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April is Joy for Japan

3/11/2012 05:56:00 PM | Labels:

Before I’m even finished blogging about my last trip, here I am talking about my next trip. This next trip will only be one week. As much as I like the longer trip, I truly can barely afford one week! This time I’m going with my best friend since middle school. Unfortunately we are the old adage, opposites attract. While I am interested in culture and history of a place, she is more into the modern aspects and luxuries a travel destination has to offer. Also I’m into packing activities in as much as possible, from dawn to dusk, and she’s into relaxing, least stress as possible. You may ask how this works as far as going to Tokyo…
Well it helps that we are best friends J And that we have always been opposite types of people so it’s nothing new! Also compromise. We put into the hat what we would like to do! I want Takarazuka and Ghibli!  N wants Butler café and cat café!
The nice thing I do have to say I kind of enjoy is that N is taking charge of our activities list and has made an actual itinerary as far as days and possible eateries to visit. She also is getting a Japanese sim for her phone so we have navigation! Really high tech and nice. I just wandered about in an organic fashion, getting lost and walking far more than anyone should need too haha. So it’ll be different.  I’m mostly going with the flow of things she would like to do, I only had two concessions, 1) Takarazuka and 2) Ghibli Museum. She was into the Takarazuka, but less enthused about Ghibli, not being a fan and all.  Again this trip, my companion is not very physically active, so no mountain hiking. Not that I'm extremely physically active but I like to pack a lot into a vacation!
I'm excited and nervous! I mean N is still the same yet different, so I wonder about the differences and how they'll play out on our trip? Will we simply meld as we always have done despite our opposite natures? Also she doesn't like to get up early and we agreed we can have apart time sometimes, though majority of the time will be spent together naturally. So I'm wondering if I can wake up really early one of the days and hit Asukusa.. o.o Curious curious!
Only a few more weeks!

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Posted by Mindy

Wandertips: How to check on available Ghibli tickets

2/16/2012 05:17:00 PM |

Photopassjapan.com
  I did promise a Ghibli Ticket buying guide. I wish it was more comprehensive like pictures of me at lawsons and the machine, but if you are bold enough to consider buying your own tickets thus far, then you can do this too!
I went to Ghibli Museum twice. I loved it both times. Some people say they've seen it already and decline after one time, but if you love Ghibli, go again and again. They have a special exhibit room for new projects that always changes! And they change out the special screenings of Ghibli film shorts. You can only view these once per visit and they change, so it's worth seeing. Oh and you can't watch them outside of the museum!

So if you've visited their site you may have noticed that there's two options for the average Ghibli goer who is on vacation. Otherwise you can have someone in Japan buy it for you and this guide is a moot point for you! The two options tend to be buy it through a service ( sometimes with double markup) or buy it at a lawson's convience store! Lawson's are everywhere really so it's not so hard to buy there! Also if you worry about lack of Japanese, I will recommend a few things:
  1. Say G-bli or Jee-bli when referring to the museum.
  2. Locate and write down the L-code ( you can put this in and get straight to tickets on the machine)
  3. They have the guide to buy on the machine on the site: http://www.lawson.co.jp/ghibli/museum/ticket/english.html
  4. If all else fails, go to the clerk at Lawsons, say G-bli to the store clerkand they will help you through the process!
Remember when buying from the machine, you take the little reciept back to the clerks at the counter to pay and get the REAL tickets. The machine is just a way to reserve them, but you have to pay for them and get the real tickets at the register. ( ALL within LAWSON's Convience store).
YOU CANNOT BUY TICKETS AT THE GHIBLI MUSEUM!  
You then show those tickets at the museum and they give you the souvenir tickets with a piece of film at the museum.

So what I will cover in the guide is how to check what tickets are available so that you have an idea of when you want to go and what time ( you have to buy them before you go). That will make it easier to buy your tickets at Lawson's.

Click into the Screenshots to see what I'm doing!

Search for Ghibli, copy Japanese characters.

Search for Lawson's tickets site.

Paste Japanese Ghibli into search.

L-codes should pop up and click into your month.

Check times and Dates. X- no tickets available, O- tickets available. 


Oh and the red character at the beginning of the week is Sunday. So the weeks start with Sunday! :) 
So if you see x there are no tickets available at that time. If there is an O, that means tickets are still available. If there is neither, it means tickets are not purchasable. Example would be a date that already passed or one too far in the future ( such as April at this point).

