In late June, I took a long plane ride to Tokyo, Japan. The first night there, time was really messed up for me(because it's a day later in Japan and morning and night are switched.) so I felt pretty sick an not hungry at all. Nevertheless, my family and I ventured from the Hilton to go to get something we all NEEDED from Japan: Ramen. And we went to one of the most popular ramen restaurants in Japan, which is called "Ippudo." It was delicious, even though I felt sick while eating it.
Over the next few days, my family and I explored Tokyo, mainly shopping. My dad, of course wanted to go to all the music shops, and I wanted to go to the clothing shops. My brother and mom enjoyed the Tokyo experience as well, but I don't think there was very much that they did that they wanted to in Tokyo.
Tokyo was an amazing experience, but I definitely have to say that it is mainly a shopping city. So, if you go to Tokyo, bring money!! You won't believe how I tried to save up but still ended up in debt with my parents, haha! (But that's mainly because I went to popular clothing shops like near the awesome huge crosswalk in Tokyo that you see in videos all the time. They had a whole building[like 8 floors tall] JUST for ladies clothing. Heaven, I know. :0))
I also went to Harajuku, which was HIGH on my to do list. Sadly, I didn't see a ton of cosplayers, only a few. However I still thought the cosplayers there looked amazing. My favorite shop in Harajuku was "Wonder Rocket" I got a BEAUTIFUL dress there (it is pictured, the one that has brown and the lace socks.) I also got a cute blouse to go with the dress but the outfit in the picture was for school picture day, and I didn't want to go TOO over the top. The dress reminds me of a cute anime girl, and it bunches up at the bottom when you want it to and all you have to do is tie it up.
All in all, the Tokyo area was full of fashion and buying.
For the rest of my trip (I spent three days in Tokyo, and about two weeks in Kobe), I went to my mom's cousin's place. She married a Japanese man and now lives there with him and her two children. We slept in their apartment, and during the first week went on the "Shin Kan Sen" or bullet train to other cities to experience awesome new things. The cities we went to include Osaka and Kyoto, which I remember the most about. In Kyoto, we went to an awesome movie studio that had cool performances and there were so many people in costumes(to be honest, this movie studio was more like my imagination of Harajuku than Harajuku was). It was extremely cool, and my dad got to be included in part of a performance, and we hadn't learned very much Japanese yet, so he had no idea what they were saying-which made the performance even more entertaining than it already was. （≧∇≦）
My dad found a guitar everywhere he went, and even though he wanted way more, he can home with one two guitars and a bass guitar. Haha, yeah my dad loves music. And that is totally fine with me because I love hearing music.
For the rest of the trip, we traveled around Rokko Island and Kobe, because our Shin Kan Sen passes expired after one week. My favorite store in Japan (and it is found basically everywhere I went) is not an expensive store, nor is it a store with brand new items. That's right, and extremely cheap 2nd hand store. It's called "Book Off", but I has many other specialized names too(Hobby Off, Hard Off, and Book Off Bazarre[the last two have almost everything that you need in life, with the exception of food]). I got the majority of my clothes there, because they were all (with the exception of brand name clothes) around ¥500-800 (Which is five to eight US dollars.).they also had so many DS and gameboy games!!! Oh my gosh, I wanted every one because A. They were super cheap and B. Games!!! I also thought about getting a 3DS there because they were about $30 cheaper than in the US, but I was already in debt... Haha (I was actually in debt by the end of Tokyo, so I pushed it a lot for the rest of the trip... *put embarrassed face here*).
I also got to walk my mother's cousin's kids(wow that's a lot to say) to school and from school a lot! It was really fun, and not just because one of the greeters at the door was around my age and super cute! Oh, sorry did I say that out loud? Anyway, their school was awesome! They were in kindergarten and 1st or 2nd(can't remember), and the teachers were very kind, and since I didn't know very much Japanese, all I could say was "Ohio Goziemas," and "arrigato Goziemas" ("goodmorning politely" and "thank you politely." You add the "Goziemas to people older than you or people who are higher in status than you.) oh. And of course, "Konnichiwa," (hello) haha that's practically the most common word people learn of a foreign language. [by the way, if I spelled any of these wrong, I am quite sorry. I have no idea how to spell them.)
Oh, and how could I forget the vending machines? I loved-literally loved the vending machines. That was my favorite part of exploring Japan, because if I was thirsty and didn't have water with me- oh look! Right across the street is a vending machine. No wait, there are three there. Tons of selection, and they don't cost above ¥200. It is so good, and if I lived in Japan I would be broke over those machines.
So, yeah, that was basically my trip to Japan! I loved it so much, and am extremely exited to go back when I go back next. ( ^ω^ )
