Home Sweet Home

HONEY! I'M HOO-OOME!

After much packing, many farewells, a taxi ride, an express train, two flights and 4 movies, I made it back to bonnie Scotland! Even though I've been home since Sunday night, it still feels really strange not to hear cicadas screeching or see any Japanese people walking about... It's also absolutely freezing.

Anyway, it's been a while since I updated this blog, so let me give you a quick rundown of what I got up to during my last week in Tokyo. I went out for dinner with two of the interns from last year, their family and friends and my guarantor on Wednesday night, which was lovely. But it meant I had to start saying goodbye to people and think about going home, which I didn't want to do! On Thursday and Friday I was with the Japanese sakes desk - these guys sell european products to Japanese clients. On Thursday night, I headed out for a do-it-yourself BBQ dinner at the Sheraton Miyako Hotel with the CDS desk. This was very delicious and, of course, the evening was finished off by heading out for some karaoke - my last time! :(

My last day at work was no different from any other. At the end of the day, I handed out some wee presents that I had brought from home to all the people I had worked with - the Old Course golf balls were definitely the most popular!

I spent my last day in Tokyo picking up some last minute souvenirs, visiting some new areas and revisiting some of my favourite haunts. After doing some final packing, I headed over to Asakusa to grab a few bits and bobs from the many stalls and shops, and also to sample some green tea ice cream (a bit weird, but tasty). I then walked west, towards Kappabashi Dori. This street has become Tokyo's 'kitchenware district' and also an unconventional (yet quite popular) tourist attraction. The entrance to one end of the street is marked by this giant chef and building with huge teacups:



All of the shops specialise in a particular part of the catering industry - some sell shops signs and lanterns, others are filled with different utensils and pots, and many have every type of meal for sale in plastic model form. If you ever wanted to open a restaurant and were starting from scratch, this is the street to come to.


I then walked over to Ueno and hopped on the train to Harajuku. I spent the rest of the day wandering in and out of shops and watching the outlandishly-dressed Harajuku boys and girls, before winding my way towards Shibuya, where I grabbed some cha-shu ramen and then hit Shibuya 109 for the last time... I spent far too long in there, soaking it all in and eyeing up the latest trends before getting the undergound train home and trying to catch an early night's sleep.

It was pretty much a perfect way to end my two-month stay in the city that really never sleeps.

Shop 'til you drop...

I woke up bright and early this morning (not) and headed off towards Harajuku for some retail therapy and Harajuku-girl-spotting. I left my apartment, armed with my camera and credit card but in no way was I prepared for what the Tokyo summer threw at me. I have never experienced heat like today - well over 35 degrees, humid, barely a breeze and clear blue skies. Honestly, I thought that I was going to melt or just spontaneously combust on the pavement.

Shopping in Tokyo has to be the best in the world. I hit Forever21 first to grab a few nice things and was glad that I got there early(ish) as when I left at about noon, there was a massive crowd queueing to get in! I wandered in and out of a few places in Harajuku before ending up in Kiddyland, aka, Holly's-dream-land. Let me try to show you exactly why I loved (and my bank balance hated) this shop so much:


:O

And that was just one small display on one of the six floors! Needless to say, I bought a lot of Hello Kitty related paraphernelia, as well as countless other charater-branded stuff. Happy face!

I then headed towards Jingu-bashi, where all the cool kids hang out on Sundays. Or at least they're meant to. There weren't that many dressed up teens hanging about (it was absolutely boiling...) and not all of them were happy for me to take photos of them. (At least I asked! Lots of people just snapped away like they were visiting the zoo.) Here are the happy few who laughed at my attempts to ask for their permission in Japanese:









I then walked down to Shibuya, got lost in a department store and then made a bee-line for Shibuya 109 - the place to shop for the latest Tokyo trends. It's amazing: nine floors of concessions, each with it's own distinct style of clothing and music blaring from huge speakers. The shop assistants are dressed from head to toe in whatever mini-shop they're working for sells and were often standing at the entrance, shouting about what's on sale or better than the next door shop. It was shopping like I'd never experienced before - hundreds of concessions, hundreds of immaculately-styled Shibuya girls, shouting, overlapping dance tracks from neighbouring shops, squeezed into a building that's not quite big enough for it all - I loved it! I got myself one of those little straw trilbys too :)

By the time I left there it had been dark for some time and my feet were about to mutiny, so I dived into the first ramen joint I could find and then got the train home. The chashu-ramen (char sui pork and noodles) was delicious and tasted even better because I had ordered it from a vending machine! I kid you not. The machine is just at the entrance to the shop:


I put in my money, made my selection, took my ticket (the order is sent to the kitchen) and then joined the queue for a seat. Here's what I got; not bad for a meal from a vending machine!

Holly's weekend of adventure - Day 2

I am knackered. And FAR TOO HOT! Being a tourist in 34 degrees with 40% humidity in some of the busiest areas of Tokyo really takes it out of you... So this post will be short and sweet as I desperately need to go to bed if I'm going to make it out and about all day tomorrow too - I'll need another weekend to recover from this weekend!

Met up with a guy who works for RBS in Singapore today and spent the day walking around with him and his two kids. We dotted in and out of shops in Harajuku and Shibuya before heading to Akihabara to meet one of the guys who works for RBS here and his kids. And guess what I spotted in a shop window in Shibuya:


That's right, it's A CUBIC WATERMELON!!!! And it's an absolute steal at £100...

We all endured the heat until about 4, at which point we all headed our separate ways to shower and relax for a bit. I then met up with them later on at another colleagues house for dinner. His flat is on the 15th floor of the Moto Azubu Hills building - an amazing new tower in Roppongi with outstanding views over the whole of the south-east of Toyko, towards Yokohama. The flat was stunning (I still haven't got over how amazing his view is!) and the food was delicious.The conversation was pretty enlightening too - those guys really hate Sir Fred! One of them actually told everyone what a joke he thought Goodwin was a few years back, but just got laughed at. They're not laughing so much now... Honestly, they think Goodwin should be in prison for what he did and I couldn't help but agree with them on that one. Some of the stories they told me about him were hilarious, and not in a good way!

I'm going to have to head back to Harajuku and Shibuya next Sunday as, because I was with other people (one of whom is a potential employer...), I felt obliged to do what they wanted and didn't manage to go to half the shops I wanted to or check out the Harajuku girls!! The Shibuya girls are amazing too but for different reasons: they are ridiculously beautiful and have amazing style. Almost every second girl is wearing a straw trilby at the moment and I'm so going to have to get one too! I love Japanese girls' dress sense; they all look so glamourous compared to people my age at home.