So once you plan you can even screen shot that calendar and write down your L-code to take with you to Lawson's. The clerk should recognize it and the code will make it faster so you don't have to type in Japanese to search. Do not be shy to ask the clerk by showing them the paper or saying a one word G-bli. They understand that there are tourists and are accommodating. I have yet to find one turn me away or act anything but awesome. I even had a gentleman who wanted to use the machine, help speed up the process since I was having a hard time typing my name in lol. You won't have to do that if you ask the clerk. It'll be a lot faster.
I do have a Ghibli post coming up! :)

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Posted by Mindy

Not even finished and Here I go again!

2/10/2012 04:41:00 PM | Labels:

daruma doll from Blogadilla.com
Well I'm still working on the entries to my last trip and have planned another in April. My best friend from middle school wanted to go to Japan with me! I was thinking I wouldn't see Japan again for many more years, since financially I shouldn't be going on any trips. I was sad  but resolved. Then my best friend from middle school, who said she'd never be able to afford a trip like that... well she has plenty of money to go and is willing to pay for our activities and accommodations! ( she actually could of afforded this trip 10x over if she would stay in hostels, take trains, and eat from grocery store specials) So some how I lucked out yet again! I'm nervous because we are a bit different in tastes. Hostels sound like absolute hell to her, while hostels are wonderful slices of culture where you can meet wonderful people to me! I'm also very much of a walker and am trying to stay active through to my 70's. She is not a walker anymore ( in our teens she walked a lot more than I even did!). She also just wants to do activities and not buy things. While I am dying to buy things! I want to renew my good luck charms and I was considering whether to take my Daruma with me to get returned to a shrine. But he came out of the airport so I don't know if he'd be accepted anywhere.. I want to get a case for my phone if they have it, charms, doll clothes, fountain pen refills, maybe a bell wind chime, ghibli stuff!

Anyways even though I'm nervous, I know that 1) she is independent so if we really don't want to do something together ( like she wants to spa and I want to hike, example) then we can part for a few hours and meet up again.
2)We also both agree on Takarazuka (YES) and cake buffet!!!
3)Also I think we are getting excited to see one another. We had a dry spell where we never got to see each other anymore and where email killed our 40pg snail mail letters. So we are actually agreeing to a lot of compromised things to visit, like butler cafe( her), toy/doll stores ( me), karaoke ( both ), Ghibli ( me), Sento (her and kind of me if I could get over being naked in front of everyone)...

Unfortunately my previous companion was not happy about this, but I'm not sure how to remedy the situation with her. I went 2 weeks with her, while my best friend is asking 1 week & paying for the trip pretty much...
So I am a bit down because of that... but I will still keep the good memories of my last trip <3

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Posted by Mindy

Wanderlust

1/11/2012 09:13:00 PM |

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.
Robert Louis Stevenson


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Posted by Mindy

Fuji-Q Amusement Park

12/29/2011 01:49:00 PM | Labels:

Fuji-Q Entrance
I would definitely recommend Fuji-Q for 3 reasons!  
  1. It has amazing rides! No slacking on that
  2. Right next to Mt. Fuji-san (pretty much!)
  3. A really scary haunted hospital!
Mt.Fuji-san from the Park
So what the heck is Fuji-Q? It’s a giant amusement park near the base of Mt.Fuji. I mean you couldn’t walk out the front door and start climbing or anything, but it’s a pretty short distance when you consider that Mt.Fuji is HUGE! It’s right at the base with other things to enjoy for another day.
You can get to Fuji-Q by bus or train or car (if you are industrious to rent a car, drive on the other side of the road, and get an international drivers license). I studied the various routes and settled on bus. So far my long distance bus rides in Japan have been nothing but good. You don’t have to stay awake during the ride, no guarding of meager possessions from thieves. You’ll find Japan is rather low on crime of that nature. Also Fuji-Q has a great deal that packages your bus ride and park pass for one price. Some rides are extra but not that much. I think the haunted hospital ended up to be about 500yen. I don’t know if it was because the attraction was new or what, but it was well worth it. I screamed my head off in it!
Bus station ahead

