I am a Sunset Whore

To make things even more confusing, in Tokyo the capital city there is an area called Tokyo. The Japanese named it that on purpose because they have an over developed sense of humor and find confused looking gaijin hilarious.

Even so, it's a pretty cool place. Sam's back from her romps throughout all of Japan and is now living in Kanda, which is really close to Tokyo. So, for the last few days, we have been exploring that area. We both didn't know anything about it, so we just picked a direction and went with it.

We ended up in the middle of something called the "International Forum." Tokyo (the district in Tokyo the city) is mostly filled with high rises and what seem like businesses and department stores. The "International Forum" was a collection of tall buildings with a little plaza connecting them and a big mochi rock just chilling out in the middle of it all.

Doesn't it look like a big tasty mochi? There's no red bean inside though. I checked.

Then I saw this wavy-looking building when we were walking around aimlessly and thought it was cool. It gives you a pretty good picture of what the rest of the area looked like. It was kinda San Fransisco-esque if that helps. Minus the hippies. You know, around that section of Market where all the sort of government and major cooperation buildings are? It's like that.

A few blocks down from that we found a park. I think it was called Hibiya Park, which is also the name of the nearest subway line and the only reason I remembered the name. hehe. The sun was setting behind the trees and I couldn't resist.

It was a very pretty park, but the best part was all the cats! Let's play a game: spot the cat! Ready....go!

Did you find it? It's ok, I took a close up of it. Count 'em:

There are five cats! Just chillin' out at the park.

Then I found this cool church type thing with that gorgeous sky behind it.

And then here is where I lost my senses. I really am a sunset whore. I can't help myself. It seems Guuzen-sama again randomly stumbled upon some sort of old castle grounds in the middle of this skyscraper city, and managed to hit it right as the sun was setting behind it. Therefore, please again indulge me while I spam my blog with sunset pictures.

I'm not really sure what that is behind me, but since I was in Tokyo, Tokyo and the "kyo" part of Tokyo means "capital," I'm thinking that was maybe the old capital/castle from ye olden times? I don't know. All I care about is that it had a moat! haha. Moats are cool because they reflect the sunset quite nicely. ^^

Then we ate thai food and had this lovely delicacy:

Along with this tasty goodness:

And walked back to the station because it was dark and I wanted to see Sam's new place. So, we walked through Tokyo at night, which is pretty cool, and went to Kanda. The End.

Except it's not really the end, because the next day, we went back to the same place. We wanted to check out Daimaru (which I think is a really weird name. It literally means, "big circle."). Daimaru is a 13 story department store. It was quite the experience. I was also kind of curious about the floor with plus-size clothing. I'm kinda pudgy and had resigned myself to not buying any clothes in Japan because I'm a huge American, but if there is such a thing as plus-sizes in Japan, maybe there is some hope. But the bottom floor where all the cakes and sweets were was the coolest. (haha. I like cake and sweets. That's probably why I'm pudgy, but hey, one should enjoy life and all it's offerings.) I didn't get any, but they were so cute! And a lot of them had edible gold on top!

We had decided to go to Daimaru because it was indoors and the weather report said it was going to be thunder and lightning storms all day. They lied. It was slightly cloudy, not much, and didn't even drizzle. So, in a spur of the moment decision, I convinced Sam to go back to Roppongi Hills with me so we could go to the top and see the 360 view of Tokyo! (I mean Tokyo the entire city this time) Who knew how long before it rained again? So off we went. I was very happy with myself for being able to get there without the help of google maps.

So we went up to the top. It cost 1500円 ($15) for a ticket that got you to the 52nd floor with the art museum and the 360 view of Tokyo THROUGH GLASS. That was obviously not good enough. So, Sam and I spent the extra 300円 ($3) to go to the "Sky Deck" which is a fancy name for the roof.

It was so cool being up that high! Like flying with your feet on the ground. And, of course, we went up at sunset and then stayed until it got dark and got to see Tokyo at night too. Yay! Sunset pictures! I don't have nearly enough of those!

We only left because they kicked us off. One of the really cool things about being up there is all the different people who are up there with you. I don't think any of us were from the same country. There were a few people from Japan, obviously, but then there as a couple from China, Korea, some Middle Eastern country (maybe India?), a few from different European countries, and then Sam and I from the U.S. We were quite a collection and I thought it was quite fitting that the name of the exhibit in the art museum was called "Kaleidoscope."

We finished the night off with a very tasty experience in a milk bar. Didn't know those existed, but apparently they do. They were having a "campaign" which means sale, and this crazy mango raspberry desert was 33% off.

Look at the cute little chocolate spoon with the place's name on it in gold! It broke when I tried to eat the ice cream with it though and, alas, did have to resort to the metal one.

This guy was chillin' out by the cash registar.

And this guy was enjoying the evening air at the entrance.

