Hobgoblin and Wasedasi

Okay so let me start with Friday. I went to Waseda to meet on of my friends for lunch at a nearby tendon (tempura on rice) restaurant. Later in the afternoon the two of us meet up with some people to help make the international club we are in (niji) make waffles for the Waseda Festival (which was/is today/tomorrow). As a group we walked about ten minutes to a random building where the club had rented out a kitchen. It was pretty fun making waffles, though I didn't feel like we really helped out that much haha. After that we checked out this really cute shop close to Waseda, that we never noticed before, where I ended up buying a pair of gloves. There was a sweater there I really liked, but they only had it in a medium which was too big...I always feel weird about trying on clothes here in Japan and not buying them. I mean I'm fine with it in the states, but it doesn't really seem like a lot of people here try on clothes before they buy them...

Anyway, at around4/5pm we headed to Takadanobaba to hang out in a cafe. Our phones came with this app installed that shows you where nearby cafes, bars, restaurants, etc., are, but I'm pretty sure the cafe we wanted to go to doesn't exist anymore since we couldn't find it. Also, the maps on our phones are super hard to read. The "this is where you are arrow" isn't always acurate, so it's hard to get places sometimes. At least we explored a new area a bit! We ended up going to this little cake shop not to far from where we were. It was a bit expensive but delicious. I ended up getting a bowl (I didn't realize it was in a bowl when I ordered it lol) of cafe latte, and a marscapone moose thing. Yum. We (there were four of us) stayed at the cake shop for some time just chatting and having girl talk.

One friend had to go home early, but the remaining three of us went to Shibuya for dinner. This was my first time going to Shibuya, so I was pretty excited. Shibuya is where the big 5 street cross walk is (seen in movies such as Lost in Translation). I kinda expected it to be bigger, but it was still pretty cool (and super crowded). After wandering around for a bit, we ended up eating at this Italian restaurant. The prices were pretty decent, and the food was good, but the portions were kinda small. After that we hung out at Forever 21 (which had six floors) for a bit while we waited for a different friend to come join us to go to a bar. I used the same app I mentioned before to find a bar, and thankfully the place exists! We got a bit confused on how to get there, but eventually we found it. I really wanted to go there too since it was called Hobgoblin and the reviews were good.

The bar was pretty crowded, so we had to stand at a table for a bit, but the atmosphere was nice. Most of the customers there were foreigners, and older, but the four of us still had fun chatting and drinking (I had a pint of the Hobgoblin Dark Ale, I've really started to like beer after coming to Japan). We only stayed there till about 10 or so. Next time I want to go to a bar that actually has Japanese people, and people our age. Next we headed to Harajuku (my home station) to see if anything was going on there. To our surprise, the area was pretty desserted. Most of the shops (almost all) were closed, and not many people were around. it was weird that not much was going on there at 10:30 on a Friday night. We did eat crepes though (which were delicious, I've been wanting to eat one in Harajuku for forever).

Today I meet some friends at Waseda for Wasedasai, the school festival that happens once a year. It was pretty intense. Clubs work super hard to prepare for the festival, and people from all over (not just Waseda students) come for the festival. Therefore, it was super crowded. Like really. It took like a half hour to walk through the food stall street. The street with the food booths were especially crowded. People would be shouting, trying to get you to buy what they were selling. And flyers were constantly being handed out. Some students were dressed up in costumes for the event as well. We found the Niji no Kai waffle stand, however, and I bought a waffle (maybe it was one I made the other day?)! At around noon we headed over to one of the main stages to wait for the Male SNSD dance cover group performance to start. At Earlham I saw a video of them preforming, so I was determined to see them during my year here at Waseda. And they were amazing and so entertaining to watch. I never knew a man could look so attractive in high heels and make-up! Haha. I've noticed how cross-dressing is a pretty popular thing here. I mean it's funny, but even so, it seems weird that it is so popular here... Anyway after their performance (which is apparently their last!), we went over to a different stage to check out our friend who was dancing there.

We stayed at that stage area from basically 1:55 to 5 (which a food break in between). We saw a musical/broadway group, the international dance club (which my friend was in), some hip-hop and breakdance dancers, and a k-pop cover dance group. The K-pop dance cover group was amazing. My friends and I were cheering and singing along, but most of the time the rest of the crowd didn't cheer (or even move really) till the end of the performance...we thought it was kinda weird that people weren't being more enthusiastic. We had a great time though. We even went to talk to the K-pop dancers after they were done. Most of them weren't even Waseda students (which was weird since they were performing at the Waseda Festival)... There was this one super attractive guy that I wanted to meet, but we didn't get a chance to. Haha, oh well. Tomorrow is the last day of the festival (and I might be in a parade for it?) Anyway, love you all!~