On Thursday we had a bit of trouble waking up, as you can probably imagine after Disneyland. We got dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast (I still dream of this breakfast…). We had decided to have a fairly quiet day: visiting Shibuya in the morning and Shinjuku in the afternoon. Naturally, our plans changed quickly.
We got our things, took some outfit pictures and then went on our way to Shibuya.
We took the Yamanote line to Shibuya, which didn’t take very long. Walking all the way from one side of the platform to the exit almost took longer, haha!
We got out at the Hachiko exit of the station and walked into the open air. The famous Shibuya crossing was in front of us.
We walked up to Hachi first. My mom and I love Hachi and my mom always gets emotional when she sees his statue.
We took a lot of pictures around the statue. Hachi means a lot t both of us, but especially to my mom.
Then we walked up to the crossing to… well, cross it. x) It’s strange to know thousands of people cross these streets every single day and that this place is so famous. I spotted a really cool Coca Cola truck showing a video of Kyary by the way.
We crossed the street, which always gives me a bit of a special feeling. Walking on Shibuya Crossing will hopefully always be special to me.
After the crossing we spotted a shop that sold magazines and since I was on the hunt for the newest Gothic & Lolita Bible, I wanted to see whether they sold them. We first took a picture with the big silver basketball we had spotted during our previous stay and then entered the shop. They didn’t have any GLBs, however they did have some really cool 3D cards and my mom ended up buying some.
Before heading to the famous Shibuya 109 mall, instead we walked into a side street to go to Tower Records. It’s really difficult to find any gifts for my dad, so when he finally said over Skype there were a CD and a BluRay he was interested in, of course we immediately made it our mission to find them.
While walking, we were passed by a one of the many trucks driving around playing songs and showing some kind of album cover. This one I had spotted often in the metro: it showed a hooded Red Riding Hood and a really hot guy with wolf ears.
We arrived at Tower Records, where they had this strange, slight deformed copy statue of Hachi in front of the door. We were greeted by the well-known birhgt yellow front.
We went inside and went to ask for the Ryuichi Sakamoto BluRay. We walked around several floors and I saw a lot of interesting-looking groups and singers. I also spotted a video to promote Ladybeard’s music. My mom was both shocked and delighted by it. XD
After some asking around, we found the BluRay! I was glad my dad had given such specific instructions, since the kind employee showed us two different versions. But we found the right one. ^^ My mom and I both paid half, since BluRays are quite expensive plus this way it would be a present from the both of us. ^^
We left Tower Records again, but not before I tried my luck with two gashapon machines! One had super cute tiny hamsters in tea pots and on spoons. I couldn’t just walk past them, they were calling for me! I ended up with an adorable hamster in a dark red tea pot. :3 They also had the lovely Sailor Moon key chain gashapon machine, but I ended up with exactly the same key chain as the one I got in Osaka, so back home I sent it to a friend. ^^
We started walking back to Shibuya crossing, but when I spotted a Disney store I suggested to my mom to enter it for a moment. A day or two before, I had seen pictures of a new Angelic Pretty x Disney collaboration that would come out on our very last day in Japan (well, technically second to last day, but you get it) and I wanted to try and get the dress. I heard the previous release had been a total nightmare, so I wanted to try and ask whether the series would also come out in the Disney store in Takashimaya Times Square, the shop close to our hotel.
We entered the Shibuya store and I asked a kind employee in the best way I could and by showing a picture whether this series would come out in Shinjuku as well. I think she understood me and she even made a phone call just to be sure and then assured me the dress would come out the next day. Yay!
My mom and I walked back to Shibuya crossing and then went on our way to Shibuya109. While I was taking a video of the mall’s front, my mom spoke the legendary words: ‘Wow, I’ve just realised Shibuya109 is actually in Shibuya!’ Well done mom. XD (I swear she said this, I’ve got it on video to prove it).
We entered Shibuya109 and just started walking around all the floors. This sounds so easily done, but it look a long time, haha! Despite Shibuya109 not really tending to my style that much, I loved a lot of shops and also bought some things! They had a wonderful shop dedicated to socks and it was 3 pairs for 1000 yen. Since they had all kinds of adorable see-through socks and ruffly socks and other cute socks, both my mom and I couldn’t withstand buying 3 pairs each.
