Rick and I met Seiko at the Shinjuku train station. I specified where, but since Shinjuku is one of the busiest transit stations in the world, I didn't account that despite being specific, there is still chance of misunderstanding! And without a cellphone, all Rick and I could do was wait for Seiko to show up. Fortunately, Seiko found me and Rick within half an hour of our meet time.
I asked Seiko if we could stop by The Pokemon Center. Having been a former employee for the brand, I thought it'd be fun to check out. When we arrived upstairs, outside of the store, rows of people were lined up on the sides, playing the new Black & White game on their DS. Inside the store was not any less hectic. It was cool to see the new characters (didn't know the names though, since they were in Japanese), and there was a neat cross-breed stuffed animal of Pikachu + Ditto. I didn't buy anything though; I have too much Pokemon stuff from the old job!
Next, we headed over to Asakusa, a more traditional part of Tokyo. It was a nice contrast to the hustle and bustle of the more metropolitan areas. We walked over to the Senso-ji Complex area, which was beautifully lit up. The temple itself was closed, but there were plenty of people walking around the grounds. On the way to the temple, there was a market selling snacks, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous things. We stopped by this one vendor that was making fresh rice crackers. Never had it fresh before; it was really yummy! I had a wasabi one, wrapped in dried seaweed. I carelessly dropped a chunk on the floor though...doh!
Outside of the Senso-ji, there was an interesting music performance going on. Even a Harajuku girl was taking photos of it:
After Asakusa, we stopped by Shibuya to take a few more photos of the famous, busiest intersection. The ones I took from the previous night did not really capture the amount of people there; I don't think my second set turned out any better. Oh well. Here's a video instead:
We had already missed the costume portion of Harajuku, which occurs on Sunday mornings. We were about 9 hours too late :P (At least we saw one Harajuku girl in Asakusa.) We walked around the area instead, which was full of retail shops, from Forever 21 to a 3M store; Seiko said it's one of the best areas to shop in Tokyo. However, instead of shopping we spent most of our time finding the Citi Bank, so I could get some cash out. (ATMs in Tokyo are not as accessible, since most Japanese banks did not accept my US ATM card for withdrawal. Make sure you take enough out if you go!) Oh wait, I did buy something...I had a great strawberry and chocolate ice cream crepe :)
Rick, Seiko, and I were pretty much spent after a full day of walking. We ended up calling it an early night so we could just relax before leaving Japan the next day.
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