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The next day we went to Tokyo which is only about two hours (by slow local trains) from Atami. We arrived around lunch time so we first went to Namja Town because I wanted to eat gyoza there.



Namja Town is a really cute and neat place, but there wasn't really much there that we could do. I either didn't know what the attractions were or they were aimed at really little kids. They were too expensive to just do without knowing what they were. I had seen something on a blog a while back about a cat themed haunted house that sounded neat, but I didn't see one. Namja Town was recently remodeled so I think maybe it's not there anymore.



The gyoza there was really good, but the portions were small for the price, especially when you consider that we payed 500 yen just to enter. I also didn't know enough Japanese to know the differences between some of the types of gyoza, but I got three random kinds and they were all good. I especially liked one that was ball-shaped and had a thicker outside layer. It was also more filling than the others I had and didn't seem as expensive.


I would have had fun walking around taking random pictures, but Jonathan didn't like Namja Town so we didn't stay much longer.


I read online about a place there that has random flavors of ice cream like squid and other gross stuff. I didn't see it while I was there (I guess it got lost among all the other dessert places) but I saw it in the brochure I picked up later.

Namja Town is in a mall called Sunshine City. Jonathan was still hungry so he got a wrap and coffee from Tully's while I looked around in some of the stores. I saw Nutella in an import shop and wanted to buy it but didn't want to carry it around with me. I meant to go back there at some point during our trip but I forgot! :(

Next we spent some time in Tokyu Hands and I bought some cute stickers. That store has so much stuff. I could spend hours in there!

After a while we went to Ueno Park. Part of the lake was filled with lotus. Only a few were blooming, but it was still very pretty.




That turtle had a cute mossy shell! :)


Next we rented a swan paddle boat to go around the pond. It was fun even though it was pretty hot




After the park we went to Yamashiroya. Jonathan looked around a bit and then went back to the hotel because he was hot and tired. I looked at the puzzles for a while and saw so many that I wanted but ended up buying nothing. Sometimes there are just so many cute things that I can't decide on anything! If I ever see the Disney Rapunzel puzzle that I saw there again I think I'll buy it.

Next I headed to Ginza, one of my favorite areas, especially at night. There aren't that many stores that I go in there, but the atmosphere is always nice.



So next I went to Uniqlo. I buy a lot of work clothes there and basic things like socks and plain shirts and stuff there. At the one in Ginza I often found some cuter things that I didn't see in other locations though. They have a newer store in Ginza now and it's bigger and fancier, but I think 11 floors was a bit excessive. The way stuff was displayed was more spacious so I don't really know if it had that much merchandise than the older store or not. I was a little unimpressed, but I did like the 11th floor which had a lot of t-shirts. I saw a Marie (the cat from Aristocats) t-shirt on sale that I had seen in Iwata, but they only had it in large. Iwata had only had it in medium.


So finally before heading back to Ikebukuro I went to Itoya. Except as I approached the area where the store was the entire building was gone! There was a big gap between a couple of tall buildings where it had been. I was sad but luckily I decided to go closer and saw a sign that said it was being rebuilt. There were two temporary locations on nearby streets. I went to one of them and luckily it had the traditional Japanese washi paper that I was interested in.


I ended up buying a large sheet with a light blue and gold glittery mountain and flower pattern. It unfortunately got a bit bent up on my way home so I think I'll cut it into sakura shaped pieces and hang them up in my apartment.

I took the subway back to Ikebukuro where Jonathan and I met back up. We went to Milky Way cafe which I've admired pretty much every time I went to Ikebukuro. The plastic displays in the window are so cute and yummy looking! I never made it there though (I didn't want to eat there by myself) so I was happy to finally go!


Milky Way cafe did not disappoint at all! It's really cute in there and has a nice view of the street below.



This parfait was crazy and super good. It had vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream, mixed fruit, a piece of cake, a couple of cookies, and a piece of chocolate, whipped cream, chocolate mousse, and chocolate syrup.


As if it wasn't amazing enough already, mine came inside a bigger glass filled with dry ice. My phone couldn't capture the awesomeness of the dry ice coming out of it though.


I don't remember everything that Jonathan's had, but I know that it did have like a churro and cream puffs.

