LUI LUAU (X_X"): 03.2008

I don't think I say this nearly enough in life, or heck, daily, but yeah, I LOVE my family. I have one of the most amazing, supportive, incredible families ever and I feel incredibly blessed every day, knowing what I know about them and their unbelievable love for me. I love my mother who always worries about me but knows that I'll always be fine in the end, even if I'm not sure myself. I love my father who has always been my silent cheerleader, doing everything he can in the background so that I can forge ahead proudly with all my dreams and aspirations. I love my older brother who always has something to say to me and makes sure that I know how insignificant my problems really are when I need reminding. I love my little brother who encourages me to be me and damn the consequences. *grins* I am just one lucky ducky and trust me, I know it.

This post is going to be ridiculously long because I have hundreds of pictures and even a few videos. *HIGH FIVE* Since I've last blogged, I did a lot more walking. Yesterday, Saturday, I walked from Akebonobashi to Ginza, which may not sound like much to you, but if you were me and kept getting lost in the damn gardens around the Imperial Palace, you too would realize how much exercise I really got. I even passed by Sophia University on my way there, and in fact, my hostel is wicked close to my campus, which is AMAZINGLY good for when my cousins get here because it's literally 10-15 minute walk away. I love it. I have so many things I want to show them now. They'll have to bring loads of money, especially for food, but every yen is worth it.

After spending the majority of my day yesterday checking out loads more of the city, I finally met up with the Ninja-3 and we took some purikura. *laughs* We made a boo boo and messed up one of our shots by picking the wrong frame, but overall, it was good times.

Today, I went to Harajuku and Shibuya and did loads more walking because I kept trying to find the cosplay/gothic lolita people. I did eventually find loads of them, but by that time, they were so tired of being photographed that they were quite incooperative so I got very little pictures of them. I kept getting lost in Yoyogi Park, so I eventually ended up in Shibuya. From Shibuya, I somehow managed to walk my way back to Harajuku and ambled in Takeshita Street, which is INSANITY INCARNATE. OMG... It was so packed that I had to take loads of sideroads to beat the crowds going in and out of it. I'm pretty sure Rosanna is going to love it. I had tons of fun just looking around at all the people.

Weirdest of weird coincidences is that I actually bumped into Jen and Dan on my way out of Harajuku towards Shinjuku. *The train station was freakin' packed like no other so a detour was the only way I was getting out of there alive.* We separated once we hit Shinjuku and I bought myself some crepes at Lumine's Kitchen floor and then hopped on the train back to my hostel which is where I've been ever since.

And now, will follows the crazy long string of pictures. I actually had to get an account at BOXSTr to get all these up here. Seriously, appreciate my efforts. AND ON WE ROLL...

- UPDATE 08.03.31 -

Uhmm... yeah, that plan has been freaking Xed because I have over 190 pictures and they take freaking forever to load on BOXSTr. I'll post the link to the pictures here, and upload only the ones that are most significant to my journey through Tokyo.

This process still takes me loads and loads of time, but I have all the time in the world today to study up on my Japanese, watch movies, and blog. It's getting grossly rainy today, so I'm staying in at my hostel to catch up. I actually found a heated toilet at my hostel! SCORE!

My breakfast this morning was from Matsuya. I mixed a freakin' raw egg into a bowl of rice and ates it. YUMMMMMMMM~

LINK TO ALL THE FANTASTIC PICTURES

On my way across the city, I decided to walk in the direction opposite of where I went yesterday. This is how I found out that my hostel is even closer to Sophia University that I originally thought.

There's this gorgeous bridge that crosses the train tracks and links to Sophia.

There's this gorgeous path along the side of Sophia University that is lined with cherry blossoms. Everybody was doing hanami. It was a bit insane, also it was crazily cold with a brisk wind blowing extremely strongly.

SOPHIA UNIVERSITY!!! YAY!!!

Random little statue of a boy in a yukata. I just found him unbelievably fascinating.

This bit of artwork was found in the lobby of a building I was walking past. I just loved the mirrored facets of it and thought it was super pretty.

This is the end of the road which led into the gardens surrounding the Imperial Palace. There were loads more people doing hanami here and just walking around.

YES! I made it to Uchibori-dori, one of the major roads that crisscross Tokyo.

A lovely view into the craziness of blossoms that drew huge crowds of Japanese.

There's this gorgeous moat that practically surrounds the gardens. Very nice. The water didn't look too wonderful though. No fish.

Lovely sign in Chiyoda Kouen. My favorite one is the graffitti warning.

Stone sign in the park.

Statues of naked men standing in a circle in the middle of a manmade pond. I think they don't live up to David's standard.

