Loot / Some notes

First off, what I got from my trip to Japan!! It was quite alot, and I spent quite a bit. So I'm currently broke, and need to save up all over again before I can finance my trip in 2 years' time.

My loot:


From Meiji Shrine: A hankie, 2 lucky charms (gosh those were pretty expensive!), some tea (because I loved the kawaii packaging), and those raccoons for friends.


From Harajuku/Omotesando: A H.Naoto bandana (as a souvenir, but it cost big bucks all the same), 2 pairs of shoes, some accessories for friends, a candy-ish necklace for me, one wa-ki belt, and my Burberry Blue label handphone chain!


Tour merchandise! Pamphlet, T-shirt, bandana... a copy of NIL (with a free poster!), and some free flyers!


Magazines from Kinokuniya and Noiz.


Kawaii Hello Kitty handphone chains.


Other things that I got: Kagrra's Sara DVD, a sensu, Popteen(!), a pouch from Asakusa for my handphone, one chou-chou ring from Takashimaya, the LeSportSac makeup pouch, and a plushie thingy from the capsule machine on our way to Fuji-san.


And this is the sensu that cost me about 55 bucks.


Open! (No, I don't use it to dance Kotodama. Yes, I use it for cosplay.)


And all the free flyers that I've gotten from this trip, either picked off the rack at Noiz, or given at the live.

And here are some receipts...


These are the prettier ones...


... Ok ok, here are all my receipts. *broke*

* * * * *

While going to Japan during Golden Week is terribly expensive due to the hike in airfare and accomodation rates, I didn't really have a choice this time. And we booked our flights pretty late, so we made do we what was available at that time (aka, the only two seats left on JAL. ANA was full.) Lesson learnt: never go Japan during Golden Week. And never book seats late. (And I'm so flying with ANA next time.)

But going to Japan during Golden Week allows you to see things that you might not really see if you go during any other time. Tokyo was so crowded with people, it was nuts. XD And they've got Golden Week sales in some shops in Harajuku too. But really, the crowd was pretty crazy... The Omotesando sidewalks were absolutely filled to the brim with people, and it was worst than the busiest weekend that you'll ever see in Orchard Road.

My favourite part of the trip was, of course, the live. And a close second would be Harajuku and those cosplayers. They are things that we don't have here. The entire audience being spontaneous is one thing, but having a filled stadium head-banging and doing para para is another thing. Really. The atmosphere was so high, you cannot not join in. XD And visiting the cosplay bridge in Harajuku is really an eye-opener. Those cosplayers were really good, even though they were all amateurs. And shopping in Harajuku is great... they've got things for the young and hip at Takeshita-dori, and on the other side at Omotesando, they've got branded goods. The polar opposites at Harajuku is quite interesting as well. On one side of the cosplay bridge you've got the tranquil Meiji Shrine, and on the other side, you've got a really happening shopping district.

Shibuya's a good shopping district too. But if you plan to explore Shibuya and Harajuku, do not do it all in one day (like us). Shopping at Harajuku would probably take up one day on its own. You'll need another day to fully explore Shibuya. But do go to the famous crossroads in front of the Shibuya station if you don't have the time to really look through all the shopping malls at Shibuya. You can basically walk in any direction you want when the traffic lights turn red. XD

Shinjuku's not too bad either... it's a cosmopolitan place in itself. I finally got to see Mana's shop at MaruiOne. And see real Japanese goths for the first time!! (and in the process saw a cross-dresser goth as well...) My only regret was that I didn't visit Odakaya during my visit (because I wasn't into cosplay yet). But I would go there next time!

The hotel that we stayed in is a business hotel... the rooms are small, but cosy all the same. We kinda agreed that Shinjuku isn't really a place to stay for tourists... Ikebukuro would have been better. And we didn't manage to go up the Metropolitan Building. I must make a note to go the next time.

The trip to Hakone is a short one. It had a deja-vu-like feel, because I've been there before. But getting back to nature after a few days in the hustle and bustle of the city can be quite refreshing. We just need Mount Fuji to show its snow-capped peak though. XD There are many places in the outskirts which are really good places to visit for tourists. But of course, some planning would be required. I intend to visit Nagano on my next trip for its rustic villages.

Trains are the way to go by in Japan. Although the train station is already a crazy maze itself, once you get the hang of it, all's fine. Some knowledge of the Japanese language may be good too because not everyone working at the station knows how to speak English. The handy train guide (see navigation) really did help quite a bit for a beginner like me... always check the route before your ride so you know where to get off and transfer.

