We got up and met Alexa, Kyle and Sawyer for breakfast and all agreed to meet at the port terminal with our belongings. Lauren and I arrived early to try and use the Internet. We were only able to send off an email or two before everyone showed up. (Hopefully, you can see how I’m getting delayed on my blogging with sporadic internet access!)
We walked from the port terminal to the subway station. Thankfully, Sawyer, Kyle, and Alexa knew a short cut so it was a short walk. We got off the subway and caught a train to Shibuya. We were headed back to Shibuya today because no one (except for me, of course) had been there.
We arrived at Shibuya much earlier today and it was not nearly as busy as when I was here the day before. The weather however, was quite chilly.
After wandering around the area, we stopped at a Starbucks to warm up and make another attempt to contact Shelley. This Starbucks was cute! They had about eight drinks to choose from and only one size: tall. I pointed to the menu to tell the barista what I wanted and dodge that language barrier.
Starbucks at Shibuya Crossing in Japan.
Lauren & I at Shibuya Crossing
We were we were headed to Tokyo tower. It is a lookalike of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Tokyo Tower
On our walk there we happened to stumble across a temple. The temple was a pretty cool gem in our day in Tokyo. I don’t have the name of the temple but insider were dolls, which we learned represented children that were aborted. The parents felt they were abandoned and this would be a way to remember them. There were multiple other sites on the temple's campus that we explored.
Dolls that represent the children.
The Tokyo tower was immediately in front of the temple. It was pretty neat to see. We didn't, however, go up to the top. It was very chilly that day, a little pricey and we were beginning to feel a bit of a time crunch. We were able to see pictures of the tower that were taken in the evening. Definitely much more amazing lit up!
Temple in front, Tokyo tower in rear.
The temple near Tokyo Tower
Once again, there was a lovely little crepe shop right in front of the tower. Of course, we stopped and grabbed a snack. Crepes are becoming my new thing!
Sawyer, Me, Lauren & Alexa eating crepes in Tokyo, Japan.
Near Tokyo Tower.
After our snack we headed back to the train station on our way to Yokohama. We wanted to see the Imperial Palace in Tokyo but had heard it was closed off for some reason.
We were hungry by the time we arrived in Yokohama and headed straight for the lunch at a Sushi place. {Yea, I know. Me and sushi. We don’t really mix, but what’s a girl to do?} Seriously, I have no idea what I ate. I think it was tuna. And I think I shall never have to hear Cole tell me that I haven't eaten "real sushi". Ever. (Yea me!)
Sushi
The sushi was served on a conveyor belt, so when something came by that looked appealing we snatched it off the conveyor belt and ate it. It was a pretty neat concept but definitely falls under the idea of “mystery food”. The chefs prepared more sushi directly in front of where we were seated.
Sushi
conveyor belt restaurant.
The food on the plates with the plastic covering are going around the restaurant on a conveyor .
Also enjoying lunch at this restaurant was my Diverse Cultures professor. She was eating sushi with a friend from Japan, her husband and two kids. It was lucky for us as her friend from Japan was able to help us navigate the sushi world a little bit and help us over that “mystery food” hump by telling us what we were eating.
After our lunch we headed back to the port terminal so Kyle and Sawyer could grab their clothes for the next few days while Lauren and I used the Internet. Alexa needed to get back on the ship. The ship was leaving tonight and heading to Kobe, Japan. Kyle, Sawyer, Lauren, and I were planning on meeting the ship in Kobe. We could use a little more time off the water.
We took the subway to Yokohama station. Once we arrived at Yokohama station we realized that we now needed to make our way to Shin Yokohama station. Surprisingly, very few of the locals in Yokohama or in Tokyo spoke English. Not at all what I expected. I would have thought that more would have spoken English, or at least had a better understanding. Needless to say, it was a lot of work trying to figure out how to get to Shin Yokohama station.
Once we made it to Shin Yokohama station we had to try to communicate to the locals about how to get to the bullet train. Apparently in Japan they don't refer to the bullet train as the bullet train. (Level of difficulty exponentially increases when you are calling something by the wrong name! Add to that, there weren't pictures that we could point at to help our cause.} So, for those of you planning an adventure to Tokyo, make a note: they call the bullet train "Shinkansen." It has a very similar feel to flying on an airplane with three seats on one side and two seats on the other side of the aisle. An attendant (in our case, female) walked up and down the aisles to sell snacks to passengers.
Once off the bullet train, we had to take another train to the area in Kobe where Kyle and Sawyer's hotel was located. Lauren and I were flying by the seat of our pants, planning on grabbing a room at the same hotel as Kyle and Sawyer.
People in Kobe spoke even less English than the people in Tokyo or even in Yokohama. Luckily, the hotel was RIGHT next to the train station when we got off. Maybe a two minute walk, at the most. We were all very excited, relieved, exhausted and ready to head to bed. Unfortunately, we were starving. It was nearly midnight and we hadn't eaten since 2 pm. Against all our preferences, we ate at a McDonald’s at the train station that hadn't closed yet. We were desperate for food and wanted to get to bed.
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