got off at Harajuku station and after some asking around (my first attempt at ‘doko des ka‘), managed to find Meiji Jingu, our first destination today.
Our first experience in a Japanese shrine. The cleansing area. Washed hands and rinsed mouth.
Also hung a wooden prayer tag..i think it’s called ‘ema’
Saw this tag and couldn’t resist a snap – this person must’ve had some really bad experience in Japan 
There were some preparations going on to celebrate the coming New Year
Next up – Harajuku for some funky stuff. Takeshita dori below
Apparently shoes need to be removed not just when you are entering a house (which is normal practice for us) , but also when you step into the fitting booth at stores.
Then walked back to the entrance of the Meiji Jingu to watch the well-known cosplayers of Harajuku, who are starting to gather near the bridge.
This group below was quite popular with the visitors
we took several with this lady below..she probably has the best costume and make-up that day
Some of the cosplayers were okay when you request to take photos with them or of them but there are also some reluctant ones. Perhaps if you pay them for professional shots, they will pose more willingly. We saw a girl posing for a man who looked like a professional photographer, maybe for a magazine shoot…
There were some giving out free hugs as well, as part of the ‘Free Hugs’ campaign. It started with this Japanese guy and later others joined him and turned into a ‘freehugs’ group
We continued to walk towards Omotesando which was swarmed by people
The Omotesando Hills Shopping Centre
and the Dior Building by day
and by night
We then tried to find Cat Street and by chance we saw a street map beside Chanel or Christian Dior and located Cat Street.
The TinTin shop on the way to Cat St
and this is a house opposite the Tintin shop…
I asked a sales assistant in a boutique next to the Tintin shop to confirm where Cat St is, utilising the japanese phrases I learnt prior to the trip – “Sumimasen.. Cat St wa doko des ka…”
on Cat St..
I liked Cat St…it’s unique, urban, trendy yet has this peaceful and quiet feel to it, perhaps due to the blend of commercial and residential area
Found the Burton store to look at snowboarding boots. It was dark by the time we finished on Cat Street
..back onto Omotesando and found Kiddyland which was on the places to go list..at least we didn’t have to go searching…
Omotesando Hills by night
outside Omotesando Hills
inside Omotesando Hills
another exhausting day…
(Sat, Dec 23 2006)
On Day 2′s itinerary – Akihabara – the well-known electronics town. To be exact, it is a blend of electronics, electrical, technology, a bit of toys/anime/manga/otaku town.
One of the first store we stepped into. I bought a ‘susuwatari‘ magnet. Susuwatari or ‘soot sprites’ are the black, fuzzy, spherical creatures that appeared in My Neighbor Totoro
There’s even a physical Dell store..in Melbourne there is only the Dell Online Store
We also saw Cameron Diaz……’s ad for Softbank. Brad Pitt was also featured in Softbank’s ad on TV, walking around India talking on the keitai.
A cool store for anime/manga/otaku fans – Craftmanship Kotobukiya
Also happen to be there during the Microsoft Vista promotional event, held at Akiba Square. Unfortunately, it was all in Japanese.
Then had lunch at a Katsudon place in Akiba Square. Second attempt at ordering food. This one was harder because it is not machine operated. I indicated to the waiter 2 with my fingers (for 2 person) and thought that’ll do it but…he said something and I was totally lost…I looked at him and ask “err…no seats?” and he asked (in English) ‘smoking?’. Oh so that was what he said…
We had katsudon and it was oishii. The meat was very tender
Kawaii ne….
This is how a typical store – usually a hobby/toy/anime/manga store or bookstore or music store, is like in Japanese cities. Levels and levels of goods. You’ll get to level 5 and discover that there is still stairs leading up. It gets pretty tiring…
and this was beside one of the anime/manga/hobby/otaku store. Not too sure what its for…maybe for ordering to-be-release products
Night-shopping on the streets of Akihabara
Yodobashi in Akihabara, just before we return to Shinjuku. Where else in the world can you find so much electrical, electronic and technology goods and gadgets in one store. They even have toys.
I didn’t shoot a vid inside Yodobashi as I wasn’t sure if that’s allowed. I found this vid of Yodobashi Akiba, shot by Akiba news. This place is huge
At the JR Akihabara station…
We have the SUICA cards so there is no need for purchasing fares each time.
Back in Shinjuku. Below: the yatai (stall) outside the Shinjuku Station west exit
and wandering around…came across another yatai selling ramen near the Shinjuku Post Office
More late night shopping…so Asia – so ‘alive not dead’, vibrant and ‘happening’. this is another Yodobashi
I think this is near the Kabuki-cho area
Welcome to Shinjuku…
The distributed tissue packets we managed to receive today, mostly in Akihabara.
(Fri, Dec 22 2006)
It’s been a long, long flight from Melbourne to Sydney to Narita. Said goodbye to everything for 5 wks and left before dawn. JAL has pretty tight legroom…maybe it’s only the economy. Anyway, the in-flight Jap movie UDON was quite good. My first impression of Narita was that it resembled airports from 10+ years ago. Not futuristic or at least modern as I envisioned Japanese airports to be. And customs, as is anywhere in the world, wasn’t great and was pretty unorganised. Anyway, we managed our first Japanese transaction and got reserved seats on NEX (Narita Express) to Shinjuku. The trip took about an hour. I was fiddling with the backpacks during the trainride, to make it right to carry as soon as we alight, and this made me feel sick on the train – motion sickness, all the way to Shinjuku Station. I managed to not throw up..that would’ve been a real drama.
The platform for NEX
At Shinjuku Station, we were like lost backpackers amongst the weekend crowd. The crowd is unbelieveable. No wonder this is the world’s busiest station. My backpack was extremely heavy because it was done up wrongly. And we still had to find our hotel. Luckily the map guide is quite detail – we just have to locate a McDonald’s and turn left. Should’ve taken photos but when you are in that situation, you tend to not bother and focus on getting to the destination as soon as possible to unload.
The hotel – Nishi Shinjuku Hotel…*a sigh of relief*
We still haven’t had dinner so we ventured out searching for food…first option was Makudo (McDs) but saw a Japanese eatery across the street. We should have Japanese. It was the coin-operated type…okay, that’ll be easy. problem is there are no pics on the machine (except for the specials), just Japanese characters which we can’t read. So we tried to match the characters to the plastic display on the window outside. After some fiddling and learning that we had to insert coins first before making selection, we got our order tickets and gave them to the ‘ojisan‘ at the counter. He waved to me shortly after we sat down, indicating for me to go over to the counter. He placed 2 bowls on the counter – 1 containing udon and 1 containing soba. I knew he was trying to ask which type of noodles we want for our order. Soba definitely. Not a big fan of udon.
From then on we learned to say ‘soba de’ everytime we gave our order tickets.
Tempura soba
Soba with some seaweed and spring onion.
This is how the eating area looks like
Sugoi Oishi.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to get drinks from a vending machine. The blue label indicates cold drinks and the red label indicates hot drinks. Hot can drinks from a vending machine…that’s something unusual..for me at least. And these vending machines always seem to be working, that’s what you term efficiency, unlike in some countries where your coins get ‘eaten’ by the machine. The coffee are a bit light though and they seem to all taste the same…
A birthday gift, a christmas gift, a reward for passing an exam and for having worked hard over the years. All in one – Nikon D90.
Just an excuse…