Dreaming of Tokyo

I can’t recall how we ended up on the subject, but this week some of the blogger gals started to tweet about all things Japanese. You can imagine my memories of my time in Japan immediately came flashing before my eyes and I started to feel homesick again. I believe ‘home’sick is the correct word to say, since it actually felt like a second home to me.

For those who don’t know about this yet, in short: A couple of years ago I went to stay with a Japanese host family in Tokyo for a couple of weeks. I saw tons of beautiful and amazing things, ate great food, met and made good friends, a second family, shopped and partied hard.. You get the picture, I had the time of my life!

That is why I thought it would be fun to share some of my pictures with you. There are a lot of great memories here.. I wanna go back now!

Beautiful shinto shrines like these can be found all over town. It’s funny how ancient buildings like that can be found among the thousands of ultra-modern skyscrapers.

The Tokyo Tower, the Eiffel tower’s little brother.

A funny thing I noticed while staying in Tokyo; there are vending machines with hot and cold drinks on literally every corner of the street! I remember counting them to find my way back home (finding adresses is a whole different thing in Japan, and it’s not because of the writing).

Akihabara (Akiba in short), home of the otaku. If you like electronical equipment, all kinds of high-tech gear, games, anime, music, movies, manga, cosplay, etc. this is your dream destination! I paid a visit to a maid café here as well. Girls dressed up in maid costumes, calling you ‘master’ and doing all sorts of cat-like things. Nya nya!! Quite a strange experience, but a must-do when you come here! Too bad there weren’t any pictures allowed.

Another thing you really should try out when you visit Japan is go make some purikura or photo stickers! These photobooths can be found at most game centers and play halls and they are so much fun! Just snap some pics and decorate them at your heart’s content. It’s one of the most popular things among Japanese youngsters and it’s a nice souvenir too.

Examples of some delicious food I ate during my stay. Before I went to Japan, I didn’t know healthy food could be so yummy!  

Thousands of people on the streets of Shibuya. You definitely don’t want to get lost in the crowd and get seperated from your friends here! Especially since none of our European cell phones worked..

I didn’t take any pics of stores or people since that was considered to be rude, but I’ll be scanning some of my Japanese fashion magazines, so you can get a look at the Japanese fashion styles. Hope you liked the pics!

Pictures courtesy of Arjan C. & me