One last Adventure in Tokyo...!

Hi Everyone!

You know I had one more adventure in me today in Tokyo since I won't leave for the train and airpot until 2pm (and my flight is at 7:30pm).

I decided to head to the Rainbow Bridge which I caught a monorail over to Odaiba a few days ago with a friend. The bridge is actually a walkable bridge and so I got to see some wonderful views of the ocean, city skyline, Odabia area, ports and more. On a clear day, Mt. Fuji is also visible too but today is a little overcast....

There were many people running the bridge and the apartment I am at is in such a great location so close to that the water. The walk also made me appreciate even more the engineering of such giant transportation sights..Wow!

Thank you to many of you for your emails back welcoming me back to the islands...Many of you were kind to write about your thinking I had a future in travel writing (dream job!) but I don't know if my writing is that good! :)

I am excited to see you all, especially with HPA graduation and Summer right around the corner....

Alright, time to head to the airport....I hope the rain holds off until I get to the station....

Until my next adventure....

Aloha,

Caroline

xo

Tsugi Wa = The next station is....

Here I am ..... my very last day of traveling on this Australiasian Adventure!

It's hard to believe that I'll be back in an English speaking non-Asian country tomorrow (But I guess Hawaii is more or less Asian right!)

My last day in Tokyo and this trip was packed full again and I retire tonight with some blisters and sore but happy feet from all the walking around. My day began with a subway ride to the area of Asakusa. This is a very traditional Japanese area and a famous temple that is popular to visit. There was massive amounts of people enjoying the warm weather and holiday occasions. Asakusa reminded me a bit of Kyoto with its quaint shops and Japanese rickshaw drivers too.

On my way to Asakusa, I stopped at McDonald's for the famous ebi (shrimp) burger. Now many of you know that I used to work at McDonald's when I was 16 for a short job stint and have not set foot in the place since....BUT, Tamiyo in Nagoya insisted that I try this tasy burger that is a specialty in Japan. McDonald's in general here is quite deluxe and on opening the wrapper of the burger, the freshness of the bun and packaging itself was already better looking than the US or Australia. It was tasty indeed with lettuce, sauces and a fried patty that was filled with small shrimp pieces....interesting!!!!

I forgot to mention yesterday that I also was recommended by another friend to try a special burger chain from Japan called MOS BURGER. The burgers are cooked fresh on the spot and the special kind of burger here is the RICE burger...hmmmm I had no idea what that meant but found out that the creator of the chain thought he would try and adapt the Asian liking of rice by making the burger buns actually two round sticky rice patties that sandwich the filling (chicken, grilled veges, shrimp, beef etc--I went with the popular shrimp). Delicious, fresh and as always, incredible service!

Anyway, back to my day.....I walked around enjoying the sunshine. From Asakusa you could see the newest construction happening in Tokyo...the Tokyo Sky Tree....meant to open in 2012 with the tallest observatory of the city...already there are about 3 other towers I know you can visit too! I headed to Ueno Park which is another giant green park in the city and home of the zoo, some museums and more....

I am so grateful for the endless opportunities that I continue to have for traveling, learning and appreciating this amazing world of ours...I am humbled by the kindness of people and fascinated by the stories I have come across. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my adventure with you all and I hope to get some of the photos up online for you to view soon.

Sayonara for now and I hear the Big Island Calling....

Obadi Odaiba!

I'll begin today's post with my first Japanese aftershock earthquake experience last night at about 2:15am. The bed started swaying and I quickly checked online for an update..it was a 5.0 quite far away...But, things here in Tokyo are pretty much getting back to normal with trains pretty much all back on schedule.my friend even got the shinkansen 3 hours north of Tokyo to visit her family for the golden week holiday....This train goes past Fukushima to the east too....To save electricity though, many escalators at train stations are not working and big billboards and such that light up at night are not doing so (including the Tokyo Tower)---but apart from that..its normal Tokyo big city shennanigans:)

I headed out walking towards the Tokyo Tower this morning from the apartment...I didn't know if I was headed in the right direction on my map but then turned the corner and BANG! there it was right in front of me...on closer inspection and news from a friend too (see photo) the top of the tower is bent a little from the recent earthquake. I didn't go to the top of the tower but explored the shops in the bottom floors. It was a busy day with many kids and families there for golden week.

Before making it to the Tower, I wandered over to Zozo ji Temple right by the tower....another popular place to visit and there were hundreds of adorable worshipping dolls lined up too:) I kept walking after the temple and tower and was ready to meet another friend (brother of the apartment I am staying at and HPA grad!). We headed to Tsuyoshi's work building which happens to be home to the sky view deck, an art museum and small planetarium...great views!!! After, we got to explore Roppongi-an area very multi cultural and quite affluent. We had a little gourmet tour of Tokyo after that since he too likes to eat good food!