LMFAO. This guy was completely passed out and was reserving an area for hanami later on in the day. I saw a number of people doing this all over.

PRETTY!!! I think this was a museum of some sort. I didn't stop to look in.

The love the juxtaposition of old and new as seen from this view. Old temples naturally incorporated with the new edginess of the evolving times surrounding Tokyo. Gotta digg it.

CHEEEEEESE! I got somebody to take this pic for me. See the crazy wind? It was really blowing the day before yesterday.

This art in the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art was so simple that I got angered by it. I was like, "Seriously? Even I could have drawn it.

I loved the melty colors in this one.

JOHNNY!!! I FOUND YOU IN JAPAN!!!

Haha, I found you again! Silly boy.

One of my favorites out of all that I saw. I just love the beauty of it.

This painting was on the 3rd floor or so and was one of the pieces done during the time when Japan was at war, as seen from the violence and death shown in this work.

Another of my favorites, it seemed very poignant and insightful to me. A woman's body is never truly wholly hers, she is split into pieces and parts by the world and society.

I think this was hands down the most INSANE bit of artwork in the entire damn museum. Seriously. The thing in the middle is a phallus stuck all over with needles and embedded at its base was a glass bottle of something that looked very medicinal/technical. It was just... jaw dropping.

Again, another one of the artworks that just made me scratch my head in its simplicity.

I took a like 1-2 hour stroll through here. It actually took that much time just because I got lost over and over again.

The little plastic pass they gave me so that I could wander all I wanted. For free.

More and MORE crowds of people, namely families, doing hanami.

Okay, I think that's it for pictures being that I am extremely tired of uploading them twice and I don't feel too poppin' right now. I had some awesome strawberry daifuku though. OOOH! Yesterday I had a strawberry crepe and a banana chocolate crepe. Even though they were filled with mostly whip cream (which I hate), they were still uber yummy! YES! I WILL GETTO BACK MY LOST 5 POUNDS!!!

I'm super tired now, so I might just hit the showers super early. I'll be moving into my homestay tomorrow. I'll report back about how my family is like and all. I'll give major details to all who want to know.

- T

Okay, today was super duper UBER better than yesterday. I actually ate REAL food, (yes, I was merely subsisting before) and I saw 3 major parts of Tokyo today, on foot!

I even managed to score my keitai denwa, even though it set me back by quite a lot. Heck, in my path towards achieving a bank account, I even got a HANKO! What now!? I am JAPAN-ified. Haha, I'm so used to my Toei subway line now that I kind of giggle to myself whenever I make transfers between the lines in Shinjuku.

I have tons of pics which explain how my day has been, and some from before, when my internet was acting up and I couldn't post. ENJOY THE SHOW~

Magical map posted on the back of the chair in front of me. This was taken right as we were nearing Tokyo. The flash is a bit extreme, but you should see the teeny tiny airplane coming in over Tokyo.

Random view from the window. Unfortunately enough, all I saw was wing and blue. Very boring, but at least it was better than something creepy like fire or dead birds.

Natalie, Jen, and Dan right after we got off the airplane, shipped our stuff via Takkyu (the black kitty cat) and hopped on the Keihin (I think) line.

Greg and me, but Greg is mostly covered by his awesome amount of luggage. Yes, I know I look like crap. You try looking decent after a 14 hour flight.

If you rotate this picture 90 degrees counter clockwise, you'll understand that it's a shot of my miniature-sized locker at Ace Inn Shinjuku. The bottom half is host to all my computer crap at the moment. The top half is random junk, and my backpack just eats up space above my computer stuff.

Again, rotate it and you'll see the lovely row of lockers that we're given here at Ace Inn to use to prevent our "important staff" from being stoled. Yes. I said stoled. The "important staff" is straight from one of their warnings strategically placed in the elevator. Singular. It's slow as anything too. No stairs, except for the emergency staircase.

A pretty shot of my top bunk. It's damn roomy in there. And private. I love it. I'm sure my bottom bunk neighbor hates me though.

A close up of the back of the bunk. There's even a little shelf that I use to store my liquid stash. I can't seem to drink enough water here in Tokyo. Weird.

I look majideous (majorly hideous), I know, but this picture is to demonstrate how there's still this like 4-5in gap between my head and the top of the bunk.

My first meal in Tokyo, courtesy of Family Mart. They were yummy nummy and cost me about 200 yen for 2. I love being smartly frugal.

My first morning in Tokyo. A shot from the 6th floor balcony of Ace Inn Shinjuku at about 7am.

Another shot, from like the left handed angle or so.