Behind us




Bus station
Well as a cautionary tale, I will definitely talk about our bus mishaps. It started with our arrival to the Shinjuku train station. The station was rather large with two floors open to the street. We ended up going out on the bottom and walked underground for a bit. It felt a bit off, so we ducked into one of the entrances (or more like underground backdoor) where an attendant was standing by the elevator. He was quite aged, maybe into his 70s. He was dressed very traditionally for a doorman. I asked in several ways where the bus station was. He shrugged. I drew the bus in case my Japanese was too bad. He still looked befuddled and pointed top side as our best bet. We took the elevator up. I looked around for the camera store as indicated was across from the bus station. We looked at the train station map of the area and it really looked so close. It is not right out of the station though. You walk from the station on the right side a bit. It’s at the bottom corner of this HUGE insurance building. I mean it’s a tiny little station right on the corner. It’s not the kind you can sit inside and get a drink or anything. It’s really just a place to buy a ticket and then go out to the stop for the bus. You will see the camera store across.
Across to the right side of bus station
The other mishap is the bus station doesn’t really have people who are proficient in English. So write down what you want or gather enough words like “ Fujikyu passu.” They will bring the person who speaks the most English (a small amount) and the pass should help you get somewhere with things. Otherwise it became a bit complicated when she was asking when we’d like to go because I didn’t understand the schedule enough or have enough Japanese. We did eventually figure something out. I think she brought out a paper and wrote down some times. We ended up missing the first bus somehow. I had shown our tickets to the outside attendant for the buses, but it hadn’t came or it did a long time ago, we waited about 30 mins or so and decided we definitely missed the bus. When we went inside, I thought that the attendant was trying to say we had to pay the whole fare again and got upset! But J was the voice of reason this time. It was only 200yen for each person to change our tickets. Thank goodness! This time I hounded the attendant outside who called the buses out loud. Also the inside attendant made our tickets for the terminal right next to the station instead of down the street. I showed the outside attendant our tickets and he got us on the bus. Finally we were on our way.
Before you figure it’s too much trouble, after that first part we had no more troubles what so ever with the park. And once you are on the bus its smooth sailing since you will recognize your stop (FUJI-Q). The bus stops at a convenience store/bus terminal. It’s actually all convenience store and there is a window the clerk man for tickets or bus info. They allow you to sit inside to wait for the bus, so it’s rather nice.
Entrance Neon Evangelion
Once we got there, we followed the flow of people heading to the entrance. It was to the right of the store and outside. You walked a bit and then the entrance is hard to miss. You go through a large tourist shop and then outside again, where the real ticket taking entrance is. Just so you know the Fuji-q pass also covers entrance fee, so we gave our passes and got in. Our first stop and main reason to go to the park was the Neon Genesis attraction. It had drawings and set ups with characters. You could pose inside a fake elevator with Asuka and Rei, as well as other areas where you could be with your favorite characters or scenes. I went a bit wild and took a million pictures with everything. It was a bit confusing because you saw do not photo signs, but saw that there were definitely photo opportunities specifically made for people to take pictures with characters! We also watched a show with a giant head of one of the machines. Then we wandered. We took photos in a puri kura booth (photo booth with decorations). I accidentally hijacked one of the 2 photos that J got. So I let her hijack mine. You don’t get much time when it starts taking pictures (it’s timed), so really on accident.  J bought some cool stuff in the store. I ended up getting a surprise toy. Basically you buy blind and get to open to a surprise. It was a rei and asuka collection so I felt I couldn’t really go wrong. I ended up getting rei in a ballerina costume. It was cool. I actually bought it for someone else, so I didn’t know what I got till I got home.
Neon Evangelion
After we finished J was ready to leave the park. I was astonished since we paid such a huge amount to come! J admitted she hated amusement parks and fast rides. I said I really had to go to the Haunted Hospital since I psyched myself out with advertisements for it on the Japanese Fuji-Q site. The English site is paltry unfortunately. J relented but decided she didn’t want to just wait around outside. She came with and we bought our tickets at the vending machine at the back of the line. The park was luckily quiet that day since it was a weekday and due to the power shortages. Only half of the curving line area of the attraction was open and filled. Periodically people came out of the building screaming. Since the exit and entrance were so close together I imagined it small inside. We waited awhile and marinated in anticipation. There were video screens with a ghost nurse telling us not to commit violence against the ‘ghosts.’ And various other rules & notices. One was that there were doors inside all the whole way where you could leave if it got to scary. This was true. They were well interspersed.
They took groups in at a time. I won’t ruin it by talking about what actually happened. Suffice to say I did not think I would be scared at all. Especially since the first part is a video kind of telling you about the story of the haunted hospital. I was so wrong. The hospital is huge. Somehow they crammed a lot of stuff in there! There was even a basement. J got too scared about ¾ ways in. She decided to retire and I didn’t force her to stay, but I didn’t go with her. I was too curious to not finish. We reluctantly parted ways. When she left, I realized… I was ALONE. I can tell you I ran through most of it and then tried to glom onto a couple, who consented having some weird gajin clinging to the both of them. I did lose them and then find them near the end where we all ran out screaming. Ugh I was so scared I could have barfed!! Haha.
As if that wasn’t enough horror I dragged J to the haunted mansion. She said she was sooo not going in. Unfortunately it was closed that day. So I ended up taking pictures with the weird traditional Japanese haunt statues in front.
We pondered what to do next and J actually suggested the giant Ferris wheel. I was surprised since she doesn’t like heights! It was massive and very slow. It never stopped and was slow enough to hop into the booth. It was fully enclosed with plastic on top of bars. No dropping of cameras or phones through the slats. We took photos of Mt. Fuji since we had such a nice view. After that we played a gundam game, where you run around and try to get pieces of gundam armor using little machines held up to sensors. The last stage had a huge gundam as part of the stage set up!  The gundam game has a little session with a movie and instructions in English on how to play the game.
ROLLERCOASTERS!
Finally we took our last ride on the carousel. I suggested it because I like them and they are reasonable for anyone who is scared of fast rides. This one was also very real. I say this because it was massive and everything was gilded. As an adult, I had to actually use the little stirrup to get in the saddle. That’s how big the horses were. I felt like a child on such a big horse!
Then last call was made and people came out of the woodworks. We all straggled along and took last minute pictures in the fake ride with a huge fan making it look like you were riding it. We also took a photo that had these power rangers. Then we played a few booth games. They were like the ones you play at a carnival with ring toss and ball toss. You bought tries through a machine and handed your ticket to the attendant. It was low tech with bowls and such. J won twice and I won once. I got a stitch wash cloth that ended up replacing my kerropy one that got lost probably in the haunted hospital..  These little handkerchiefs made of towel material are good to have, because there are quite a few bathrooms without blow drying or paper towels.  J refused the length of our stay to have one, but used mine a ridiculous amount. Also I encouraged her to carry tissues, but she also refused and then used the ones I bought for a lot of things including for toilet paper.
Giant Carousel
Even though Fuji-Q the park was closing, this is when everyone mobbed the store that you go through to get to the entrance of the park. They had a lot of cute things. I searched for the Marimo and actually found some! We considered whether we could transport these to our respective countries, especially due to liquid and plant considerations. I don’t know how J managed it, but I put mine in my large luggage after draining a lot of the water out of the container. A friend of ours said that it would freeze and most likely die under there. I took the chance since I think the Marimos are in a cooler climate. They made it! They were extremely frosty but alive.
Anyways we went to the convenience store/bus terminal. It was packed with people ready to leave. We ordered some food. The bus came before the food was cooked. We decided to wait for the food since we were so hungry. Everyone else left. We waited a very long time for the next bus and kind of regretted missing the first one. Nice thing is that our bus was practically empty when it came. I think there was a total of maybe 5 people on the whole bus. We spread out in two seats for each of us. At first J was hurt that I wanted to sit elsewhere but then enjoyed sitting across two seats. We were so darn tired!


