Tokyo

Wow it has been a hectic month. It started with traveling to Tokyo for the weekend but also included my parents visiting Korea, friends coming in from Thailand, the new school year starting, and my birthday. I'm going to have a separate post for all of those things, but this one is specifically for my trip to Tokyo. (Shoutout to my grandparents who have been patiently but persistently asking me for an update. You're the real MVPs).

Anyway, so here's my Tokyo story.

My friend recently left her job as an English teacher in Korea but wants to stay in the country which led to some visa issues. In order to get a different visa, immigration told her that she has to leave the country (Korea) and come back. So, she texts me one night and asks if I want to go on a weekend trip out of the country. Basically here is how it went down:

Friend: "Wanna go to...."

Me, interrupting: "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS"

Friend: "Japan..."

Me, regaining my chill: "Oh, yeah, totally, nbd."

So with that out of the way, we were on our way to Japan.

Now, I don't get off work until a quarter past 7 on Fridays, so I had to bring my suitcase to work and bust out of the school like the Kool-Aid Man busting through a wall as soon as the bell rang. We barelyyyy made our flight, but it all worked out and we ended up making it to Japan by midnight.

A theme of this weekend was confusion and poor planning. When we arrived we were like, "How do we get into the city?" to which the answer was (as often is the case) look foreign and lost and some very nice person will eventually take pity on you and help you. We met a guy from Hong Kong who directed us to the right subway line and helped us transfer.

This was labeled as a "photo spot" for some reason, so we felt obliged to take a mediocre photo here.

We make it to Shinjuku where we were going to stay and then......we don't know where to go from there. We had neglected to get definite directions to our hotel so, keeping with the theme of the weekend, just kind of started wandering around the streets of Tokyo. Was it the best thought out plan I've ever had? No. Was it effective? Yeah, we ended up finding our hotel after a bit of wandering and were only minimally confused by Japan's infamously complicated toilets. Finally, by 1:30 am, we got to go to sleep. 

The next day, we woke up and hit the ground running....at 11 am. We were going to a different part of the city, but soon realized that we hadn't eaten since the bland airplane food, so we made a quick pit stop at a Japanese curry place. And I'm sure glad we did or I wouldn't have gotten the chance to see Tokyo's version of a cuckoo clock: Godzilla breathing fire on top of a shopping mall. Pics or it didn't happen you say? Well I'll do you one better: 

After our meal, we finally end up at the Imperial Palace next to the financial district. I note its location because we end up getting lost in the financial district for a bit but again, eventually found our way to our target destination. The Imperial Palace was mostly us dodging the packs of wild, super old, Western tourists to get a few shots of the outside of the palace because it turns out that that is the only part you can see; you aren't allowed to go inside at all. Greaaaaat. 

Then, in the spirit of the weekend, we got lost trying to get to another part of the city and again, looked very lost and very foreign and some very nice elderly Japanese man walked us to the right subway (because there are two different subway companies in Tokyo and we were at the wrong one) and then proceeded to get exact directions for us and buy us our subway tickets. To date, it's one of the most pleasant experiences I've ever had. Thnkx elderly Japanese man <3 

We end up making it to our next destination to meet up with some of my friends who also happened to be in Tokyo. Then we got to see (no joke) the most entertaining show I have ever seen in my 23 years of living: Robot Restaurant. You can keep your judgements for what you're about to see because this neon-clad, big busted, robot performance art piece was by far better than anything that exists anywhere else on the entire planet. Here we go: 

Neon light illuminated, Kabuki mask wearing, bikini clad, hip-hop dancers atop an aggressive moving stage accompanied by a booming wall of drum playing warrior women. 

Video game boss fight in real life between a spider woman (good guy) and a demonic robot lady (bad guy, not pictured). 

The bathrooms were even decked out in gold on every surface, so every surface of the room was reflective. Take that for what you will. 

Life changing experience. Can't emphasize it enough. 

After the mind altering show that is Robot Restaurant, we left and went to the busiest crossing in the world: Shibuya Crossing. We camped out in the second floor of a location establishment and watched as the lights changed and people collected and scattered like ants. Check this out. 

Also, we saw a real life collective of people dressed at Mario Kart characters on real go karts drive through this intersection not once, not twice, but three times! Amazing. 

Then we went and drank some sake and ate their version of bar food at a few places affectionately located in "Piss Alley." 

Of course any trip to Japan isn't complete without a Karaoke sesh so that's where we went next and mumbled our way through Japanese pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's smash, Pon Pon Pon (look it up, you won't be disappointed). 

And then there was a trip to the arcade. Doing an intense photobooth and cutesy-cannon filled Mario Kart game was the perfect way to end the day. 

The next day, we woke up and met our friends in Harajuku (famous for the Harajuku girl /Decora girl fashion style). Since we had to leave directly from this area to go to the airport, we had to bring our suitcases with us which made for a very inconvenient day to say the least. 

We started off with the Meiji Shrine which was surreal. It's so strange to be in the heart of Tokyo and then all of a sudden be surrounded by a forest so thick that you can't even see the city. 

We went directly from this area of traditional peace and tranquility to the exact opposite. The candy colored modern cityscape fairytale that is Harajuku's Monster Cafe. 

Afterwards, we hit up Takeshita Street. It was insanely crowded and we had to do it with our suitcases, bleh. But I found some real gems, and we got to do another photobooth. 

Yet again we did not plan accordingly and missed our first train to the airport, bought the wrong ticket and had to buy another one, and barely made our plane yet again. Weekend over. Tokyo, check.