Skip to main content

A Very Harajuku Birthday to Me!

Yesterday (my Japanese birthday) I went to Harajuku (another fashion district) with some friends.  I wasn't so focused on documenting it because I just wanted to have fun.  Laura took some pictures, and when I get them I will update this post with them, so if you care to see them, keep checking back.

EDIT: The pictures have arrived!
Laura's shoe broke.  This is surgery.
Cooking our okonomiyaki.


Browned on one side and flipped.  Laura's had bacon.


First we roamed around the shopping, then we went to eat, and then we went back to the shopping areas.  This is what it looks like during mid afternoon and then at closing time.  The nighttime one is really shaky, so I apologize for that.  I didn't realize I was moving so much.
When we went to eat, Laura knew where we were going (mostly) but when we got to the building we asked a guy (who only spoke Japanese) to help us find the place.  He led us through the building and into the restaurant, where the waiter asked us how many.  The guy counted my four friends (ichi, ni, san, shi), myself (go), and then himself (roku).  We were all a bit surprised but we figured "why not?"  He sat down with us and we had some mild conversation.  When the waiter came by he told him he wasn't going to eat, but didn't get up to leave.  By the time we were all thoroughly convinced our group had grown to six people, he got up to leave.  It was a strange encounter, but fun enough, and we had our dinner.  I ate another one of those make-your-own egg-batter pancake things with shrimp and mushroom and whatever else they automatically add to it.
When we were done eating we returned to the shopping areas and then got on the train to Shinjuku (where I had visited before) but we decided to do it at night this time.
We found ourselves in the host club district.  This is where a bunch of guys from host clubs stand out on the street and try to sweet talk any girls who look wealthy enough to come back to their clubs with them, where they will drink incredibly expensive drinks with them, talk them up in any way that will make them happy, and essentially sell their time, flirtation, and charisma for your entire year's salary.  It was quite a sight seeing all those guys in suits with overly-product'd hair and tons of jewelry chatting girls up, and looking over to see all their faces displayed on the clubs' walls like a menu.
Most of who I was with were a little bit creeped out, so we hustled through that area, and then decided to head home.
It was a fun birthday, even though I miss my friends and family.  But today I am truly 20 years old, so I guess Happy Birthday to me, again!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Mission Revived

This blog has been dormant for too long.  I've tried to write a few posts since returning back to America from Japan, but I couldn't figure out why I never kept up with it.  I love to travel and explore, and I love to write, so what was the problem? When I created this blog I did so partially to keep my friends and family in the loop while I spent a year of my life exploring a foreign country, but my biggest driving factor was providing information.  I researched every corner of the web before I set off on my year abroad in Japan.  I wanted to soak up every bit of information I could about life in Japan, the culture overseas, what my school would be like, and everything in between.  Looking at pictures, watching videos, and reading everything there was to read consumed me and heightened my excitement immensely.  So, I had decided that I wanted to make my trip informative for future study abroad students who would likely be doing the same scouring I had don...
Post a Comment
Read more

40 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Japan

Before I jump straight into this list, I want to clarify that some of these points may be generally incorrect, or could be exclusive to Tokyo.  I could also have some of my reasonings wrong.  This list is simply something I compiled based off of my own experiences throughout the year that I lived and traveled throughout Japan. This list is also not, in any way, a complete one.  I'm sure if you search the internet you can find many other very true facts about Japan that I have forgotten to list here. In urban areas there will, at any given time or place, be at least one コンビニ ("conbini" / convenience store) within walking distance. Japanese people don’t usually have  middle names . Japanese people are very interested in each others' blood type - it's like astrology in America, except people take it very seriously.  Expect to be asked what your blood type is at least once. Japanese deodorant supposedly doesn't work very well.  I brought my own deodo...
5 comments
Read more

Never Forget

On November 25th I got on a bus headed toward Iwate, a coastal prefecture in Northern Japan located half way between the Northernmost part before the Hokkaido island, and Fukushima, where, on March 11th a powerplant encountered many difficulties and became dangerous to the surrounding area.  The city we went to was called Rikuzentakata.  Rikuzentakata is a unique place, because it is located in a nook of land with the sea accessible on two sides. Before I go any further into this story, I want to explain why I am bothering at all.  Unless you were very young on March 11th, 2011 or have no access to the media, you are fully aware of what happened in Norhern Japan, and realize the destruction it caused.  So, why bring it up again?  It is true that, by telling you about my experience in Iwate, I will not change what happened.  But that is not my purpose.  What I ask of you is that you simply never forget what you know.  As of now, eight months a...
2 comments
Read more