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Posted by Mindy

Wander Tips: Guesthouse vs. Hostel

12/18/2011 05:02:00 PM |

A pathway very near T-towers
Just to note, I will intersperse " Wander tips" between my entries of actual travel. These will basically be my limited experiences, but give you a hint at the possibilities or a reference to places I've been as well as a possible help. Like pretty soon I will put up how to buy Ghibli tickets in Japan, with tips about how to check tickets and such.
This trip was my first time booking a Guesthouse, mainly because they are a bit pricey for the single traveler, but wonderful to 2 or more! My usual travel experience is to find the cheapest stay possible, without really sleeping in a ditch or a dank hole in the wall. A warning to westerners, most likely you will find the accommodations to be cramped for your taste. Just remember it's a place to keep your stuff and lay your head. For me, I found it cozy. I am not afraid of small spaces, though honestly I have never stayed at a capsule hotel so maybe that'd change my tune. This time around our rooms were small but not tiny, due to us staying in 2 person rooms.
Anyways, this time around I was traveling for 2. Me and J agreed to share a room to save money. J didn't understand the concept of the exchange rate so everything got screwy with paypal between 3 country's exchange rates. Also I couldn't convince J to go with the usual procedure which was to pay when you got there, in yen, rather than trying to pay it online. What a mess. I suggest that you make reservations but pay at your accommodations when you get there, in yen. This is quite normal, rest assured. I haven't had issues with the guesthouse or my hostels with keeping my reservations. So don't get scared that they won't hold it just because you didn't throw down the cash or credit card. They often have a process of you paying in full when you get there in Yen. Probably easier for them overall.
Magical downstairs Toilet
So what is a guest house you may ask? It's for longer term foreigners. The normal procedure to get an apartment is a nightmare, with gift money for the manager, key money, and all the deposits. Not to mention it's supposedly pretty hard to get a place as a foreigner. So if you can't quite get a regular apartment ( though I've heard of foreigner channels to do this), then you could try a guesthouse. T-tower Guesthouse, where we stayed, was offering short term stays. I found them on another site where you can rent people's apts for short vacation stays. The guesthouse was most like a hostel, except no dorm rooms. The rooms were about the same size almost and could hold 1 -3 people depending on the room. Also you will notice people leave their items in the shower room and no one messes with it. Same thing with blow dryers or make up in the sink room. Also the people who stay there take care of guesthouse vs. hostels where the staff take care of the hostel.
T-towers consisted of 5 floors. Office, dining room, kitchen, and parlor were on basement floor ( you walked down from street level to get to entrance at the basement). Manager's room  was on 1st floor. 2nd and 3rd floor was tenants. 4th floor was the roof, where a tv room, outside deck, washer/dryer, and outside drying lines were located. I liked that you could air dry to save money and no one touched your stuff. All floors had a little toilet room. Living floors had sink room attached to a separate toilet room and a shower room that wasn't attached to anything else. There was actual cable in the basement tv. Our room consisted of a bunk bed, desk with chair, and closet. The heater also belted out extreme heat. I eventually found out on my own how to put on a timer and use the temperature controls. Wish I wrote them down for you, but I didn't. The manager couldn't really explain that and just told us how to turn it on and off. It'll cook you if you have it on constantly. Some nuances about a guesthouse is that you really didn't see other people as much as a hostel. Also we had to pay 10000 yen deposit ( about 100 dollars) that was returned to us at the end of our stay since our room was still in good shape afterwards. You also had to wash your bedding and clean your room, before you left.
So some observations between the guesthouse and hostel?
 
