First day out in the city... Harajuku & Shibuya

Breakfast at the hotel...


Rice balls and miso soup!


Waiting for the train to Harajuku... excited about our first day out.


First stop... ChocoCro. Breakfast take 2.


We devoured the chocolate croissants in about 43 seconds.




Then sat there for about 1 hour taking pictures, video and people-watching since we got to Harajuku waaaay too early (8:30AM) and none of the shops opened until 11AM.


Walked up and down Harajuku St about 5 times looking at the stores... closed.


Decided to kill time by taking purikura.


Yona took her fine time choosing a machine.


Even the crane-toy machines had super cute toys!!!


Yona: Yay! This is so fun!


So serious.


Stood in front of the Snoopy Town store for 20 minutes... the first store we went into.




Bought creme puffs while we were waiting.. yup that's our third breakfast today.


How can you eat such a cute panda??


Cutest shirts ever...


I wonder what they sell there?


Choosing the right buddy to chill with my Hawaiian one at home.


Donkatsu restaurant.


Choosing our fried foods carefully.


Fried cheese-ball katsu...


So yummy!


Quite a heavy lunch.


Tree-lined shopping on Omotesando.


"I want a picture there too!"


The scariest mall in the world... glass railings overlooking a steep death all around.


Long walk to Shibuya...


Prius taxis!


Lots of cake stores... such pretty tarts!


Random architecture.


Cutie waiting for his owner.


Japanes RENT poster.


On the bridge crossing to Shibuya Station. (Can you tell we're starting to get tired?)


There is a lot going on at this intersection.


Posing with "Hachiko" the dog. The most loyal dog in history. Well, not really. Lulu waits for me by the door, right?


Shibuya crossing... a sea of black hair as soon as the light turns green.


Back to cross the street at night.


Yona needs to eat every 3 minutes it seems.


"I like to pose next to any doll-statue possible"


The dinner that cost me my throat... "Loco Moco"... Japanese yolk isn't as good as American yolk but this hamburger was yummy.

Walking sucks.

And I've done a whole lot of it.

Arrival in Japan

After a long 11 hour flight, kind of a disappointment to land in Tokyo and have this be the first store I see:


Note: They have even the same wallpaper :)


The hotel room was actually bigger than I expected... I almost thought Yona and I were going to be sharing a twin bed. :) Funny thing is they cramp everything you would possibly need in a small room... so this is more complete than most hotel rooms! It's just that things are conveniently hidden in walls and such, like the nightstand.


The all-in-one small airplane-like bathroom... about the size of my 1/2 bath with a shower, full sink, fancy toilet and everything else squeezed in there. Surprisingly clean.


As you can see, the "shower" comes out of the "sink"... and they even provide shampoo, rinse and body soap for you. So convenient and such logical placement, love it.


My first meal in Japan... a sandwich that I bought from Vie de France. Same logo and everything as the states. The sandwich itself reminded me of the sandwiches from Nijiya, with the super soft de-crusted bread. It was so yummy! This sandwich was called "The Pretty Sandwich"... half was cheese omelete and the other half was ham and egg salad. Soooo good.


These are the "free gifts" that we got with the hotel room, yona and I each got a set. Includes everything a girl would need (I suspect the male packs are different) including a Q10 moisturizing mask... which was actually a lifesaver. My skin was so dry from the airplane trip, it was nice to lay down for 10 minutes and deeply moisturize. :) Also, they had a tray at the front desk that Yona and I picked a separate gift from, I picked a pair of socks since I didn't bring enough. :)


My breakfast this morning as I sit awake, jet-lagged, at 6AM. Some wonton soup from the convenience store. Cutest personal little water heater ever.

Now I am just waiting for Yona to wake up so we can get some free breakfast from downstairs, then we're off to Harajuku. I was told to prepare to eat a lot of sweets!!! :) :)

Boiled Onions

I am hugely disappointed with my French Onion Soup today. I was actually wondering how they would treat a French Onion to-go, since obviously the gruyere cheese would not be melted over the top of a styrofoam cup. Turns out, there is no baguette or gruyere anywhere, just onions. A bowl of boiled onions. And I don't even like onions! Everybody knows you get French Onion for the bread and cheese!

Not to mention there is no bacon in my Turkey Club Sandwich. There is always bacon in a club sandwich. Bacon is its reason for being.

Grr.