(Day 2) Where The Catwalk Got Its Claws

Woke up (IN JAPAN!) a few times during the night but forced myself back to sleep. I will not let the evil jet-lag get the best of me! I finally decided to wake up for good at 6:50 AM. I ate my breakfast of onigiri and a fruit bar.



The morning was rainy so we slowly made our way to Ikebukuro station, taking in the sights previously shrouded in darkness last night.





We hopped on the Yamanote line train bound for Harajuku and arrived around 9:45 AM. We walked into and around the Meji Shrine and then strolled a bit of the way into Yoyogi Park.








The hand and/or face purifying station.









I was disappointed how overgrown Yoyogi Park had become! But it was still a nice walk filled with the ‘Can-you-spot-the-bum-in-the-trees’ game. We decided to start our shopping and headed towards Takeshita Dori (pronounced “Taa-kay-she-ta Door-ee” people).





Starting onto Takeshita, we decided to eat lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s Express and I had a Teriyaki and Mayonnaise pizza while watching the crowds of people (mostly girls with pink or white umbrellas) stream into the alley.





After lunch, we wandered down Takeshita and I started spending the hard-earned cash I’ve been accumulating the last few months. If you know of Harajuku and/or Takeshita Dori, it is a bit out of the ordinary and I have yet to find another place like it…







Harajuku has delicious crepes and I personally had been anticipating these crepes more than any other food in Japan. I couldn’t wait any longer.




Mother’s first crepe! (Definitely not her last!)


Ichigo-cheezu-cay-kee kudsai!



More shopping and more shopping later, we decided to venture down to Shibuya because I wanted to show my Mother the craziness that it is and we still had some time before we were to meet Maya for dinner. I love Shibuya except on rainy days such as today as the crush of people makes it difficult to walk with an umbrella. Still, Shibuya is an adventure on any given day!












One of their crazy variety shows! I am so fascinated.

I shoped at Daichu and Franfranc before heading into Tokyu Hands to take a rest on their soft, plushy beds. The sales lady came and stood right by us…I’m guessing she wanted us gone? But not a peep. I love Japan. Once we felt enough like wet dogs, we headed back to Harajuku to meet Maya. I was so happy to meet her!! We decided to look for a place to go for dinner and while walking, I spotted with my little eye something that made me squeal.


So what this is, and there is a few of them, is a semi-truck with whatever group ‘s faces plastered to it pumping their newest single – and all this truck does is drive around. But I squeal because I love NEWS. I think I’m going to cry. (T.T)

After wandering around the block, we decided to head to Shinjuku for monjayaki. We went to this restaurant that as far as I can tell was called “Okonomiyaki”. It was on the 8th floor of the ShinjukuMyLord building – whatever that is. It was delicious.




So cute.

We chatted for a while before Mother looked visibly pooped. We decided to part ways at that point and we headed back to Ikebukuro and stopped at Family Mart and am pm before arriving back to the Hotel at around 9:45 PM. Our door was open! Either fantastic hospitality or a forgetful cleaning lady. Bums. Relaxing inside our closet-like hotel room, I ate a bunch of these puffy things filled with goo that Maya gave me and they were delicious.

Tomorrow we are going to Tsukiji Fish Market and Imperial Palace among others…please come along.

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(Day 1) Happi Coats and Happy Erin

How can one possibly capture the trip of a year, or possibly a lifetime, within a series of pictures and words? I don’t think it is possible, but I’m going to try to at least communicate parts of it…please be patient while I recall the month I spent in Japan while feeling very natsukashii.

After eagerly anticipating September 27th for the last year, it arrived with a 8:10 AM phone call from Jean who called to say ‘farewell’. I groggily mustered some sort of response and hung up, then realizing that the appointed day had arrived. Hooray! I actually went back to sleep again though, only to be awakened by another phone call from a well-wisher. With that, I prepped and we left Abbotsford for Vancouver Airport.





My Mother was brave enough to try a Japanese adventure with me so she had flown in earlier from Manitoba and we met up at the airport for lunch. I had a delicious set of maki in preparation for the insane barrage of sushi that people assume Japan is (it’s not.)




Psyched!

After bidding our adieus, we headed through security and boarded the plane. We were lucky enough to be seated in the exit row – score!



After a long-but-short-feeling flight, we filled-out our paperwork and whisked our way into Japan. TADAIMA! (I’M BACK!)




Thank you.

So we ended up getting finger-printed (which is now standard and debatable if necessary) and managed to leave the airport with all baggage intact. Since I have previously flown into Narita, I was like an old pro, bolting from one station to another as my Mother followed along, somewhat confused by the entire ordeal. I almost lost her as I turned my head for a second to check a paper and turned back to see she was hurrying down a staircase that was not where we wanted to go. Rouge, I say!

We boarded the Narita Express without anymore incident and towards downtown Tokyo, we zipped.







After an hour and 45 minutes, our train pulled into our home for the next week, Ikebukuro. I had never been to Ikebukuro on my last trip to Japan, so I wasn’t 100 percent sure of what to expect, but I certainly did not expect the matsuri (festival) that was apparent upon our exit from the stations. Voila! Men in little coats and things that looked like diaper shorts.





Struggling through the rain and crowds of people, we found our hotel and checked in. We were more than happy to dump our belongings and cranked open the window for some fresh, downtown Tokyo air.




The blurry things are people.

Cries of “Yasshoi!” and various chants could be heard from every direction . This got me even more excited since it was ever-more apparent I was finally here. Jazzed, I was eager to head out and explore my new haunt. Mother, on the other hand, was less eager, feeling the effects of nausea and apprehension. Finally, she obliged and off we wandered. Our journey included Bic Camera, various convenience stores, and peeping into pachinko parlours. At Bic Camera, the guy ran to the counter when he saw I was ready to pay. When I said thank you, he bowed incredibly low to us. I was so honoured. Sniff sniff. Seriously, the service at Linens and Things could learn a few things.

Some lady shoo’ed us out of a purse store because they had closed since the two seconds we were welcomed in. Mother was still feeling crappy at this point, so we decided to call it a day and wandered down the back alleys home.





Relaxing back at the hotel again, I was still reeling from being in Japan - I got to watch Yoshiki from X-Japan on a variety show! He looks a lot like a woman.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to Harajuku and Shibuya, meeting Maya around dinner time. We will see what happens!

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Marketing the Night Goods

Richmond is the area of Vancouver where one can mingle and shop with a group collectively known to people as ‘the Asians’. Me, being part Asian myself (I count my brain as 2/3rds Asian), I fit in quite well with these folks. Since Janelle is interested in conversion, we took off to spend the day in Richmond.


Here is Janelle enjoying her curry tonkatsu don.

I bought some clothes and groceries while Janelle went nuts at the Daiso. We concluded our day with Janelle’s inaugural visit to the Night Market.








The popcorn dude.







Always a good time. Even when you can’t eat the delicious foods they have to offer. I went once more to the market after this last weekend, but that’s it for this year since they shut down first weekend in October. Can’t wait to see what next year brings – more sticky bras? More pirated Vietnamese soap operas? More strapless flip flops? We shall see.

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