Day 5: Meiji Shrine

Hello~

Now I'm going to write about another recommended place to go in Japan and the best part is, its admission is free (*≧▽≦)ﾉ!!

I know that some of you might not share the same interest, but I have always wanted to visit a shrine in Japan as I deeply enjoy sightseeing, especially if it's somewhere close to nature, and learning the history behind each place（⌒▽⌒）. 

So my dear agreed to bring me to Tokyo most famous shinto shrine, Meiji Shrine! It's another goal accomplished for me hehe~

My OOTD! I wanted to look cutesy-sweet that day ｡◕‿◕｡.

Finished my last close-up shot, and we were set to go Meiji Shrine!!

Let's Go＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／!!

But before heading there, we needed to fill our empty stomach! We definitely would require the strength to walk around the shrine that was located in a forest @_@. 

While finding our way to the shrine,  we chose to eat in a small curry shop that served super delicious plus cheap meals!! It seemed to me that no matter where you go in Japan, it's hard to find a place that doesn't serve good food. That's another reason to love Japan =3=!

My half-eaten curry rice~

Just by looking at this photo, it brought back memories of how savoring the meat tasted! 

I want to eat it again so badly now >0<!! 

My dear's half-eaten cheese curry.

Even though he loved the cheese, he preferred my meat and was very happy when I agreed to share with him some lol~

So after a very satisfied meal we had, we continued our journey towards Meiji Shrine! We took nearly an hour or so looking around before we finally reached!!

I'm standing at the entrance of Meiji Shrine  ^o^)/~

Our long walk into the shrine~ It's a path that you can never see the end of the road lol! I think we walked around 20 minutes or so before reaching the central of the shrine. But thanks to the great cooling weather, nice fresh air, and soft pebbles path, the journey was pretty relaxing (＾▽＾)❤.

Finally, we reached the central but before going in, we have to cleanse ourselves...

You are supposed to stop here and wash your hand and mouth to purify yourself before entering the shrine (~￣▽￣)~.

My dear washing his hands (ღ˘⌣˘ღ).
The water is really cooling and fresh hehe~

We are ready to go in!!!

Spotted a traditional Japanese wedding procession taking place through the courtyard - the bride was dressed in white kimono and hood. It's a beautiful sight (｡♥‿♥｡).

Another view from inside the shrine.

Here's the prayer wall where you can write your wishes and either hang it up or put it into the box (/‾▿‾)/.

That's me putting my wishes into the prayer box~
Let's hope my wishes will come true ｏ(￣∇￣ｏ)   !!
*pray pray*

We also read some really cute prayers ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ.

And filial ones too ( ≧◡≦).
Hope all their wishes will come true!!

After we wrote our wishes, we went over to the central sanctuary where the Meiji emperor is enshrined. To make a prayer, we are supposed to toss some yen into the offering box, then bow twice, clap twice and bow again. It sounds a bit complicated, but as expected, the Japanese do it like a pro, unlike my dear who tossed the coin over the offering box and into the enshrine (>~<)".
He later tried explaining how the spirit of the Meiji Emperor had heard his prayer that's why his coin flew out of the offering box -- Yeah rightttt ( ꒪Д꒪)ノ...

Moving out from the central, we came upon the entrance to the shrine inner garden which we need to pay 500 yen each for access. I thought the place would be beautiful, as I heard it was particularly popular during the middle June when the irises are in bloom, so my dear offered to pay for our entrance fee hehe~

 That's the tea house but we were not allowed to enter ( ´△｀).

Along the garden pathway~
The whole place is so green!!

Look at all the beautifully bloomed flowers ('∀'●)♡!!

I love the colorful scenery hehe~

Closer view of the flowers~

As we made our way out of the garden...
How lovely huh (＾▽＾)❤??

Once outside, we saw the incredible sight of barrels of sake (nihonshu) donated to the Meiji Shrine.
すばらしい ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ!!

We spent another 20 to 30 minutes to walk out of the shrine, and were totally exhausted by the time we realized that we had reached Harajuku.
We already walked soooo muchhhh ≧△≦~?!!

At Harajuku station

My dear, desperate to get some rest, chose a rather exquisite restaurant for high tea.

The place looked pretty classy and, as expected, the food they served there are not cheap too.

Me with my ice chocolate that cost 900 yen (around S$12).

My dear's mango ice dessert.

After spending some good quality time resting at the restaurant, we headed to Shibuya as my bro told us that  Don Quijote sold cheap clothes.

But my brother was rather unreliable when it comes to places you should shop in Tokyo as Don Quijote did not sell many female clothing except for those kinky cosplay outfits (¬д¬。). However, they do sell very cheap cosmetics products and many other variety of items -- all types of things except for women clothing
 (」゜ロ゜)」~

My dear was a very happy boy as he got this Jack Daniel pack for only 2600 yen (S$33).
Crazy cheap (/ﾟДﾟ)/ !!

It comes with a Jack Daniel glass cup too ^-^~

My dear took a picture with Kuchipatchi eyeing on his Jack Daniel lol~

Even though I did not get to buy any clothes, I got myself a candy doll lip gloss.

For the price of 790 yen (S$10)!!
Super cheap!!
I know it was selling at S$25.90 in Singapore Watson (>_<).

