My poor blog has been in the back of my mind for sometime due to lack of motivation, but I think I'm back. I'm coming down to my last days in Japan and I've been keeping very busy.
At the end of March my good friend Ian came to visit me for 8 days of what he called "killing the game". Killing the game was his reference to the way Japanese people, especially women carry themselves with style and poise whether it be to go to the grocery store or on a night out. It's true these women have style and after living here for this long I can say that nowhere else in the world (except maybe Paris?) can rival the complete style in Japan.
The first day of Ian's visit was pretty low key. After meeting him at the airport, I handed him my camera and from that moment until his last day here, he went off! The man took pictures of everything! I loved every minute of it and hope it is, as he says, the start of a new hobby. We took the Narita express and he wasted no time pushing his earphones in my head to listen to Drake. If I didn't know he was going to make sure I did!
The next few days saw us in Himeji, Kobe and Osaka. We had a few false starts waking up early, some of which are admittedly my fault, but we made the best out of each day and caught jokes along the way.
Half way through his trip we visited Kyoto's Kinkaku-ji(Golden Temple), Gion & Pontocho(geisha district), Kyoto Tower, Fushimi Inari(shinto shrine), Shosei-en garden as well as Nara's Todai-ji to see Daibatsu(big Buddha) and Nara koen(deer park). I think this part of the trip was when I got the most amount of laughs. We were both lacking proper sleep and Ian was on a roll with the foolish jokes and randomness. Some of the things that came out of his mouth just made me laugh until I cried because they came out of nowhere and made no kinda sense!
I had never visited Nara prior to this so I was really excited, and rightly so. I got to feed the deer! I was nervous at first and told Ian not to be surprised if I got scared, but the deer were so tame!!!! I loved every minute of it(the pictures will prove it), except for when the greedy deer went in my jacket pocket looking for more cookies and left the inside all wet and soggy! Ian almost got robbed and called the deer "the pickpockets of Asia" lol! Thus far, Nara is one of my favourite places in Japan.
To end off the visit we took the Nozomi shinkansen (bullet train) and spent the last 3 nights in the capital city, Tokyo. We met up with Ian's friend of a friend Damien who added to the abundance of jokes. We walked from Shibuya on a nighttime tour of Harajuku and Omote-Sando Hills (think Yorkville in Tdot or Park Ave. in NYC) courtesy of Damien ending off the first night with an AMAZING Thai dinner.
sidebar: If you're ever in Tokyo and you have a thing for Thai food like I do, look up the restaurant Kaffir Lime.
Although we were dressed and ready to go out it didn't happen. For me the laughs and good company was great and truth be told, we probably had more fun walking and talking than we would have going out. Day 2 in Tokyo met us in Akihabara, Tokyo's electric city early in the day after which we hopped on the train a few stops over and met Damien at Shinjuku station. The great thing about meeting up with people is the discovery of new places. We went to a hamburger joint called JS Burger. Now I am no burger girl per se, but the ones at this place were supercalafragalisticexpialadociously delicious! I had a burger with avocado AND PINEAPPLE! I won't even try to describe it because I won't do it justice.
Later in the evening we headed to Roppongi Hills (I'm starting to think any place with Hills after it is posh lol) where we window shopped and had Chinese for dinner. The chef nearly burned the restaurant down and we were surrounded by a cloud of smoke and the staff opening all the windows! It was a hilarious sight watching some of the people just get up and walk out without thinking twice, while us losers just sat there and laughed lol! The night was capped off with some coffee/hot chocolate and some SERIOUSLY GOOD conversation. Great convos are few and far between in this foreign land where the majority of people don't speak and understand all the nuances of the English language. All in all a GREAT day.
On day 3 in the city, we shopped a little bit and met up with tour guide extraordinaire Damien at night to try different kinds of yakitori and later on ramen. I was a bit scared of the yakitori that I tried as the meat was half cooked, but it didn't kill me so I'll count it as another notch on my belt of new things.
On the last day Ian and I ran over to Akihabara again to grab a few things, meandered our way through the side streets of Omote Sando area to find Kaffir Lime again and had lunch before we were on our way to the airport. I was feeling sad the night before, but I think I did a good job of hiding it (E how did I do?). We made it to Narita in good time and before I knew it the amazing visit had come to an end and Ian was walking through the security check.
I honestly do have the greatest friends, I'm thankful for them every single day. E thank you so much for coming to visit, I know you could have gone somewhere else for much cheaper but you came here. Love you liked Mommy's breakfast on a Christmas morning:)!
