Japan Trip Day #2 Tokyo : Akihabara - Ginza - Roppongi

Japan Trip

Day #2 24/05/14 Saturday

Actually I had planned to visit Studio Ghibli museum on this Japan trip. I really looove Studio Ghibli! Do you know Totoro , Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle? They are some of Studio Ghibli's masterpieces. My favorites! <3 Oh, and I really am a big fan of the genius composer Joe Hisaishi who made almost all their soundtracks.

If you ever watched Studio Ghibli's movie, please let me know what's your fave movie/ character! and if you haven't, please watch them! I highly recommend it :D

ANDDDD unfortunately, it was closed for periodic maintenace during my visit :( :( . So if you want to visit the museum, better look for the schedule on their website first ( http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/info/ ). For your information, the museum close every Tuesday, and the ticket price for adult (19+) is 1000Yen. You can buy the ticket @ Lawson, they are almost everywhere in Japan.

So, I changed my plan. I went to Akihabara (people called it Akiba). The anime-manga-jpop district center in Tokyo. Very huge area, and can be pretty confusing.  I was looking for any of Ghibli's souvenirs, and fortunately met some new friends (Michael, Phil, Bo) @ souvenir shop. Michael is a big fan of Ghibli's work too. so, I ended up sightseeing and playing arcades together in Akiba with them.

Akihabara Map (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3003.html )

Subway Route to Akihabara (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3003.html)

Welcome to Akihabara!

Yodobashi-Akiba building, one of the biggest shopping mall in Akiba.

Gamers Mecca!

Akiba_Square.

Studio Ghibli's souvenirs!!

Michael, Phil & Bo playing the arcade.

After that, I went to Ginza and Roppongi. I was happy that I found Maman, The big spider sculpture in Mori Park, Roppongi. If you're curious about what Maman is, you can check on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maman_(sculpture) . I'm kind of addicted with this sculpture, and would love to see them around the world :p (yes, they are well spread around the famous public area around the world).

For me, Both Ginza and Roppongi are just like ordinary place in a modern & well developed city. Roppongi has a lot of luxury shops, fancy restaurants, and hippest bars. Ginza has a lot of shopping malls. That's a little bit too much for me, since Jakarta has a lot of them already.

Ginza Map (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3005.html)

Ginza Map.

Neko!

Chuo-dori / Ginza Street

cosplay :-?

Street Art Performance.

Roppongi Map (http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3031.html) 

Roppongi Hills Map.

Escalator from subway to Roppongi Hills.

Maman!!!! 

Typical subway line. Safe enough to prevent suicide.

I visited Hibiya Park near Ginza to have lunch, and found out that there was a beer party. The Octoberfest in May! Soo many people gathered, and it was a great ambience! People were singing and dancing and cheering. The beer costs 1000¥ for 300ml. There were also lots of food stalls and picnic bench everywhere. Refreshing! After that, I went on a walk around Hibiya Park. The park was tidy, clean, well-planned, well-maintained, and full of life. 

Food stall under the train.

Artificial Lake @ Hibiya Park.

Relax time!

October fest @ Hibiya Park.

All people singing and dancing chicken dance!

Oh! I forget to mention 1 simple interesting thing. The toilets in Japan! LOL. It was a new thing for me. Quite high-tech and thoughtful ! Imagine a toilet with fake flush sounds so you won't hear any undesirable sounds from toilet cubical, a blower, and an automatic spray with speed options. On my first day, I spent some time to analyze and tried all the function! hahahaha. It was pretty confusing though, because everything was in Japanese @_@

Typical toilet in Japan.

I found this tutorial on my last day in Japan @ Kansai International Airport :p .

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