Day 7: (Tokyo) Harajuku, Shibuya, JR bus to Osaka
IT'S OUR LAST DAY IN TOKYO AND YES IT'S COSPLAY DAY!!! *excited-nehhh* it was going to be a good day. our luggages were packed, we knew our breakfast is settled, and today is cosplay day!!
saw a couple of dogs (one of which a shiba inu! SO CUTE.)
while we were settling for our breakfast:
The owner proceeded to say something in Japanese to me... probably "go away, and never come back" or something along those lines. the girls were shopping for stockings in the meantime.
we saw a loli (maybe not, actually? i'm not sure. that could be normal for her) once we reached the subway!
once we reached harajuku i got pretty excited. YAY OMOTESANDO AND ORIENTAL BAZAAR AND COSPLAY!!! XD
here we are, leaving the chicago thrift store:
past this walkway:
and there's agnes b.! i zoomed in on checking out the prices... hmm anything i can afford? anything? hmm... doodeedoo... ooh this purple bag is nice!
i asked the salesgirl for assistance and she very enthusiastically pulled out the tag and said it was on sale at only 7000Y, originally it was 7900Y i think. ooh. not bad. i was equally enthusiastic, putting up my thumbs when she pointed out the price difference and when she said 'DISCOUNT'.
seeing my excitement, she asked me to 'chotto' while she went to the storeroom. i continued musing about whether i should get the bag... then with a flourish she came out and pulled out a very classic looking sling bag.
i took one look and said, 'i want this. can you reserve it for me?' haha i think i shocked her. she actually just wanted to give me more choices in discounted merchandise. hehe.
i left the purple bag behind, and went on ahead to oriental bazaar first to check it out. I LOVED IT. there were so many gift ideas - i got something for jade (hehe), and my mom (a furoshiki bag otherwise known as 'when badly tied, the scrotum on rings' -____-)
after musing over all the furoshiki cloths and wondering which set was better and choosing gifts for alvin's family, back to agnes b i went.
YAY YAY! that's the purple bag:
the shop front:
the fantastic saleslady:
I BOUGHT BOTH BAGS. can't help it. *shrug*
had tax rebate somemore. *ROCKS OUT* so it's about time to go check out yoyogi park for some cosplayers! but as we walked, the park was gorgeous BUT THERE WERE SO FEW COSPLAYERS! i was very, very, very sad. :(
yoyogi park was very pretty (and windy) though. it looked like it might rain.
in front of meiji jingu shrine:
ooh! ONE loli.
er, not very smart of me to shop like a fiend in omotesando at the START of the day.
WOW I LOVE THIS SHADE:
this one's gorgeous too!
as we left yoyogi (no cosplayers - no point *sadded*) we saw this huge throng of people at the thai festival:
We didn't eat there since... Thai food in Japan? Really? Sushi in Bangkok was weird enough.
and as we turned back, the Grease 'hoodlums' were starting their performance. we'd previously walked past them on the way into Yoyogi park, but they refused to let us take a picture of them. oh well. :)
they cannot escape my zoom!
we detoured and went back to meiji jingu bridge. still no signs of cosplayers. there were a few here and there i guess but they didn't stay long:
the cosplaying shrine maiden outside the shrine which houses actual shrine maidens. haha!
and then we saw her:
utterly fantastiche. she made my day man!
after this we didn't have time to wait for anymore cosplayers to turn up so we headed into meiji jingu shrine. it was a long gravel-ly walk in.
took us about 10 minutes walk in to get here:
the next torii gate:
meiji jingu is very very scenic. i can see why so many weddings are held here. it's like a sanctuary.
ooh a bride!
another wedding!
ok it's getting cold... let's leave for takeshita-dori!
there was such a HUGE CROWD that we just decided to have lunch at yoshinoya. WHICH IS HEAPS BETTER THAN IN SINGAPORE.
check out the crowd man:
from the fantastic crepes shop right at the front.
i was so happy to find one in liang court!! XD INGRID WE SHOULD GO TOGETHERRRR!
i spent a large portion of my time in Paris Kids where everything was for 315Y. i bought another fudai/ happy-bag, 5-6 necklaces and quite a few hair accessories. then i was flat broke and we had to leave.
we also went to the 100 yen shop and i got these (plus mickey mouse stuff for nel):
hanbin split to nakano broadway (he wanted to check out mandarake for his figurines etc) while the remaining three of us went to shiBOOYAH! (shibuya)
after leaving all my extra bags and shopping in a locker, we saw RANKING RANQUEEN!! they rank the best products according to popularity. they have categories such as for nails, hair, shiny hair, straight hair, curly hair, smooth skin, yummiest skin products, and a whole lot of other stuff i don't really understand.
i bought this although it's available in singapore sprees. haha.
shibuya crossing:
we go to the ground floor of the subway mall and start our journey.
a promotional for eminem:
THEN WE SEE IT. KRISPY KREME! with all notion of shopping abandoned, we make a beeline for it.
this is my FIRST TIME in a krispy kreme store. and hence, yes, i am very deprived.