Afterwards we went to Book Off for a while and eventually ended up at an arcade. Not a surprise at all, haha.


Even the money exchange machines were cute there! :)



I'm obsessed with purikura now and we had to do it again! We totally messed up the background picture though. :P The machines take the photos so quickly! It's sometimes hard to get in position in time.

 Saturday, December 18th

On the 17th, my boyfriend arrived in Japan to visit me! He arrived at Narita airport so we spent the weekend in Tokyo. On Saturday, we went to the Imperial Palace garden. Jonathan hadn't been impressed with it before, but he said I should still at least go.

The weather was really nice. It was only slightly chilly and the sun was bright. It was great for visiting the garden. My expectations hadn't been high, but it was beautiful!


Jonathan was much more impressed this time. He was surprised by how there were still fall colors and flowers blooming. Winter in Japan (at least this area) is weird!






I couldn't resist having my picture taken with Colonel Sanders, of course. By the way, in Japan he is known as Uncle Sanders.





As we walked around, we heard some birds that sounded like they were saying, "Fight! Fight!"



This cute cat was resting under a sign, but when I knelt down it came up to me and let me pet it. When I got up, it went back to resting under the sign. Kawaii!



That picture is a little blurry, but it shows this shrub I have seen a lot this winter. It's so weird to see plants flowering like this in the winter!




Sunday, December 19th

The next morning we went to Asakusa. Both of us had been there before, but Jonathan wanted to look for souvenirs there.


Before we began walking down the main pathway leading to the temple, a few girls approached us and asked us if we would like a tour. They were local college students and wanted to practice English. It was really nice because I learned about many of the customs including washing your hands and rinsing your mouth, incense, and throwing money.

Next we went to Ueno Park to rent a swan paddle boat.







There were quite a few ducks out on the pond. The ones with yellow eyes were a little creepy but cute!

Before heading to Toi, we stopped shortly in Akihabara. A couple Santas, a maid, and Sonic were dancing outside of the Club Sega arcade. I love Tokyo. :)

Finally I made it to Tokyo!

I left really early on Saturday morning (I got on the bus around 6:30) and made it to Tokyo around 11. I could have gotten there earlier, like around 10:30, but I got a little confused at the train station. I switched at Atami Station because I thought I had to and then later realized I could have just stayed on the train all the way to Tokyo. Oh well!

The first station I got off at in Tokyo was Shibuya. So my first view of Tokyo (not just looking at Tokyo from the train window) was of the crosswalk in Shibuya which is the busiest crosswalk in the world!There were a lot of people there but I'm sure there are times when it's more crowded.

I shopped around Shibuya for a while, including a big music store and Loft (a store of all sorts of random stuff like stationary and home decorating stuff). I bought some clothes and ate at Mos Burger, a fast food place popular in Japan. In America I don't really like fast food burgers very much but I still kind of wanted to try Mos Burger. I got the Teriyaki Burger and it was really good!

After Shibuya I headed to Ueno Park. I hadn't originally planned on visiting Ueno because the forecast had said it would be chilly and possibly rainy, but it was sunny and fairly warm! Ueno is famous for its cherry blossoms so I decided to visit. Many of the cherry blossoms had already fallen, but there was still a decent amount on the trees. It was hard to get a picture that really captured how it looked. It was the cherry blossoms falling from the trees that was the prettiest part and that doesn't really show up in pictures.


The picture above doesn't show it, but in many areas there were tons of people having picnics beneath the trees and getting drunk. It was quite entertaining.

The park also had a nice pond and has a zoo (which I didn't visit but maybe will someday). I took some pictures of the pond and you can see them in my Facebook album. I'll post a link at the end.

After the park I headed to Ikebukuro. I visited Tokyu Hands which is an awesome store. It's kind of similar to Loft, but it has more variety. It ranged from Hello Kitty stuff to gardening supplies to housewares to bicycles. Each floor of the store was very different. The 8th floor is called Nekobukuro and you can pay 600 yen to go in and pet and play with a bunch of cats! I really want to go but I didn't have a whole lot of time and wanted to see more of Tokyo so I'll do that next time.

