The Imperial Palace

Our last full day in Japan was a...  (insert an adjective I cannot think of----my brain is getting too tired for this-)... day as today we went to the Imperial Palace. Actually to start the day off we all went to Akihabara at Yodobashi so that Pie could go get a new figma(figurine of anime. So far I have Sayaka Miki--in her 'armour'-- and Madoka--main character, in school uniform, she's hard to come by. Normally she's in her 'armour' as well... Wait how did I get onto the subject of my figma????) recap: Pie could get a new figma that came out today in Japan. She's probably one of the first Aussies to own one... So Her new figma was of Link. If I have to explain who he is, where have you been for the last 20 years in the gaming world???? Another 4 or 5 figmas were also released today so there was a crowd outside the store. After a quick bakery breakfast we went to The Imperial Palace.

At the Imperial Palace-where the Emperor lives, I didn't even know that Japan had an emperor until today...- We were allowed inside the East Gardens. The gardens there were really beautiful and I enjoyed the day a lot. Until I had some of mum's cold coffee. That was disgusting. In the moat around the Palace there were these giant fish that would go to the surface and open their mouths. It was cute. In a gross sense.

I would rate this day 8.5/10!


                                                                   since when did I do ratings??????

The Ghibli Museum

For those of you who don't know what Ghibli is, Ghibli is a company that produces anime. For those of you who don't know what anime is, anime is japanese cartoons except the faces are more angled and the eyes are bigger and the effects are better and the story-lines are better... Actually anime is japanese cartoons ONLY 1,000,000,000 TIMES BETTER THAN AMERICAN CARTOONS!!!!!-You may have noticed but I like anime...-

 

                      Anyway...

At the Ghibli Museum There was different areas and different exhibitions on. My favourite one was all the background paintings. Some of the paintings were the original ones from 'Arriety' These were some outdoor scenes. My particular favourite was an night one showing the house.

The entire Ghibli museum was A-MAZING and I would say it is a must go for anyone visiting Japan!

Bullet train -speed video-

The Mt.Fuji Trip

The day started at 7:30AM, when we had to get up and get dressed to go to Mt.Fuji!!! We went on a bus to the fourth station on the bast of Fuji. It was exciting to see the top of the monstrous mountain. We had hoped for snow, but at this time of year buses are not allowed to where the snow is, incase of an accident. We had another 1 1/2 hour bus trip, then we went to a hotel for lunch. Lunch was a traditional japanese style lunch. We then went on the bus (again!) for a 1 1/2 hour bus ride (again!) to the Sulphur mines of Hakone. We went over the mines in a cable car, and ended up walking around for an hour until the bus came. The Sulphur smelt like rotten egg mixed with cheese, blue cheese. AND THEN ANOTHER 90 MINUTE-yes this is 1 1/2 hours- BUS RIDE. We then went to Lake Ashi  for a boat ride to Hakone-there are a lot of Hakones....- To have a half hour bus ride to THE BULLET TRAIN!!!

The Cat Café

So, today we moved hotels but that's not the most exciting thing we did today. Today we went to The Cat Café !!!!!!!! The cat cafe is a two-storey cafe with lots and lots of cats inside!!! The top floor is just an area full of cats where you can play and the bottom floor is the cafe part, also swamped by cats. Only mum and I went to the cat cafe while Pie and Carmel went looking for a Daiso (Japans $2 shop except 110 yen-$1.31) There was one cat with a scrunched up face- she was black with orange and a touch of white. Most people would call her ugly-actually she wasn't what you would call 'cute'- but Mum and I decided that we liked her, she was so nice and snuggled up to us a lot.

Overall it was an AMAZING day and I am looking forward to tomorrow when we go to Mt.Fuji!!

Piera and Carmel

--Hotel Room-- why do I even write this anymore?


So let me explain. In all my posts I don't use 'me and mum' or 'mum and I' I say 'WE'. That's because Mum and I are traveling Piera and Carmel!!!! My entire family has known them since I was in my last year of kindergarten. My older brother David became best friends with Piera in prep, even though Piera is a girl. I put the 'even though' because David, like most boys, thought girls were icky, stupid, girly- do you get the picture now? So since then Piera, Carmel and Steve (Pie's dad) have been like our family. I couldn't say pie was like a sister. I mean, we have different parents and that might upset them, so we're like really close cousins. Except we don't rip each-others faces off when we see each other (family custom).  So basically we could Carmel and Pie family in a rather technical way.

Wow... Harajuku and Disneyland!

Our plan for today was get up and go to the train station and take a train to Harajuku.  At Harajuku we had waffles for breakfast and I got the biggest waffle I have ever seen EVER....  The street where we had our breakfast is called Takeshite Dori - say it slowly..  :)  The best thing to see in Harajuku is the Harajuku girls who wear very beautiful clothes..  The shops there are weird but fun..

Kiddyland!!  Another shop we went to was called Kiddyland - it was five floors of complete toys.  It was giant and astounding to see that many toys in one place.  I now realise why it was called Kiddyland.

After lunch we stopped at the hotel for a rest and then took a train to Tokyo station, then changed to another train to take us to DISNEYLAND!!!!!  The best part was the Electric Parade at night.  I nearly made Carmel vomit on the teacup ride by spinning it so fast...  At the end of the day we wanted to see the fireworks but they were cancelled :(  Not happy..  But overall Disneyland was an amazing experience and I froze my butt off.

In the shops around Japan, there are lots of fluffy undies.  I now realised tonight why the fluffy undies are so popular because it was freaking freezing!!

Tomorrow we change hotels and I am looking forward to the changes as this room is getting rather small...