Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! Tokyo Edition

In her young sixteen years, my sister has seen a lot. I mean, the girl has been to numerous countries all over the world! Nevertheless, Tokyo had much in store for her to be impressed. For me, this trip was another confirmation how much I love Japanese people…and also how calm and peaceful my life is in Misawa.

During our three hour ride on the Shinkansen, I prepared our itinerary, trying to fit in my favorite sights as well as see some new ones.

 

We dropped our bags at the fabulous New Sanno and hopped on another train to go to Harajuku. The main attraction here were all the crazy dressed Japanese teenagers. Sunday is usually the best day for people watching here, but it was exceptionally interesting this time because it was Halloween as well. Harajuku is also where a big real football store is located. What can I say? We spent half an hour inside taking pictures with all of Lyena’s favorite soccer players. The girl is keen on soccer.

We had to have famous crepes.

From there we walked to another famous street of Shibuya. So much life in that area! Lots of shopping and entertainment. We were trying to find something to eat for dinner but Japanese didn’t sound good (weird, I know). So we ended up having some pasta in an Italian place. Italian is not so Italian in Japan. Not even as Italian as it is in the states-haha.

I had to show her Shibuya, of course.

The next day we both slept in till 9:30 am. I almost started hyperventilating after I looked at the clock that morning. I seriously don’t remember the last time I slept in that long! I felt like half of my day was gone!

It was supposed to be rainy. The forecast turned out to be wrong (I should know by now how uncertain Japanese weather forecasts are….I packed rain boots that took half of my suitcase’s space!). We headed over to Akihibara—famous electronic district in Tokyo. That was my first time in that area, so I was quite excited. Akihibara turned out to be a big area with dozens of big and small electronics stores. We spent some time in one of the biggest ones—found a really cool camera for Lyena that even displays settings in Ukrainian but no battery for my Dell laptop.

After that we walked and walked looking for temple… which name I cannot find! But it is supposed to bring you luck in business as well as help you find a spouse:)

In the same area, we found a Football Museum of Japan! Oh how happy Lyena was…..except it was closed. Of course! It was a Monday and Mondays in Japan are infamous for being days off when we try to explore (See this July post). We still took some fun pictures.

Since we didn’t have any kids with us to complain about being tired or hungry, we just kept on walking and walking. First, we found a Musical Instrument street, then we walked through an area with hundreds of used books store (most of them in Japanese).

We grabbed a bite to eat at the Indian “Spice Kitchen”. This is our before picture.

I was so excited that the restaurant had naan! Well, this is what happened after we tried our food. It was incredibly spicy for both of us! I asked the cook if it was possible to tone it down a bit. He did. But that didn’t help. I felt like a dragon.

My mouth was simply hurting with every breath took. Because I loved my naan so much I wanted to keep eating that spicy curry. That was Lyena’s first Indian food experience. I am not sure she’ll ever try it again-haha.

We got to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building when the sun was setting. What a beautiful view of Tokyo at the end of the day!

Later that night, we felt like a pair of rich fashionable ladies strolling along Ginza (and only dreaming about $3000 purses), discussing what we would do if we had a million dollars.

Next morning we were excited to go to Asakusa and see the oldest temple in Tokyo.

(yes, I know you like looking at the outline of my head. It was just a good view of what it’s like once you pass the gates).

We did the same thing as we did with my mom—took a Sumida river cruise from Asakusa to Hamarikyu Gardens.

Hamarikyu gardens is still one of my favorite places in Tokyo. Serene and beautiful. 

Lyena thought it was the perfect place to show off her modeling abilities:

     In thirty years, I would like to take a similar picture, I will be fifty eight and Lyena …forty six:)

From there we walked to Zojoji Temple and Tokyo Tower.

This is possibly the last time we see Tokyo Tower before the new one is revealed sometime in 2012.

On Wednesday, Nov. 3^rd, I put Lyena on the bus to the international airport. We spent a fantastic fortnight together (I know! I cannot believe I still remember this word from my high school English lessons!). I surely hope she can come visit us again at wherever we’ll be living in two years.