And this pretty Beauteen hair dye for only 590 yen (S$7.50).
How worth it (￣▽￣)ノ!!

My dear knew that I wasn't pleased because I didn't get to shop for the things I initially wanted, so to make me happy, he bought me sweet snacks for dinner ~(´∀｀)♡.

Teddy bear mushy balls~
It didn't taste as good as we would have thought though （＞д＜）...

Photos credited to my dear.

Lastly, my favorite Meiji pudding!!
おいしい!!!
I love it so much (＾▽＾)❤!!
Miss eating the pudding so badly that I am desperate to fly back to Japan now just to snack on one (ﾉTДT) .
But I guess I got to wait for a while before I get to eat my beloved pudding again ( ╥﹏╥)...

So for now,  I got to go find other snacks to eat...

Ja ne!
Ashley

Day 4: Akihabara

Hello~

Welcome back everyone (/^▽^)/!!

Today, I'll be updating on our adventure to Akihabara - The Tokyo Electronic Town, a place where you can find the largest collection of all kind of electronics appliances and devices, and if you are an otaku (like myself *ahem*), you will love it there too （⌒▽⌒）!

My OOTD ⊙▽⊙! 

Got the two pieces for a very cheap price at Shimamura! Hehe!

A close up shot (-^〇^-)!

Took more close up shots of myself while waiting for my dear to get ready~

As Akihabara is just 3 stations away from our hotel, we arrived there pretty quickly (゜∀゜). 

The street of Akihabara!! 

The tall buildings there are mostly covered with anime posters and games!! A true paradise for an otaku like myself hehehe (`∀´)ﾉ~

Photo credited to my dear~

There's a large building called the BIG APPLE dedicated to playing pachinko (a mechanical game used commonly for Japanese gambling) too. 

Those who enjoy hitting the jackpot should try your luck and skill there (¬‿¬).

Besides anime and gambling, as you stroll around the town, you will find many shops like the one above.

And if you are wondering what the shops are about -- they are hentai (Porn) shops （￣ー￣）.

We saw a lot of tourists, local men and women entering the shops. It seems so natural for the Japanese to just go into hentai shops as though they were shopping for grocery in the supermarket (￣、￣;).    

A quote from my brother: You have not experience Akihabara if you did not visit their hentai shop. 

So, despite my reluctance to enter, we still venture our way in (￣▽￣)ノ! 

What are all these cute things they are selling inside?

If you still have not guess...

They are condoms!!

Omg...

Everything about Japan is cute... even their condoms >0<.

They even sell fake boobs （　ﾟ Дﾟ）~

I'm not sure if those are for girls or guys though...

And for those who are interested to find out more, you can go to this green building. It's a 7-storey high hentai shop, which I initially thought was a cosplay building. >.<. 

There are also hentai buildings where some levels are only accessible to men only - Girls are not allow in there (￣、￣;).. 

Why so secretive ar (¬д¬。)??

Putting hentai shop aside, we made it to our main reason to visit Akihabara.

Maid cafe!!

We decided to visit the maidreamin cafe after seeing some of their cute girls in maid outfits giving out the cafe flyers ヾ(☆▽☆) . I heard it's one of the most popular maid cafes in Akihabara.

As expected, the maid cafe was pretty different from the ones I visited in Singapore, greatly because the maids were more energetic and friendly there. They will make you do all sort of interesting, sometimes awkward, things and always keep the energy level in the cafe high (*≧▽≦). 

Interesting~ 

But my dear did not like it there as he thought the maids weren't cute enough (>~<). 

He's so demanding (>0<)!!

Anyway, we weren't allow to take photos in there, but the maids gave us permission to snap a shot of the ice-creams we ordered.

It's a neko-chan ice-cream~!

Kawaii o(≧o≦)o~!!!

The price of the ice- cream and the experience are very expensive though. It's 1000 yen (approximately S$13) entry fee per person for 120 minutes. 

To add on to our two ice-creams and drinks, we paid a total of 6200yen which is around S$80 ≧△≦!! 

Definitely not a place you will want to visit if you are on a budget.

But with that price, you get to choose souvenirs to bring home. They will give you options to choose between: Photo taken with the maids or a Box of sweet snack. 

My dear chose the box of snack as he refused to take photo with the maids o(´^｀)o.

And I chose to have a photo taken with them as a memory to my first maid cafe experience in Japan. 

Hehe~!

Besides the maid cafes, Akihabara is also about playing games!!

The big Sega Gaming building!!

The games in there are so much fun (/^▽^)/!

My dear looking cool around the mass of UFO catcher machines (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ~

That's me attempting to catch a Line plushie hehe ヾ(@°▽°@)ノ!

After my fail attempt to catch one ( ╥﹏╥), we headed off to...

Kotobukiya building!!

A place where we saw many cool collection of anime figurines ( ─ ‿‿ ─)!! 

We also visited Goodsmile Cafe but didn't stop to rest in there. 

These are some of their products up for sale.

In the end, there are so much to do and see in Akihabara that we only decided to call it a day after feeling hungry (*ﾟーﾟ). 

Here's a photo of my dear waiting for his food.

I supposed he's still acting cool despite his hunger (¬д¬。). 

Finally,

I'm going to close this post with a loving picture of us (｡♥‿♥｡). 

We will definitely come back to visit Akihabara again ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ!!

See you ~!!

Ashley