A Japanese Summer: Chapter One (ii)

A friendly warning before we proceed: Post is very very photo heavy not to mention I've even slot in a short video or two. Therefore, why don't we enjoy a good intro while we let everything load itself as we "scroll" along. Good?

A Japanese Summer: Prologue
A Japanese Summer: Chapter One (i)


Woke up around eight in the morning while we took turns using the toilet. Did I mention how tiny everything in Japan is? I love Japan. *hearts it lots and lots* But cost of living is just a killer. Tiny apartment, tiny toilets and I assure you what you have in mind of 'tiny" right now, shrink it another two times.

Yup.

TINY.

Okay, let's continue. So we pandai-pandai follow YY out, keeping note of all the details as we go. *cough cough* Watch and learn, my friend. GOTTA Watch and Learn. Because upon reaching Shinjuku Station aka the busiest train station in the world, we have to bid farewell to YY as she head off to work. In other words, we were on our own! *gan jiong 100%*

So we explore the station, find the right train line, get ourselves to the right track number and board the right train. Not bad! And we're on our way to the famous Harajuku.

Ah the famous Takeshita Street (竹下通り Takeshita-dōri) a must visit street for us young people. *nods* Read Wikipedia for more info. Hee... By the way, most keywords are linked to a wiki link, just in case you're wondering "where is Harajuku?", "how massive is Shinjuku Station?", etc. Just Clickie. So convenient, right? Because pass experience has taught me not everyone knows Japan as us Japan lovers do.

Hiyashi : Ah this is Harajuku! *points to photo*
X Person: Ah.. okay. *with a very clueless look on their faces*

-___-

HARAJUKU

Where fashion is a statement on its own.

Where you drool over fake food.

Where girls dye their hair blonds, dressed in eye-catching outfit and yet we don't call them "Ah Lian".

Then again, Ganguro Girls probably freak you out even more. If you don't know who they are, you really should click on the link and be amazed. Hey, learn something new today.

OUT OF THE WORLD.

Well said.

Did I mention how droolable fake food are in Japan? Oh yes. I did.

And you would have thought in a country where you can make payments with a mere scan of your mobile phone that old board-carrying advertising is well, the dinasour way of doing it.

Man was screaming "Cheap something something, shop is just behind the street. Come come." Or something like that. =P

Ah pretty Japanese girls willingly pose for us.

*niceness 100%*

Woohoo... lookie at all the people.
Sigh, I wish I am there right now again.

Where else you find a dental clinic next to a lingerie shop?

QUIRKY JAPAN
♥

And along a busy street of fashion and craziness lies a little alley, so hidden, so modest yet so intriguing.

A shrine pulak!

Tapi seorang pun takde kat situ.

It's a ritual to clean oneself before entering a temple in Japan. Four simple steps: Scoop, Wash, Wash and Wash.

Cleaning your body and mind at the Water Place before visiting a shrine.
1. Take a water scoop on right hand.
2. Scoop water and wash left hand.
3. Switch scoop on left hand, and wash right hand.
4. Switch scoop back on right hand and pour water on left hand, then wash your mouth.

DO NOT Wash your mouth directly from scoop.

Info taken from MustLoveJapan.

In which I broke BIG NO NO RULE. *dies* But I did not wash mouth directly from scoop. More like placing scoop near mouth for photo shooting purposes. For this, I will like to seek forgiveness for my ignorance of my manners. Hontoni Gomenasai! *bows*

And we hit the streets again.

Of the many shops we entered. This one allowed us to take pictures for obvious reasons. Famous people frequent the shop man! The owner spoke good English. Well, definitely with such a clientele. Though, he did say it was his first encounter with fellow Malaysians. *grins* I guess we should put our names up there, too.

"Vin & Cub: First Malaysian Visitors"

Why had no Malaysian gone down there? Ya. It was down a series of steps, pass a few shops before you'll find the shop. *sweats* That's probably why! HAHAHA... and why on earth were we down there? *shrugs* No reason. Saja "keh poh".

And our "keh-poh"ness led us to a place where Lost Prophets and American Idiots buy fashion. How cool is that?

It's Coolness 110%.

Snap a short of Harajuku Station before we bid farewell to Harajuku. I know that don't look very Japanese looking is it? But it's the famous Harajuku Station after all.

Off we go again!

Tokyo Day Out Next Stop is a place where even flyer distributors cosplay to attract attention.

QUIRKY JAPAN
♥

Yup. Akihabara. The Electronic/Otaku Heaven!

Buildings with anime and manga character billboards here, there and everywhere. But secretly both of us were nervous the whole time we were there because of the recent stabbing rampage happened few months back. Scared lah! Scared lah! We fast go, fast cabut.

But not before we drool over all the Japanese phone we dreadfully wished to own. And Cubbie even gasak the marketing pamphlets that has her idol on the cover. Heee...

Here's the biggy news! We DID bought ourselves a phone each. Unbelievable but true. I'll blog about it in a later post. You wait while I show you cool pictures of the phone later on. *snickers*

*******

We headed home after that. It rained though. So we ran towards the nearest eatery from the station. Yoshinoya. HAHAHA... yes we have Yoshinoya here in Malaysia.

Lookie what was at the background. Yup. That's the station.

It was still raining after we finished our meal. We waited and we dashed, from one shop to another along Prope Street. Finally we arrived at a departmental store and we bought cute umbrellas there. But of course, when we came out of the store the rain had stopped. *geramness 10%* So we head home with a new umbrella, a new phone and a whole lot of other goodies.

Next Chapter: HOKKAIDO! Hokkaido saikou!