THEY GIVE OUT FREE SUGAR GLAZED RINGS WHILE YOU'RE WAITING!!! T_T
and then we were also looking for the hachiko statue for so long... we thought it was replaced by this:
but no la it was hidden among shrubbery and is currently a smoker's corner.
we met hanbin at nakano and surprised him with krispy kreme's, while alvin ran upstairs to check out mandarake for himself. we waited and waited (us girls couldn't walk no more - we're pooped) till 7pm, then went for dinner at ZATS burger.
omg the place was so hard to find!!!!! all we had was an arrow and which exit to take. i'm sure alvin was really frustrated especially after he planned out so much food but could hardly find any of the places he wanted to go to. sigh.
well of course we finally found ZATS after 45 minutes of walking (it's hidden upslope) and finally rested our weary selves. we made our order, which came back to us with a 'we have nothing, no jalapenos, no fries NOTHING... except the Sasebo burger.' zzz.
so we all had the same thing.
AND IT WAS PRETTY DARN GOOD! OMG I WANT MORE!!!
hanbin's dmc figurine. hahahahaha.
my paris kids fudai (couldn't find any in shibuya):
SO HARD TO OPEN!
chuu: here, lemme give u a hand.
ooh.
yay i know what to give to my kids now:
black cat on the way home!
ugh it was painful from this point on. we went back to nakano to collect our luggage (by 10pm) and we had awhile to repack our bags (by then i had 4 extra boutique bags) and wash up, then rush down to shinjuku with EVERYTHING, find the bus point and hop onto the overnight bus.
the lady at sonehouse sent us off, warning us about the very bad H1N1 outbreak in osaka AND kobe (the two main hot spots then - we're going to both!) and then we said our goodbyes and left for the subway station. the stairs, the slopes, the crowd, the cold and losing our way once out of shinjuku did not help. we routed all around shinjuku subway station just to find the right exit, and then took a turn up a very long slope.
by the time we reached the bus station it was 1120pm (omg that's cutting it close - the bus was leaving at 1130pm sharp), my fingers were blistered and chuu looked like she was about to collapse. we bundled onto the bus...
and hereby started our very uncomfortable and restless ride to Osaka... *uncomfortable zzzs and snores*
saw a couple of dogs (one of which a shiba inu! SO CUTE.)
while we were settling for our breakfast:
The owner proceeded to say something in Japanese to me... probably "go away, and never come back" or something along those lines. the girls were shopping for stockings in the meantime.
we saw a loli (maybe not, actually? i'm not sure. that could be normal for her) once we reached the subway!
once we reached harajuku i got pretty excited. YAY OMOTESANDO AND ORIENTAL BAZAAR AND COSPLAY!!! XD
here we are, leaving the chicago thrift store:
past this walkway:
and there's agnes b.! i zoomed in on checking out the prices... hmm anything i can afford? anything? hmm... doodeedoo... ooh this purple bag is nice!
i asked the salesgirl for assistance and she very enthusiastically pulled out the tag and said it was on sale at only 7000Y, originally it was 7900Y i think. ooh. not bad. i was equally enthusiastic, putting up my thumbs when she pointed out the price difference and when she said 'DISCOUNT'.
seeing my excitement, she asked me to 'chotto' while she went to the storeroom. i continued musing about whether i should get the bag... then with a flourish she came out and pulled out a very classic looking sling bag.
i took one look and said, 'i want this. can you reserve it for me?' haha i think i shocked her. she actually just wanted to give me more choices in discounted merchandise. hehe.
i left the purple bag behind, and went on ahead to oriental bazaar first to check it out. I LOVED IT. there were so many gift ideas - i got something for jade (hehe), and my mom (a furoshiki bag otherwise known as 'when badly tied, the scrotum on rings' -____-)
after musing over all the furoshiki cloths and wondering which set was better and choosing gifts for alvin's family, back to agnes b i went.
YAY YAY! that's the purple bag:
the shop front:
the fantastic saleslady:
I BOUGHT BOTH BAGS. can't help it. *shrug*
had tax rebate somemore. *ROCKS OUT* so it's about time to go check out yoyogi park for some cosplayers! but as we walked, the park was gorgeous BUT THERE WERE SO FEW COSPLAYERS! i was very, very, very sad. :(
yoyogi park was very pretty (and windy) though. it looked like it might rain.
in front of meiji jingu shrine:
ooh! ONE loli.
er, not very smart of me to shop like a fiend in omotesando at the START of the day.
