Shibuya and Akihabara

Phew, a great deal has happened since that night out in Tokyo. And it seems that I've been a bit lax on my blogging duties. Gomenasai...

To start with, I had a couple of days before classes started on the 11th. Weather.com called for rain for most of the week, but I didn't just want to sit in my room and do nothing. I mean, I'm in Tokyo for goodness sake! I wanted to see the sights. So Teresa, Mia and I decided to head to Shibuya. Not only were we going to see what this part of Japan was like but we were also on the search for certain items. Teresa and I were (and still are) on the lookout for boots. There's a whole month of rain in Japan and we just know my Chucks and her Tims are not going to cut it. Mia was on the lookout for a bag for her school books and such.

We went on Tuesday and the rain and the wind were especially intense. A number of Japanese had told Teresa that it felt like a typhoon, but we didn't let that deter us. Instead we went from the station into the nearest department store. (Note: there are no pictures for my day in Shibuya as my camera ran out of battery. Boo. So all of the pictures in this post are from Akihabara.) This was my first time in a Japanese department store and to my surprise they have a very distinctive layout. The bottom floor usually has a food market and/or small grocery as well as some restaurants. Actually, this department store had a floor for the food market, a floor below that for restaurants and several floors at the top of the building for more restaurants. We had a lunch of omu-rice, omelet filled with rice, in one of the restaurants at the bottom-most floor. The rest of the department store had many clothing shops and a really great bookstore where we spent a good deal of time.

After lunch, though, we decided to find a store that was more... youth-oriented. We had to brave the wind and the rain to do so but it was worth it. I was able to find a great pair of sunglasses that actually fit my face and two scarves, one pink and one white, during our day out in Shibuya.

The next day, we all went to Sophia's campus to check out the student clubs and circles offered. Mia and I went to see the Sophia Uni. Concert Band and their symphony orchestra. I'm not sure if we're going to join.... We were told we won't be able to play in the final concert but we weren't given a definite answer saying that we should not join because of this. It was sort of left up in the air. After the concert and lunch, Mia and I met up with Teresa, Hunter and Alex for a trip to Akihabara.

Akihabara is the very famous electronic city in Japan. It's known for its excess of stores housing electronic goods. To be honest, it was bit overwhelming. There were so many stores basically selling the same electronic devices. It was interesting to see nonetheless. Akihabara really seems to be half and half, a tourist attraction as well as a practical location. There were many novelty stores and stores selling video games and such, but there were also many stores selling much-needed electronic goods. Teresa and Mia were on the lookout for a denshi jisho, or electronic dictionary, so finding one of those was our main objective for the outing.

Unfortunately, they didn't find one that they liked but we did get to see Akihabara in all of its electronic glory and splendor, eat some crepes, which were delicious, and I got eye-balled by a handsome sales guy. All in all, our outing was par for the course.