Yeah, one more from the same angle.

Front shot.

Skyscraper heaven, still from Ace Inn Shinjuku, that's actually in Katamachi, Shinjuku-ku. It's like 20 min walk away from Shinjuku proper. Damn close in my opinion. It costs just 170yen to get to Shinjuku by train. It's like a 5min train ride. Super quick.

The lovely bank that rejected my bid to open a bank account. After this, I was majorly down. >_< Yeah, it was a bad start to my day.

Hopefully, you can see the Softbank store in the background there. That's the first SoftBank store I went into, it's right across from the previously shown bank, and they didn't sell the prepaid cellphone I so desired. It was just another notch in the "Teresa will have an amazingly shitty first day in Japan."

Hmmm... I think this is Shinjuku. I'm not really sure. It looks like Shinjuku to me. Heck, it might even have been Roppongi. Yesterday was a bad day, hence why my memory of it is fantastically blurry. Oh wait!!! NOW I REMEMBER!!! This was the first picture of TODAY! Haha, I hiked from Akebonobashi all the way to Shinjuku, and when I finally made it, I started snapping pictures. So, yes, this is Shinjuku. Lovely isn't it?

A random building, it says Aoyama on it... Wouldn't that be near Shibuya? I don't know. Bah!

Pretty pretty Shinjuku, I got lost here for like 3 hours today. Spent a lot of time walking back and forth, first looking for the Tokyo Metropolitan Building and then trying to look for Kinokuniya. I didn't find it until I ran into Tokyu Hands, walked down the street in front of it that connects to Shinjuku-eki, and was hit by the memory of 3 years ago when I had crossed that same street so long ago. Now, I know how to get to Kinokuniya. I just have nothing I want there because, heck, my bag is already loaded with books.

Another random pretty building in Shinjuku.

What's this!? SHINJUKU! Haha, I just liked the whole ATOMU thing. I think. *shrug*

This picture was taken from one of the many pedestrian crossings I used to help me get lost and reach where I needed to go. In that order, too.

Oh yeah! There's this weird network of staircases in Shinjuku, near the Odakyu line that reminded me very seriously of a dream I once had. In this dream, I go down through a network of trains and staircases with friends into this mad world of shopping and craziness. To me, it seemed very deja vu-ish.

More pictures of the funky network of staircases that triggered deja vu in me.

Oh yeah, this was near the Odakyu lines. I just saw a number of massive circles randomly placed below me and thought them fascinating, so I photographed them. I still have no clue what on earth they're used for.

A shot of another randomly massive circle towards the back of the photo. This was taken off of a pedestrian bridge near the Odakyu mall.

Now, I'm going down the pedestrian bridge to join the massive crowds that are practically omnipresent in Shinjuku.

I just thought this was randomly amusing. It was an entire row of vending machines that filled an entire corner. Seriously, do Japanese need that many?

Odakyu! That's the mall I was walking forwards and backwards on. Yeah, I got lost a lot today in my search of free maps and Kinokuniya.

Oooh, I just thought this building was really pretty. Still in Shinjuku. See the network of white bands? They criss-cross the entire building and I thought that really made it stand out from the crowd.

My first REAL meal in Japan. It set me back 1,600 yen but was worth every single damn yen of it. Muchos delicious. Also, because I was the only okyaku-san there, I was left to slurp it up in true peace.

This amazing toilet was found right across from the restaurant where I ate that lovely nabe bowl of udon at. The toilet also helped to make that 1,600 worth it. It was heated, played a flushing sound while I went, and had butt washing/bidet functions. I still can't tell the difference between the listed latter 2, but heck, they're both super fun. They even had a sanitation wipe down area. I loved it.

Hahaha, omg, I just loved the warning they had for the child seat. Don't leave your kid behind to do your makeup, watch after them!