PICTURES COMING SOON!
At the end of March my good friend Ian came to visit me for 8 days of what he called "killing the game". Killing the game was his reference to the way Japanese people, especially women carry themselves with style and poise whether it be to go to the grocery store or on a night out. It's true these women have style and after living here for this long I can say that nowhere else in the world (except maybe Paris?) can rival the complete style in Japan.
The first day of Ian's visit was pretty low key. After meeting him at the airport, I handed him my camera and from that moment until his last day here, he went off! The man took pictures of everything! I loved every minute of it and hope it is, as he says, the start of a new hobby. We took the Narita express and he wasted no time pushing his earphones in my head to listen to Drake. If I didn't know he was going to make sure I did!
The next few days saw us in Himeji, Kobe and Osaka. We had a few false starts waking up early, some of which are admittedly my fault, but we made the best out of each day and caught jokes along the way.
Half way through his trip we visited Kyoto's Kinkaku-ji(Golden Temple), Gion & Pontocho(geisha district), Kyoto Tower, Fushimi Inari(shinto shrine), Shosei-en garden as well as Nara's Todai-ji to see Daibatsu(big Buddha) and Nara koen(deer park). I think this part of the trip was when I got the most amount of laughs. We were both lacking proper sleep and Ian was on a roll with the foolish jokes and randomness. Some of the things that came out of his mouth just made me laugh until I cried because they came out of nowhere and made no kinda sense!
I had never visited Nara prior to this so I was really excited, and rightly so. I got to feed the deer! I was nervous at first and told Ian not to be surprised if I got scared, but the deer were so tame!!!! I loved every minute of it(the pictures will prove it), except for when the greedy deer went in my jacket pocket looking for more cookies and left the inside all wet and soggy! Ian almost got robbed and called the deer "the pickpockets of Asia" lol! Thus far, Nara is one of my favourite places in Japan.
To end off the visit we took the Nozomi shinkansen (bullet train) and spent the last 3 nights in the capital city, Tokyo. We met up with Ian's friend of a friend Damien who added to the abundance of jokes. We walked from Shibuya on a nighttime tour of Harajuku and Omote-Sando Hills (think Yorkville in Tdot or Park Ave. in NYC) courtesy of Damien ending off the first night with an AMAZING Thai dinner.
sidebar: If you're ever in Tokyo and you have a thing for Thai food like I do, look up the restaurant Kaffir Lime.
Although we were dressed and ready to go out it didn't happen. For me the laughs and good company was great and truth be told, we probably had more fun walking and talking than we would have going out. Day 2 in Tokyo met us in Akihabara, Tokyo's electric city early in the day after which we hopped on the train a few stops over and met Damien at Shinjuku station. The great thing about meeting up with people is the discovery of new places. We went to a hamburger joint called JS Burger. Now I am no burger girl per se, but the ones at this place were supercalafragalisticexpialadociously delicious! I had a burger with avocado AND PINEAPPLE! I won't even try to describe it because I won't do it justice.
Later in the evening we headed to Roppongi Hills (I'm starting to think any place with Hills after it is posh lol) where we window shopped and had Chinese for dinner. The chef nearly burned the restaurant down and we were surrounded by a cloud of smoke and the staff opening all the windows! It was a hilarious sight watching some of the people just get up and walk out without thinking twice, while us losers just sat there and laughed lol! The night was capped off with some coffee/hot chocolate and some SERIOUSLY GOOD conversation. Great convos are few and far between in this foreign land where the majority of people don't speak and understand all the nuances of the English language. All in all a GREAT day.
On day 3 in the city, we shopped a little bit and met up with tour guide extraordinaire Damien at night to try different kinds of yakitori and later on ramen. I was a bit scared of the yakitori that I tried as the meat was half cooked, but it didn't kill me so I'll count it as another notch on my belt of new things.
On the last day Ian and I ran over to Akihabara again to grab a few things, meandered our way through the side streets of Omote Sando area to find Kaffir Lime again and had lunch before we were on our way to the airport. I was feeling sad the night before, but I think I did a good job of hiding it (E how did I do?). We made it to Narita in good time and before I knew it the amazing visit had come to an end and Ian was walking through the security check.
I honestly do have the greatest friends, I'm thankful for them every single day. E thank you so much for coming to visit, I know you could have gone somewhere else for much cheaper but you came here. Love you liked Mommy's breakfast on a Christmas morning:)!
PICTURES COMING SOON!
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