Thursday, March 26, 2009

Tokyo: Day Two

I started my day a little late; being sleep-deprived and having not been in a real bed for over a month caused me to sleep in a little later than I normally would have. I started my day at the dining hall, here at the Olympic Youth Training Center (where the hostel I'm staying at is located), next I went to look at the shrine in Yoyogi park; it was really calm and peaceful there, but still there was no escaping the tourist-goods. There were souvenir shops with all sorts of stuff to buy. After visiting the Yoyogi Shrines I walked into the main metropolitan area of Yoyogi and found a market to grab some lunch; I found a friend, Devon, who is from Encinitas and went to USC. He's been out here for about three years. It was nice to have a solid english conversation with somebody; they have become quite a commodity for me as of late.
After parting ways I hoped on an above-ground train to Shibuya and walked around for hours. It was insanely busy and there were a million shops that spanned as far as the eye could see; it bordered on overwhelming, but I think that had a lot to do with the winding alleys and my unfamiliarity with the lay of the land.
After I had my fill of Shibuya I took the train, at the suggestion of Devon, to Harajuku. Harajuku is, by far, the most Americanized part of Tokyo that I have seen. Most of the shops there were imported franchises from The States and the shop names were all displayed in English. The layout of the streets were a lot more familiar and had a flair of NY to it. I stayed in Harajuku for a few hours and then took the train back to Yoyogi, to get back to my hostel.
Two nights, back-to-back, in a bed has been amazing! Although my quarters are small, they're private and quiet and it's been extremely nice and relaxing to have.
The hostel I have been staying at doesn't have any any vacancies for tonight, so I'll either find somewhere else to stay tonight or I might take the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Osaka to meet up with Luke. Although two days is, by no means, a proper visit to Tokyo I have a full month here in Japan, I have a JR pass that will give me unlimited access to the Shinkansen, and a visit with a solid-plan and most importantly without all of my luggage would make navigation a lot easier.









3 comments:

  1. Sick man! Keep the pictures coming!

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  2. dude so rad. i wanna visit japan one of these days

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  3. C-Nickols, I'm glad to see you on here. Thank you for your encouragement!

    G-Byrum- Do it, I'd highly reccomend it! I already so in love with this place, and I can tell that I'm going to miss it, so I'd be down to cruise with you if you do set plans to travel to Japan!

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