Adventures in Nagoya!: Tokyo Day 6 (Beach, shrine, and departure)!!

Friday, March 21(First day of Spring!)

Oh man, my last day in Tokyo! I was so not ready to leave, so I knew I had to make every minute of today worth it.

That being said, I still wasn't willing to get out of bed before 8, lol.

I finally got up around 8:30, ate a big breakfast, checked out (they let me leave my suitcase there for the day) and headed out.

I decided I'd go to the Tsukiji Fish Market first and then after that walk the rainbow bridge to Odaiba. I'd remembered last night, when I was talking to Minju and Sayaka, that I had wanted to see the neko cafe with the giant pink cat entrance. This:

So I looked up where it was and saw it was in Odaiba. Crap. But I'd wanted to walk the rainbow bridge anyway, so I guess I was going back. I couldn't believe I'd been to Odaiba and walked around Decks, where it is, and hadn't seen it! I wondered if maybe it wasn't there anymore? But I found an article written in July of 2013 about someone who'd gone, so I knew it must still be there.

So yeah, that was my plan.

And I definitely still wanted to hit up Meiji Shrine as well.

I could take the subway right up to the market, but I decided to save money and take the JR and walk to the market, since I'd already blown close to $100 on transportation. Ughhhh Tokyo trains...

So I took the train to Shinbashi Eki.

Pretty stained glass in Shinbashi Eki

Outside Shiodome subway station (it says Shiodome)

I passed some sort of show with all these teeny boppers screaming and holding signs. The security guard there got mad at me for taking pictures lol

The buildings around here were so pretty! This train track is for the beautiful train that goes to Odaiba

Another pretty shiny building

After asking multiple security guards for directions along the way, I finally reached the Tsukiji Fish Market!
Right away, I was hit with a nasty fishy smell, ugh!

Giant fish chillin out in the open for everyone to see

Cute shrine in the middle of the market

Looking out on the market

Cool tree in the shrine

Little Buddha statue further down the street

I liked the back of her shirt

Ugh, my photos are flipping again. But look, oysters!

One of the shop owner's dog. It says his name is Yuko chan.

There were a bunch of samples, which is awesome because I love free food!
I hate most seafood, but I tried things anyway, and found them surprisingly delicious!

Egg sample. I look worried. But it ended up being sweet and good!

Omg... thousands of tiny fish!

Here's the one I ate... It was actually good!

More tiny fish. They were good too, although a bit too salty for me

The things I tried

I heard a bell ringing as I was leaving and ended up passing this shop just as they were cutting a giant maguro (tuna)!!! SO COOL!!!! I took a movie of it too.

Right after I stopped the movie, they held up the severed tail of the maguro. Dangit! I didn't get a chance to get a picture of it.

They cut the maguro's head off... :c

Front of the place where they dissected the maguro

After that, I'd had my fill and I needed to hurry if I wanted to do everything today, because it was already after 11!

I thought this was cute ^^ (It says, "Keep going, Japan!")

The problem with traveling alone is I get distracted easily, lol. I saw a huge staircase, so of course I wanted to see what was at the top of it. I walked up and ended up on a rooftop garden! It was so pretty!

Look, I caught the train as it was passing! Have I mentioned how much I love trains?

Cool clock on the side of this building

Preeeetyyyyyy

Display for Frozen. They were playing "Let It Go" in Japanese.

So I got on the train for Odaiba. It was all above ground!!! So cool! I love that train. I really wanted to ride it all the way to the last stop and back (because I could, without paying anything), but I didn't have time. :(
I got off at the stop before the train crosses the Rainbow Bridge, so I could walk the bridge.
There were a lot of young couples walking the bridge. It was cute!
Also, a lot of groups of runners.

On the ground on the bridge

Such pretty scenery!

Daiba is in front of me...

...And Shibabura is behind me!

Look, the sides of the bridge make a rainbow! See it?

Skylineeeee. I love water and cities that are on water!

Past the halfway point!

Rest of the bridge behind me

At the end of the bridge (upside down seagull)

And Odaiba in front of me!

Next to the exit from the bridge was the beach!! I LOVE beaches, so of course I decided to walk along it.
It's the first time I've seen a beach since last November! Not okay!

People living my dream and windsurfing!

Palm trees!

It looked like a storm was coming in, but it didn't rain at all! Yay! Even though it was supposed to rain today!

When I got up to Decks, I went in search of the Nyan cafe. I saw it was on the first floor, so I headed down the elevator along with these two Japanese girls who looked around my age.
The elevator opened into a parking lot. Are?
The Japanese girls spoke in super high pitched voices and were super fashionable. We bonded over being lost and I showed them the map I had that said the shops were all outside. We were all super confused, but eventually found our way out.

I went to where the map said the cafe was. But it was an abandoned store with guys moving stuff in and out of it and the giant pink cat entrance was nowhere to be found.
I was like Are you kidding me? So I went back up to floor 3 to Information and asked the lady in Japanese where the cat cafe was. She spoke really fast, but I caught that it wasn't there anymore. NOOOOOO. I asked her when it closed and she said October. ARE YOU EFFING SERIOUS? Literally like five months ago? I was so close to seeing it!
Argh, I was super pissed!
But at least I got these cool glasses at the Information center!

Look, I'm a derpy anime character!

Sand!! Yay!

Storm coming!

I found a bunch of petrified wood on the shore!

And then it was time to head back. Looking for the non-existant cat cafe had sucked up a huge chunk of time. It was already after noon!
I was really sad to leave. :( Walking back on the bridge made me feel like I wasn't just leaving Odaiba and Tokyo behind, but all of Japan! I realized I'm not ready to go back to America just yet!!

