Tokyo, my Second Favorite City in the World

Alright, as I'm sure you've already noticed this post is going to be all about Tokyo. First of all let me tell you my initial reaction: I loved it. It is undoubtedly my number two city in the world, the first being Boston due to natural biases haha. Truthfully though, I had an amazing time with my friend and family, and I would do anything and everything in my power to relive last week again :-). Now that that's out of the way we can get on to what I did in Tokyo. Oh, and from here on in, I'll show a picture of the part of the city I'll be writing about in the paragraph below, enjoy!

I took the night bus (from 10 pm, to 630 am) to Tokyo on the 14th which may have been the most detestable travel experience I have ever had to deal with. Running on little sleep, my friend Greg and I explored all of Akihabara, which is best known as Tokyo's electric town. Filled with electronic goods, arcades, and action figures from wall to wall, we had a blast getting our geek on. Although I do not play games as often as I used to when I was younger, seeing arcades really thriving was a lot of fun. It made me nostalgic for playing the X-men game in the old arcades, you all remember that right?

Next was Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku. These places are all well known for their fashion, so my friend and I had a good time checking things out. We both intended to pick up some cool Japanese clothes, but the clothing tends to be a little on the weird side. The shirts have way too much english on them, most of which doesnt make sense. Moreover, since we're in Japan, which is known for its skinny population, our American bodies were having trouble fitting into the pants haha, even though we've both dropped some pounds since we've been here. However, there was also some historical sightseeing to be done I went to the Meiji Shrine, which is one of the most famous shrines in Japan. It was huge and was really serene, I had another one of those moments where I forgot I was even in a city for a brief time. I went there twice, once with my friend and once with my family, check out the pictures above of Shibuya and my parents and I (a particularly good looking family if I do say so myself) right inside the shrine. On the second time in Harajuku we were lucky enough to see some infamous Harajuku girls who dress up in crazy costumes and hang out. I got an awesome picture with my Dad, but it's on his camera, so that will have to wait until next time!


Next up was Ginza to meet up with my family. Boy, you do not realize how much you miss someone until you see them for the first time in a while. Granted it had only been two months, but this is the farthest I've been from my little house in Walpole and it can be semi-intimidating. Plus, I think I mentioned this last time, but is there anything better than a welcoming hug from Mom and Dad? I think not. Oh yeah, it was nice to see Jeffrey too who gave up his spring break to come chill in Japan :-P. As for Ginza, it was more of a Western fashion disctrict, with a ton of really high class stuff. I had heard Tokyo was wicked expensive, but seeing some prices were some jaw dropping moments. Above check out one of Ginza's busiest streets, and then a photo of Jeff and I having a good time at one of the local restaraunts we went to. Good looking pair of bros if I've ever seen one. Unfortunately, this post has already gone on way too long, so I'm going to have to finish my Tokyo travels another time. I still have to report on the Tokyo Tower (the first picture above), the Tsukiji fish market, the Kabuki theater, and the food, so stay tuned.

One last thing, no picture of the week this time, but today I went to the Sumo tournament going on in Osaka, and it was wicked cool. Seeing big fellas running straight into each other really is a sight to see, and I wish I had more time to go see them in action. However, I'm in midterms now, so enjoy the video of Sumo below that I took today, let me know your thoughts, and I'll be back to finish my Tokyo travels soon!