Eating Japanese food in Japan can be really exciting. Even though it is just a small ramen restaurant. XD Ordering is done by vending machines, so make sure you know some Japanese (although you can rely on the pictures of the food XD). Eating out can be expensive though... one bowl of ramen's about 6 Singapore dollars. A sushi box from the supermarket's about 25 bucks. And the lunch bento that I had on my last day in Shinjuku cost me about 18 Singapore dollars. If you're a fan of Japanese curry, do go for some when you visit Japan too. ^^

There was one thing that we didn't try though: kani houdai. Crab buffet's pretty popular in Japan... and it cost about 75 Singapore dollars per person for all-you-can-eat crabs. Ok lah... considering these are giant crabs we are talking about. I must go eat some next time. XD Theme restaurants are also pretty popular with the young crowd. One of these is the LockUp at Shibuya. I didn't get to visit the LockUp this time... but I'll try to go when I next visit. It's a great place for drinks, but I'm not too sure about the food. XD

This trip to Japan is the first one that I planned and went free-and-easy on my own. It had been a great experience, and I dealed with emergencies better (try getting lost in Shinjuku at night?) Communication is not as difficult as I had thought. But Japanese is still the language to go by, so do arm yourself with a phrasebook before you go to avoid embarrassment/miscommunication!

Now that I've seen the city, it's time for the outskirts and countryside. But I'll have to wait till my next visit to Japan! ^^

Departure

On the way back to the airport, I didn't sleep so I ended up looking out of the bus and staring at the passing landscape. They were the same as what we saw when we arrived, but this time it was in the afternoon and the sun was out. Perfect weather for pictures. So I took out my camera, and attempted to take some photos as the bus zoomed along the highway.


The giant ferris wheel... again.


Tokyo Disneyland! They strategically hid the full view theme park so you can't really see it from the highway.

We arrived at Narita after about an hour or so. There were security checks when the Airport Limousine entered the airport compound. Actually, all vehicles entering the airport had to be checked by the security officials... So a couple of uniformed officers came up and walked down the aisle, and we were given the ok to move on.

The bus dropped us at Terminal 2, which is the place for departures. We heaved our luggage onto a trolley, and proceeded to find our row for check-in.


Narita Airport Terminal 2.


Me and our filled luggage. XD

As it was still early (as usual...), the check-in counter hadn't open yet! D: So we sat down at the seats in the middle of the departure area and I proceeded to search for places that has internet connection. XD The entire departure hall was covered by wireless internet (ah... the convenience of Japanese technology). But when I tried to connect, they attempted to charge me for internet use!! D: I took it as a signal to NOT surf, and switched off my computer. I got bored, so I stood up and went to the brochure shelf to pick my fill. XD And then I sat back down again and discovered that their departure board display in both English and Japanese! (ok... it's expected, but it felt pretty good to see and know how to read)


Yep, it's all in Japanese. (if you can see the words on the board XD)

By this time, we figured that the counter would be opened for check-in, so we went over to the JAL counter. There weren't any queue (because we were probably one of the first to check-in), so we finished the procedure pretty quickly. The girl at the counter couldn't really speak English, so when she asked if there were anything fragile in our baggage, we were like huh? But after a couple of repeats we finally understood. XD I was tempted to say that there was... because I packed my Gazette poster in my luggage and I was scared that it would get squashed on its way back home. XD

After checking in, we got rid of our trolley and with me lugging Miyabi along on my back, we went upstairs to check out the shops at the departure hall. They've got a small bookstore, and Mom saw some postcards and decided to get some (because she couldn't get a pretty picture of Fuji-san. XD) I went to the magazine rack. As expected, all magazines in Japan are free for all to browse, so I started flipping through whatever I could find. A Playboy magazine caught my attention... and it's free for browsing too! O.o I've never seen the contents of Playboy magazine in my life, so I got curious and started looking. Um... I must say, things get quite yellow inside. XD I saw that they had Popteen... and it's only 450yen!! It's like, only 6 bucks, when our local Kino charges about 10-12 dollars for one copy! Must buy. XD

After getting our stuff, we went on again to look for other things that we could buy. I saw that there was a crepe shop. There were many crepe shops in Harajuku, so I figured that they must be quite popular with the Japanese. I told Mom that we should get a break and eat one... and proceeded to order something cheap. XD I ordered one with chocolate ice-cream and fudge sauce... and it was very very sweet. ><

