japanese shrining pt 2

MEIJI

This place was just at Harajuku station so we thought what the hell huh. it's supposed to be really famous and big. Harajuku was the shit. Great shopping and heaps of cosplay people on Sundays. That deserves its own post. These r shrine entrances. The 1st is quite a wee way away from the building. (right at the beginning of the park. nice park.) the 2nd is in front of the group of shriney buildings.

the 6 pics show the courtyard of the shrine..1st is entrance to the courtyard, the 2nd is the door.. 3rd is the shop. 4 is right, 5 is straight ahead, 6 is left views from courtyard.

This is an example of what u can buy at the shop. ohmigokoro. if they think i'm gona pay 100 yen for a poem by the emperor they've got another thing coming.

These are the inner shrine... there was this crazy boy dancing karate like at the entrance.. and also.. there was a wedding.. this is the bride~

japanese shrining.

We went 2 a few shrines.. tho i hate shrines. so freakin boring its like a museum eh. a history lesson on ur holiday. but i was guilted into doin it u no. like u go 2 japan, u gotta c a few shrines. so. yeah. we did. oh and by we i mean me and ling~

She's drinkin in her bunk here (which is next 2 mine..i took this in mine). she's quite an alcy. thats ume flavoured. japanese plum thing. its really good.. i had a few myself...

there's a couple i didnt get on film.. i remember a peach one on the 1st night and the rest kinda a blur now. so from the left thats mango&peach, ume, grapefruit, regular grape, and that ume was the night b4 i left. they wer pretty lax with id checking hence the binge (im not 21 (thats their drinking age.. ah good ol' NZ i can do it legally. tho u dont feel as naughty :P))(Just nod if they ask whether ur 21 and they let u go). so anyway shrining; in the order we went 2 them in.

ASAKUSA

The 1st pic is the entrance.. then u walk past a bunch of small traditional shops and get 2 the 2nd picture (the 2nd entrance) and to the left u c the 3rd picture. Once u walk past the 2nd entrance and turn around the 4th picture shows the other side of the 2nd entrance. Now that you're past the 2nd entrance, straight on u c pic 5 (the shrine) and to the left is pic 6. The last pic is what one of those huge red lanterns at the entraces look like from underneath. The pics below r a few of the traditional shops i mentioned~

You can c the snakeskin geta (japanese sandals) cost 18900 Yen (about $395 NZD)... must be real eh. The last 2 are food- quite pretty and pretty delicious.

By the actual shrine there's an orange tree (i thought that would hav some religious meaning but who knows... well lotsa ppl. but not me.) and a clock shaped like a.. temple? The other 2 show the ceiling of the shrine building with 2 maidens on either side of the dragon.

Next post= other 2 shrines. I'm beat.

TOKYO

thats right TOKYO. 10 days. Jan 26-Feb 5 for some hard out shopping.

stayin at this craphole YADOYA Guesthouse Maruman branch, Nakano. You can check them out at their website. And i thought Rainbow Hotel was bad.. 4th floor..no elevator...bed bugs.....skidmarks...god. its ok. its ok. its over.

on the other hand if ur staying less than 10 days then that place is good. it's cheap and ur not gona spend much time in it anyway. it's close to the train station too.

Day 1

Took the N'EX (Narita Express) from Narita Airport to Shinjuku (one station away from Nakano). It's the fastest way 2 travel from the airport tho it can b pricy. Not when ur a foreigner tho! U show ur passport at the Travel Center at the station and they give u an N'EX ticket that u can use to get out either at the designated station or a local one like Nakano without having to pay a cent yen AND a metro card topped up with 1500yen called Suica. This costs 3500yen and if u return ur card u get a 500yen card deposit bak. 

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Right so i was gona do this in days but i dont thnk thats gona work eh. that is because. we did shopping pretty much everyday and u dont really take photos. and well i  cant remember that far bak eh. I'll do it locationwise i think. thats a bit easier. u dont need to know when..just where and what.. or whatever. ok.. i'll do that tomorrow. shopping can come last.. yess i like organising things. categorising yay!

thats tmr's activities sorted

vacation.

in taiwan atm... closing in on the end of my holiday.. i had intended 2 be blogging during this ... 3 MONTH holiday as i have no job. ha.
but yeah.. forgot bout it til now.. but not completely! been taking tonnes of photos and videos that can be shared with the world!
going back 2 aucks next tues.. arrivin on the wed woooo (cuz i am actually bored as here.. friends all gone..some didnt even come bak. and i finished ma shoppin. suitcase is full.. so like nothing 2 do now.)
my days consist of.. watching everybody loves raymond a lot.
but sometimes i like 2 mix it up a bit and watch two and a half men or movies and smallville (shhhh)
i also embarrass my parents filming every little thing.. well. in their opinion its every little thing. but they don't understand its artistic man. i'm trying 2 capture the essence of taiwan. only after living here a while can u understand it.. but i plan 2 edit my videos into a short film that is the jist of taiwan. well taipei at least.
anyway.. god.
just thought of all the photos and shit i have 2 sort thru...ok little at a time
i'll start tomorrow...
i'll hav that trusty titanium and some other metal macbook of my uncle's..
that shud make it more bareable
gotta get crackin with uni startin eh. awooo.
i have a superhuman thirst to learnnnnnnnnnn!!!