Exploring Tokyo with Hanley and Becky!

Okay so on the 5th (Saturday) I did some homework, shopping (finally got the polariod camera I've been wanting!!!), and had some cake and tea and talk time with Becky. After that we went to the Niji nomikai. It wasn't as big as it usually is (and it started a lot earlier than usual) but it was a lot of fun! Made more friends! And afterwards went to this place called The Hub with Becky, another guy from our program, our Japanese friends Miwa and Kota (who are seriously two of the cutest Japanese people ever). It was a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know them better!

A polaroid of me and my friends!~

The 6th was such a full and amazing day. Woke up early to meet Hanley at Tokyo Station around 9. From there him, becky, and I (Earlham reunion) went to Akihabara since we had never really been there before. It was still pretty early when we got there, so most of the shops were closed and there weren't too many people around. We walked around a cat cafe that we decided to go to one it opened, so to kill time and get food we went to a nearby Jonathon's (a family restaurant) for breakfast. After that we eagerly walked down the street to the cat cafe where we played with cats for a half hour. These cats were more active than the cats at the last cat cafe we went to, which was pretty exciting. One cat was even curled up on some guy's lap (jealous. he seemed like a regular...lol).
After the cat cafe we walked around Akihabara some more and went to a game center where we did purikuri (and I ended up cosplaying for free...haha).

a wooden door!

CATS

Next we headed up to Ueno station to get Hanley's luggage and then headed over to Asakusa to find Hanley's hostel. It was in a really quiet part of town. It's amazing how if you walk five minutes away from the main parts of the city, you'll end up in really quite and nice residential areas (although who knows how nice this area really is since there was graffiti on the old election posters lol). For lunch we hit up kaiten-zushi and then tried to look at the kaminarimon area/temple, but it was still super crowded since new year's festivities are still ongoing.

Sky tree and other buildings near Asakusa!

We didn't really have a plan for the day, but Hanley wanted to go to Tokyo Tower, and Becky and I hadn't been, so we all headed there. I'm super proud of myself for getting us around the whole day by the way. I'm no expert of Tokyo by any means, but I've gotten to the point where I can navigate/show someone around!
Anyway, we checked out Zojoji temple (a big/famou(?) temple right by Tokyo Tower that I've been to before but only when it was closed). Right by the entrance was a monkey show going on (such random things can happen in this city) which we watched till the end. Next we went up to the main part of the temple where I made an offering (first temple visit of the year for me) and ended up buying my first charm! I've been wanting to buy a charm for forever, but usually can't read the kanji so I've never bought anything before. But there was English thankfully so I knew what I was getting. I got a ちえまもり which is a charm for wisdom. I also got a year of the monkey charm/key chain for good luck. I was also tempted to buy a charm for good health, but thought maybe buying three at once would be too much...

Jump!

Next we walked over to Tokyo Tower and bought a ticket for the main (but not the highest) observation deck. It was pretty cheap (like $9). And the view was really nice! We got there at the perfect time, as the sun started to set so we could see the city in both the day and night time! We were also able to see Mt. Fuji a bit! We were pretty exhausted at this point from walking around all day, but for dinner we decided to head over to Shin-Okubo (the Korean town area) for Korean food (which was pretty good)!

Fuji!

Yesterday was my first day of classes again after break...so sad. So much work to do before the end! But we ended up meeting Hanley for lunch. And it was so random, but we happened to run into one of the Japanese guys who studied abroad at Earlham! It was random...and awkward a bit haha. But after that we said goodbye to Hanley and went back to class. And yesterday I actually managed to do some research for a paper due this week. Now I just need to write it haha.

But seriously, so much to do soon. I need to finish planning out what I'm doing in Osaka with my brother/host family, need to plan out more for the Philippines and Korea, etc., etc.