Trippin': Tokyo, Japan - Day 3 [Travel Tuesday]

Note: It's Travel Tuesday! First, read Japan Day 1 and Japan Day 2. All Travel Tuesday posts are of course in the Travel Tuesday tag.

I love Tokyo!

It's hard to say goodbye.

Mar. 29th, 2007 at 12:11 AM

Last night in Japan.

Tokyo time: 1:10am.

Today was a totally different experience.

I went to Disneyland, felt like a kid again for a while, but immediately started feeling like an adult again when I saw the 3-hour wait lines.

I discovered that I don't really like any "classic" Disney character, save for the princesses.

I got myself lost on the way to the subway, but got to where I was supposed to go eventually.

I went with Rex to Ueno, where we looked through some interesting downtown shops, almost got flattened by a San-X bear, saw the beautiful cherry blossoms, had a street food dinner, and walked through a park with a pond.

I saw how one can never get bored in Japan when Rex took me to see the Tokyo Games Center.

I found out that I've gotten used to the cold, and my legs have gotten really strong.

I realized that there are just some people I can talk to for hours with, with comfortable silences in between, while there are some that I can never be that way with.

I fell in love with this country, and I'm so sad now that I'm leaving.

I gotta go.

We're going to go hang out in Lowenz's room to share pics and stories and wait for checkout time now.

Japan, mata aimashou!

Definitely.

Current Mood: sad sad

Current Music:Silence in my Tokyo Dome Hotel room

Wednesday

Start of Day 3

Ohayou! (Good morning!) I woke up early, said bye to Rex (whose talking Japanese cellphone woke us up), showered, toothbrushed, and dressed quickly, then had breakfast with Kaye, Edu, and Alex at Pier View, which had the international buffet. No more Yugyo-An Tankuma Kita-Mise (where the Japanese breakfast was). Bacon is heaven.

The hotel lobby looked busy that morning. Our group met up there with the other delegations (Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, India) at 9am to go to Disneyland.

That lady walking there is from Epson Japan. She acted as our tour guide for the day. We nicknamed her "Stress" because she had a hard time looking out for all five delegations, with each group having 6 to 7 people. 

We had to take several trains again. Stress was really fast in weaving in and out of the crowds (time is really gold in Japan), but Kaye and I had no trouble keeping up with her because we already had some fierce Jedi training the night before. We chatted with her while waiting endlessly for the others. Yabang!

Train scenes: Edu and I waiting for the train with a couple of the journalists from Vietnam and Malaysia; Erika only came up to the guy's elbows; smiles on everyone's faces. 

I saw a girl eating onigiri! I just had to snap a pic. 

The view from the train.

Tokyo fashion.

Disneyland!

The Mickey Mouse bus and train.

Naluma daw ang Enchanted!

This couple was cute. The girl had Minnie Mouse ears, while the guy had Mickey Mouse ones.

My Disneyland passport and map.

The Welcome building.

These guys were there to greet us. We all said, "Who that?" 

Kaye and I totally made Woody Woodpecker's day. [Edit: Okay, we thought he was Woody but it turns out Woody isn't a Disney character! Now who the hell is this bird dude? If anyone knows, please comment!]

Alex, Kaye, and I, posing with Pluto, who looks way better in person.

Lowenz had his own bonding moment with the dog.

I hate Goofy with a passion. I don't know what the hell Kaye was doing to his ear here.

Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse were pretty exclusive! Only about 20 people were allowed to line up for pictures with them, hmmmph.

Harajuku girls.

Lowenz zapping the innocence from the place.

Kaye trying to eat the Japanese-speaking Stitch?

The balloons were so pretty!

We look pretty damn good with mouse ears.

It's possible to be amoy-araw even if it's cold and you're not sweating! We had a quick Coke break.

The castle!

Love love love.

Kaye, Edu, and Alex, in the sun.

Tulips!

Coke endorser much?

Kawaii!

Erika, trying out the water fountain.

Couldn't get enough of the castle. I had it on my Disneyland watch when I was a kid. 

Everything was really pretty.

These Japanese boys were so game! They yelled "Yeah!" with every pic.

I thought Peter Pan was in Neverland?

Mr. Smee, what are you doing? It turned out he was signing autographs for the kids. How Hollywood!

It wasn't a good day to go to Disneyland. All the kids were on spring break, so the lines were three-hours long. We opted out of going on any rides, so we just walked around the place looking at everything instead.

This place had no line, but we found out the 3D movie only had Japanese narration. We figured it would be a waste of time to watch something in a language we didn't understand, without subtitles. 

Kaye wanted to see the Mad Hatter but he was busy with his tea party. Sorry Kaye, you weren't invited. 

Puppets.

Pinocchio! Buti hindi siya umapoy, hahaha (if you know the joke, keep quiet).

Lowenz bullied this girl into posing with them.

So many people!

Lunch time. The lines were crazy! It took an hour for us to get food.

But I guess a Mickey Mouse-shaped cheeseburger is kind of worth the wait.

Futureland.

I felt the magic!

Oooh it's the castle up close.

Lowenz and Julls, at the ball of the Twelve Dancing Princesses inside the castle. (I can't believe not everyone knows this story! It was my favorite fairy tale.)

This guy was making little glass figures. 

I loved this ring! I will come back for it one day. Everything in Tokyo was expensive, but everything in Tokyo Disneyland was even worse. I didn't buy anything there. The only Disney characters I'd spend precious yen on are the ones from Finding Nemo, but they're not classic, and the movie's a collaboration with Pixar, blah.

