- Arrived safely... I was actually afraid my plane would crash
- Staying in Marunas apartment: In smaller suburb of Tokyo, little apartment but very nice and cosy, sleeping on fouton in Marunas bedroom, She has a little kitchen and a bathroom with a big deep bathtub! So far I have used Marunas Japanese Shampoo for Asian Hair and her strawberry flavoured toothpaste. About 15-20min walk from train station which around are lots of little shops including a bento lunchbox shop taht I get fairly cheap lunches (rice ball) and dinners (mix bento box maybe with like chicken, rice, veges, mix of different flavoured things etc)
-Feeling pretty culture shocked! Especially in the city... there are flashing lights, music, Tonnes of people, advertisements and SHOPS EVERYWHERE! that it is quite overwhelming... especially communicating and catching the train etc...
- went to Shijuku: is a big entertainment district! with alot of the above... there were no smoking police and people eating fruit skewers
-Harajuku/Shibuya: shopped all day in the rain and walked until i felt soo tired and ill!! bought a $5 skirt...
- Ueno!!! Yesterday (now you are caught up) I had a really nice relaxing day at Ueno. The pace wasnt as hectic as in the the city! I strolled the markets and the sun even came out and the temperature was really pleasant. There was a bit of a fish market happening with big red octopus tentacles, crumbed crabs and sushi cuts of fish etc... and then people selling fresh seaweed and dried squid etc... and there were fruit stalls with more fruit and pineapple skewers. I wondered through the markets for ages... it pretty much followed the train line... and then I went to Ueno park and sat down and ate my Rice ball I bought at the train station. The park was reall peaceful...kind of like a cool fresh island retreat surrounded by the city and traffic... Lots of beautiful big trees (and a view of the city if you wanted to see it) and statues and shrines and temples etc... it was very nice! I sat down and drew for a while and an old man and I tried to talk about drawing in a little Japanese and a little English...
I walked for ages around the park! through the trees adn to a lake in the middle that had lots of lilly pads and big gold fish... that were so big they were attacking the ducks... and went over a bridge to a temple in the middle of the island... there were lots of swan shaped paddle boats... which i really wanted to ride in! I spent all day in the gardens walking and drawing
and hten walking in the markets again until I couldnt wakl no more and my eyes stung... and I had some tempura for late lunch (prawn, pumpkin, beans, eggplant with rice and pickles and mashed yam).
After ALLL of that I caught the train at about 5.30 to Takadanobaba (where I change lines to go to marunas house) but it was peak hour so I thought I would walk around and explore Takadanobaba... and I walked around the streets and into shopping centres and down little paved eating streets etc... there were astro boy murals around the place! and I walked until about 8.30... and caught the train back to marunas station Shimo-igusa... but it was STILL peak hour!! and I crammed into a train! I got a bento box dinner at the train station and some jelly and peach tea and walked back to marunas... and maruna got home not long after and we ate jelly and talked till about 3am...
Today...woke up with bags under my eyes! (like every other day so far)
going to head out soon... it was raining this morning... but seems to have fined up a bit now!
love emily
- Staying in Marunas apartment: In smaller suburb of Tokyo, little apartment but very nice and cosy, sleeping on fouton in Marunas bedroom, She has a little kitchen and a bathroom with a big deep bathtub! So far I have used Marunas Japanese Shampoo for Asian Hair and her strawberry flavoured toothpaste. About 15-20min walk from train station which around are lots of little shops including a bento lunchbox shop taht I get fairly cheap lunches (rice ball) and dinners (mix bento box maybe with like chicken, rice, veges, mix of different flavoured things etc)
-Feeling pretty culture shocked! Especially in the city... there are flashing lights, music, Tonnes of people, advertisements and SHOPS EVERYWHERE! that it is quite overwhelming... especially communicating and catching the train etc...
- went to Shijuku: is a big entertainment district! with alot of the above... there were no smoking police and people eating fruit skewers
-Harajuku/Shibuya: shopped all day in the rain and walked until i felt soo tired and ill!! bought a $5 skirt...
- Ueno!!! Yesterday (now you are caught up) I had a really nice relaxing day at Ueno. The pace wasnt as hectic as in the the city! I strolled the markets and the sun even came out and the temperature was really pleasant. There was a bit of a fish market happening with big red octopus tentacles, crumbed crabs and sushi cuts of fish etc... and then people selling fresh seaweed and dried squid etc... and there were fruit stalls with more fruit and pineapple skewers. I wondered through the markets for ages... it pretty much followed the train line... and then I went to Ueno park and sat down and ate my Rice ball I bought at the train station. The park was reall peaceful...kind of like a cool fresh island retreat surrounded by the city and traffic... Lots of beautiful big trees (and a view of the city if you wanted to see it) and statues and shrines and temples etc... it was very nice! I sat down and drew for a while and an old man and I tried to talk about drawing in a little Japanese and a little English...
I walked for ages around the park! through the trees adn to a lake in the middle that had lots of lilly pads and big gold fish... that were so big they were attacking the ducks... and went over a bridge to a temple in the middle of the island... there were lots of swan shaped paddle boats... which i really wanted to ride in! I spent all day in the gardens walking and drawing
and hten walking in the markets again until I couldnt wakl no more and my eyes stung... and I had some tempura for late lunch (prawn, pumpkin, beans, eggplant with rice and pickles and mashed yam).
After ALLL of that I caught the train at about 5.30 to Takadanobaba (where I change lines to go to marunas house) but it was peak hour so I thought I would walk around and explore Takadanobaba... and I walked around the streets and into shopping centres and down little paved eating streets etc... there were astro boy murals around the place! and I walked until about 8.30... and caught the train back to marunas station Shimo-igusa... but it was STILL peak hour!! and I crammed into a train! I got a bento box dinner at the train station and some jelly and peach tea and walked back to marunas... and maruna got home not long after and we ate jelly and talked till about 3am...
Today...woke up with bags under my eyes! (like every other day so far)
going to head out soon... it was raining this morning... but seems to have fined up a bit now!
love emily
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