Sunday, January 31, 2016

Japan! Part 2

After getting up and ready for our first full day in Japan, our second floor friends took a little extra time to put on their faces so the four of us ventured off in search of breakfast. We walked down the street to a little cafe and nervously waited for the one guy running the small place to seat us and take our order.
I was drilled over and over by my cousins and friends that in Japan we should always be OVERLY respectful and quiet and polite. This culture is basically the opposite of everything we have ever known back home in Orange County, California. While my cousins and I were brought up to be respectful of everything, they were coming down hard on me for doing anything slightly abnormal. It got a little frustrating when they were trying to keep me from using all the creamer for my coffee! Hah! I am trying not to offend anyone but I don't want to suffer with bitter coffee either. And at this point I was especially glad I had packed myself a bag full of Splenda for this trip. Too bad I didn't bring my own creamer as well...

Our breakfast choices were pretty normal, which was something I was a little worried about. I'm a bit of a picky eater and I don't like fish. I was fearful that I might have to eat a diet of only rice and noodles while I was here. I didn't know what to expect. The four of us ordered the same thing. It was grilled bread with ham and cheese inside. It was big and filling and we were grateful.


After downing our coffee we rushed back to our hostel and met up with the other three to catch the metro into Tokyo.
Our hostel, while still technically part of Tokyo, was in Taito. Ashley and I never could figure out what kind of subdivision this was since Tokyo was a city. I guess it might be a district?

The rail passes we had pre-purchased were good for the main trains, however, our hostel was not located close to any of the exits so there was a second train that we would transfer off of to get back home. So each morning we would pay around $1.60 to take the Ginza line for 3 stops to the main railway and then pay the same amount to take it back home.


The first stop for us was the Imperial Palace. We had to walk a ways from the rail station to get to it and we were running late. We were walking pretty fast and then sort of running to make it to our tour on time. Now my short and chubby legs could barely keep up with the group to begin with but when they started running I gave up even trying to keep up. Every single one of them had at least a few inches on me and they were all in at least average health.

The good news was that I finally caught up to them and we made it in time for our tour. We stood in line while they verified our reservation and handed us brochures in English. After they let us pass through the gates, they made everyone enter a classroom like setting. It was a plain room with tables, benches, and a projector. We had to sit through a video (In Japanese I might add) and collected our English headphones to take with us on the tour. We followed along with a huge tour group and stopped when the guide instructed us to and played the audio to go along with that stop.

The Tokyo Imperial Palace is actually the primary residence of the Emporor of Japan. It has a mix of modern and old architecture and houses the main palace, gardens, museums, and administrative buildings. We were not able to go inside any of the buildings but we go to walk the entire length of the property.

After our tour we went in search of food. After much debate we somehow figured out that there was a food fair nearby. Then after more searching, getting lost, thinking we found it, getting lost, and then actually finding it we splintered off in search of what was calling our rumbling tummies. I settled on boiled chicken over rice with lettuce. It was such a "safe" food for me and really delicious!

As if pretending we weren't hungry enough we decided to go in search of a nearby park to sit and eat our lunch. It wasn't too far off and Ashley and I found a bench next to a live band to sit and peacefully eat our lunch. It was actually so peaceful!

After my hangry attitude subsided we still had the majority of our evening with no actual plans. We traveled over to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to get a vast and breathtaking look at Tokyo from up high. It was neat and free!

 Afterwards it was decided that we were too excited to wait until the weekend to visit the Harajuku district so we hopped on the train and headed there. It.did.not.disappoint! It is loud, crowded, and full of shops and food. I was in heaven. I didn't even know where to start.


We took a look around and did a ton of browsing, I was making mental notes on which shops I would like to come back to and actually do some shopping in. I was also dying for some authentic Japanese RAMEN! I was literally thinking of nothing else by this point in the evening and convinced half the group that we just had to have ramen for dinner. Unfortunately the other half of the group, who had been here almost a week longer than us, had ramen-ed themselves out already! So we split up and they left Harajuku and Ashley, David, Emily and I got to have our first taste of Japanese ramen. It was amazing, let me say!

However at this point I started to notice that my tummy was not reacting to the food well. It would just hurt non stop. Bathroom visits or not. It was just pain in my stomach. It was the weirdest thing and I can't even think to begin to explain what it actually was. I was actually terrified at the thought that I was going to have to go through nearly two weeks with this pain. I was starting to feel miserable but grateful that it was the end of the night and hoped a good night's sleep would help.