So after finishing our crepe with much effort, we went on to look at other shops. There was this store selling Sanrio stuff (no one can resist Sanrio...) and I saw that they had those Hello Kitty handphone chains that I saw on top of Mount Fuji. And this time it wasn't only one or two types... they had the entire rack full of Hello Kitty handphone chains. Most featured Hello Kitty dressed in different outfits and holding different things reflective of the different prefectures and areas in Japan. But some had Hello Kitty eating ramen, stuck in the sushi roll... things that reflect Japanese culture in general. I went nuts and limited myself to 3 because each chain wasn't cheap (like 500-575yen). I picked a Shinjuku and Harajuku Hello Kitty (because these are the places that I visited this time), and decided one the Kamakura Hello Kitty too because she was wearing a purple kimono. The Shinjuku Hello Kitty wore a black dress with boots and the Harajuku one wore a funky pink and purple dress and carried a bag. XD

After getting these things, Mom said that it's time for us to go to the departure gate. We had to take the shuttle to get us over to the departure gates. It was something like taking the Sky Train at Changi. I remembered that I took the same shuttle when I transitted at Narita during my OM trip with Chee Seng and the OM gang.


On the shuttle.

We got ourselves to the departure gates and guess what, Mom caught sight of duty-free shopping. XD I wasn't going to get anything because I hoped to go home with some cash left in my wallet... but I saw a LeSportSac pouch and it was only 1650yen (25 bucks). They were clearing stocks I guess, but the pouch was awfully cheap for something that is genuine so I bought it. Mom bought one too... The pouch ended up being my makeup pouch... It's really useful! I must get another one if I see the same bargain when I go back to Japan.

They also had this display in the middle of the departure area that teaches you to differentiate genuine from fake goods. They displayed LV, Gucci... things like that. XD Mom was pointing out that some of the fakes that were displayed really looked... well, fake. -_-"

We found our departure gate and sat down with other passengers to wait for boarding. The travelator was in the middle of the departure area, with departure gates on both sides of it. I told Mom to sit and watch the TV there (which was showing some sumo match XD) and went over to the other side to take a picture of the airport.


Narita Terminal 2 from the departure gates.


A JAL plane and another plane from some airline that I couldn't remember.

Our flight was delayed. :( So I sat there with Mom and watched the sumo match on the TV... and the sky was getting dark when we finally boarded the plane. We will get home after midnight I guess, but it's ok, because Pa will be waiting to pick us up. XD

The seats on this plane weren't any better. I still felt squashed. I stashed Miyabi and my Billabong under my seat, and sat back to watch the safety video. Yes... I always pay attention to the safety video, partly because there weren't anything else to do. XD

We took off around 6.45pm or so... Mom looked out of the window as the wheels of the plane left the ground and said, "See you in 2 years!" And we were through the clouds and in the sky in no time.

The flight this time was much less stressful, although I still couldn't sit comfortably in my seat. I didn't have to worry about reports, so I sat back and watched some in-flight entertainment. I didn't like the selection (again... whoa, I'm so taking ANA next time) but I settled on this trivia game show. The meals came, and I watched and ate. We had panna cotta for dessert this time, but it looked like an egg. (Really! They decorated it so it looked like an egg sunny-side-up) Didn't taste too good too.

I decided to grab some sleep, and managed to doze off for a while... but when I tried to open my eyes, I couldn't because they were so dry. I decided that it was time to pop out the contacts, and went to the loo to take them out. We weren't really given much things to eat on board, but I wasn't too hungry so it was ok.

It must have been 5 to 6 hours or so... when the Captain finally made the announcement that we were going to land soon. Yay, home, I thought. Mom opened the window cover and it was already dark outside, but we could see the lights from boats and ships in the sea (South China Sea, perhaps). And very soon we caught sight of the bright lights of Singapore, and landed almost immediately. Yes, our island's so small that once you catch sight of it, it's time to land. XD

The plane taxied into Changi, and we were like, Oh... home... And sleep!! XD The seatbelt lights were turned off, and we grabbed our bags and queued to leave the plane. And as soon as we were inside the arrival area, I took out my phone and gave Pa a call to make sure that he was still in the airport. XD We arrived later because of the delay in take-off; it was only around 1am or so that we arrived in Singapore.

