The morning started off with Courtney and I getting some Mister Donut for breakfast. We decided to walk around a bit since Shinjuku is significantly less crowded at 9:00 a.m. We stumbled on this shrine and found a flea market!
This flea market had a ton of traditional Japanese goods. From Hindu and Buddhist figurines, shodou tools, hair accessories, tea sets, to yukatas and kimonos! Courtney and I spent a significant amount of time there. Courtney ended up buying a yukata for only 1,000 yen (a little less than $10). For a yukata, that's crazy cheap! I almost bought one myself but we began to be pressed for time so I didn't
We ran back to our hotel to try and convince our teacher to let us go back before traveling to Iriya (which is only about a 45 minute train ride away). Because we had to carry all our luggage around with us, she wanted to check into the hotel first before going back to the flea market. Courtney and I did successfully convince most of our group to go afterwards though - Justin really wanted a tea set.
So we made our way to Iriya, and got lost trying to find our hotel. Our teacher ended up having to rent a taxi to transport all of our luggage and we had to walk an extra 20 minutes in the opposite direction.
Finally we make it back to our hotel, and another surprise was waiting for us. A matsuri (festival)! It was a small one, but it did have several booths for food and games, and a small parade for the children. It was really cool to see!
I had some delicious takoyaki and finally tried the infamous "Tokyo banana", which is basically just a banana dipped in chocolate and sprinkles.
So after this 5 of us went back to Shinjuku for the flea market. Unfortunately, Tokyo decided to rain so by the time we got back to the shrine, everyone was already packed up and leaving. We were sad.
Courtney and I decided to hit up Harujuku while the guys stayed in Shibuya. Let me tell you, Harajuku is so much fun! We hit up a bunch of stores that sold both fashion and random merch. We all thought that Harajuku would be primarily focused on fashion, so that's why only Courtney and I were interested. There's actually a little bit of everything for everyone there! I got me some souvenirs for people back home and myself some sakura accessories. Courtney and I also did a photobooth and came back with these great pictures -
This was the only picture I got to download for free
We finally got dinner at around 8:00 - our feet were ready to fall off. We found a small Mexican food place in a nearby mall. I was originally hesitant about it, since the pizza I had here wasn't that great. I decided on a quesadilla and it was actually pretty dang good! We're already planning on going back tomorrow, so onwards with today!
Today was a little more relaxing. We got to sleep in, and us three girls went to a local bakery for breakfast. We then went to Akihabara (anime central) to kill sometime before traveling to the Ghibli museum.
Yes, I said Ghibli museum. Our teacher actually managed to get us some tickets for it.
The Ghibli museum was whimsical and magical. Yes, I'm aware of how corny that sounds but it's true. There's a huge Totoro waiting in the front and the building was painted with so many pretty colors.
Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures of inside the museum. The main focal point of the museum was to show exactly how much work it takes to make a Studio Ghibli movie. They had all the storyboards and drawings hung up on walls and film reels to show how many photos go into a movie. We also got to watch this adorable 10 minute film on sumo mice.
I did get some pictures of outside the museum, though. This was allowed.
I had a great time!
So now I'm chilling out in my little capsule. The wifi here isn't too great so it's a little bit harder to get these blog updates in. I'm going to head to bed now since it's 12:30 a.m. and I gotta be up and ready before 9. お休み！
Samantha buy a Yokata. You can afford $10.00.
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