Japan Trip Summer 2011 ~Day 2~

Sorry for the lack of update. So here's Day 2!




After a good night sleep (aaa the headache gone!) I woke up, take a bath ( a long one), had breakfast then went out. First place to visit, Sensoji Temple. It's one of the must visit in Asakusa. It's very very near to my hostel, a walking distance. So, I walked for a while and TA-DA, Kaminarimon  is right across the street. After taking a few photos, I walked pass through it. There, you'll see a street full of shops selling souvenirs, foods etc. That one long street is called Nakamise Dori. I spent time looking at souvenirs but ended up not buying anything (tight budget, currency exchange sucks). Perpendicular to the dori is Shin Nakamise Dori, full of shops too but I didn't check it out. At the end of the street is another gate, Hozomon. Pass the gate you can see the big Sensoji Temple. Five Storied Pagoda and various other... things... I then walked through a garden to the left of Sensoji Temple (if you're facing it). It's beautiful, with a small stream and all. Too bad it's summer season, no pretty scenery like during Spring and Autumn.

From there on, I continued the walk till I was on a street. SO, I was back to the ordinary Asakusa. I decided to find LAWSON because I wanted to buy ticket to enter Ghibli Museum. Unfortunately, even when I'm equipped with a map, I still got lost there. Oh my. After I passed by a pachinko parlour, ROX department store (it's still closed at the time boohoo), Tsutaya Record Shop (I went inside for a while and went @_@ too many CD/DVD) I finally asked a small bookshop owner how to get to LAWSON. I know I was somewhere near it! He told me the direction in Japanese while gesturing the right direction. I can catch a few words, like migi (Right) and hidari (left) XD After thanking him, I walked following the direction and finally arrived at the konbini. I went inside and asked a lady worker there if she knows English. She somewhat went a bit panicked and quickly called another worker. The guy came to me and I asked him how to buy Ghibli Museum ticket. He gladly took me to a small machine near the entrance and helped me key in the details (like name and phone number. He used his phone number since I don't have any) and selected a date and time. Then he went back to the counter for ticket printing. I got the ticket and paid. I then walked back to Sensoji Temple. Amazingly I found the entry (the way I went out earlier) quite easily XD

From there, I walked to Asakusa Tokyo Metro Subway, Ginza Line. I took a train, switched to Hibiya Line, and straight to Akihabara. At Akihabara, my first stop is a very big department store, Yodabashi Kamera. It's really big with lots of electronic stuffs but I went straight up to the floor where Tower Records is. Went inside and again I went @_@ with lots of CDs and DVDs.Not to mention that I have no idea how they arranged them. After walking around a few times I finally spotted TOKYO DOME DVD at the "new release" section. I took one of course. Then I decided to find UVERcds but failed so I asked a worker where is UVERworld LOL he doesn't understand at first orz than I showed him the DVD in my hand. He showed me the right shelf. aaaa sooo many UVERworld CDs!!! -3- I want Neo Sound Best (the only album I don't have. D:) Anyway, after only looking (and admiring) the CDs, I went to pay for the DVD (omg expensive) along with a magazine (B=PASS I think. don't remember haha). Outside of the store is another store. Bookstore. I went inside and again I went @_@ soooo many books and magazine aaaaaand MANGA! None of the Japanese magazine has UVER on the cover (boohooo) so I decided to buy Jump SQ (Allen of D.Gray-man on the cover!). I almost took Shonen Jump too (glad I didn't or I'll die from carrying them).

Happy with the DVD in my hand, I went out of the department store and started walking... randomly. I have no idea where is this street full of people and anime and manga and maid cafe and figure and gundam etc etc etc I thought I bound to find one even if I just walk in straight line. I was dead wrong. I walked till there's nothing to see. Since I don't have map of Akihabara I only relied on maps at the sidewalk. I saw there's a small park so I decided to go there. There were a bunch of kids (kindergarten I think) and their mums. Cute~~~ So I had my rest there, and light lunch. Tried reading the Jump SQ too haha can only understand a little bit (I was reading Ao no Exorcist) XD after that I walked again, in the opposite direction (because the map said there's something there but idk what's in there .__.) walked walked walked till arrived at Ueno-hirokoji Station. I decided to walk again till I get to Ueno. (somewhere along there I saw Tsutaya again and searched for UVER ehehehe).

Ariving at Ueno, I immediately went to Ueno park. Shitamachi Museum was where I went to first. It's a small museum but still nice to see what's inside. They have English speaking guide too. He's really nice :D From there I walked around the park. In the middle is a big lake covered with lotus. Unfortunately during my trip I can barely see any blooming flowers. However you can spot big, no huge Koi fish O_o my camera ran out of battery around this time so no photo of the fish D:

While I was watching the fish (and tortoises) a man came by and started talking to me. He knew English and claimed that he's a haiku poet. yea we talked a little but I felt uneasy so I excused myself. It's getting late too btw. Trying to 'run away' from the man I walked without looking where I was going and ended up going to the wrong direction. I have to walk quite far to go to the exit of the park. Oh man... I don't remember what exactly happened afterward but I finally managed to find myself outside the park. I was too tired to go to the Ueno Zoo so I decided to go back to my hostel. From Ueno Park I walked back to Asakusa. I wanted to ride Panda Bus (free shuttle bus) but I have no idea where to take it. I saw one passed me though D:

I have no idea walking from Akihabara-Ueno-Asakusa is a good idea or not. It's really tiring but fun as well. I haven't walk far for ages (I hate walking even for 100 metre :P) but walking that far on my first day. aiyoo... I had 6 days to go!

anyway, after I arrived at Asakusa (my first planned is to walked through Kappabashi till Asakusa to look at knives my bro asked me to but decided not to because I'll have to walk a few more blocks) to get there. err too many 'to's). I went back to my hostel and charged my camera. As the day is still young, I decided to go to ROX. and too find a 100 yen shop. Nope I didn't find the 100 yen shop (either the map lied to me or I was just too blind to see it). In ROX there's UNIQLO. I browsed around for a short time only. Then I went to their underground supermarket just to take a look haha idk if taking photo is permitted so I took a few secretly. I felt like a thief because I kept taking out camera from my bag in a suspicious manner whenever I saw interesting... food. orz Since I was out of water (it's freaking hot during summer!) I bought a water bottle (Volvic AHA) and went to the counter and I saw interesting scene. Customer will put their basket at one end while the cashier put empty basket at the other end. The cashier will scans the items (obviously) and put the items into the empty basket along with plastic bag. After paying, the customer takes the basket to another counter and put his items into the plastic bag himself. Oh ya I was surprised. don't laugh. We don't do like that where I live.

Afterward, I went back to my hostel, taking another route, through, what I believed, Shin Nakamise Dori. The street is pretty empty because all the shops already closed. You can only see a few people walking (and cycling) there. Soon I arrived at my hostel. AAAAND end of the second day. fuh~

photos later~