Had a hearty breakfast at MacDonald's after checking out from the Ikebukuro's minshukyu. I was looking forward to visit Shinjuku for its interesting streetscape, shopping and night-life.
Breakfasts at MacDonald's near the Ikebukuro Train Station (West Exit)
Shinjuku @ Yamanote Line
Shinjuku is only few stops away from its poorer cousin Ikebukuro. Actually there were pretty lots of train lines that served both stations. Yamanote line was one of the oldest and busiest train lines by JR using the contactless railway ticket called SUICA or PASMO (also can be used as electronic money). You are likely to find the ticket top-up machines in most stations.
We also tried on the Tokyo Metro lines. You can easily recognise them with a "blue butterfly" logo found in these busy train stations. They are the subways, complementary to those places far from the already established Yamanote train stations.
Streetscapes of Shinjuku
Headed for our hotel at Shinjuku, called Lonestar. At first, we faced some difficulties finding the hotel as it was quite a distance from the Yamanote Line. It was actually nearer than we thought as it was located near Tokyo Metro Shinjuku Sanchome.
The hotel provides breakfasts like bread with jam and coffee/tea in the morning at stipulated timing. Not much choices but certainly better than nothing.
Service was actually quite mediocre as some of the receptionists were pretty rude. As the saying goes, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. As the hotel is cheap, you can't expect 5-star service from a 2-stars hotel.
After checking in, we moved on to our next stop, Harajuku where the most fashionable streetwear could be found.
Saw pretty lots of weirdos on the street wearing strange outfits on the Shengong bridge (神宫桥) (near Meiji Jinggu Shrine) as well as the shopping route (竹下通）towards Mingzhi Tong 明治通.
The busy Harajuku JR Station @ Yamanote Line
Avoid coming here during the weekends, please! It was too crazy a crowd!
You get to see plenty of these "pink things" around.
More sweet Lolitas
Meiji Shrine - No we din go in.
Nearby the shrine is a bridge which is also a place famous for cosplayers dying to let people take photographs with/of them.
We came too late and most of them had left! =(
So, we were only left with this guy standing on the Meiji Bridge.
Ang Moh+ Son Goku = ??
Honestly, his costume can be bought in places like Shinjuku and Akiba for 1000 yen (S$16). Truly nothing special and innovative.
Next destination, Uniqlo UT store! I was hoping to find those manga-themed T-shirts by famous comic artists.
The UT Uniqlo store at along Meiji Shrine Road
I bought these @ 1500 yen each - The T-shirts without the plastic bottle can also be found in most Uniqlo stores. But only this store is unique as they have the plastic bottles.
Realised it was late already, and most of us were already tired of walking so long. We went back to hotel, took a bath and went out for dinner (Taiwanese+Sichuan cuisine)nearby. My cousins went back to rest in hotel while auntie, uncle and I explored Kabukicho at night.
Credits to Flickr - Kabukicho at night
It was actually a seedy side of Shinjuku and definitely a pretty terrifying experience as that was a messy place with prostitutes, club hostesses, gigolos, yakuzas and love hotels. There were also pimps or touts on the streets doing their sales pitch and with funny, "bengish" spiky hair. Because of all these over-whelming sights, I actually forgot to take a picture of the night scenes!
After walking for some time, we walked out and went to this 24 hr operating shop near road (see the above pic, building at the right-hand side) bought nothing as the product quality sucked. Yah, you can find those cheap cosplay costumes (Dragon Ball) there too. They sold fake LV and Gucci bags too!
Before I digress, I must say something about Kabukicho. It was certainly an eye-opener.
We never visit the sleazy areas meant for ladies before. I did visit the discos and pubs in Pak Phom Bangkok before where those young girls and trannies did bar-top, dancing in white bikinis but never the areas for ladies.
Kabukicho in the day (hmm, sorry for the glare on the gateway)
And the hottest gigolo is the uncle in the middle!!!!!
Not all gigolos in Kabukicho offer sex service. According to the documentary in BBC, the gigolos actually create fantasies and escapes for these young/old lonely women. Lots of physical interactions involved (wrestling, teasing) but not sex yet.
I think my cousin Xinyun may go 'ga-ga' on these guys who look like gals.
Ladies club - Sorry, not opened in the day as these gigolos are still sleeping.
My aunt smiling while posing near the adverts.
Although we stayed in Shinjuku for 2 nights, we din explore much of this place. Saw Isetan everywhere, from ladies to mens and there was even an Isetan club house! Things were all over the place and honestly speaking, I prefered Harajuku over Shinjuku.
After some hours around, we declared that we were finally tired. Bought some drinks from Lawson and went back to our hotel.
Decided to explore other wards tommorrow.
Day 11
Harajuku, Akihabara
Back to Harajuku, shopped for H&M. Got myself some clothing and my bro a long-sleeved shirt. The largest size they have for guys is L so you can forget about getting bigger size. You hardly see fatties in Japan, except the Sumo Wrestlers.
Saw a lot of weirdos again at Harajuku. Cousin shopped for some weirdo clothes at a shop called Bodyline where they sell maid, students costumes too around 3,000 ~ 5,000 yen.
After some consideration, we took the Chuo-line to Akihabara again. I was trying to search for the @home maid cafe. Looking at the map is easy but once you are at the Akiba train station, you are totally surrounded by the majestic buildings and you simply have no idea where you are.
We prowled around the area for a while and saw a couple of these young sweet looking girls dressed in maid attires. It was so freaking cold and they were all wearing short skirts! As we cannot 'tahan' the cold weather anymore, we just picked on one of them as they brought us to their maid cafe.
The cute looking maid assured us that speaking English was perfectly "OK". We were brought up to the lift and when the door opened, we were brought forth to a warm and cosy atmosphere. No cameras are allowed in the cafe, if you want to take a picture, you will have to pay 500yen taken from Polaroid with the maid.
Some of the maids were dressed as french chamber maids.
The maid cafe is called Popopure
Popopure mentioned it was an pretty unusual one as it was an animation studio as well. They were also screening their amateurishly drawn animation. Guest could try out video dubbing with the maids.
I find this trip super not-worth-it as the not all maids were pretty and their maid uniforms can be found in those cosplay shop. Speaking of no problem in English, I think they find it difficult to communicate with us so din serve us much.
Moved on to the next location, The Tokyo anime centre located at 4th storey.
They were featuring the new anime movie called "The Eternal Diva".
Here are the voice actors/actresses
Nothing much could be found there as it was only just a miserable floor. Went to some otaku shops nearby. Again, the building were packed with youngsters, mostly otakus. My auntie and cousins scavenged for their favourite anime figurines.
....... to be continued in Day 12
