Food, Food and More Food

I have a big pile of food pictures that I want to talk about.  I'm just going to pile them all into one post.  Each week or so, I go out with friends to eat at a restaurant we've never been to before.  Below is just a sampling of what Tokyo has to offer.

First up, is a regular izakaya in Gotanda, called Doma-Doma.  It is a bit more upscale and pricey than those 270 yen ones I blogged about before.  Each drink and dish has its own price, and it can get a little overwhelming at the end when you see the receipt.  Most of the food is regular izakaya fare, but what I wanted to show here is something different and a bit unique to this izakaya.

Weird Vending Machine #3 and #4

It's time for another series of....drumroll pls...weird vending machines!

This one I found when we took a 1.5 hr bus out of Tokyo to the Gotemba Premium Outlets (btw, not worth it.  I'll write a post about it soon).  This is an umbrella vending machine!  There's 2 sizes for your convenience! I think the cheapest one was around 500 yen.  These particular umbrella's aren't anything special.  They're just those regular clear ones you can buy at any convenience store.  

McDonald's in Japan

Whether you're in a rush, on a budget, or it's late at night and you can't be bothered to cook, McDonald's is always a safe bet for decent and filling food.  It's no different in Tokyo.  I've eaten McDonald's at least 5-6 times since I've been here.  It's not that I love it (ok maybe I do a little), but I'm usually too lazy to eat anything else.

One thing that I wanted to do was to try all the different Japan-only items on the menu.  So one day after school I went to pick up this new advertised burger from McD's.  Lately in Japan, Korean culture has been a real hit.  Korean food is abundant and Korean idols are always in your face.  So obviously McD's would want to cash in on the Korean kimchi wagon.  They introduced this burger called the KBQ Burger.

So this is what the outside of it looks like.

Ghibli Museum

Everyone knows Ghibli right?  If you don't it's a real shame...

Spirited Away? My Neighbor Totoro? Kiki's Delivery Service?  If those don't ring a bell, then I don't know what to do with you...sigh.

Weird Vending Machine #2!

What's that, you say?  It looks like an ordinary vending machine to me, you're thinking?  Well you are mistaken. This vending machine is awesome!

First Encounter: Weird Vending Machine

This is weird vending machine #1!

I finally encountered my first weird vending machine here in Japan, and I must say...this is weird!

Pasta in Jiyugaoka

We were hungry one night, so 3 of us from the dorm went out to find some good Western food...or something non-Japanese.  I know, I know...we're in Japan, we should eat Japanese food!  But I was getting a bit tired of rice, so a change was welcome. 

We headed towards this one pasta place we're always passing by, but turns out they were closed for a private function.  Darn...they were the closest one too.  So we headed towards Jiyugaoka hoping to find more pasta or something. 

Ikebukuro and Ueno Park

Hello again!

Long time no see.

Are you ready for another adventure?

Today I'll talk about my quick trip to Ikebukuro and the Ueno Park Zoo.

I decided to go to Ikebukuro because my friend told me they have lots of clothing stores that are reasonably priced.  So, I hopped onto the Yamanote Line and got off at Ikebukuro Station.

Sushi Sushi Sushi

Sushi!  Probably the first thing people think of when they think of Japan.  But let me tell you, sushi here is not that common.  Well you can probably find a sushi joint while walking down the street if you so wished, but it's not a staple in the Japanese diet.  

My first sushi experience whilst living here in Tokyo was at a local sushi bar in Okusawa.  A bunch of us were supposed to go out for kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi, but some decided not to go in the end, so it was just me and Michael again.  We decided not to go too far, but we were still in search of sushi.  After wandering around our neighbourhood for a while we found a really modern looking sushi bar.  We knew it was sushi because the name on the outside said sushi in Hiragana...

Omatsuri in Okusawa

OMATSURI!  

Omatsuri is the Japanese word for festival.  Everybody at the dorm was invited to join in a traditional local omatsuri and to help carry the 'mikoshi' around.  A mikoshi is what you see above.  It is a shrine that is suppose to house a God.  The purpose of the festival is for the local people to work together to carry it through the streets, and end up at the nearby temple to receive some sort of blessing.  After the temple, you carry the mikoshi around the streets a couple more times.  

You may be thinking, how long could this take?  Probably at most an hour or so.  Oh how wrong and innocent you are.

Odaiba Sightseeing and Fake Beach

I never heard of Odaiba until I set foot in Tokyo, and Odaiba was pointed out to me on the bus ride to the dorm.  From what I saw, it was next to the water and there was a boardwalk and colourful awnings along a 2 story building facing the water.  It seemed nice enough, I never thought about it much after that.

But then my friend Michael suggested we go there because he'd been there before and its super gorgeous.  So while a boatload of the other students went to Harajuku, me and Michael went to Odaiba.  Since I'd already gone to Harajuku, and going with a big group of people wasn't very appealing, I decided to forgo that trip.  I'd rather go back to Harajuku another day on my own, or with 1 or 2 friends.

Shibuya Shopping

Ahhh Shibuya 109...only 2 weeks here and it`s already become my favourite shopping place.  Do you even know what Shibuya 109 is?!  Let me enlighten you.

Jiyugaoka

Ohayoo gozaimasu! (good morning!)


The days are starting to blur together now.  It`s hard to keep track of my experiences when I don`t post them up right after.  Damn I`m lazy.

Well, I haven`t lost my mind yet, so I still remember most of what happened when a group of us went to Jiyugaoka.

Exploring Harajuku

The other day, 2 of my new international friends and I went to Harajuku!  Oh what fun!

The trains around here are a bit tricky.  I was lucky my friend knew her kanji, because she was able to pick out Harajuku from the Japanese map at the station and figure out which ticket we needed to buy.  The ticket machines can change into english but you have to know exactly how much your fare will cost by looking at the map to be able to get your ticket.  The map wasn't in English...

Anyways, we got to Harajuku safe and sound, thank goodness!  When we exited the station, we exited from the famous Harajuku Station building.  At this point, we had no idea in which direction to walk in.  I only planned so far as getting to Harajuku.  Now what??

Settling In

Am I due for another post?  Yea...

I'm not very good at this blog thing I realize.  I need to get used to carrying my camera around so I can take awesome pictures and you can ooh and ahh at them.  Instead I have to show you crappy pictures taken with my blackberry.  I didn't think we were going to do anything worth blogging about but..it's Japan...everything's interesting!

Oh yes, before I get into today, let's talk about yesterday.  I forgot to take pictures except on the bus ride to the dorms, so the only picture I have to show you is of Tokyo Tower.

Landed in Tokyo

I came to Japan ALL BY MYSELF!  Can you believe it?  I'm still sort of in shock.

Anyways, this is my first blog post ever, so let me just start off by saying WELCOME!  Friends, family, strangers, doesn't matter!

So my background story.
I've lived in Vancouver my entire life.  I'm 23.  I attend SFU as an Economics major.  I applied for exchange and got accepted to Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo, so that's where we are today.