We also visited the Swankiss shop, which was absolutely lovely and there was one necklace I really liked, but unfortunately it was a bit too expensive for me. The shop was a-ma-zing though. *o*
We arrived at Liz Lis and as per usual, I walked around pretty much drooling on all the clothes (not really). I just love this brand so much…
Suddenly, my mom showed me a basket with face towels. Face towels are a really Japanese things: they’re just small towels you can put in your bag and use to freshen yourself up a bit. These were really pretty and they had ‘Liz Lisa’ embroidered on them. Suddenly, my mom said: ‘Ok, you can pick one and I’ll buy it for you as a present, so you can finally say you bought something at Liz Lisa. Isn’t that just the funniest thing!? XD I picked my favourite face towel and we took it to the cashier. When the (amazing looking) staff girl asked a slight bit hesitantly whether we wanted a bag, we enthusiastically said ‘Yes!’ And that is the story of how I finally bought something at Liz Lisa. XD
I held the bag the wrong way around, shall we? XD
I also loved spending time browsing in Ruby Rose. This over-the-top pink shop sells the most amazing over-the-top accessories and I quickly fell in love with a bunch of earrings, which I would buy later. Walking around in this store is like a Sweet Lolita’s dream! ♥
Once my mom and I had walked around all the floors, we found a bench and my mom gratefully sat down on it. While I went back to buy my socks and Ruby Rose earrings, she rested for a bit. When I got back, I sat down for a bit too.
Once we felt better, we left Shibuya109 and headed back to Hachi. Once we arrived there, I realised I was still tired, so we bought two drinks from a vending machine (milk teeaaa ♥) and sat down behind the statue.
It was nice to just sit for a bit, observe people and talk. We decided to go back to our hotel once we were ready to rest a bit more and go to Shinjuku in the evening.
We got up and walked into the station. Some of the widows up there have great view upon the Shibuya crossing, so we filmed a bit and took some pictures.
When we left the station, we decided to take a last picture of us with Hachi, so we asked someone to help us out. Then, we finally took the train back. We bought a drink and some bread rolls at bakery Hokuo and spent some quiet time in our hotel room.
A bit after 5 pm we headed out again and went on or way to Closet Child Shinjuku! We walked from our hotel to the shop, which took a little while but my mom and I felt so much better that we didn’t mind at all. There was so much to see. ^^ Shinjuku is so lively at night.
Among other things, we passed the big neon “Jumbo” sign that belonger to a Pachinko place. My mom and I aren’t particularly interested in Pachinko, however this big sign has become a bit of a landmark for us.
Finally, we arrived at Closet Child where I honestly took way too much time. -_- There weren’t any dresses I died for and the dresses I did try weren’t nice enough. I ended up just buying a ring for a friend and a necklace. Sorry mom! >__<
We left Closet Child and went on our way to Marui Annex, to visit the only Angelic Pretty that rested us. But before we did, we walked around Omoide Yokocho a bit first. My mom absolutely adores this block of tiny streets and restaurants, however we haven’t dared to eat
there yet. x)
We walked on and walked past the famous Studio Alta shop and various neon signs. Tokyo is amazing by night and it is just impossible for me not to take pictures of the neons all around.
However, the walk to Marui Annex took way longer than I expected. My mom wanted to buy the F.i.n.t. bag she had seen a couple of days earlier in MyLord, but it was getting later and later thanks to me. Sorry mom, not my best night! >__< Please forgive me! ♥
Finally, after asking somewhere whether we were even going in the right direction, we found Marui Annex and the Angelic Pretty shop. We filmed our video, I browsed for a bit and ended up with a cute, maid-like headband. The shop girl was also really cute. ^^
We left Marui Annex and headed to MyLord. Luckily, we had more than enough time left and my mom could buy her amazing white F.i.n.t. bag. She loves it so much! I am really glad she bought it after all. My mom tends to doubt about whether cute things suit her (and her age), but this bag was so elegant and pretty much ageless in my opinion (even though I rarely think things don’t suit my mom because of something like age). And just look at her, she was so happy with her purchase! ^^
We had gotten quite hungry by now, but luckily we were in MyLord. After some doubting, we decided to have dinner in the ‘Platinum Buffet’ restaurant. Somehow we both felt like eating more Western orientated food, like pasta, pizza, etc. and this restaurant offered just what we needed! Plus, they had amazing desserts and a chocolate fountain! The only weird thing was the empty profiteroles, they had no cream in them! But everything else was delicious. :3
We headed back to our hotel, where we booked our bus ride to the airport for Saturday (at least, I think we did it that evening? Hm, might also have been some other day. Oh well). We were a bit disappointed that we would miss out on breakfast that day, because the bus would depart at 7 am. But we discovered the restaurant would actually open at 6:30 am, so there would still be time. Having a good breakfast before travelling can really make you feel better, so I was feeling quite relieved by this.
We went back to our hotel room, where I took purchase pictures. Then we went to bed. It had been a fun day! ^^
And to end this post with, here is the first video I made about our adventures in Tokyo (there are two parts)! I filmed a lot and tried to make the best videos I could about our trip. I hope you will like it! ♥
You can find day 13 from 0:00 until 2:31. Please take a look if you want! ♥
Thank you for reading! ~☆~
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you are confusing the narrow Ponto-chō in Kyoto with the Golden Gai area in Shinjuku. Your mother seems to have found one of the streets there that is called "Memory Lane", but more informally known as the lovely "Piss Alley" :)
ReplyDeleteYou know what, you're completely right! I meant Omoide Yokocho of course! I clearly wrote this when I was very tired haha. xD Thank you, I will correct it immediately!
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