Pa didn't want any wine, so we collected our luggage at the baggage claim, went out to meet Pa, and it's home sweet home!! (it's a little hot though. XD)

Shinjuku (Part 2)

We rose early as usual... but on my last day in Tokyo, I felt that an enormous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. My report's done, and Agnes did me a huge favour by offering to hand it in for me.

I washed up, made up, and made sure that my bags were packed. And then just for the sake of remembrance, I took a picture of the scenery outside our only hotel window.


I stared at this scenery night after night while doing my report so the image was kinda branded into my brain...

We got downstairs to the hotel restaurant to have our breakfast. Today I had my usual Japanese set with porridge. I love their porridge. And I told Mom that on my last day, I must try natto. On our first day, the waitress told us that they have condiments which we are free to help ourselves to, and one of them is natto. Since it's free, why not? :P Natto is basically fermented soya beans, and it's sticky and gooey and I heard that that it stinks quite a bit too... But then the Japanese love natto and eat it for breakfast daily. So yep, I'm going to try natto.

I went to the condiments table and helped myself to a cup...


Are you disgusted already? :P

It didn't stink (I sniffed at the contents so I know), but it looked weird. I took a bean and tasted it... It tasted like steamed kidney beans, or those yellow beans that they add to yong tau foo soup, except that it's slightly harder and tasted bitter. Yep, it tasted bitter. I picked at a few more while trying to avoid that sticky gooey thingy that clung onto the beans... and then I gave up. I don't like natto. -_-"

So after we had our breakfast, we went back to the hotel to check out. But we left our luggage with the receptionist, and set out to Takashimaya. Yep, we're going Takashimaya!! In Japan!! :D

The walk wasn't too long, as Takashimaya's just around the corner from where we stayed. Along the way, we saw some colourful posters and banners.


Found stuck on the window at the huge JTB office near our hotel :)


And these banners decorated the lamp posts along the entire street.

I had been looking around for vending machines selling stuff other than canned or bottled drinks, and I found some!


Cigarette vending machines!! :D

I had wanted to find those vending machines selling weird stuff like oh I dunno... porn or worn underwear or something. But guess you can't expect to find everything in one place :P

We crossed the road from the cigarette vending machines and found ourselves in front of Takashimaya.


Can you see the building already? No?


Tada! Takashimaya!! :D


In front of the flagship Takashimaya store in Shinjuku. :) That plaque just says that the building's the Takashimaya flagship... and it's called Takashimaya Timesquare.

It was still early and Takashimaya was not opened yet. So we wandered around to the other side of the building and we came face to face with the railway tracks of Shinjuku station, one of the busiest train stations in the world.


It's a mish-mash of train tracks...


The train station's just so big... can you even count the number of tracks there are?!


A JR train leaving Shinjuku station.


More trains at the foot of the Takashimaya building.

There was this bridge that linked one side of the tracks to the other side... and it kinda separated the shopping district from the civic district sides of Shinjuku. We stood on the bridge to take photos, but didn't cross it.


Behind me is the civic district already!


The Takashimaya building from the bridge.


And hey! I've been to the Takashimaya flagship store! :D

So we got back to the Takashimaya side... and the store's not opened yet. So we decided to drop by Kinokuniya first instead. ;)

Kinokuniya's flagship store's also in Shinjuku. And the best part is that, Kinokuniya's flagship's just beside Takashimaya's flagship!! And the buildings are even linked!!


The Kinokuniya flagship store in Shinjuku. That bridge on the right links the Kinokuniya building to the Takashimaya building.


Me and my favourite bookstore. :)


Big big picture of Kinokuniya's store sign!! XD


Right outside Kinokuniya. :)

I walked up to the front entrance of Kinokuniya and passed it, before standing next to the glass windows with the books on display and asked Mom to help me take a photo. Yep, I'm a big Kino fan. XD And then we U-turned and stepped into the store. It was still early, and there weren't many customers yet. So all the staff whom we passed greeted us with "Ohayou gozaimasu!" I found the right floor that had all the magazines, and we made a beeline for that area. Mom had wanted to buy lots of Japanese fashion magazines... and I wanted my fill of Shoxx and Arena 37oC and other Japanese music magazines.

