Kristen and Shawn Visit: Part 5: Tokyo aka THE END! :-(

After Korea, we hopped on a plane to Osaka, where we then hopped on a Shinkansen to Tokyo for the last part of our trip together (SOB!! They should just move here, I think, and I should never leave).

When we got to Tokyo, we immediately brought Kristen and Shawn to the capsule hotel in which they would be staying. I was staying with Martin in Shinagawa, so I had booked them a place close to there, and it turned out to be a host district
(if you don't know what a host is, use the picture for reference. It's like the Japanese dude version of a hostess, and they have awesome host hair and are super suave) - the place was literally crawling with hosts. I thought it was a great introduction to Tokyo for Kristen and Shawn! :-)

The next day, while Kristen and I slept, Shawn woke up super early and went to the fish market (apparently, he got kicked out about 5 times for being a foreigner there so early). When we finally all met up, we headed over to Akihabara for some doughnuts from the Doughnut Plant (and, of course, for them to check out the electronics distric).


I of course had to bring them to Super Potato to see all the old school games and to sit in the chair made of famcom games (which, unfortunately, was way smaller than it used to be - I guess it went through some trouble).

So, then we headed over to the Meiji shrine by Yoyogi Koen, and there just so happened to be two weddings going on. Guess we were lucky!

Martin and I of course had to make goofy poses outtside of the shrine. I feel certain that Kristen and Shawn also made goofy poses, but I don't seem to have those pictures.

After the shrine, we headed into Harajuku, where there were unfortunately no cosplayers. We really didn't get lucky on the cosplay/lolita front.
We did, however, get very lucky on the Takeshita street front. Sure, there were tons of people there, but SO MANY LESS than there ever have been before.
We were actually able to walk down the street and breathe at the same time. I even felt comfortable enough spending the time necessary to pop into a couple idol shops to look for hot visual kei boys (I found none. Sadness).

We then headed over to the Shinjuku/Shibuya area for a delicious (at least to me, maybe not so much to Krist and Shawn) vegan lunch at Pure Cafe, the Aveda cafe.
And then delicious chocolate soy shakes from Mr. Bean.

Since we were in the area, we of course had to go check out 109 - I feel like it's a total waste to go to Tokyo and not at least check out the insane awesomeness of it.

We made some new friends in front of the store who posed in our picture with us!

Kristen and I had been wanting to buy matching somethings, and we found some adorable t-shirts, so I officially made my very first 109 purchase (and not even from JSG, my favorite store there).

Us having fun in 109. Please note that I almost killed myself on the escalator trying to get this picture.

Making Mary-Kate and Ashley lips in the train.

That night, Martin and Shawn went to kaiten sushi for dinner while Kristen and I ate spaghetti chez Martin. It was so nice to eat in a house again, oddly enough, instead of hopping around from restaurant to restaurant.

Kristen and Shawn wanted to see the sky tree, so the next morning we woke up and headed over to Asakusa. We walked around a bit looking at the shrine and the fun other Japanesey stuff, and then we headed over to the bridge to check out the sky tree.

Kristen and Shawn think it's going to be a tourist success, but I'm just not so sure. I mean, it's ugly. And it's whole purpose is to be a tourist attraction. I don't get it. Maybe I'll have to walk up to the top and see the view if I ever want to eventually get it.

And there it is, right to the left of the really cool building that's supposed to look like beer.

Then Krist and I headed over to Loving Hut for (what I thought was) a DELICIOUS lunch! Shawn and Martin walked around Shinjuku and ate something else. Then we met up and got doughnuts (!!!! I'm seriously doughnut obsessed) and headed back to Martin's for a few minutes of down-time before getting back on the shinkansen to head back to Nagoya.
We ate delicious (once again, to me) Indian food, then Kristen and Shawn headed to their hotel by the airport, and I headed back to Okazaki for my first night sleeping with my home stay family.

Our stay in Tokyo was super short but super fun. Their stay in Japan was super short but super fun. I'm so sad they are gone!

I'm actually headed back to Tokyo this weekend again, though, to hang out with another friend coming into town. And then, Guillaume comes, and we're headed to Kyushu then Okinawa. So much traveling, so little money!

And thus, THE END of my adventures with Kristen and Shawn!

以上です。