Before we left for our two day Tokyo takeover, Emi and I decided to challenge ourselves by bringing only the clothes we were wearing + pajamas...and we would have to buy a new outfit to wear on Friday. It turned out to be a pretty funny challenge as we kind of put it off until 8pm when all the stores were closing and we were frantically thinking "OKAY I just need to find something!" We pulled it off though, and I say out outfits turned out pretty well..
Emi's stellar outfit. I'm working on a vlog to upload here where we explain our outfits in detail, so stay tuned.
What better way to start the morning then by some green smoothies! After fueling up on the goods...we headed to Shibuya to hit up the giant and beautifully curated LOFT there. Emi had been anticipating this moment for a while since LOFT is the home to all things stationary, books, pens, and little amazing trinket. We spend 2 hours or so there and almost shopped til we literally dropped...and we decided to take a break and eat at the MUJI CAFE near by. We were laughing about how long we stayed in ONE STORE hahaa and so we eventually headed out in search of good coffee.
We went to Onibu in Nakameguro which is the cutest little Japanes-ey coffee shop tucked back behind the main streets. We cooled down with some iced coffee and sat upstairs where we met a really cool Japanese dude and started chatting it up. If you know Emi and I, you now we are both pretty social people...so put us together and we don't mind striking up a conversation with just about anyone! haha. So we were talking to this nice guy and found out he was just traveling through Tokyo to see his parents but really lives in Nagoya and works for a fashion company (cool). He had this really awesome lens on his camera and told us it was a 'pancake' lens (24mm) and my eyes widened at how perfect it was and get this...the next day I literally went and bought it! (Emi also bought it when she got back to the states!) haha. So it was a divine conversation because Emi and I got to encourage this guy and tell him his English was so great and we both got a new lens out of it!
Our next stop was one of the best stores in Nakameguro... Travelers! It is a notebook store and I knew it would be a hit with Emi. We both loaded up on new pens, little notebooks, and inspiration for our doodling hobby.
We cruised around Nakameguro, checking out the shops, taking photos, laughing about how romantic the place was and picturing all the Japanese dramas that are filmed there!
Our last stop of the day was Shibuya Hikarie where we met up with Emi's friend from Belgium (who is Japanese!) We ate dinner at this Okinawan restaurant and then decided to just go all out and get HARBS for dessert...
SOOOO GOOOOD. Harbs is a fancy and expensive cafe and they have that one rule you know, "everyone must order at least one drink" and those drinks are easily $7 but you know what...it was worth it! Fruit cake crepe, banana chocolate, and blueberry cheesecake yummmmm.
A few more from my phone...
Pretending to be fashion people for a moment.
Our very LA "look-at-me-i'm-healthy-and-drinking-my-green-juice" selfie...and the incredibly perfect rice we had for dinner.
Our friend we met ordering his coffee at Onibus...seriously how cool is the design of that place? and speaking of cool...that couple on the right is straight up LIFE + STYLE GOALS.
So after two full days in Tokyo Emi and I headed home for the weekend. Saturday we declared our day of rest and hung out in Kashiwa most of the time. We went to the store to buy my camera lens that I learned about the day before...and since we had some free time to spare, we went to the popular pop-up shaved ice spot in Kashiwa!
We waited about 40 minutes to get a seat inside and ordered the peach shaved ice and matcha...they did not disappoint! Melt in your mouth deliciousnesssss.
Okay moving on to Sunday...we went to church and people loved talking to Emi and hearing about who she is and what shes up to. I loved being able to worship the good Lord with my bestie in Japan!! After church we got a quick snack at Lalaport Tokyo bay and then headed to watch a baseball game with my coworkers!
awesome pic courtesy of Steph.
We went to the game with Steph, my coworker Mr. Ikeda and his son kai who I love so much! This is our second baseball game with Ikeda and Kai and we always have the best time with them. They are such a loving and funny father-son duo!
We ended the night in our matching uniforms and a front seat to the fireworks show. And to top it off...the Marines won the game in the 10th inning!! What a weekend!
After a nice weekend...we headed to my school on Monday so Emi could meet some of the students and see where I spend most of my time.
We had a meeting with this group of students to prepare them for their trip to Australia! Emi was able to hear some of their speeches they gave about Australian culture...and of course after class they all wanted to take photos with her!
After school we headed to Nagareyama-Ootaka for a snack, and whats a better after school snack than a green tea parfait! Nanas green tea never lets us down!
We ended our night with dinner in Kashiwa with Stephs sister Courtney and our good friend Mina. We went to our local indian restaurant for some good Naan and curry!
wow...looking back at all the pics I realize we did a lot in a few days time haha. And...there's still one more post to go!