March 19, 2010
8th Day – TOKYO
OK, so today we move from KOBE to TOKYO. Main reason being; we are going to pick up my mom and aunts. Therefore, if you are wondering why we passed up TOKYO days ago, and went to KYOTO first, well now you know.
So we made it to TOKYO at about 11:00 hours and made our way to the hostel that I booked for us. It was called “Hotel Green”. This was very hard to find. The main reason being, you have to walk down this tiny-little side alley that was not even marked. I didn’t think it would be as half as hard as it was.
I mean, even the convenience stores that were just down the street from the hostel didn’t know where it was. After arriving, I was greeted in Korean. I was then confused. The rooms were actually Korean styled rooms as well. My buddy Ben was not liking it at all.
Dropping off our luggage, we moved towards the city. I brought Ben to SHIBUYA first. There was an incredible amount of people. A lot of foreigners too… I have to say it was awesome.
Next, we went to HARAJUKU. There was even more people there, and I am going to have to look up the street you are suppose to travel down to see all the weird clothed people.
Rumor has it, that it is not legal anymore for people to dress up and move about in the park. Hopefully, it is just a rumor. Noticing the time, I voted that we get lunch and move towards the airport to pick up my relatives.
We went to TOKYO station and looked at the schedule and noticed that if we got lunch we would not be able to make it to the station on time to pick up my mother. My aunts would be in on another flight from Los Angeles instead of San Francisco, like my mother.
Therefore, we hopped onto the N’EX and went to NARITA airport. My mom’s plane was right on time, and we went and waited for her at the exit of customs. She was late coming out of customs and I was wondering what was up.
Apparently, you need to know the address of the place you are going to be staying at in JAPAN when you get here. If you don’t know the address, then you need to give a name. My mom was having some difficulties, because I never gave her the address or the name of the hotel, which she would be staying at. OOPs!
Well, at least I gave her my cell phone number, and that was good enough for her to get through the gate. Unfortunately, my aunts had no information and my mom was worried about how they would make it through customs.
After eating a quick snack, we went to Terminal 1 to pick up my aunts. My mom was worried that we would be late. Arriving at the exit of customs at the exit time my aunts should be exiting, we noticed that their flight was delayed by about an hour. What a pain!
We decided to go grab a bite to eat while waiting. Going to the food court, we found a place that served UDON and KATSUDON. I ordered that combo and Ben ordered ramen from a different vendor. My mom wasn’t really hungry and just ate some of my food from the set.
My aunt’s flight was going to land at 19:05 hours. This meant that we would not be back in TOKYO proper earlier than 20:00. Which meant that I would not be able to tour them around SHIBUYA in TOKYO like I wanted too. Bummer…
When everyone gathered, we walked passed a post office. Being that there were money orders that I needed to exchange, I decided to go get them done. Well, to my surprise and dismay the post office doesn’t do money exchanges after 16:00 hours. To add to that, I was informed that there was a three day weekend coming up because of a national holiday.
This meant that I would not be able to get any money for the next three days. What a pain, AGAIN! Not only can I not get money, but I wouldn’t be able to tour as well. A great start to the trip.
I guess the tour thing was for the best though, because by the time they had all gathered and got through the airport they were tired. My mother didn’t sleep at all on the 11 hour flight. She was dying from being tired.
We went back to the hotel, and my relatives went to their room and passed out. I told them that there would be a 05:00 hour wake up call. Ben and I went to sleep as well.
Tomorrow, I have big plans! Stay with me! The rest of the photos are HERE!
The rest of the photos are HERE!
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