Hey-ho its Tokyo..and Sendai
Day 6 (continue): We reached Shinjuku,
Tokyo about 1.30pm and bumped into June and the others at the station. They
were on their way to Kobe. We got 6 hours to kill as I told our host that we’ll
be arriving at their house at about 7pm. Since we didn’t want to trouble them,
we left our bags in the locker at the station and did some sightseeing around
Tokyo.
After that, we went Tokyo Dome and took
pictures of the beautiful light show that was on until Christmas. We also saw
some workers setting up sign board for Arashi’s concert this coming Friday. We
decided to come back to this place on Friday if time permit to stalk them here.
Later we head to Ginza. This place is like Champ Elysees in Paris were tall buildings containing famous brands such as Gucci, Coach, Georgio Armani, LV etc stand tall and proud. All the famous brands that you can think of can be found here.
We went around Shinjuku, Shibuya and
Harajuku within 3 hours. Both of us were not fans of big cities so we found it
quite boring and just another typical city. There’s nothing much to see beside
tall buildings and shopping malls. At Shibuya,we went to Shibuya 109 and Shibuya Center Town where it's a place famous for its food outlets and among teen girls.
From
Shibuya, we walked for 10-15 minutes to Harajuku and went to
Takeshita-dori (Takeshita street). This street is famous for Japanese
fashion boutiques, and idol goods. This place is also famous among teens
and the clothes are very cute. 3/4 of the street it started to rain so
we went back to Shinjuku to get our bag. We had trouble looking for the
bags as the station was so big. Eventually we found it and head to
Hiyoshi to our host's place (my cousin's friend) within Keio
University.
Day 7: Today was another day where we had an early
start. We left Hiyoshi station at 6am to get to Tokyo station for train to
Sendai at 7.38am. We had oreo green tea as our breakfast on the go. We arrived
at Sendai station at 9.17am and went straight to Matsushima Island. The journey
to Matsushima was only about 30 minutes but as we need to change train, it took
us longer than that and only managed to reach Matsushima Island at 10.38am. The
weather was not really on our side today as it was cloudy. If it was bright and
sunny, the scenery would have been more beautiful and it wouldn’t be as cold as
the day that we were there.
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| Shinjuku |
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| Outside Shinjuku JR Station |
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| Shibuya 109 in the background |
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| A street in Shibuya |
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| Harajuku |
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| Takeshita Street |
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| Scenery on the way to Sendai |
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| In Sendai, waiting for train to Matsushima |
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| We're in Matsushima |
First, we went to Oshima where buddist
deities were carved into rock. One buddist chose the island for his ascetic
training and stayed here for 22 years. Then we head to Godaido, a buddist worship hall and Fukurajima Island. We also went to Seafood Market and
Zuiganji Temple. But Zuiganji Templewas close for restoration.
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| Oshima |
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| On Oshima Island |
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| Heading inside monk's meditation caves |
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| heading towards Godaido |
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| Godaido, symbol of Matsushima |
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| "Gaide" map of Matsushima |
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| Bridge to Fukurajima Island |
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| Walking towards Fukurajima |
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| View from Fukurajima |
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| Met this uncle otw to Zuiganji Temple |
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| Entrance to Zuiganji |
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| It's close for restoration |
Then we head to Etsuin Temple (a temple that was opened by Lord Tadamune to mourn the death of his son) and Saigyou
Modoshino Matsu Park to see the small islands from a hilltop. Then we head back
to Sendai and called our host from public phone to pick us up at Sendai Bus
Station as both of our handphone batteries died already. After we went to
Chan’s house, we head out that night with her housemate Marissa. Marissa took
us to Ootoya for dinner. We had our second Japanese meal here. It was delicious
and I noticed that Japanese meals are very healthy.
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| Colourful leaves at Etsuin Temple |
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| Walking 1km uphill to Saigyou Modoshino Matsu Park to see the little islands |
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| More colourful maple leaves |
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| Fukurajima fromSaigyou Modoshino Matsu Park |
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| Bye Matsushima |
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| Happy faces after dinner at Ootoya |
Day 8: Today we woke up a bit late; I guess
we were tired from yesterday’s journey. First we head to Zuihoden Mausoleum
which was at the back of our host’s house. This place is actually the
tomb/grave of Date Masamune the founder of Sendai. We didn’t go in the place as
it was mostly graves and we were not that interested with it.
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| Zuihoden Mausoleum |
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| Map of Zuihoden |
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| Stairs heading to Zuihoden |
Then we head to downtown Sendai. There was
nothing much as the shops have not even open yet. As there was nothing much for
us to do here in Sendai, we head back to Tokyo. At Sendai train station, we
bought glutinous rice balls on stick with edamame paste.
Once we reach Tokyo, we head to Akihabara and went to the Electric City. The name serves it purpose where you can find various electronics sold here just like Lowyat in Malaysia but more happening. There’s also various manga stores and manga figurine stores here. Personally I think the figurines were quite pricey. But I guess for people who are obsessed with them don’t mind paying for it.
Then we head to Tokyo Anime Cenre. We spend
quite some time here drawing anime or should I say copying an anime character
as it was raining outside and we didn’t want to get wet. Here we found out that
there’s a big mangattan cenre in Ishinomaki, outskirt of Sendai. It explained
why we saw a train with anime characters at Matsushima Island. The place is
recommended to all manga lovers.
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| Downtown Sendai |
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| Quiet Sendai street in the morning |
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| Enjoying Edamame rice balls |
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| Goodbye Sendai |
Once we reach Tokyo, we head to Akihabara and went to the Electric City. The name serves it purpose where you can find various electronics sold here just like Lowyat in Malaysia but more happening. There’s also various manga stores and manga figurine stores here. Personally I think the figurines were quite pricey. But I guess for people who are obsessed with them don’t mind paying for it.
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| Electric City, Akihabara |
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| Cosplay marketing strategy in Akihabara |
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| My own version of Prof Layton at the Anime Center |
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| Tracing anime character at the Anime center |
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| Hana's thinking what to draw |
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| Large figurines at the center |
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| Manga train at Matsushima Station |
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| Tokyo dome Christmas illumination |
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| Roller coaster on top of a shopping mall |
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| They were setting up for Arashi's concert in 2 days time |
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| Christmas illumination at LaQua, Tokyo dome city |
Later we head to Ginza. This place is like Champ Elysees in Paris were tall buildings containing famous brands such as Gucci, Coach, Georgio Armani, LV etc stand tall and proud. All the famous brands that you can think of can be found here.
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| Ginza |
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| Leading brands at Ginza |
Lastly we went to Tokyo Tower which is a
tower of 333m tall and personally I think it’s nicer than Eiffel Tower. We
didn’t go up the tower, we just took photos from below and we found a cheap
souvenir shop here. Jackpot! We only went back home at 10pm, it was our longest
day out so far.
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| Tokyo Tower |
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