This reminded me of the Philippines' jeepneys.

Bye, Disneyland.

What gorgeous flowers! Sigh.

Nice hedge.

Back on the train. Kaye snapped this candid of me looking so drained from all the activity.

Home sweet home! I had to work on a gameplan when we got back to the hotel. The peeps were going to different places, and I had to decide on what to do. One of the options was going to Akihabara, the electronics city and otaku haven. Rex wasn't so hot on Akihabara though, he said it was just touristy, so he suggested Ueno, which he said had shops and a park. I thought that would be a good way to experience things the non-tourist way. I also didn't really want to buy gadgets, since I'm always in Singapore and gadgets are super cheap there, and though I like anime, I'm not obsessed. The peeps and I had to split up that day, but it was good that we did because we got to tell each other all about our different experiences the day after. Lowenz went to Shinjuku to spend his yen on culture, while Kaye and Erika went to Akihabara to shop for their families.

Rex and I arranged to meet at a subway station near the hotel. We agreed to be there in 10 minutes, so I hurried off after saying goodbye to the others. 

Guess what? I got lost. I had a hard time because of the lack of signs in English. I found my way after I finally found a sign that said "Kasuga Station - 250m". 

I was so glad to see the station entrance! It took me almost 30 minutes to get to it.

Here's the awesome ticket machine. I wish we had these in Manila. Manual ticket booths make things so slow, resulting in horrific lines. 

Rex, checking the Ueno map.

Downtown! We looked through the shops - there were all sorts there, from electronics to food, to sporting gear. The place was like our own Greenhills and Divisoria combined, only neater, cleaner, and more organized. We spent some time in an electronics store. Rex bought a couple of iPod accessories, while I gawked at the many gadgets that the world will never see because they are exclusive to Japan only. 

A pachinko parlor.

Ueno Crossing.

Look at who we ran into - Korilakkuma (baby bear)! It's so cute, I love it! It's a San-X character, who, coincidentally, is on the bento box that I bought in Don Quixote. While I was having my pic taken though, some drunk dude came and harassed the bear, so it lost its balance and almost fell on top of me! 

Haha, that's Rex, hugging the bear. It's so funny how its paw is on Rex's head. 

The lovely lights at the entrance to Ueno Park. 

Sakura!

The park was so beautiful! The whole path was lined with pink and white cherry trees. But it was so hard to take pictures because there were so many people. I had to take quick shots while walking because if I stopped too long I'd block traffic. Here's a clear one of the buds.

There were so many people having picnics under the cherry trees. Most of them were in costume, and they were very drunk. The businessmen in suits looked hilarious, wearing sakura masks. I learned from Rex that they do this as long as there are cherry blossoms. They go crazy under those trees, haha. 

Me.

Pure white sakura.

Japan's National Museum is located at the end of the park.

Then the food stalls came into view. We decided to have a street food dinner.

There were so many people.

We got chicken in a paper cup. It was good.

Then we found a barbecue stand. Rex got a pork stick, and I got a beef one. 

Absolutely scrumptious! They were pretty hefty sticks too, so they were very filling. Mine tasted like steak. We sat on a bench at the back of the stall to eat.

At the end of the streetfood lane was a small temple. These are the prayers that people offered.

The path then led to a pond. It was pretty dark there, but there were quite a lot of people, and it seemed very safe. Here in the Philippines, you go to a dark corner, you get mugged instantly.

It was a long walk to get back to the street, but I felt that my legs have already gotten stronger. The whole time we were at Ueno, we only got to sit for five or ten minutes but I was fine. 

We came upon a store called Beard Papa's, and Rex made me try their cream puffs. They rock! We got green tea for him and strawberry for me. The strawberry had just the right amount of sweetness, and I normally don't like green tea in any form, but this cream puff was delicious. These things were the perfect dessert for our streetfood dinner. Amusing fact: our streetfood dinner - chicken in a paper cup, two barbecue sticks, two cream puffs, and two cans of soda - cost about 2,500 Japanese yen. That translates to 1000 Philippine pesos, or 20 US dollars. That's how expensive it is in Japan.

We headed back to Korakuen and went straight to the Tokyo Games Center in Tokyo Dome City. We got drinks at a vendo first though. The Coke cans were so cute I took a couple home with me.

The batting range is a lot of fun. Every player gets a screen which has a life-sized, animated person simulating a pitch.

Arcade fare. 

A camera-clicking game.

Rex played this great boxing game that had him dodging and blocking the opponents' punches really quickly to be able to throw punches of his own.

Students shooting hoops, a businessman playing soccer.

Drums.

Pachinko.

Plastic horse races.

Guitar.

Dance Dance Revolution.

Some weird coin game. I don't see how anyone can get bored in Japan! There is so much to do, and a ton of fascinating things to see.

Rex and I got back to the hotel a little before 8pm. We told stories, I went online to blog and check my e-mail, he dozed off a bit on the chair, then he left to catch the last train before midnight.

Arigatou! (Thank you!) I found a Japanese robe in one of the drawers in my room, so I put it on then I called Kaye to take a pic, teehee.

I filled up the tub with scorching hot water and soaked for a while. It soothed my tired muscles which were already hard and painful from all the walking and running the past three days.

Tokyo looks great, morning or night. The day technically ends here, since it's midnight, but it didn't actually end because we decided not to sleep during our last night anymore. For now though, o yasumi nasai (goodnight)! 

End of Day 3