Harajuku

So today we had a "Free Day" where we could do pretty much whatever we wanted. The past few days, we had been traveling around in chaperoned groups which was nice and all to get a feel for the city, but you really learn your way around when you're doing it on your own without any help. So, we decided to go to Harajuku, home of the famous Harajuku Girls who dress up in freakishly weird costumes and just kind of stand around and act cool. We had to take the Yamanote Line to get down there, which is the big circle loop subway line in Tokyo. Of course, we got lost and pretty much spent 30 minutes trying to figure out what type of ticket to buy to get to where we wanted to go. I kept on asking people what floor I needed to be on to buy the right ticket (in Japanese, of course) and I got directed to several different places including a clothing store, grocery shop, candy stand, and the women's bathroom. We FINALLY made it to Harajuku and were greeting by a typical Tokyo mobscene. It's funny. In the U.S., natives of a city, like NYC, try to avoid tourist traps but NOT SO in Tokyo. Everyone and their old Japanese grandmothers were out today shopping, sitting, drinking, and doing pretty much whatever.

We bummed around Harajuku for a while and ate lunch at this fantastic Turkish kebab restaurant/stand/thing which was pretty much the farthest thing away from Japanese cuisine ever, but it was honestly the first time I've felt full on this trip. Japanese portions are about 50% the size of American portions. The food has been tough to get used to because they really eliminate a lot of nutrients, such as fiber, that are pretty essential. The good news is that they really don't use any preservatives and stuff like that, so the food is a lot "purer", so to speak.

We then ventured over to the weirdo Harajuku girls and took a bunch of pictures with them, much to their excitement. There was also this guy that had a sign that said "Free Hugs", so I took him up on the offer -- great hug, by the way. The Meiji Shrine was right nearby, so we decided to go check it out and cancel the super authentic (not) Japanese lunch we had with some hardcore culture. The Meiji Shrine was unbelievably crowded, probably because it was so close to the new year. I really didn't even believe that we were still in Tokyo. The Meiji area was basically a HUGE forest with a bunch of winding paths and then a big freakin' shrine right in the middle. It was pretty unreal. There were a TON of souvenir stands all over selling all types of weird trinkety things, including the biggest chopsticks I have EVER seen.

The actual temple also had a bunch of cool things like this little pagoda where there was a fountain that people would scoop water out of with these special spoons and wash their hands for good luck. People were also writing their New Year's wishes on these special cards and then throwing them in a box and praying right before it. Pretty spiritual stuff, but it was really cool to see -- I had never seen anything like it.

Anyways, after that we headed over to Roppongi and grabbed some dinner. I happened to meet a really nice British guy in the restaurant we were in and we chatted about soccer for about an hour before he invited me down to this bar next Saturday to watch a Liverpool game with him. Sounds fun!

Overall, it was a fun day and now I'm just relaxing before more orientation tomorrow. It's a national holiday too, so classes start Tuesday.

New pictures are posted on both Flickr and Facebook so check 'em out!!

Jaa mata!