Last week the students had three days of mid-term tests...and since I don't have to give mid-terms in my writing class I was able to take the day off on Thursday to meet up with one of my lifelong friends - Camryn!
Cam and I pretty much grew up together so having the day to hang out in the motherland with her was so much fun. She is on the Nisei princess court and they were doing their visit to Japan the past two weeks...so thankful she was able to squeeze in an extra day to hang out!
We met up at Ueno station (which is huge, btw) and decided that the first thing we had to do was to eat...and what better place to eat than the one place that reminds us of home - shinsengumi!
WHOA WHOA. It was as good as it looks.
Next we headed to Shibuya area to get coffee...and stopped by the infamous Harajuku on the way. Takeshita street was crazy per usual and so we avoided the crowds and decided to walk through the peaceful yoyogi park...
On the other side of the park is Little Nap Coffee! I've been wanting to come here ever since I got to Japan and it was just as cute and amazing as all the pics made it out to be.
Side note -living in Kashiwa I've grown accustomed to hearing Japanese all the time (hardly any foreigners in Kashiwa) so when I go into Tokyo I often feel some reverse culture shock since most of the workers can speak English. At little nap, the guy spoke to us completely in English, "okay that will be 450 yen, do you want milk with that?" whoa!
Next we headed into Shibuya to check out the infamous "scramble" (one of the busiest intersections in the world)
Tsuyaya bookstore is an awesome place. The one in Shibuya (or the BOOYAH as I like to call it) is famous since it's right in the heart of the crossing and there is the ever popular Shibuya Startbucks that perfectly overlooks the scramble.
Cam and I were goofing off walking across the scramble *not recommended* so I bumped into about 10 people while trying to take pics oops haha
snack time at Muji cafe!
This wall was so cool...it was a google display where you plug your headphones into any hole and a different song plays. Awesome. After shopping some more in Shibuya we met up with one of Cam's friends *who is half Australia and a model wuttttt?* and hung out for a little
Our last stop was for dinner where we met up with an old high school friend of ours, Tatsuya, who happens to be living in Japan working for Softbank (cellphone company). Whats crazy was he invited two of his other friends who are both from the south bay and went to Penninsula! It was pretty surreal being in the middle of Tokyo at a hole-in-the-wall gyoza restaurant with four other people from the south bay. *insert quote about it being a small world after all*
Awesome food, great company...and the best day exploring Tokyo with one of my lifelong friends!