WOW I LOVE THIS SHADE:
this one's gorgeous too!
as we left yoyogi (no cosplayers - no point *sadded*) we saw this huge throng of people at the thai festival:
We didn't eat there since... Thai food in Japan? Really? Sushi in Bangkok was weird enough.
and as we turned back, the Grease 'hoodlums' were starting their performance. we'd previously walked past them on the way into Yoyogi park, but they refused to let us take a picture of them. oh well. :)
they cannot escape my zoom!
we detoured and went back to meiji jingu bridge. still no signs of cosplayers. there were a few here and there i guess but they didn't stay long:
the cosplaying shrine maiden outside the shrine which houses actual shrine maidens. haha!
and then we saw her:
utterly fantastiche. she made my day man!
after this we didn't have time to wait for anymore cosplayers to turn up so we headed into meiji jingu shrine. it was a long gravel-ly walk in.
took us about 10 minutes walk in to get here:
the next torii gate:
meiji jingu is very very scenic. i can see why so many weddings are held here. it's like a sanctuary.
ooh a bride!
another wedding!
ok it's getting cold... let's leave for takeshita-dori!
there was such a HUGE CROWD that we just decided to have lunch at yoshinoya. WHICH IS HEAPS BETTER THAN IN SINGAPORE.
check out the crowd man:
from the fantastic crepes shop right at the front.
i was so happy to find one in liang court!! XD INGRID WE SHOULD GO TOGETHERRRR!
i spent a large portion of my time in Paris Kids where everything was for 315Y. i bought another fudai/ happy-bag, 5-6 necklaces and quite a few hair accessories. then i was flat broke and we had to leave.
we also went to the 100 yen shop and i got these (plus mickey mouse stuff for nel):
hanbin split to nakano broadway (he wanted to check out mandarake for his figurines etc) while the remaining three of us went to shiBOOYAH! (shibuya)
after leaving all my extra bags and shopping in a locker, we saw RANKING RANQUEEN!! they rank the best products according to popularity. they have categories such as for nails, hair, shiny hair, straight hair, curly hair, smooth skin, yummiest skin products, and a whole lot of other stuff i don't really understand.
i bought this although it's available in singapore sprees. haha.
shibuya crossing:
we go to the ground floor of the subway mall and start our journey.
a promotional for eminem:
THEN WE SEE IT. KRISPY KREME! with all notion of shopping abandoned, we make a beeline for it.
this is my FIRST TIME in a krispy kreme store. and hence, yes, i am very deprived.
THEY GIVE OUT FREE SUGAR GLAZED RINGS WHILE YOU'RE WAITING!!! T_T
and then we were also looking for the hachiko statue for so long... we thought it was replaced by this:
but no la it was hidden among shrubbery and is currently a smoker's corner.
we met hanbin at nakano and surprised him with krispy kreme's, while alvin ran upstairs to check out mandarake for himself. we waited and waited (us girls couldn't walk no more - we're pooped) till 7pm, then went for dinner at ZATS burger.
omg the place was so hard to find!!!!! all we had was an arrow and which exit to take. i'm sure alvin was really frustrated especially after he planned out so much food but could hardly find any of the places he wanted to go to. sigh.
well of course we finally found ZATS after 45 minutes of walking (it's hidden upslope) and finally rested our weary selves. we made our order, which came back to us with a 'we have nothing, no jalapenos, no fries NOTHING... except the Sasebo burger.' zzz.
so we all had the same thing.
AND IT WAS PRETTY DARN GOOD! OMG I WANT MORE!!!
hanbin's dmc figurine. hahahahaha.
my paris kids fudai (couldn't find any in shibuya):
SO HARD TO OPEN!
chuu: here, lemme give u a hand.
ooh.
yay i know what to give to my kids now:
black cat on the way home!
ugh it was painful from this point on. we went back to nakano to collect our luggage (by 10pm) and we had awhile to repack our bags (by then i had 4 extra boutique bags) and wash up, then rush down to shinjuku with EVERYTHING, find the bus point and hop onto the overnight bus.
the lady at sonehouse sent us off, warning us about the very bad H1N1 outbreak in osaka AND kobe (the two main hot spots then - we're going to both!) and then we said our goodbyes and left for the subway station. the stairs, the slopes, the crowd, the cold and losing our way once out of shinjuku did not help. we routed all around shinjuku subway station just to find the right exit, and then took a turn up a very long slope.
by the time we reached the bus station it was 1120pm (omg that's cutting it close - the bus was leaving at 1130pm sharp), my fingers were blistered and chuu looked like she was about to collapse. we bundled onto the bus...
and hereby started our very uncomfortable and restless ride to Osaka... *uncomfortable zzzs and snores*
posted by feline @ 8:49 AM
