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Were now settled in our accomodation in shibuya, and its awesome. Its situated in love hotel district, where ....well.....ill let u work out for yourself what love hotels are, but its a stones throw from all the shops, bars and clubs. I can compare it to staying in student halls in that we have our own room, and share a kitchen and bathroom with other housemates. Typically, the kitchens a bit of a mess, and we all gather in it to chat, drink, play poker and playstation. Our place (known as a gaijin house) is for foreigners only an we have people form uk, california, france, germany, holland, korea an other places too. its gets very confusing when theres 3-4 languages going on at once.
So what have we been upto then?
We went to see the governement building a few days ago and had a private tour of it from a lovely japanese lady who was excited to meet people form england. and even more impressed that i was from guernsey. We got a lift to the 45th floor and had a great view across tokyo (see pics). you could see for miles and on the right day can make out mount fuji, although it was covered in clouds that day. It was all free, so we decided to go back late at night to get see what tokyo looked like in the dark. very nice.
Today we went to the meiji shrine in yoyogi park. The park was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city, even though its only a 2 minute walk from all the shops. People chilling out, playing games etc etc. The shrine was very nice too, and we had our first sighting of traditional japan with people praying and wearing komonos and stuff.
So apart from the tourist stuff weve done lots and lots of looking round shops (thanks to my loverly girlfriend). must have walked 10 miles a day looking at handbags and shoes, but must admit seen some amazing stores and even managed to find a quiksilver shop too. hollys favorite place is shibuya 109, a building with 109 boutiques in it. brilliant! not. although all the best looking girls in tokyo gather there so its not so bad for me.
Anyway before we get completely settled in, and adjust to japanese culture heres a list of the "culture shock" things.........
1- politeness. i cant get over how polite eveyone is. lots of p's and q's and eveyone bows all the time. like.....all the time. go to the shop and buy a coke, and the guy behind the counter bows at you.
2- efficeincy. the trains and buses run to the second, and everywheres spotlesslly clean. its all the small things that i realise thiking "what a good idea that is". too many to mention here.
3- facemasks. at first i though the plague had broken out, but in japan if you have a cold, you wear a facemask. no matter if you a buisnessman, or a model, you wear one. its to prevent anyone else from catching your cold. how polite.
4- seedyness. there is a very seedy side to japan, but its all very open. like the love hotels where people go to wel....yeah.....are very obvious with signs of how much a room is and what on offer. theres massage parlours everywhere too and its not uncommen to see old buisness men walking round with young girls all tarted up. nothings really frowned upon over here.
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