We arrived on Sunday morning, I had hardly any sleep but had watched three movies. Mr. I-Love-Japan (yes, that's my Fiance I'm talking about) fared a little better with a couple of hours of shut-eye. We met up with his graduate friends - V, D and J, who have all recently moved to Japan and A, a friend from Imperial College, who was living in Hokkaido and is recently now settled in Yokohama
After dropping off our stuff at V & D's place, we proceeded to Harajuku, hoping to catch some colourful costumes and the famed Harajuku girls. We ate some Takoyaki nearby the Harajuku Metro station, one of D's favourite food haunts. Delicious food-on-the-go!
Lining up for Takoyaki. MMmmmmm...
Reminds me of kaya balls back home.
We then walked to the Yoyogi park, as V & D reported sighting of Elvis. We weren't disappointed. It was like a scene from Grease, except, everyone was Japanese.
There was a dog and, a lot more hairspray required for the amount of hair we saw.
I absolutely adored the fact that this they were so coordinated when they put on a few dance routines. Obviously, they've been practising! Check out the video!On the Harajuku bridge, we chanced upon some colourful characters. We thought we'd add to their posse with some superhero action. There might have been some danger of revealing our true identities but what the heck, you only live once.
Can you spot the tourists?
Some of the girls were...uh guys. That was the closest I saw of Ganguro girls. Sad!
The stroll down Takeshita Street had me laughing even before I stepped foot onto it. Take-a-shit-a?!?!
Superman thought it wasn't obvious enough that he was wearing a big S on his shirt.
Hilarious...after the obligatory photo, we sauntered along (well shuffled along the crowd more like it) and stopped for chocolate banana crepes. In my haste to down this tasty titbit, I forgot to take a picture of it. Rest assured, it was good.
A French maid taking a Sunday stroll before dinner. Nothing out of the ordinary of course.
There were just so many people! Was starting to get claustrophic...but I ain't seen nothing yet...
A whole load of French maid costumes, sold by the droves here, and a few shiny sparkling diva costumes later, we were at the Shibuya crossing. The crowd was jaw-dropping. Remember the scene from the latest instalment of Resident Evil? Well, imagine if that were to really happen. The zombie virus could not have chosen a better way to spread any faster! We spent a good 15 minutes at Starbucks ogling at the crowd.
Before the mayhem.
Gone mad...
Madder still!
One thing I did notice in Japan - the massive over-informative posters, screens literally everywhere. There is just too much text (well maybe I feel that was because I don't read any Japanese)! This was spotted at the Shibuya crossing and stopped me short in my steps.
You saw it here first. The Best Bang.
Before dinner, we decided to stop by Don Quixote, a store in Japan that sold practically anything. Nose hair clippers - check. Boot shapers - check. Dodgy boxers with cartoon characters - check. Flashing lady in red - check. Uhh...as seen in the video below.
Our final stop for the day was a sushi place nearby V & D's place. It had a typical conveyor belt and I really couldn't help just picking plates and plates off the belt at whim! I can't remember the name of the restaurant but it was absolutely amazing. I loved the sushi - so fresh and very reasonably priced. I can't rave enough about the salmon,tuna and even grilled eel. Nothing short of 5 stars!
Tuuuuunaaaaa!
Fish innards...A's fav. Not really my cup of tea though!
Well-fed but jet-lagged...
...check out how much we ate!
I declare our first day in Japan a SUPER success. Pun intended.
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