Then, a great tragedy befell me. My glasses completely broke. I mean, they hard-core, fell-to-pieces broke. But that's ok. I am a resourceful spy lady and Macgyvered them back together with floss. haha. My glasses look horrible! The left side is being held together with floss and the film on the lenses is pealing! But the upside with this is that I will have glasses from Japan! If I can figure out how to translate the prescription that is...

Candle Night

I really want to see the Rockabillies and crazy Harajuku fashion people who hang out at Yoyogi park, but they are only there on Sundays! I was so excited for last Sunday to come, but then it did and it rained. It rained all day. A lot. Sad!

So I decided to go anyways but found that no one was there, as I had suspected. Wouldn't want to get our picture taken with our makeup dripping now would we. But, I did stumble upon an Earth celebration because apparently it was the Summer Solstice. (It was also Father's Day, but it wouldn't be Father's Day in California where my Dad is until really late that night for me. I wasn't neglecting my Dad. promise.)

But Harajuku was pretty much boring. I walked through Yoyogi park and no one was there save for a few old people in ponchos doing tai chi or something. But I found myself at Yoyogi station and spontaneously decided to go to Roppongi just because I knew that the Oedo Subway line at Yoyogi would get me there. Here's the grand Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in all its grandness!

It's crazy how tall it is. It disappears into the mist a bit. And then just outside that is this funky spider-like statue that reminds me of a Miyazaki film. Oh! like the old guy who works at the bottom of the bath house in Spirited Away! I don't know. I took a picture because it's famous. And also huge and creepy.

The main reason I decided to jump on the subway to Roppongi is because I was missing American food. I didn't think that was even possible!! American food is icky!! Well, compared to Japanese food it is.

Roppongi is like the gaijin mecca of Japan. It's the mother ship that no one told me about. I'm like ET. Totally got left behind there. All the store clerks and cafe staff speak at least a little English, you can get hot dogs and giant slabs of steak here, and there are a ton of gaij around every corner. So, naturally, I got a bagel.

Doesn't that look like the tastiest bagel in all the world?!! Maybe just for me because I have a crazy love affair with bagels and I've been separated from my love for so long.

All and all, I don't think Roppongi Hill is all that interesting. I mean, Mori Tower is pretty cool because you can go up to the top and get a 360 view of Tokyo, but I didn't do that because it was raining and so cloudy I wouldn't have been able to see anything. Mostly Roppongi Hills is just a really huge, fancy shopping mall with nothing but designer stores. It's great if you want to buy a $300 purse, but I didn't so much.

So I went back to the station, which is connected to Roppongi Hills, and was about to buy a ticket home when I saw a sign that said, "Tokyo Midtown ↓" so off I went to see what this Tokyo Midtown was all about.

Turns out, it's another huge shopping center that has an underground walkway connecting it to Roppongi Hills. Only it's cooler. Yes, definitely better. I don't know why, I just like it better. Probably because I happened to go there right in the middle of a huge event.

Seems I stumbled upon "Candle Night," which is this huge even where people light candles and turn off the lights for a few hours to conserve energy. I think it was in honor of the Summer Solstice. People were writing their wishes on the outside of these cups and then putting a candle inside of them.

I decided to stick around until night when they were all lit up. Also, they were having some live music. This girl with a really beautiful voice was singing ballads. Her name is Kumaki Anri and I bought her newest single that had these three songs on them, the first three songs she sang that night: kimi no namae, inori, tsubasa.

Yesterday I was near Ginza and I actually heard "kimi no namae" playing on a big TV screen as I was crossing the street so I guess she's kinda popular? I really liked her in person; her voice is really angelic and kind of sucks you in, but I'm not sure if I like her recorded songs that much. It's the same songs, but she was so much more captivating in person. (I also was really excited that I understood almost all the lyrics of the song "kimi no namae." Yay! Although, that probably means that her lyrics arn't that original since I knew all the vocabulary...)

And here's what the candles looked like all lit up. My camera isn't that good with night shots, but it still looks really pretty. The mist is so thick that the huge building in the background is half invisible. haha. That band of light continues up quite a ways but you can't see it.

I tried to take a picture with flash, but it just got all the rain drops falling. I think it's pretty cool though. Looks like snow.

There's something kind of magical about having thousands of candles around you. Also, the fact that they continued to burn even after being continuously rained on is somewhat poetic, no?

You actually had a pretty good view of Tokyo Tower from the grass where the candles were so I took a picture of it through the trees. It came out blurry so I was going to take another one, but the second after I took the picture, all the lights went off!! I was so lucky!! I guess Tokyo Tower was also participating in Candle Night by turning off the lights and saving electricity. Literally, the second I hit the shutter button the lights went off. It's was really quite spooky. Just stumbling upon a huge event like Candle Night is kind of spooky. I really am just the queen of coincidences. Guuzen-sama. ^^