day 56! shibuya, yoyogi park

I had plans to finally meet up with Chris today. I had wanted to meet up the week before, while Kurt was still here, but somehow there was always something to do every day and we never managed to coordinate....today though, Chris had a meeting in the morning and so we agreed to meet up at noon, near our old school campus. :) I really want to visit school again cuz they built a whole bunch of new buildings and I haven't gotten to see them yet. Also for old times sake....

But then I got a call from Chris saying that he had a meeting in the afternoon as well, at around 2, so I said let's meet at 4 instead, and to call me if there were any updates. Then around 2 he called to say that his professor had changed the meeting to 4 and so the new plan became to meet at 6.

Well. Not that I can really blame him, cuz it's not his fault his prof has the planning skills of an Alzheimer's patient. :) But it was a bit vexing that I blocked out the whole day to see him, but instead spent most of it sitting at home, watching honcasts and staring at my cell phone. :( Just cuz you know, I'd rather have spent it hanging out with him. Or walking around somewhere maybe. :)

But the final plan did stick! Went to Shibuya at 6pm, since our school campus wouldn't be interesting at all, at night.

Usually when people meet in Shibuya, they meet at "Hachiko"; it's sort of the designated waiting spot. Hachiko is actually the name of a dog with a touching story. He was a really faithful and loyal dog, and used to go with his owner to work every day, and then pick him up from the train every day by himself. Then I think one day some accident happened and his owner passed away, but still Hachiko would go every day and wait for him at the station. I may have gotten some details wrong but that's the gist of it....word of Hachiko's story spread, and he became a sort of legend, I guess, and this statue was put up in his honor, in front of one of the exits in Shibuya.


Meeting up with friends in Tokyo tends to be really difficult because there are just SO many people everywhere, all the time, and everyone is short and asian looking. :p So even if you say "let's meet in Shinjuku station"...I mean, Shinjuku station is HUGE so you have to designate an exit and where to wait near that exit. With Shibuya it's nice though, cuz everyone knows to meet at Hachiko.


Which, ironically, makes it a terrible meeting spot cuz there are usually about 200 people waiting there. :p lol

There's also a green train car that has been converted into a mini-museum that sits in front of Hachiko, that can be used as a landmark when trying to find friends.

This is typically what it looks like around Hachiko though, groups of friends chatting and waiting for others to arrive.


Fortunately I have a bit of an advantage over everyone cuz Chris is a huge Swede XD Spotted him in a matter of seconds and we were reunited!! Finally after 4 years, I get to see one of my bestest friends again. :) Ohisashiburi desu!


We decided to wander around Shibuya for old times sake. It's what we used to do in school, after classes were out and we weren't sure what to do. Neither of us had much money so we would just wander and wander, not really shop or spend anything (except on food kekeke cuz he's a big tall Swede that needs to eat lots and I'm well, me). :3

The Disney Store! I know we have Disney Stores at home, but since this is Tokyo, land of Disney fanatics (zealots?), the Disney Store in Shibuya is pretty awesome. It's 3 stories, and the whole place is decorated/themed inside. It's kind of a mini mini Magic Kingdom.

This is Chris! Standing in front of the Alice in Wonderland entrance to the 2nd floor staircase, holding one of the packs of Tim Tams that we bought at Don Quixote earlier.

The 3rd floor of the Disney Store, I thought the-rising-sun-that-is-mickey's-ass was pretty cute. :p You can buy tickets to go to Disneyland and Disney Sea here on the 3rd floor, too.

After some amount of wandering around, and 1 purikura later, we found food. :) I said I felt like noodles, so Chris brought me to this ramen place (still in Shibuya). They're famous for their "kotteri" ramen, (as opposed to assari ramen), which means like thick, or viscous even.

Mmm Chris fuckin' loves viscosity.


Hehe he actually posed for this picture though, I didn't just catch him at the wrong time. :) He's just a big weirdo.

After dinner we picked up some coffee (I'm trying to spread the word about honey lattes), and headed for Yoyogi Park. I've been before, but I never knew you could walk there pretty easily from Shibuya, since Yoyogi station is 2 stops away from Shibuya station, so it would only seem natural that Yoyogi Park would be far. I guess Yamanote-sen is not round though. :)


Anyway Yoyogi Park is a very large park in the center of Tokyo, with a lot of forested areas. I didn't know that you were allowed to come here at night. As it turns out a lot of couples come here to do naughty things since it gets really dark at night amid the trees. :)

We found a nice bench near the lit path though, and had a dessert picnic! Coffees + the 3 varieties of Tim Tams that we picked up from Don Quixote. When I spotted them I freaked out cuz they're amazing, and we can't get them at home, and since Chris hadn't had them before I insisted we get some. But in our typical fashion....we couldn't decide which so we bought 3 different flavors. :3


We sat there for an hour or maybe two, snacking on cookies and chatting about weird and random things. Just like old times. :) It really didn't take long to feel comfortable again. I guess that's how you know who your good friends are right? I've missed hanging out with Chris.

Walking back out of the park, there were lots of gorgeous flower pots, mostly roses. This one had a trellis (?) that formed an arch over the path. When the roses finally grow all the way around it's gonna be really, really nice. :)

Definitely gonna have to go back when it's sunny out, sometime. The flower areas'll be super pretty.


On Sundays, musicians (classical musicians) and other performers will gather in Yoyogi Park to perform and practice, so that's sort of a nice time to go. :) Kurt and I tried to make it but in the end we didn't get a chance to before he went back home. ><

Speaking of musicians though, saw these guys in Shibuya as we walked back to the station. It's not uncommon to see street performers, usually young aspiring musicians (often singers). These guys were a band, with the guitarist singing. They were actually REALLY good, I really liked their stuff. I was surprised!! Stayed for a bit of a song, and then some chick came up and handed out some info about them, and said they had a CD for sale. So I was like hmm I think I'm gonna get it...and I did! Kind of bashfully sauntered up to them, asked for a CD, it was only 500yen. :3 And then I said "you guys are good!" and the bassist said "xiexie". lol? How did he know I was Chinese??

It was already around 11 or midnight, so we headed home and made promises to meet up again soon. Even though I didn't accomplish that much today, it was still a really happy day for me. Like I said, Chris is one of my best friends, and I don't see or talk to him often, but when I do I feel like nothing has changed. As someone that doesn't often feel close to people, it's...just really nice. :)

Also I missed people giving us dirty looks (or just curious looks), probably angry at him cuz they think that he's stealing their women haha. Also that everyone directs conversation to me when they talk to us, for instance like when we sit down at a restaurant, when really his Japanese is much better than mine. Just something we always laughed about.