I got a little video of a bullet train whizzing past at the station, I don't think it fully captures the speed of it, but its still pretty cool!
I also found these cute chick stickers on a nearby vending machine (I miss those vending machines...)
After arriving and dropping our bags off at the poshest hotel I've ever stayed at (you can have a nose at it HERE), we jumped on a train to Shinjuku, to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
On the 42nd floor of this building is an observatory which is free for tourists to take a gander from. It had an amazing view:
We then caught a train to Harajuku and got some lunch. I had some beef rice dish with onions, it was pretty tasty! I felt my skills with the old chopsticks were improving as I finished my meal before everyone else! Although thats more likely to be an improvement in my skills of gluttony...Hooray!
After this we were left to roam Tokyo on our own for the afternoon, so firstly we ventured down the main street of Harajuku which had a rather humorous name...
Did ya see it? Takeshita Street! Heh! ...Anyhoos, yeah, Harajuku wasn't as ka-razy as I was expecting, it was pretty tame compared to the Fruits book I've got at home, which features a great many funkily dressed young people roaming the streets. Although I have been informed that the big day for the young people to gather is a Sunday, and we arrived on a Monday, so we just missed out, oh well!
Our next stop was Akihabara, or Electronic Town! We saw quite a few scantily-clad manga ladies (and quite a few pervy men in the "erotic" section of a manga store)! Avert your eyes if you're easily shocked!
Whilst we were in Akihabara we went to a little donut shop called 'Mister Donut', I rather liked their cute little logo...
And from the selection I saw, I think it could give Krispie Kreme a run for its money!
When we got to our hotel room, we sat and watched the sun set whilst Tokyo lit up in the night, we had quite a good spot, you could even see bullet trains coming into the station from across the road!
The group met up in the lobby for our last evening meal together. We caught a train to Shibuya (it was pretty busy with office workers at quarter to 8 at night! Apparently office workers in Japan work till quite late!) and we were able to see the famous crossroads (used in films and the like) and the hordes of people navigating them! It was a sight to behold, for sure!
Our tour leader took us to this super cool restaurant which was an 'All You Can Drink' (within 2-3 hours - can't remember exactly how long it was!), you ordered your food using a touch screen on the table and it then magically appeared before you! Obviously a lot of drinks were ordered as well, I had a tipple or two of some lovely plum wine on ice - its good stuff, I tell ya!
For my meal I ordered some kimchi (pickled stuff) and some noodles that came with a few takoyaki (octopus balls), it was very tasty!
Before saying goodbye (*sniffs*), our tour leader suggested we try a 'British Pub' that was just down the road, so on her final piece of advice we headed on there!
It was slightly surreal to experience what the Japanese thought was a British Pub! There were a lot of smokers in there, although I was able to get a vodka & coke (my drink of choice), so that was pretty good! But yes, it was pretty darn smoky, so we didn't stay long, and a smaller group of us went back to the hotel and visited the Sky Lounge. Basically a swanky bar at the top of the hotel with a stunning view! I had me a Baileys in there (to make me feel sophisticated), whilst reminiscing of our trip.
Woo! So there we go! One day left, baby! And then I'll never talk about Japan again! Thats a lie, I think I'll be waffling on about Japan for many years to come, plus I'm working on the illustrated diary of our trip, so look forward to blog posts about that in the future!
Next Japan blog post we visit the artificial island of Daiba, were we see the Statue of Liberty (huh?), a gundam, and a renaissance-themed shopping mall - it was bizarre.
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