G: Paying a deposit of 10000 yen vs. H: maybe key deposit of 500 or 1000 yen.
G: More toilets vs. H: possibly less toilets or a lot of toilets in public style bathroom
G: You can split room price vs. H: some places will charge a double room by each person, doubling your price!
G: Appt. needed to see the manager when you arrive and leave vs. H: some staff always about
G: Long term foreigners/natives have more respect for your items and peace vs. H: Sometimes very noisy and some foreigners steal or destroy stuff.
G. Further away from train lines or bus lines vs. H: pretty close to transportation, usually clustered with other Hostels
G: More interesting neighborhoods and more authentic area vs. H: a bit more touristy area
G: Clean your own stuff vs. H: they take care of your room after you leave when it comes to cleaning
G: Bring your own stuff vs. H: may offer free shower soap
 
Lots of small bars in Ttower neighborhood
So which did I like more? Probably the hostel for it's atmosphere and plushy futons. J liked the guesthouse for western style beds even though the mattress pads were thin. The hostel was much colder than the guesthouse but they provided heating blankets and very thick blankets. They even offered extra blankets as well and an extra futon since J said she could feel the floor. Beware though, there are hostels that have " Guest house" in their name, but are really a hostel. 
Lots of plants in Ttower neighborhood too!

Both places had electronic toilets that boasted heaters and bidets.Ttowers one kept getting shut off( probably trying to save power)? But it had a heater.
We stayed at T-tower Guesthouse and Toco Heritage Hostel. Toco is made from an almost 100 year old house and their reception area turns into a bar lounge in the evening. They were also very generous in helping us with anything we needed. The T-tower manager also tried to be helpful but was not as available ( he wasn't just loitering around). Toco also had a traditional Japanese atmosphere and a gorgeous garden with koi, cats, and actual pieces of Mt.Fuji. Toco was a dream come true for me since everything was so woodsy and traditional. J really liked the guesthouse for it's modernness, more private bathrooms( you could use the random one upstairs where no one went to really), and possibly the earthquake proofness. We only experienced our first tremors in T-tower and then many there after. For either place, you better make reservations fast! Both fill up rather quickly.

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Posted by Mindy

Harajuku and Meiji Shrine

12/08/2011 01:08:00 PM | Labels: , ,

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 :)
We were freezing by the time we got out of the park and misting with rain. Lucky the train was a steamy hotbed of humanity. We were glad it was so hot on the train and relaxed into our pocket of space for our jounry. It was another tiring day! Honestly you can lose a ton of weight in Japan with all the walking. Also due to the earthquake and power plant, a lot of elevators or escalators were closed, so we walked up tons of stairs. A very healthful vacation! :) Next time I would like to try to taste EVERYTHING cherry blossom!!! YAH! Forgot to add as we went into Meiji Jingu outer entrance I saw a fun gal who graced me with a picture opportunity!

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Posted by Mindy
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