Magazines are cheaper when you get them in Japan as compared to when you get them here at our local Kinokuniya. The price difference is about two times (!!). The magazines that were displayed on the shelves were not wrapped (unlike here...) so it's free browsing for all. I stood at the music section and had a ball of a time flipping through my favourite magazines and choosing those that I wanted to buy. I got myself Arena 37oC and Fool's Mate, and as an afterthought I got Shoxx Bis too... because Kagrra's on the cover. They are cheap anyway, so why not? :P

I saw that they have Rock and Read there... but they didn't have the issue with Gazette on the cover. So how? Ask information desk! XD I thought Kinokuniya would have seen its fair share of foreign customers, so I didn't really bother to structure my Japanese sentences and decided to make my enquiry in English. I asked the lady at the counter if she speaks English, but she said she couldn't really. Ah heck it, I don't want to speak Japanese! So I asked her if they still carried the issue I wanted, in broken English. Well, we did communicate quite well, so in the end I found out that it was already out of print! T_T

Mom got herself a stack of fashion, nail and hair magazines. So we paid and left happily with our magazines. The cashiers were polite to a fault. They always tell you, on handing over change, "Please come again" in formal Japanese.

Remember that bridge that I had mentioned earlier? The one that links Kinokuniya to Takashimaya? I wasn't going to leave Japan without walking on that bridge, so I pulled Mom along and we went up the Kinokuniya building. XD The bridge's on the 7th floor (Yep. Kinokuniya's got like, 8 floors in total. Our local branch can't compare XD). I got there and kinda went delirious with happiness.


Victory!! I stepped on the Kinokuniya bridge!


Fooling around for a while. XD

After snapping our fill of photos, we crossed the bridge over to Takashimaya. Of course, Takashimaya's opened already... so we took a look around.

Our first stop was this event area where they were selling accessories and bags with traditional kimono prints on them. Think Kokon Tozai at CityLink Mall. I found myself a ring that I like (chou chou-shaped!!) and proceeded to buy. :P The salesgirl's really nice. I was conversing with Mom in Mandarin, so she asked us if we were Taiwanese. XD I replied in Japanese that we were Singaporean, and then she continued to ask me if we were there for holiday... and stuff like that. It was good that I could understand what she was saying, and she could understand my broken Japanese.

Next, I told Mom that I really really needed to go. To HMV. XD You see, I was hoping to buy some Kagrra DVDs and I'm going to cash and carry them home. It's much cheaper that ordering and importing them to Singapore. So Mom gave me 15 minutes, and we rushed up to HMV. I zoomed in, looked around, and decided that I didn't have the time to scan the entire shop to see where was the DVD section. I caught a Caucasian girl standing at the cashier counter and hoped that she could understand English. I didn't want to ask where I can find concert DVDs in Japanese. I didn't know how to.

So I approached her... and...

"Sumimasen, eigo wo hanashimasuka? (excuse me, do you speak English?)" I asked hopefully.

"Yes. Hai," she replied.

"Oh my god. This is great," I replied in relieve. And proceeded to ask her where I could find my live DVDs. She pointed me to the correct direction, and I found my Kagrra DVD in no time. They only had Unsanmushou and Sara. I had Unsanmushou already, so I got Sara. I managed to catch that small sticker at the top of the cover that says something like first press... but I wanted to make sure that it's the limited edition that I wanted so I went back to the counter to ask the girl if it's first press limited edition. Her kanji's not too great, so she asked a colleague and they kinda confirmed it. So I made my payment (to the helpful Caucasian girl of course!), thanked her and left. It's so good to have someone speak to you in English after so many days of struggling with Japanese.

I got my magazines and Kagrra DVD. And now Mom needs her shoes.

So we went down to the ground floor of Takashimaya, and Mom picked out a pair of court shoes she liked. The stuff were rather expensive (really, the entire building of Takashimaya's filled with expensive things) but she found a pair of reasonably priced court shoes. Now it's the sizing...

I asked a young salesgirl and after a few tries of trying to speak to us in Japanese, she switched to broken English. XD Mom found the size, but then the salesgirl was already busy with another customer, and Mom and I were in a rush, so we got another salesman to help us. This one speakth no English. So I had a hard time trying to tell him what I want. The shoes in Takashimaya are displayed in a way such that only one shoe is on the display rack. The other's in the box. So I told the guy I wanted the other shoe, but I probably said the wrong thing and he took my shoe and put it back into the display rack!! D: I was quite pissed, so I took the shoe and asked him again... I guess I came across as rather rude ("Kono kutsu ga hoshii desu.") but then at least he understood.

Mom paid, and then it's time to get lunch.

Of course, like any other large departmental stores, Takashimaya's got a supermarket. I wanted to have a bento to myself before I leave Japan, so I settled for this pretty looking set with spaghetti, corokke, and sushi. Mom wanted to eat their giant pau, but then I couldn't understand what the aunties were trying to tell me and after we bought it, I said, "Ano... ima tabetai desu... (Erm, I want to eat it now...)"