Heading home! Such a pretty bridge.

Walkway to cross to the other side of the bridge. It looked scary like it was going right down into the water!

Bye beach! Bye Ferris wheel! By Odaiba! :(((

I love this picture I took! It looks like a postcard!

Cool boat I saw going under the Rainbow Bridge

The elevator up to the bridge had a picture of the bridge etched into it!

Supah cool trash cans

After I walked back along the bridge, I got on the subway to go to Harajuku, so I could see Meiji Shrine.
While I was walking to the shrine, this creepy guy tried held out a Buddha lucky charm for me to take. I took it and then he asked for a donation. I shook my head and started to walk away when he grabbed my arm to keep me from leaving! He asked me to give him back the charm, so I held it out, but he knocked my arm and I ended up dropping it. I ran away after that. He was scary.
I saw a Buddha charm lady in the shrine and then that same guy later and they tried to give me lucky charms again, but I ignored them this time.
I noticed they only offered the lucky charms to foreigners. It was weird...

Takeshita Dori

Entrance to Meiji Shrine!

Heading in!

Sakeeee!!

I liked the pink flower barrel

Part of the shrine

Sacred trees

Lady in a kimono in front of the shrine

They had pink lucky charms like the ones I want, but they were 800 yen. I would have considered buying one, but luckily I can read some kanji and I saw they were charms for good luck in school. Yeah, I kind of don't really need that right now, seeing as I only have one more year.

Ema!

Awesome toilets at the shrine

I liked how when you were leaving you could see the city beyond the torii. It's so cool had such a peaceful place can exist in such a large city!

As I was walking back to the station, I saw some pretty funny shirts. I really wanted this hot pink one that said "All you need is" and then had the kanji for "love", but it was $21. Yeah, no.

This pink shirt says "A little sick." Idk why?

The button on the left says "slutty," hahaha

Poop!

This shirt...

And because I felt like it, I headed down Takeshita St.

So crowded since today is a holiday

This was a man, guys... He got a lot of weird stares from people

I finally went in one of these! It had clothes for 390 yen, awesome! But was SUPER crowded!

Cute crepe store

This is for my mom. I saw foreigners laughing at it, so I looked and had to take a picture for her

Hats for a "bad hair day" haha

One of the food displays. I wanttttt

Omggggg

And then, again because I felt like it, I decided to venture into Condomania!
Damn, there was some weird shit in there...

XXS and XXL

I like how the Mega Big Boy has an elephant on it, haha

Glow in the Dark + Rilakkuma! "Super Kawaii", guys!

Yes, it is a fun shop

It was getting late. I had really wanted to go to a restaurant for dinner tonight to have more local Tokyo food before I left, but jikan ga nakatta. (I didn't have time). Kazuki had recommended I eat this type of ramen only in Tokyo, but I hadn't been able to. :( Oh well, he'd also recommended monja, so at least I got to eat that!
And anyway, sightseeing > food.
So, I went to the Pokemon store. I thought it was in Shibuya, which is right next to Harajuku, but it turns out it's moved and its new location is back over by the Rainbow Bridge, in Hanamatsuchou! Rawr!

Hanamatsuchou!

Cute fire cover on the ground

The Pokemon center!

I got four new regions of Japan on streetpass the day I went to Akihabara and four more yesterday, in Yokohama! Yay!!

Then it was time to head home. I really wished I'd stayed with the 8:30 shinkansen so I could have had a nice sit down dinner. Ah well.
Luckily there was a Lawson's by the Pokemon Center, so I bought one of the strawberry sandwhiches I've been wanting to try and therefore got two pink bear stickers (yay)! As well as the sushi pack I LOVE and an apple.
Then I went back to Akihabara, switched to the subway to go to my hostel and pick up my suitcase, and then left for Tokyo station.
The subway from Akihabara was so crowded, I managed to jump on at the last minute. But it was already overflowing with people, so I came close to being like the girl in my manga and getting my hair stuck in the subway door! Instead, the door caught on my backpack and opened again so I could shimmy my way in.
Except getting your hair stuck in the door can never actually happen because the doors stay open a crack. I know because I was pressed up against them for the entire ride!

Akihabara at sunset

Bye Akihabara station :(

I was almost crying at this point...

At Tokyo station, I wanted to buy Tokyo bananas as omiyage for my host family. But they were pretty expensive (8 for 1000 yen). So I found square bread things with a Tokyo banana picture on them instead that looked good too and they were 16 for 990 yen!

Kawaii packaging!

Then I got on the shinkansen and headed home! I was in the last row so I was able to put my suitcase behind me. Yay! I had no one sitting next to me until the second stop (the one before Nagoya), when a lady got on.

My dinner

Back in Nagoya, I updated my train card so now I can go to Sakae for free! Yay!! That wiped out all my money. I barely had enough to pay for it, but I didn't want to pay the 105 yen to use the ATM. Thankfully, I was able to buy it and was left with $5, enough for lunch and paying for my bike on Monday!

I texted Yuko saying I'd arrived at Nagoya, hoping she'd text back and say she'd come pick me up, but no such luck. So I rode back home and walked all the way back home in the dark pulling my huge suitcase. The 7-11 sign I always look for to show me where to turn had been replaced with a new sign! So that threw me off for a second, lol.

When I got home, only Ken was still awake and he went to bed shortly after, so I brushed my teeth and passed out.

Tokyo was so amazing! I'm so glad I was finally able to visit the city of my dreams and spend a week exploring it! I really didn't want to leave, but hopefully I can go back in the future!

Also, some more Tokyo pix (from Sayaka):