Tokyo day 1

Each year in Japan there is a week around April/May called Golden Week. There are 3 days off, and it is a popular time for Japanese people to travel. So, since I had vacation, my friend from college, Craig, came out to visit. We met in Tokyo for Golden Week. Everyone warned me about the crowds, but it really wasn’t too bad. I am absolutely amazed at how large Tokyo is. There are so many areas that are like little cities themselves, and each is quite distinct. I prefer to travel around in beautiful natural areas not so much the city. But I’m in Japan, and it is Tokyo, so I had to see it! Oh and of course I had to see Disneyland and Disney Sea!! So this will probably be another series of blog entries so I can put up lots of pictures.








After that we went to Mejii Shrine. It is a beautiful place with lots of greenery, gardens, and large wooden torii. The shrine sits on a large area with many gardens. We walked through the inner garden. There were two couples getting married that day. Craig made fun of me for taking pictures of strangers, but I liked the outfits.



















Then we walked through Harajuku where there are lots of shops and a small area where younger people like to dress a little differently. On a small bridge between the train station and the entrance to Mejii Shrine groups of tweens put on lots of makeup, wear outrageous clothes, and have funky hairstyles. Some looked pretty cool, a few silly, and one guy just danced for what seemed hours. The “maid” look seemed pretty popular for both the guys and girls. They were like a little tourist attraction with people stopping to take their picture and the kids graciously posing and looking as cute as can be.









For our last stop of the day (yes, still Sunday!), we went to Roppongi. There we went up to the top floor of the Tokyo City View building to look at the city. There was no line and it is even a little higher than Tokyo Tower. After we checked out the view, there was a museum that we stopped to look at. The exhibit was about humor, and as you can see by one of the advertisements for the exhibit, it was quite frightening and not really funny at all. Maybe the same people who think clowns are funny would have liked it.


We had dinner at The Outback, and some drinks at a bar nearby. Maybe we were delirious after such a full day (and a few drinks), but we somehow stumbled into a Russian escort bar. We quickly left, unescorted.
After a full day, we were absolutely exhausted, but somehow managed to wake up bright and early to head up to Nikko the next day.