Day 4: Harajuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro (July 15)

Today is the day that we change hotels from Shinagawa's Le Pacific Meridian Hotel to Ikebukuro's Sunshine City Prince Hotel. I was stubborn the night before to not pack my stuff until the next morning in which really messed me up with keeping time and such. Which is exactly why Judy-chan and I were rather late to get our breakfast at Yoshinoya's where we had to gobble down our sukiyaki bowl combo in record speed. Both Judy-chan and I could have won some gold medals at the rate we went. And the meal was top-notch, I regret we did not go sooner in a atmosphere that was not so rushed. After we got back to hotel and had our suitcases packed into the truck that was to deliver our stuff to the next hotel, we went with the group to our first destination of the day, Harajuku. Can I hear a "Banzai!!"

The weather was not favorable at all at Harajuku because of the typhoon-climate we were experiencing, which meant constant rain. I remember blurting out " Awww...lollis can't come out to play!!" to those who would listen to me whine. Umbrellas over our heads, Judy-Chan, Aja, Bev, Stacey,and I headed down Takeshita Doori, the street that is renown for all its trendy punk, rock, and lolita fashions. And upon my own discovery the street was also known for having many crepe stands. After a checking out a few punk lolita shops, Judy-Chan and I separated from Bev and their group and went exploring on our own. Through our findings, Judy-chan and I bought some hip jewelry for our friends back home and ourselves for ungodly cheap prices at Paris Kids. At random, I also picked up some gifts from an idol store and more clothing for myself. However, Judy-chan hit the jackpot or rather the mother load when I pointed out to her the Body Line lolita-clothing store upstairs. Laughing out loud, I wonder if I never pointed it out to her would we have totally missed the shop? Drum rolls, please! Judy-chan and I passed the store's threshold to the whimsical land of lolita-fantasy. Feelings of *Moe* erupted within us, probably. It was like someone switched up Judy-chan's "On" switch as strode over to the clothing selections with a purpose blending in with the store's 'regulars'. I wanted to stay with Judy-chan and explore the numerous possibilities of happiness that Bodyline had to offer. But my inner struggle to find Vivienne Westwood merchandise, particularly to find the NANA's Shinichi-character-made popular Vivienne Westwood golden lighter beckoned me out of the shop. I , mean I had to make an opportunity cost somewhere especially in such a place like Harajuku, right? To my dismay, through much effort in searching around I could not spot a shop that sold Vivienne Westwood stuff. I learned later on a different day that I just had to keep my eyes to the second-stories shops at the left of the street to spot it. As I returned into Bodyline , Judy-chan was already at the counter paying for her purchases. I felt overwhelmed with all the clothes that I could buy, but without any time to buy it as my cellphone time indicated to me. Instead, I hurried Judy-chan out of Bodyline so we can start heading back to the Harajuku station to meet up with the group. I remember taking sneaking-glances at her Bodyline shopping bags and felt the throes of envy rush over me. But it was my fault I did not stay with her and instead went on the quest to find the lighter. If you had to compare myself to a fictional character I portrayed when I was in the search mode for Vivienne stuff, I was the obsessive and delirious Captain Ahab seeking the legendary Moby Dick over the seven seas.

Our next destination was the busy district of Shibuya. One of Shibuya's most famous landmark is the statue of Hachiko, the loyal dog. According to the Insight City Guide: Tokyo, in the 1920s there lived a Hachiko who was the faithful dog owned by Ueda Eisaburo, a university professor who travels to and from work by train, which is why Hachiko accompanies him to and waits for him everyday at the Shibuya station until his return. But one day, Hachiko's owner died at school and never came home, but Hachiko continued to wait for him day after day with his routine unchanged. Many locals were incredibly touched by this dog and cherished the dog's samurai-like loyalty to its master. So, in honor of Hachiko the Japanese people raised a small bronze statue in likeness of Hachiko at the exit of Shibuya Station. Personally, I heard about the story Hachiko from the NANA manga and anime which made references to it often. Thanks to Wikipedia, I knew about Hachiko before this trip. Nowadays, nearly every Japanese knows who Hachiko is and the story behind it, but yet in Chiyoda-ku; a statue of Kusunoki Masashige who was a samurai loyal only to the emperor and not the shogunate was a historical figure that the everyday Japanese cannot recall and if you are lucky maybe one of the Japanese elderly could tell you about him. I just find it strange that the Japanese would prefer the idea of a dog being loyal to its master; whereas, a samurai who swears allegiance to his emperor for the most part does not even cross their minds at all.
After spotting Hachiko and snapping pictures of the handsome, loyal dog we as a herd migrated uphill of Shibuya. There was the major street intersecton in Shibuya where hundreds of people crossed at each time from all four directions. If I had a term for my experience crossing that street, I'd say I was pretty cooped up in a "mass of humanity". Of course, Jayson pointed out to us all the different trendy shopping places as we headed up to the NHK TV Studio Park.
At NHK Studio Park we went through as a group, everything was really cute and Domo-kun (NHK's most famous big brown mascot) was everywhere. After the trip to NHK Studio Park, Jayson gave us time to do whatever until 5:30 pm where we meet back at the Hachiko statue. During this time Judy-chan and I checked out HMV, Vivienne Westwood, and Uniqlo, the trendy and affordable clothing store. I apologize to Judy-chan that I end up missing to meet up with her at Uniqlo because of extended search for Vivienne Westwood merchandise, which I found but it did not contain the punk assessories that I was looking for. I was also guilty of taking a little detour to HMV, so I apologize to Judy-chan for worrying her and the like when I did not end up meeting with her as planned.

As scheduled we met up with Jayson and as a group traveled to Ikebukuro's Sunshine City district to check in our hotel, Sunshine City Prince and do some further exploring around the area. As soon as everyone settled in with their belongings and their purchases in their respective rooms ( in particular, the room that Judy-chan and I share was directly located in front of the vending machines that sell alcohol beverages). Then, it was back to meeting up with Jayson and them where he was going to show us all the different places we can scavenge for food. They end up going to a tempura restaurant located in the shopping mall that leads to the back-opening of our hotel. While I was eating at the Soup Tokyo restaurant to the left of them since I cannot stand for having tempura two days in a row. Soup Tokyo was probably the same place where I left my awesome clear umbrella, my first souvenir to be purchased in Tokyo.
After dinner some of us went to play Pachinko ( gambling with pin balls) which was rather boring to me, I could not see why most Asian people, not just the Japanese love this 'dirty' (note: to me gambling is dirty) hobby. Looking around at the Pachinko parlor, I can see their various clients who were the "big winners" with trays and trays full of pachinko balls in the back of them. But as Judy-Chan, Ron-chan, and I did not know what the ::bleep:: was going on with the game we ended up wasting $10 USD each. I ranted and raved when we got of the Pachinko Parlor, the 1000 yen could have went into shopping money instead. After 'gambling', we went to a karaoke bar that was much too expensive for our taste but we went there anyways because I thought it would be our only and last chance to do karaoke at all in Japan. After at least two hours of karaoke, Ron-chan , Judy-Chan, and I went back to the hotel and called it a night. For me, I did not call it a night until I passed out on the floor at the foot of my bed with a can of grapefruit sake from the vending machines outside in my hand.