On Being On Our Own…

So due to unforeseen scheduling and weather conflicts, Kelsie and I ended up being completely on our own the whole day, which meant that (more or less) we were responsible for figuring out what we wanted to do, and how to get there. I’m sure this probably sounds really easy, but as we spent our first day lost in Shinjuku after a LONG flight, we were both a bit nervous… and yesterday Kazumi and Tomo pretty much planned our day and led us around, this was a big change.

 

 

I think we did pretty great! We found Ueno park (and zoo) on our own, had a really cheap (and cute) breakfast there, took a monorail (fun!) and saw the Zoo. We also went to Akihabara, which was less exciting and more exasperating than I thought it would be but this was probably due to several things: my interest in anime has waned, the sex/AV shops were creepy (and we seemed to end up near a LOT of them) and every electronics store we went into had lots of stuff but got unbearably hot as we went up more and more floors. Had a bit/lot of heartbreak seeing the new pink Sony touchscreen cameras… wanted one really badly but with the exchange rate the camera would have been about 500$ CAD without a warranty at all… so alas I will have to wait until they come here. I also really want a Japanese unlocked cell phone but I already knew that was not a possibility, so the heartbreak wasn’t as bad ;).

 

 

We also went shopping in Ikebukuro which improved BOTH of our moods greatly, and I found purses for my sisters, makeup for me, and shoes (for me). My feet were really swollen by the end… I am used to having to wear shoes for 14+ hours, and being on my feet for most of the day, but not in strappy shoes! I ended up buying sneakers and another pair of flats just so I could change them… tomorrow I am taking a break from strappy shoes.

 

 

We also made it home, stopping at Shinjuku station, without getting lost. Both of our feet hurt so we had planned to just eat at Shinjuku before returning to Nishi-Ogikubo, but were thwarted by busy restaurants and then accidentally going to a bar… that didn’t serve food. We ended up eating at ‘American Diner’ right at Nishi-Ogikubo station which was cute, tiny, and cheap… but the food and decor was an interesting mix of Italian/Irish. Also, our waiter was very cute :D.

 

Tomorrow the plan is for Yokohama and Marunochi!