The fun continues with our foreign visitors from USA & France! We packed a lot of action into one short weekend.
We stayed at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, which is inside Tokyo Dome City.
"What exactly is Tokyo Dome City" you ask? It's an small amusement park with rides and shops and restaurants! I never had a chance to go on the roller coaster, but it looked cool.
Cool colored-pencil shaped amusement park directory!
Let's play Pachinko!! It's the Japan's version of casinos, yet gambling is illegal. It's the middle of the day, so no one is here, but the clanking and ringing noise once you step inside is unbelievable! I am told that old unsavory chain-smoking men like to hang out here at night.
Kerri's first time playing Pachinko. You have a tray of small balls, and you must launch them into the machine. It's half pinball, half slot machine. In the end, you can take your "balls" to another establishment and exchange them for prizes. I don't quite see the allure of this game. You don't even get cold hard cash back when you win!
Next stop is also a first time for me: Akihabara.
This is the electronics district of Tokyo. All of the computer geeks hang out here.
I love touring Japan with a true Japanese person because they can read the signs and know the local hot spots. Tag took us to "@home cafe", which is a very bizarre cafe that allows socially-inept computer geeks to interact with their cute waitress, who is dressed in a maid uniform.
I suppose it's like a Hooters for Japan, but the outfits are much more innocent. They had a lot of rules in this place, like no touching the waitresses or asking for their personal information, no pictures, and a $7 cover charge just to get in and see what it was all about!
We had a great time watching the computer geeks in this place. The clientele definitely had social issues which is kind of sad, but this place was making a total gold mine by exploiting their weaknesses. They even had an "entertainment menu" where you could play a silly 1-minute children's game with the waitress of your choice for $7 or get your picture taken to prove that you were actually with a girl for $5!
That last one had my name written all over it. Here's my photo with "Karin". We got to go on stage for the photo and select from a variety of props. I got my pic taken for the benefit of the guys I was with, too. They are all married, and figured they didn't need this type of souvenir but I certainly want to remember this nutty place!
Okay, back to Japan culture... We went to Meiji-Jingumae Shrine in Harajuku. The Shinto shrines in Japan are beautiful because they are set in the forest on a lot of acreage and it gets you away from the busyness of the city.
They had a large bonsai collection, and this flowering tree was my favorite!
Inside Meiji-Jingumae Shrine.
We even got to see a wedding procession and photography session. This is a pretty common thing in the Spring and Fall, but it's risky business to plan an outside wedding during the rainy season. As you can see, they newlywed couple lucked out and the weather was very nice.
Matt, Kerri, & Fred at Meiji-Jingumae.
We decided to check out the gift shop. (Not my suggestion, but I always like the opportunity to shop for unique Japan goods!)
Another reason I like travelling with a Japanese person is because he suggests cool things to buy. Tag told me this place does free personalization. So guess what this guy is engraving for me?
My very own "KERRI" chopsticks!!
I thought about getting them done in Japanese Katakana characters, but at the last moment I decided against it because most of my American friends can't tell my name from a restaurant logo in Japan. These are much more fun!
That was only half of the day, so please wait patiently for the rest of our fun weekend :)
No comments:
Post a Comment