Wanderlust V2 - Japan & Beyond

Lolita gals! Harajuku

After Hanami(Cherry Blossom viewing) in Ueno, we decided to visit Harajuku again the next day. I was thinking I would like to attempt to see the kids that dressed up on the bridge by the park. I always came too late in previous trips ( or I could of been in the wrong area). I also was attempting to convince J to buy the doll she wanted since there'd be no wait! She was on the fence about it and I thought a trip to Soom again might encourage her. I also wanted to see Volks in Harajuku, but never quite found it. Most likely it was upstairs in the Foret department building. I think we were too tired to check.
After Soom we actually tried to find a convenience store called Lawsons, that sold Ghibli Museum tickets. My last trip was easy peasy to get my tickets at the machine and the store was a hop skip and a jump from my hostel. This time we just had a hard time finding one and walked all over the area like crazy. We found it finally and the attendant helped us get our tickets. I think I will always still do it this way. I suggest you familiarize yourself as well, because there's a mark up if you go through a service and it says you can't buy them if you are in another country which is true ( but if you go to Japan you can buy them there). Basically you can't buy them on the convenience store website, but you can check the ticket availability on the website by copy pasting the characters into the search function and buying them directly from the store when you get there. Also you can ask the attendant to help you buy it. Just say Gi-bli ( say G as the letter, not like the G in Go) for Ghibli. The machine shows a calendar. Familiarize yourself with the word sunday so you know what day your are picking. The times are knowable as numbers. The attendant will present the calendar and try to gesture at it for you to pick what you want. If you can, I would put down a few days and times, using japanese for the days. Then bring it with you and you can show the attendant!  Honestly I made a mistake on the days and we ended up getting tickets for the next day over. I was double checking our tickets and found that it was indeed my error. Just glad I double checked it and found out before we made the ride out to Ghibli Museum for nothing.  After this post I will post how to check Lawson site and some tips & tricks for buying tickets in Ghibli in Japan.

Soom  Display

Anyways back to Harajuku! J still did not buy a doll but instead got a clothing item for one of her dolls and a wig for my Cossie. I waffled over some eyelashes for Cossie but decided I was racking up a tab for Cossie and declined the eyelashes. J was getting quite tired of all the walking and didn't want to go down the main street of Harajuku. At that point I had to agree and we went one street over. There were lots of fancy stores. I knew we had to go see Kiddiland. J liked toys as well, so she agreed to that. The original location was closed and had relocated for reconstruction onto " Cat Street."  After a bit of confusion we found cat street. It look like it was stone and mainly a walking path rather than a street.

On Cat Street

Kiddiland is pretty awesome. I could of dropped a couple hundred. As it was, I only had limited funding. I got 4 stationary pads and they were around $2.50 or so each. Well needed! They are about $8 + online. I got San-x circus bunny, a black cat ( Kuroi Neko), pears that are kind of animals, and 7 brothers with an angry looking fat cat. There were also many Ghibli things. I told J to wait a bit cause we were going to the museum and they also had a store. She agreed but then got a small something. I could totally understand that because Ghibli stuff is so darn alluring!

We left soon after. We saw the Condom store as well, J had to go in. Unfortunately she had to gasp at the prices! I shrugged. I expected to cost more than a convenience store or wherever you would get these things in Japan. They were specialty right there. We continued to walk.  I recognized the area and saw Chicago thrift store.  We went to Chicago thrift store. I do not recommend it for cheap clothes. They sell American styles that are rather costly! I do recommend Kimonos! The prices are very reasonable and you can get everything including pre-tied obis ( obis are hard to tie for the uninitiated). Otherwise for real bargains, I think either Sunday or Saturday, there's a guy who sells kimonos on the corner in the open air. They can be as cheap as $10 and Obis galore! I mainly went to Chicago because I had seen a camera from the camera project was there online, but couldn't find it once I got there.Neither of us bought anything there, since we were spoiled by the thrift stores at home. I later found out that Japan also has some real thrift stores with cheaper prices, I hope in the future I can find some! Or maybe Percy can direct me to some in Ikebukuro.

J was feeling over stimulated by humanity, so I suggested the park where Meiji Shrine was situated. You really felt you were away from everything when you went amongst the giant thicket of trees. It was a bit chilly in the trees shadows. Probably a godsend in the hot days of summer. As it was J did not bring a jacket because she hated carrying jackets around. I brought mine regardless. I also get cold easily due to my thin blood and being used to the desert.She as freezing and it also got cloudy/wet. I did convince her in the future to bring a jacket just in case but I had to carry it if it wasn't. Which I'd rather carry a jacket than watch someone freeze and feel guilty that I came prepared.

Temizuya

Meiji Jingu Courtyard

We washed our hands at the area where you were to cleanse. It was a stone basin with water continually flowing and little scoops to scoop the water out. Our hands were like ice, especially since we wanted to take pictures and video of us doing this.If you aren't sure what I am talking about, just before you go into a shrine, there is a basin called  Temizuya that is traditional to cleanse yourself at. You pick up one of the dippers, rinse left, then right, pour water into your left to rinse your mouth, and then rinse your left again. Don't drink from the dipper or spit in the water or anything random. I found a guide for etiquette : Etiquette in English!

Shrine Maidens

Wedding Photo

I was glad to go to Meji Shrine to get my new Omamori for the year. Omamori are good luck charms for various areas in your life or situations. They have charms for driving, health, happiness, money, success, etc. I also got a votive board of wood to put my wish on for the year. J declined, not feeling it at all and didn't want to waste money on it. We continued on into the actual courtyard of the Shrine where I put my votive board. And we went up to the holy area and tossed money in the box, clapping our hands, and ringing the bell so our prayers would be heard. After that we went and sat for a while. We watched priests and shrine maidens walk around the area following one another like a line of ducks, perfectly taking every corner on the pathways and in a brisk manner. They walked with a precision. There was also a wedding that happened while we were there and photo ops for them. Last year there were tons of weddings when I went. Usually the weekends and good weather/seasons it'll be busy and you'll see lots of lovely kimonoed guests and wedding Kimonos.

We continued on to get out of the area to the train. We thought we could try going the opposite way but it seemed further. We headed back toward the entrance we came in and came upon a restroom. As she tried to go in, we both noticed that the men's restroom had no partition in the front, so we could see 3-4 men using the restroom at the urinals. We gasped and ran out, which embarrassingly enough led to heads turning to see what was going on behind them. We ran off. As we got to the main path we saw a large building, another type of rest area with a store, food court, and bathroom! I got a cheap kit to make decorative cord, but never could figure out the directions when I got home. Then we decided, even as cold we were, we'd get ice cream. I knew in this aspect, J was of my own heart. I eat ice cream ALL YEAR ROUND. J got green tea and I got Sakura flavor ( cherry blossom flavor). This trip since I made it during the blossoming time, I'd try as many cherry blossom flavored items as I could! The ice cream was in a cone. The attendant removed two little tubs and put them in a hand pressed machine that squeezed the ice cream out through the bottom. This made a very pretty cone! It's just like the soft serve machine coming out in a swirl, but it was a tiny tub of ice cream and a human being pressing the ice cream out by hand.

Side note on my cherry blossom flavored stuff. At some point I had a few cherry blossom buns from the bakery. It had a leaf on the top and then inside was white bean with blossoms inside! I also got a tiny ball that was pink and kinda like smashed rice consistency, but very tasty. I had also heard of a cherry blossom coffee and tea... They are very lovely to look at! Never tasted them though :)