Tokyo, Kanto, Japan
Thursday, December 29, 2016

*BLAKE*

The day started early with a rude awakening from Callum & Dylan at 4am. They were kept awake by a loud snorer and a chronic scratcher in their shared dorm which they couldn't deal with any longer, so they dragged their mattresses into our room to sleep. Fair to say it wasn't an ideal start to the day.
Later in the morning we caught the train to Tsukishima station which was about 20 minutes away. Here we visited the Tsukiji market (Fish Market). It was incredibly big and busy with almost every different sea creature on sale. Lined amongst the markets were lots of little Sashimi restaurants. There were lines of locals and tourists for every place so we didn't bother trying to get in (also Louise & I not being a fan of seafood, let alone raw seafood, made for an easy decision).
The outskirts of the markets had a variety of other stores from kitchenware, trinkets & vegetables which was interesting to browse through.
With seafood being the only food we walked away from the markets and found a Starbucks were we stopped for brekky & coffee.
After breakfast we walked to the Ginza district. This area was more westernised as the roads widened and we noticed a lot of familiar American department stores. All the stores were built up instead of out. Abercrombie & Fitch was 11 stories high.
We then caught train to Yoyogi station to visit the Shinji Meji shrine. The shrine was located in a forest of 100,000 trees that were hand planted in dedication to Emperor Meiji & Empress Shoken. Tour guide Cal described the difference between a shrine and a temple. Shrines are Shinto and Temples are Buddhist.
The main shrine was a large area with open spaces.
The Harajyuku district was a short 5 minute walk away so we decided to head there. We walked down 'Takes***a' Street (no joke) which was lined with many souvenir and food outlets. It was early afternoon by this stage so we looked for lunch but learnt quickly that you can't get get food anywhere without lining up for a while. After a 20 min wait we got into a Ramen (noodle) restaurant. Was worth the wait as our noodle dishes were delicious.
From there we walked to the Shibuya district. This involved visiting the famous Shibuya crossing. It was chaos with so many people cruising the road at the same time. We then caught the train back to our accommodation to rest for a while before heading out for the evening. The Robot Restaurant show which was random to say the least. Think of Power Rangers on drugs and that's what we were treated to. It was entertaining and a good laugh. Post show Dyl finally had a win on a skill tester. A generous old Japanese gamer also won us some 'super big choco bars'. We wondered the streets until found some fried chicken for dinner. After many drinks it was decided a good idea to visit the local baseball hitting range. Fair to say not too many balls were hit, even Lou gave it a crack. We then made our way home only to find out the snorer and scratcher had returned to the boy's dorm. Once again we squished into out tiny room for a sleepover.