Headed out to Harajuku station for the 2nd time on Saturday morning, to show my sis around the place. Since it was still rather early, we decided to visit the Meiji-jingu shrine just behind the station! It took a good 15mins before we finally reached the shrine. Along the way we ran into a large group of elderly Japanese tourists who were excitedly making their way to the shrine. Quite an amusing sight =)
The huge torii gates! The wood for the 2 pillars came from a tree on a mountain in Taiwan. The largest torii in Tokyo I think?
And... we were in luck! I counted at least 2 couples getting married in traditional ceremonies!
The first couple!
A pair of huge, beautiful trees connected by a rope.
The actual shrine itself, built in memory of Emperor Meiji.
The 2nd couple!
It was my first time seeing this so it was quite exciting for me, and for the other tourists that were busy snapping away. I suppose the bride and groom felt as if they were celebrities or something. And those kimonos! They looked so exquisite and elaborate! If I were a Japanese girl I'd probably want to wear one of those XD
After that we walked a short distance to take a picture of the Yoyogi National Stadium, where Ayumi Hamasaki always holds her finale and countdown concerts =) I could hear a street band performing in nearby Yoyogi Park but unfortunately we didn't have enough time to investigate.
Shibuya AX is located behind the stadium, where the likes of YUI and AKFG have performed before ^^.
Harajuku's Meiji-dori street. Not many of those gothic dressers walking around, probably because it was still early in the morning. I could spot several groups of normally dressed youths pulling luggages <- filled with their extravagant clothings!
The crepes! This time I ate a simple one - vanilla and blueberry. Delicious! And cooling too, on a sunny day despite the time of the year.
We walked all the way to Shibuya from Harajuku , where we headed back to the hotel to get ready to visit my dad's old colleague and friend from Hitachi, Fujita-san!
We took a long train ride all the way to Mobara station in Chiba (about 2 hours, even on an express), where Fujita-san met us with his nephew-in-law, Yuichi-san. Really nice to see them again after 5 years, with that same wide smile. Unlike the last time we had some time to spare before dinner so they showed us around their quiet hometown.
Fujita-san and us.
Yuichi-san (don't you think he looks like the guy who acted in the Trick series?)
We followed them around Mobara park, where we walked to a Buddhist temple surrounded by cemeteries (contrary to the obvious it was quite tranquil instead of scary). Then they brought us to Fujita-san's sister's house/salon for a drink and some snacks. Small and cozy place! Exactly the same as I remembered 5 years ago. I didn't get a haircut though XD. Met a couple of high school boys getting their hair styled in the salon. Yuichi-san then brought us to the old Hitachi factory where my dad used to work at.
Once it was time we headed off to this cozy little Italian restaurant for dinner, where the entire extended family turned up!
Everyone was quite delighted that we were there, including Fujita-san's daughter Aya-san and niece Soko-san who bombarded my sis and me with questions about life in Singapore and other random stuff. Quite amusing when trying to understand their English while at the same time phrasing the answers so that they'd understand. Tried my hand at speaking some Japanese (and failed, sadly) although Soko-san said I was very good XD. Then we had this lively discussion about kanji vs chinese characters and names. They were quite intrigued by our chinese names, and were very amused when we translated their Japanese names into (rather bad-sounding) Chinese ones. Too bad we had to leave relatively early to catch the last train going back to Tokyo.
The next morning on Sunday, me and my dad headed down to Akihabara to take a quick look around before we flew back to Singapore. It was drizzling slightly so there wasn't much activity outside the station (I missed the cosplayers and street performers! T.T).
It's really a geek heaven! Huge buildings filled to the brim with electronics, computers, consoles and games, anime, figurines and many other random (geeky) stuff. Too bad I didn't step into the famed Maid Cafes (I didn't know what to expect, especially with my dad around =x) and that 7 floor building filled with porn mentioned by depyon XD
And the ultimate geek nostalgia:
I haven't seen one of those in ages! Ever since I stopped playing my SEGA console I thought cartridge game consoles were dead (minus the Gameboy). Apparently someone resurrected the Nintendo 64 and its available for sale! If it wasn't for the high prices of the cartridges I'd have bought one for old time's sake =)
After that half-satisfactory visit to Akihabara we bade farewell to Japan, back to Singapore.
Somehow I get the feeling that I'll want to go back again. Someday, when I have the money XD
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