Today we headed into the heart of Tokyo city, catching 2 subways to the main Tokyo Station.
I planned on exploring Tokyo City for a while before the tour, but to be honest, it was mostly high end shops. Once you realise the price tag, I wanted to leave pretty quickly I haven't quite mastered the art of turning around with an unwieldy backpack!
The station itself was pretty impressive, but was very western-looking, which seemed almost out of place amongst the ultra-modern and ultra-traditional juxtaposition around it.
A lot of the shops and buildings were really getting into the Christmas Spirit though, with a lot of displays and sales. There was even a 5 story high Christmas tree in one building!!
In the afternoon, I had found that there was a really informative free walking tour that leaves there every Saturday through the Emperor's Palace Garden. The people running it were really lovely and helpful, and obviously really knew their stuff!! A must-do if you're interested in the history of Tokyo!
We also got the last of the cherry blossoms which was pretty cool
K's House is great. We got some noodles from the 7/11 over the road and ate them on the rooftop. It has an amazing view! (even though it's a bit grim, the graveyard is actually pretty cool to look at)
After dinner, we headed to the electronic district of Akihabara. It. Was. NUTS! There was one store that at first I mistook for a statium. It was massive! All of the flashing lights were super intense and pretty spectacular.
All of the tech stuff was pretty incredible, and there were a ton of comic stores in the area too. Some of the things they were selling were super weird though. I don't want to go into too much detail, but the "Japanese Schoolgirl" thing goes to really, really disturbing places.
Despite some of the depravity, we ended up spending a few hours there after dark, and it ended up being a really great time, just wandering around!
I've also found that public toilets are a bit of a gamble. They are literally either space age, and have buttons I have never even thought about, or are just a porcelain hole in the ground.
Off to Harajuku tomorrow, for some more schoolgirl action ;) xx