Rain didn't dampen our spirits as we headed to the ODAIBO area for our late afternoon/evening adventures. Its kind of an island area with many more shops and an amusement park too....great restaurants that we ate at including cheese fondue, sashimi, and takoyaki. There is a copy of the shopping store in the Bellagio in Odaibo with the roof looking like clouds and the sky. The funny thing was there was a hugeee Hawaiian exhibition on with foods, hula dancing, music, stores and more....you could even buy slices of Ted's Bakery chocolate haupia pie!

Another amazing day in Tokyo city....one more full day tomorrow but for now, I'm putting the feet up and heading to bed!

More Fun Pics of Tokyo Today...

When in Tokyo....

Day 2 in Tokyo was fortunately with more good weather (no rain!). I headed out to the well known and trendy neighborhood of Shibuya by train. The area is alive with young people and sort of like the Times Square of Tokyo. Right out of the station is a very very popular meeting sport where THE STATUE OF HACHIKO the dog sits. The statue is there in honor of Hachiko's faithfulness and loyalty to his master. The dog continued going to the station over a decade after his master passed. Its also apparently in some Richard Gere movie??!!!

Anyway, some big stars like Madonna and Mariah Carey are also known to have made music videos in this hub of an area that's filled with flashing billboards, shops and well...you get the idea!

I made my way to the next suburb over to meet a dear friend that I met last Christmas at HPA who was leading a student group from Japan which I was teaching English too. This area was made famous by the now popular label "HARIJUKU". Again, this is a funky neighborhood with one particular Takeshita Street that is closed off to cars and is chock full of people checking out the boutique stores and fun dressed people (see photos including a shop for dog kimonos!!!). The area is also home to a massive green park that is filled with cherry blossoms early in April. My friend tells me that an apartment in this area costs around $US 6000/month!!!! The park was nice and busy with families and all age groups due to the golden week holiday. In this green area is also the home of one of the most visited shrines in Japan called the Meiji Jingu-we were really lucky to see a traditional wedding take place too (which Rina says is most wanted by many people in Japan but very very expensive!).

We got the train a couple of stops down to SHINJUKU station...this folks--is the busiest train station in the world and I read that it passes about 3 million people through the place per day!!!! We walked to the Tokyo Metro Government Building to check out the free public 45th floor sky view but unfortunately missed the cut off time by 3 minutes (the building has shorter hours since the earthquakes). Not to worry as I went on google and found a picture of what the view would have been liked:)

http://www.google.co.jp/imglanding?q=tokyo+metro+governmnt+buildilng+sky+view&um=1&hl=ja&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=4TAdDpOlVJE6CM:&imgrefurl=http://www.trtube.com/y/%2525E6%25259D%2525B1%2525E4%2525BA%2525AC%2525E9%252583%2525BD%2525E5%2525BA%252581/&imgurl=http://img.youtube.com/vi/wFy6_hamXI0/0.jpg&w=480&h=360&ei=FvS7TfiEB4yougOj9eWDBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=199&start=0&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0&biw=1040&bih=606

Shinjuku station was hugeeeee and made even more confusing to navigate since there is underground shopping too! We walked around the area which was great in itself to see all the different shapes, sizes and designs of the work buildings. Rina then took me to Japan's Red Light District area called KABUKICHO. There is some illegal things that get run here if you could imagine and even as we walked through the streets at around 5pm, there were a number of guys standing on corners waiting to recruit women to work. We sadly said our goodbyes and hope to reunite again on another trip!

I'm slowly getting the hang of the Tokyo train and subway system...the biggest in Japan of course but there are a couple of main lines that I take. I am very lucky to be staying in such a great location....40% chance of rain tomorrow.....!

Kore Wa Tokyo!

This is Tokyo!!!!

This morning I finally got to take advantage of Japan's extra thick (normal size to them) bread and make some french toast with Sho for breakfast. After a sad goodbye to the Mehrings and Nagoya city, I headed for my last journey (sadly) on the shinkansen bullet train to Tokyo City - my last stop on this Australiasian Adventure!

The train station was busy but not as busy as I thought it was going to be for the golden week celebrations...perhaps the current situation and recent tragedies have lowered the numbers of people traveling this year??? Anyway, I still didn't see Mt. Fuji on the train ride and I was awake looking for it....the thing is, the country is very mountainous indeed so makes for a lovely scenic ride with mountains on the west and ocean on the east.

I found the apartment I am so fortunate to be staying at in Tokyo and decided to take advantage of my last day of the JR pass and great weather out too! I headed into the main Tokyo Station and thoroughly enjoyed my walk around the Imperial Palace gardens, Hibya Park and Ginza town area.

Big skyscrapers brushed the horizon everywhere with more construction going on too...but it was the first time I have also actually seen so many people running and exercising in the big city. On top of that, like Hibya park which is a great green park in the middle of the city, there are many others around it too..Fantastic!!!!! Ginza area is full of expensive brand stores and plenty of nice eateries. I got the train back to the apartment and am retiring for the night ready to meet a friend tomorrow to explore more of this big city!

In the meantime, I am awaiting for the first ground shaking experiences from up north...more soon!

Fun Pics from Japan

Hope you like them....