"Taberanai! Taberanai! (you can't eat!)"

Like, wtf. I thought. So that carried on for a while, before one of the aunties got one of those Chinese nationals working there to come and talk to us in Mandarin. Apparently the filling in those paus are raw... you have to steam them yourself. Like duh. Ok... so Mom scouted around and settled for a bento instead. The pau... we wrapped it up and decided to take it home for Pa to eat (after steaming, of course). XD

There wasn't any place at the basement to sit down and eat, so I suggested that we go outside of the building where they had benches on the wooden boardwalk. It's a nice place to have lunch actually. The boardwalk is framed by glass panels, and you sit on the benches and watch the commuter hustle and bustle at the train station beneath your feet. So we put our shopping bags down and sat down for lunch.


This is my lunch bento!! It's actually a cheese set. Everything in it's got cheese. The corokke's got cheese. The sushi's got cheese... I didn't bother to read the tag when I bought the bento, but then the food's good all the same! I finished the entire bento. And after that I was so bloated. ^^;

I sat where I was and took out my camera to snap some shots while having lunch. :)


Salarymen at the platform directly in front of me.


The Shinjuku Station sign!

After we had lunch, Mom wanted to visit the loo. So yep, I went with her. I'd say that the toilets in Tokyo are really clean. And most of them are fitted with a heated seat. ^^; Well, Takashimaya's a very famous store, so the toilets were really really clean. I sat down and then the control on my right happened to catch my attention. I saw the same control fitted into the heated seat back in our hotel room, but I didn't have the time to play around with it. Agnes had told me before that if you pressed some buttons you can actually get a spray of warm water to clean your butt after you're done with your business. So I looked at the words on the control, and hit at the right button for the butt wash.

But alas, I wasn't really wanting a butt wash. I wanted to see what was going on, so I turned around and was just in time to catch the pipe extending out from the toilet bowl and spraying out a stream of warm water over my head. I ducked instinctively. XD But I still got sprayed at nonetheless... I quickly hit at the stop button, but it was not before the water shot over the door of my cubicle. ><; I took a picture to remind myself that I shall never play with toilet bowl controls ever again.


High-tech toilet bowl with heated seat and butt wash controls!! XD

Some of the water got into my Kino plastic bag... and soaked the top of my magazines a little. :( So after wiping away as much water as I could, I joined Mom outside, and we went back to our hotel to get our luggage. Mom asked the receptionist to call for a cab because she didn't want to drag her filled luggage to the station again. The cab-calling service was pretty quick too. I was frantically packing away my magazines in my luggage when the cab arrived and the receptionist called us outside.

The starting cab fare in Japan is 660 yen (about 9-10 bucks). The taxi driver was quite nice... He realised that I could manage a bit of Japanese when he was heaving my luggage into his boot and I asked, "Daijoubu desuka?" So we ended up having a conversation during our short journey from the hotel to Shinjuku station. He asked if we were having a vacation, and where we were from. It was surprisingly easy to speak to this guy really... He asked things about Singapore because he never came here before, and I managed to answer about 99% of what he asked. He asked things like, do most Singaporeans look like the Japanese (in the sense that we are Asians), do we have many jungles here... things like that. XD I threw my grammar away when conversing with him, but it was fun. And he could understand!! ^^v

We reached the station early... We were supposed to wait outside Shinjuku station at the Airport Limousine stand for our bus to come pick us up to the airport, but since it was early, I left Mom to look after our baggage and ventured underground again to look for the tie shop that I had seen earlier on our way back from Takashimaya. I needed to get something for Couz Simon you know... he helped me a lot so that I could go on this trip.

I picked a couple of ties from the shop... One for Pa. And one for Couz Simon. And then I wandered around the labyrinths of the station for a while because I didn't want to leave so soon. It was so hard for me to get to Japan and I had to leave after just 4 days. I was just walking around aimlessly when I caught sight of a blood donation centre inside the train station. Yes, a blood donation centre.


What's this doing in the middle of the train station? *puzzled*


Basically, they need every blood type. Tasukete!

I found the exit back to the Airport Limousine station, and went back to join Mom. The bus came right on time... We handed our luggage to the handlers who helped us load them onto the bus, and gave our tickets to the conductor to be torn...

... And it's bye bye, Shinjuku!!