I think Tokyu Hands was my favorite store. I bought a cute puzzle, some stickers, and best of all... Shinkansen buttons! I think I'm going to make a plushie in the shape of Japan and attach different buttons and things to it.

After Tokyu Hands I went to Sunshine City for a while, which is a building full of many different stores. I didn't spend too much time there but there was soooo much to see! I definitely need to go back! Next time I go to Tokyo I think I'll spend most of my time in Shibuya and Ikebukuro. :)

After Sunshine City I headed back to Ikebukuro Station. Here is what the area looked like at night:


I got on the train and headed to Shinjuku. The trains were super easy to take in Tokyo. Everywhere I wanted to go was on one train line that loops around the city. The trains come by at least every couple of minutes so I never had to wait long.

My main reason for going to Shinjuku was to go up in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office observatory. I got off the train at the station and almost immediately started seeing signs directing me where to go. I followed the signs through a long underground passageway and once I was above ground I was in the skyscraper district.

The picture below is of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. I went up to the 45th floor of the tower on the right.

The view from up there is really cool. The city just seems to go on forever!


Then I headed off to find my hotel. I wasn't sure how I was going to do my weekend in Tokyo but at the last minute I decided to try and find a hotel so that I'd have plenty of time in Tokyo. I was very glad I decided that!

I had a little bit of trouble finding the hotel because I had written down detailed instructions, but they were based on me going out a specific station exit. The exit was under construction so I got turned around. But after walking up and down the street a few times I found the hotel.

The hotel is also a capsule hotel but only for men. I need to find a capsule hotel for women because I think it would be fun to stay in once.

My room was really small but very very clean! The bathroom was tiny (and I thought the one in my hotel in Hamamatsu was small...). It was the size of a small closet.


I left the hotel a little before 8 and headed for Nippori to visit all the stores in the fabric district. I got off the train and left the station when I realized that stores were probably not open at 8:30 in the morning. So I found a place to eat breakfast instead and then looked for Fabric Town just to make sure it wasn't open yet.

I found Fabric Town and the sign on the front of the largest store said it opened at 10. I didn't want to hang around Nippori for an hour and a half with nothing but restaurants open so I decided to go back to the observatory in Shinjuku to see the same view during the day.


Shinjuku and Nippori aren't super close (like a 20 minute train ride) so I decided to save Nippori for last. I would buy a lot there anyways and didn't want to carry it around all day. So after Shinjuku I went to Harajuku. I hadn't looked up any maps of Harajuku so I didn't exactly know where to go. I wanted to find the area with all the crazy fashion. I followed the crowd from the station hoping that it would take me somewhere interesting. It didn't take me to the crazy fashion area, but it did take me to another shopping district. I went in a store called Kiddy Land full of super kawaii stuff!!! I found this awesome cell phone strap. It's hello kitty on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building! :)

So then I finally headed back to Nippori to visit fabric town, the area where I wanted to do most of my shopping and stock up on fabric to make plushies! I headed down the street and noticed that most of the stores were still closed. :( I guess that area is closed on Sundays! Boo. :( There were a couple small stores open so I did get two pieces of felt and a couple spools of thread. Not nearly the amount of supplies I need, but that just gives me an excuse to go back to Tokyo! :)

Here's a picture of the area around Nippori station:


So with my extra time that I hadn't planned on having I decided to visit Tokyo Tower. I like the picture below because it has sakura, a shrine, and Tokyo Tower all in one picture! :)


I didn't go up in the tower because you have to pay and the line was long and I didn't have a whole lot of time left. I will go up in there sometime though!

I headed to Tokyo Station so that I could take the Tokaido Line back home. Train stations are very dangerous for me because of all the distractions... when I visit somewhere it's hard just for me to leave the station sometimes. So many stores! Tokyo Station had some really awesome ones, like the Rilakkuma Store!!! I wanted to buy so much but after all the shopping I had already done I knew it probably wasn't a good idea. :P The boxes full of strawberry flavored Kit Kats with Rilakkuma packaging were very tempting though...


I took a ton of pictures in Tokyo (more than you'd want to see!) but I picked just a few from each place I went and put them into an album on facebook which you can see here: Tokyo Pictures!!!!