The area where I spotted Tokyu Hands and enjoyed a bit of a light stroll after my first meal. I was in a light mood and decided to look for a hair dryer, because I'm seriously smart enough to invest in one rather than rent the one at Ace Inn Shinjuku. Not that there's anything wrong with renting one. Nope. Not at all. Haha.
Oh, while I was strolling about, I kept seeing these tiny Japanese women carry HUGE boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts and was majorly confused until I got HERE. See the people lining up to get some frosty goodness? Krispy Kreme is seriously cleaning up in Japan. They are making BEACOUP BUCKS. Yup yup. It also smelled pretty darn amazing. I just really didn't want to wait. At all.
This is a picture of the lovely mashup that makes up Shinjuku-eki. It was taken off the pedestrian bridge that links My Lord (I forgot the building's name but it was on its 8th floor that I had that awesome bowl of udon) and the Tokyu Hands building.
TOKYU HANDS! WAIIII~ I love this place because it has a mashup of EVERYTHING. Also, it's just plain nifty. It can be a bit pricy here though, that's the only downside.
A pretty clocktower in Shinjuku. It says about 12ish, making it about 3 hours since I'd left my hotel and hiked it all the way there. Damn, I am sooo proud of myself for walking so much today. Majorly so. My feet are a bit angry at me though.
This is a picture of the road that triggered my memory. I walked down this same road 3 years ago. If I had kept going straight down this road, I would have hit Kinokuniya. But, I quickly realized that I needed nothing there, so I turned around and headed to Roppongi to buy my prepaid cellphone.
This is a shot of the other side of the street from the previous picture. I headed down this road to get to the Station.
There's like major construction all over Shinjuku now, it's pretty weird. So many areas were closed off and many new buildings were being raised all around. It's even more skyscrape-ry than before.
This is ROPPONGI! Actually, the picture is a shot of the tv asahi building as I was strolling about Roppongi Hills after having picked up my CELLPHONE. I finally got it! YES! I'll post my keitai e-mail at the bottom of this thing to make it easier on people who really don't want to read through all the details of my day.
Pretty pretty sakura trees right near tv asahi. The previous picture was taken from a gap. This one is through glass. See the reflection?
Welcome to the chaos that is Roppongi Hills! Tons of shops. Ridiculous amounts of tourists. Gotta love it. I was so out of things to do today I actually considered shelling out 2,000 yen to watch a movie here, but they had nothing good out and all the movies I was even remotely interested in had already begun. Luckily.
A pretty shot of the Roppongi Hills Arena. People just randomly sat, chatted, and played around here. It was very at ease.
A better picture of the tv asahi park/front lawn area. Super pretty, no?
Looking allllllllll the way up at the top of the Mori Building/Roppongi Hills. I was too cheap to shell out money for a ticket to see a wide view of the city and the art gallery that's up there. *shrug* Today was cloudy anyways, I highly doubt I would've seen anything special.
Random water in the West something or another of Roppongi Hills. I thought it was zen of them to have it. Good fengshui too.
There's this random park in Roppongi Hills that I kept getting lost in. This was it. See that spider in the back? I feel like it was freaking taunting me about the 4th time I passed by it, lost in the grandeur that is Roppongi Hills.
Yup, another upwards shot. It's a seriously tall building.
Uhhh, yeah, I kept seeing this 425-Shibuya sign and read in Frommer's that one can walk from Roppongi to Shibuya, no problem. So me, being the eager beaver that I am, decided to walk to Shibuya from Roppongi. It took me a while because I was lugging a 2L bottle of green tea and my bag of keitai stuff from SoftBank. Good sweating. Good fun. Damn deceitful signs. Bah! I'd do it again though, just because it was kind of fun to randomly hike around Tokyo.
When I finally made it nearer to Shibuya than I thought possible!
Sexy schexy little vixen of a car that called out to me. It was practically screaming at me to ride it. ^^ It was the most beautiful thing I've seen in Japan thus far. I do so love my Audi's.
I FINALLY MADE IT TO SHIBUYA!!!!
The road that I walked along to get there.
Random graffiti. You really wouldn't think Japan would have so much graffiti, but it does. Most of it is in random English to. *looks below*
Neck face!? No, really? NECK FACE? What the heck does that mean? Also, why on earth is there a hairy arm under it? This just confused the bee out of me, so I snapped it.
SHIBUYA!!! Right after I passed the tunnel of darkness.
La la la. Huge pedestrian walkway that branched out every which way.
*wink* I made it here in one piece. Good times.
Welcome to SHIBUYA! Craziness. I didn't see Hachiko, then again, I saw him last time. I have no need to see him again.
More Shibuya prettiness.
Vamoose! SHIBUYA!
Big CAMERA! That's where I bought my hair dryer at. Heck, I even signed up for a members card there. Damn nice.
After I got lost again, I snapped this picture. Pretty building.
Haha, the normal sighed of Shibuya. People just coming and going.
My SECOND meal of the day. It was only 750yen and was totally delicious. Mighty filling as well.
Shibuya as I was leaving. Pretty ward.
MY CELLPHONE! It set me back quite a bit but was worth every damn yen.
Haha. Uhm, this is my hanko. I couldn't use it because I don't have my official Gaikokujin card and thus I can't do it, yet. At least I still have a hanko all ready for when I do. Mizuho bank, WATCH OUT! I WILL SIGN UP WITH YOU!!!