The other day I went to Tokyo for the 7th time. You'd think I'd be tired of it, huh? ~_^ Or that it wouldn't be a big deal, or that I'd have run out of things to do already? I thought so. WELL, WE'D ALL BE WRONG. This time, my fiance's brother his family accompanied us on a 1 week adventure through and around Japan's megatropolis. It was a long week, so I'm splitting this up into 2 posts.
At the start of the trip, my fiance and I were already a little tired from our Hokkaido adventures. After arriving back in Shimane we had a mere 1 day break before heading back out on Wednesday the 28th. But Tokyo isn't the place to go if you're feeling tired, what with the dependency on public transportation and walking everywhere. So we kept our hopes high and flew out early in the morning, only to look at our watches and find it was nearly 12 by the time we rendezvoused with her brother, his wife, and their 3 kids and were heading to the hotel. We'd be staying right next to the imperial palace, and you can bet that's the first place we tried to go. Yeah, "tried." Apparently the palace is closed most of the year; I think they just don't like foreigners. :/ After exploring the area, we found sakura (cherry blossoms) on the verge of blooming, a concert hall, and even a sakura matsuri (festival) in preparation just down the street. We were also close to Tokyo Tower, so we hit that up before concluding our first day.
Thursday was the day the kids were waiting for, the happiest place... um, in the depths of the cold and heartless Tokyo city (please note not everything written in this blog reflect the author's true feelings, and are primarily intended to set up the situational atmosphere, though some readers are bound to agree with these artificial sentiments): Tokyo Disneyland! For my fiance and I, this would be our first time... in 3 and a half years. It hadn't changed that much - still felt the same as America Disneyland and Disney World, complete with long lines (probably from kids on Spring Break). We attempted to go on as many rides and attractions (read: with 45 min. or less wait lines), and got to see It's a Small World, Captain EO with 3D Michael Jackson, and racing cars. That's about it, apart from lunch and walking around. haha In Tokyo, you get used to walking around a lot, and we never missed a chance to make up for it with calorie intake. :D That night we dined in Tokyo Station, and then did some shopping before checking out for the night.
The next day we were feeling pretty exhausted, so we spent the morning in our hotel rooms taking our sweet time. We were warming up for the next BIG exploration, something we reserved tickets for MONTHS (2, at most) in advance. If Thursday was for the kids, Friday was... well, also for the kids, but for the adults too, maybe especially me: the Studio Ghibli Museum!! Unfortunately for you guys, they don't let you take pictures inside or else I would have taken at least a hundred more. SPOILERS: there were tons of drawings, models and designs of how they make cartoons, materials used to reference for drawings, a real cat bus, a free short movie, and much much more. It was truly one of my highlights of the trip. After the museum, we picked up some KFC and then returned to the sakura matsuri near the hotel for some festivities, which seemed to have either left or not yet come apart from the food tents... oh well, the food was pretty good. lol
The next day was Saturday, a day we (some of us) dedicated primarily to shopping. What's a Tokyo trip without a good wallet diet, eh? Breakfast was at a nearby book cafe, lunch was within a huge mall in Ikebukuro called Namja town (gyoza stadium ftw), and dinner was at Harajuku - the fashion capital of Tokyo, perhaps Japan. We bought plenty of things to keep us happy for a couple weeks, and noticed that it was a bit cold walking around everywhere. The fam wanted to climb Mt. Fuji at some point, but at this point we all but gave up on that idea if it was hard enough to simply walk in the streets. Turns out it's actually closed for climbing now, so that was a wise choice.
Instead of Fuji, we hit up some other places including the park, the zoo, and a man-made island. Stay turned for... PART 2!
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