Tokyo

This weekend was a three day weekend so I went down to Tokyo with Monica. We took an overnight bus down to Tokyo on Friday night. It left Osaka at 11:50 PM and we arrived in Tokyo at 8 AM. I know that may sound like a really long ride but let me tell you, the bus was wonderful! The seats reclined almost all the way, we had a leg rest and foot rest and they gave us slippers. Not to mention the bus was a double decker bus and had refreshments. I sleep soundly that night.

Anyway, we arrive Saturday morning in Tokyo and I called my aunt to pick us up from the train station (which is like 5 minutes walking distance from the house). We went back to the house, dropped off our luggage and then went out again to see the town. The streets were especially busy as people were preparing for the festivals. We went to a nice French restaurant to eat for lunch and then we met my aunt's niece (Asami) at the train station. There, we parted with my aunt and Asami proceeded to play tour guide for us for the day. We went to Shinjuku and Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is fantastic. The view is absolutely gorgeous! I want to go at night sometime.. I'll bet its even better then. You can't jump off though. There are safety nets EVERWHERE.

Anyhow, after Tokyo Tower, we went back to the house where we met my grandmother, uncle and his wife for dinner. We all went out to this fabulous little Japanese restaurants where we all stuffed ourselves silly. It was glorious :) I sat next to my grandmother who would get upset if I didnt eat (but I DID eat- a lot! But she kept missing it so she made me eat more.. ). She's so cute. After dinner, me, Monica, Asami and Asami's little sister went out to karaoke. Oh goodness, it was so much fun. They were impressed with me and Mon trying to sing Japanese music (but we struggled as we can't read the Japanese lyrics yet lol)

Sunday, my grandmother was leaving for the weekend so we spent the morning with her. She really wanted to spend time with us but there wasnt really anything to do... so we went out for ice cream. At 10 in the morning. So yes, I had ice cream for breakfast and it was fantastic (I know, I'm a fatty). After that, Monica and I went to the Asakusa Temple to do some sightseeing and souvenier shopping. Soon after, we went to Shibuya and walked around for a few hours until we met up with my friend from high school (Elton). He showed us some great places around town and then we went to a cafe for dessert. No dinner, just dessert :) Monica and I shared this ginourmous ice cream sundae. Mmmm soooooooooooo good. After that, we did the "purikura" (the little sticker booth things). It was crazy! These sticker machines are ridiculous! You take like 6 pictures and then you get to decorate all of them! It was fun. After that, we went to karaoke again... it was lots and lots of fun. We're totally ridiculous :) But it was a good night.

Monday, we went out to Harajuku to do some souvenier shopping. Needless to say, we bought a lot of stuff and it was kind of awkward trying to bring it all back on the train. We looked like extreme tourists. All we needed was the Fromer's guidebook and fanny pack -_-; Anyhow, we took the Shinkansen back (the Japanese bullet train) so the ride was about 3 hours. The train was pretty neat. The seats were spacious and we got served refreshments on a pushcart (airplane style)... it was cool. The view was fantastic too. Mt Fuji on one side and the ocean on the other.

I finally made it back by 6:45 to my house where I took a shower and fell asleep. All in all, it was a great weekend. I got to see my family and just hang out. I know it might sound a bit boring, but I've done all of the Tokyo stuff before. It was nice just to relax :) Anyhow, that was my weekend.

Smile!

PS Sorry the pics arent as good today. I got lazy... but you can probably see more on facebook or something.