Birthday in Tokyo

I have been putting off this post for ages, I don't really know why since I had such an amazing time! First off we booked a 'table' (I'm using this word table loosely.) at the famous Robot Restaurant in Kabukicho.

This show was about an hour and a half long and it was worth every penny. The initial cost is 5000yen per person and that includes a bento box that most people would question where they bought it. It was obvious that it was catered for the masses at some very low budget convini? Either way it was enough to pass and you get a wee bottle of green tea with it. I would have posted all the videos and pictures here but I really want people to go experience it for themselves. Know that it is nothing short of interesting and that your eyes and mind might hate you for a little while afterwards but trust me you won't see anything like this anywhere else. I would even consider going again. Sensory overload and mind f*** for the win.

Trust me there were robots and not just girls in bikinis but I won't like there is a lot of that too.
 

Okay this is funny right? Move it or...

Yay we all made it to a random izakaya. I didn't expect so many people to show up but thank you for all that did. It was a fantastic evening. Even though I felt bad that I barely talked to the people at the other end of the table.

Yay part 3: Karaoke!!! This part was awesome. Enuff said. 

So many presents but I am not going to post them all just this one cause it was the most colorfulness! Thank you Asia and Heather for a wonderful birthday!

Purikura! I have some sort of addiction to this. I pretty much dragged everyone into the booth. This was so much fun!! I would do it again and again. I want all the photos!!! 

Shabu Shabu

There isn't anything better than a Tabehodai (All you can eat, though there is a time limit of 2 hours it is more than enough. If you are daring you can even toss in a nomihodai [all you can drink]) you can choose from a variety of very thinly sliced meat to boil in your choice of dashi (broth). It reminds me very much of Chinese hot pot minus all the sea food.

We went to a a place on the 3rd floor called どん亭 don-tei on Nakano Broadway, for the 2 hours we paid about 5700yen. Not bad at all. I think that is less $30CAD per person!

Also warning you might see more and more of these videos because I'm really digging this app.

Shuzenji

So I had a ticket left on my 19 Kippu and it would be a waste if I didn't do anything with it. So I went out and met my friend Darren where we were able to walk around and just talk. We visited some shrines where they had an assortment of samples on top of that climbed randomly up some paths to only find some statues. I'm not knocking the statues or anything but with the lack of language I don't know who or why. :P

There are free onsens outside with very hot water, where people can just soak their feet. Afterwards we wandered back towards the station to eat some fresh wasabi donburi!

I made this video while we were out there!
Enjoy.

Day 2- Atami

Saturday, I headed out to the beach cause I really wanted to see the coast so I rode the train to Atami. To my surprise there was hustle and bustle here as soon as I got out the station. Himono is the specialty food out there and little red bean steam buns which I would still call mantou, just super Japanese style.

View coming up to the beach!

Panorama!

The Shrine I prayed at today.

I had a lot of time on the train!

Love this picture and the guy flying the kite by himself that is so me.

I totally recommend this place if you just want to wander around the beach, visit a a couple shrines, go hiking for a good view or just climb up the many little back streets.

Day 1- Chiba and Naruto

18 Kippu is a 5 day local JR rail pass that gives you the chance to travel around Japan, the thing is that it is only valid for certain days of the year. Please read more here! It is reasonably priced as well at 11,000yen!

So I made a couple day trips out of it Friday we were suppose to head to Shizuoka but there was a fire.
http://japandailypress.com/tokyo-train-schedule-delayed-due-to-fire-near-jr-yurakucho-station-0341829/

We decided to head to Chiba, when we got there nothing was open and there were very next to no people on the street. I didn't think that it would be like this here, we made a move to a place called Naruto. Visited a shrine and was able to make a little something out of the tickets.

I stole this picture from Heather, I hope you don't mind

It was short and kind of eventful day but all in all it was great to hang out with the girls!

New Years 2014

In the morning everyone was greeted with amazing fruit muffins made by a fellow housemate for new years! What a wonderfully delicious surprise!

In Japan New Years is celebrated with family, everyone has a week off and is able to head home and spend these precious days with loved ones.

On New Years Eve they eat soba and watch a television program. At around midnight or early in the morning they go to the shrine and pray. Which is what Asia and I did after celebrating our count down on the streets of Tokyo.

It actually seemed very fitting to wandering around not knowing really what the plan was. Due to the previous night of too much End of Year Party (Bonenkai) drinking I wasn't planning to drink again for a long time. So far so good. :P


The first shrine that we visited had a huge line up so we vetoed it and hoped to find another place. Which we did on our way to Shinjuku, it didn't have a line up at all. Our thoughts were try to find a small shrine and not worry about trying to hit up a big one where we would have to inch forward with a lot of other people. mind you crowded spaces would have equaled more warmth, who needs that when you have a Monster in hand.

After we prayed we wanted to ring the gong, something you are suppose to do but now I can't remember why. There was a waiting but it wasn't full since neither of us knew the tradition very well we didn't go up. We did however got some snacks and amazake (traditional drink made from the sediment of sake, very sweet and usually has a very low or no alcohol content). Love this stuff!! Asia makes a wonderful batch that out schools the one we got at the shrine but it was nice to have a hot drink on our walk.

The evening before we made Osechi a bento box that has season ingredients and certain foods for bringing in the new year. I heard that it was made for new years because everyone is home all the shops are closed and this is the big meal that they eat on new years day with the family. Also Ozoni and Omochi!

 New years was a quiet one this year but I had a great time. Happy 2014!!