- Woke up at 10:00am. I wanted to go to Disneyland Tokyo, but the group decided against me because it was too late. I was sad, but it was all good.
- Went to Ikebukuro to go to the Toyota Auto Salon Amlux – which showed Toyota concept cars from hybrid cars to sports cars. I was the only one into the Toyota cars. It’s Saatchi’s fault that I support Toyotas. At Toyota, there were some simulation games (GT4) and all cars were accessible. I just kept taking pictures.
Toyota!!
Prius...yay!
Prius Knowledge
Cliff and I tried out the safety simulator
Look at the mirror in the front
We need these types of mirrors!! Helpful for both parallel parking and your front bumper
This car costs $1 million US dollars
Reminded me of a G35 sedan. Toyota Crown
Left Toyota and went to Animate – an 8 story anime store. We were looking for gifts to give to people.
- Sunshine City was right across the street. This place is supposed to be some 60 floors of shops, office space, an aquarium and who knows what. We tried going up as high as we could to get a view, but there were gated windows at the top so I didn’t get any good pictures.
- Headed back towards the JR station and stopped by Wendy’s. Man, they give you so little food compared to the US. It didn’t make sense - 3 nuggets for Y105 and 5 nuggets for Y180, so you actually pay more per nugget by getting 5 nuggets.
- From Ikebukuro district, we went straight to Odaiba district (JR line to Shimbashi station, then Yurikomome line to Aomi Station). This time, we went to Pallette town, aka Ash Ketchum’s town. This was a really nice place. It had an open courtyard, a Toyota Display Show (haha, we wasted all this time in Ikebukuro), and then a small indoor mall that looks identical to the indoor mall at Caeser’s Palace in Vegas.
- We left Pallette town to ride the Ferris Wheel. Right before we got to the Wheel, we found a huge arcade, and it had some awesome stuffed animals in the crane games. There was a really cute Winnie the Pooh doll that wore some furry dog costume. But it was so difficult to win!!. And I mean HARD! We spent like Y4000 (~40 USD) trying to get it. So, we gave up and got on the Ferris wheel
- The Wheel was decent. Got a view of the surrounding area but the pictures didn’t turn out that great.
- Got back to the arcade and guess what? DogPoohs were gone. Right away we saw two girls each holding one and I was shocked! How did they win them?! It turned out this other guy won the Poohs for them so I asked him how he won it. He was quite secretive about it but he told me to push the stomach of the Pooh to knock it off the deck. With determination, I finally won one! Then the workers refilled the machine with a SquirrelPooh, and I got that one too! Success!! Lesson here: keep trying until you get what you want!
- Walked back to Pallette town, and ate at a nice and inexpensive restaurant inside.
Looks like Caesar's Palace in Vegas
Shops
Ferris Wheel. Below it is another Toyota Gallery
Ferris Wheel view
That yellow thing is Tokyo Tower at a distance
The Dog Pooh,..darn you Pooh, you were so hard to get!!!!
- Left for the Hot Springs amusement park called Oedo Onsen Monogatari. This place was really cool because it has the Edo Period theme to it, so we wore like robes with sashes. After changing into the robes, we stepped outside the changing room. It was definitely a large hall and the booths were set up so that the hall felt like a little town. It was all lit up like a little old Kyoto town at night.
- Hit the hot springs with the guys. Started off by changing in another changing room. Stepped out naked into the indoor hot spring room, where we first showered with all the essentials like soap/shampoo, and then stepped into the indoor springs which were really really hot. Went outside, where the air was cooler, but the springs were still really hot. To be honest, it was quite awkward with the other two guys, but since we’re brothers, it was bonding time…haha. Afterwards, Sauna time – the sauna was set at like 85 degrees Celsius, I couldn’t take it so I ran out.
- We left the springs, changed back into our robes and walked around the little shops. Josh, Cliff and I tried some of the booths like dart blowing and ninja star throwing. They were hard. I like the dart blowing a lot though, and I’m trying to imagine putting a small poisonous needle at the end. It was like being a Ninja, but I would suck being a Ninja; I couldn’t even throw the Ninja stars.
- Then we went back out to the little town. Josh decided to go back into the hot springs by himself while Cliff and I looked around the little town. We later met up with My Thanh and took some pictures. After we all met up later, we went home, couldn’t stay out too late since the trains closed around midnight.
- Back to Prince Hotel and sleep! That’s it, Japan in a week!
Oedo Onsen Monogatari
Inside Oedo Onsen Monogatari
Me in my robe
My Thanh in the robe
Cliff reading and sipping tea in his robe
Me again...Josh didn't get a picture since he went back into the hot spring.
Reflections
This trip ranked up there in one of my best trips. Exploring a city like Tokyo for a week is truly an amazing opportunity and experience. I really like Japanese people; they’re extremely kind and helpful, especially when you ask for directions. They would personally show you how to get to your destination. The culture is very welcoming. On the other hand, the fashion is quite different than what I’m used to, especially in Shinjuku, where the edgy and hip teenagers hung out at. Another thing I like about Japan is the heated toilets. Not only do they heat you seat, they also wash your butt. I’m not going to lie, but that’s cool! Only if they had that in Los Angeles, but I doubt that it would happen. I can’t imagine people not trying to steal it or tag on it. That’s another difference between the two societies. I also have to admit that Japanese people are pretty good looking; I will leave it at that. Overall, I can see myself spending more than a week in Japan in the future; maybe work there for a year or two. Time to find a company that has an office in Japan…Sony? Toyota? Anyways, simply a great trip! See you Tokyo in a couple years...
Everyone, this is Tokyo
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