E phatlaladitšwe: 09.10.2023
Day 34:
Hello everyone. Even though our journey is unfortunately coming to an end, we are still pleased that you are still interested. On the 34th day of our trip and the first real day of our second stay in Tokyo, we finally wanted to take care of the remaining souvenirs during the day. The first thing we did was grab breakfast at the nearest convenience store and eat it in a nearby park. Well fortified, we then continued into the city center. The first stop was Yokohama, a district we haven't explored yet.
When we got there, we wandered through the shopping center in the train station and looked for souvenirs at the same time. Since it was understandably very busy and hectic at the station, we didn't stay there long. When we got out of the train station, we strolled through the street for a bit and stopped every now and then at shops and supermarkets. We also walked in circles a few times because we always ended up going back to the starting station. Not much else happened there, but we did gain a few souvenirs. We then had a café in a shopping center.
Towards the late afternoon we went back to our room to freshen up for the evening activity. After we had rested for a few minutes, we went back to Shibuya. There we expanded our culinary horizons again and went to eat at Burger King. That was actually the first time that we tried the Japanese version of a large fast food chain. After this culinary excursion, we moved on to the actual activity of the evening. We had tickets for the Shibuya Sky Building, one of the largest landmarks in Tokyo with an observation deck at the top. It was only at the entrance that I (Moritz) realized that I am actually afraid of heights. Oops. Well, then we had to grit our teeth. A short time and a few queues later we reached the top. The views were really nice, especially since it was dark and you could see all the city lights shining. In total, we were probably on the building for a good 1 1/2 hours and watched the hustle and bustle of the city. Even though I was under power the whole time, it was still worth it.
After we came back down from the Shibuya Sky Building, we went back to the hotel because it was getting a little late. We spent some time there before heading outside again for a little nighttime walk. In total we probably spent another hour outside exploring our local district. Soon we went back to the hotel and eventually went to bed.
Day 35
Hello everyone, today
Our last full day in Japan is just beginning. It all happened pretty quickly, didn't it?
We wanted to use the day effectively again and see something of the city, eat delicious things again and, above all, look for souvenirs. We first slept in and then quickly grabbed two onigiri from the convenience store because we were supposed to have real ramen for lunch. That's probably what we'll miss the most.
So we drove into Shibuya to arrive straight back at our favorite place: Shibuya Crossing. The pedestrian crossing, which is absolutely worth seeing, the many colorful and huge neon signs, the loud advertising and songs that play 24/7, as well as the 1000 people who cross the street during each traffic light phase, only cause a very small amount of sensory overload for us. The icing on the cake is always the people who think they have to stop on the street to take a picture of themselves, always stopping everything and everyone. But no, it's really nice.
So we first went to a capsule shop because Moritz had been looking for a specific machine for days. But even though there were 990 different machines on two floors, his wasn't there :(. I then suggested that we could go to Harajuku again because we knew exactly where there was such a machine. Of course Moritz thought so don't let me say it twice.
When we were finished we had something to eat in a ramen shop: our last ramen in Japan. We were here once about 2 weeks ago and that's why we went again. We waited here until 2 p.m. because Moritz had to register for a course at the university. At exactly 2:00 p.m. he went into the portal to register, but within 20 seconds everyone he wanted was gone. We, but especially Moritz, were very frustrated at first! So that this doesn't happen again the next two times, because Moritz had to register again today, we made a plan so that we both log in on our cell phones and try to register.
To improve our mood a little, we went to a mall where we wanted to pick up souvenirs or maybe things for ourselves. Moritz found a great study planner and a pen here and I found stickers and a writing pad. The mood was saved again!
Before we continued to Harajuku, we wanted to go to a shop because we wanted to find something before we left. Since we were so close to the district, we had the option of either taking public transport for 16 minutes or walking for 17 minutes and of course we took the latter.
When we arrived in Harajuku we immediately found the vending machine shop and Moritz got a capsule. They were cool fish that he had started collecting and there was even a new one in the capsule! Since we had been looking for so long, I gave Moritz another capsule. He just said “I hope you get the orange fish” and you can guess three times what it was: the orange one! There was great joy there.
Since there was still a registered post at 5 p.m., we sat down at Mecces and had a drink. With our two devices we managed to enroll Moritz in his preferred course. Yay. There was only one registered letter left in front of him.
Since it was getting dark and we were getting hungry, we went out to look for something to eat. But first we sat down in front of the supermarket to do the last registered letter. Since the page didn't load properly right away, I only just managed to enter it. But when we checked, the course wasn't showing! Great internet. That was really very frustrating because Moritz's choices were really shit. It has now become a block seminar where, among other things, he is allowed to go to the university for 9 a.m. on a Saturday. Poor Moritz :(!
At least there was something great to drink in the store. But since the food here wasn't entirely convincing, we decided to go back first and then take another look at a convenience store.
When I looked for a way back I saw the impossible: our train line was canceled for the next 3 hours because there was an accident! So we had to find a new route by bus and train. Of course the bus was completely full, but we managed to get a seat straight away.
When we got to our stop, we got something to eat at another supermarket and then went back to the hotel. Today it means: systematically packing your suitcase. Since we had a lot of new things but limited space and kilos available, we had to divide it up cleverly. After an hour we did it and everything was fine. I just hoped that my suitcase really weighed 24.89kg and no more, because the maximum weight was 25kg.
We then spent the evening just chilling out and cleaning up a bit. We're flying tomorrow at 10:55 p.m., which means we still have time to do something during the day. Let's see if everything works out.
Thank you for reading and see you next and last time.
Moritz and Jule :)