Mermaid Garden

After an already eventful Fuji day Friday, Rika came to Tokyo to hang out with me despite her busy Panasonic schedule. We went to DisneySea the first day! 

The park had a weird faux European vibe but the details everywhere were quite something! And most of the uniforms in the park were really well designed.

Atlantica took my breath away and I was really happy I had disneybounded Ariel. It was super hot that day tho haha.

The details!! And the live performance was pretty fun.

I KNEW there was an Eric display somewhere in the Mermaid Lagoon and it took us a while to find it - he was hidden inside a play area maze !

They had a special Easter "parade" on the waterfront and it was cool to see a different kind of Disney entertainment - I did absolutely despise the costumes tho.

We had been lucky and had gotten the lottery tickets for Big Band Beat and the seats were as front and center as humanly possible! It was a super cool show.

Night fell and in Japan it falls fast. With a snap of the fingers it was dark and the vibe of the park changed. It felt mysterious! The Indiana Jones ride was AMAZING and so much fun.

Another great ride experience was Sinbad - super catchy song and very impressive animatronics! The line for Toy Story Mania was still insane even up until closing, but we went a looked at the area anyway. It was weird seeing that Woody in real life haha.

Sunday we had a pretty full day but still took it easy. We started in Asakusa.

And then we went for a long walk to see the blooming wisteria - walking past rivers, Tokyo Skytree and parks.

We finally got to Kameido Tenji and were happy to see that the flowers were in high bloom - we were scared the petals were falling already. It was CRAMMED tho.

It was a gorgeous scenery all the same.

Walking to the nearest metro we walked through this park and there was randomly a Polynesian festival happening! So we stopped for a while and took in the atmosphere.  Rika explained to me that many Japanese people have heritage from the islands and that is why the culture is so celebrated within Japan.

Second blooming spot of the day was reached! This time a local shrine that is normally very quiet - but because of the azaela Nezu shrine had a lot of visitors. 

We grabbed some food and went to a famous-for-locals sunset spot to eat. Sitting by the steps and watching the light change. I then brought Rika to Tokyo station and we said our goodbyes, both surprised at how close we had gotten.

I had told the LINE group that I had an extra Ghibli ticket and a few people had shown interest, but I ended up given it to this German girl since she seemed like a true fan. I asked her on Monday if she wanted to hang out for some hours and go to some Your Name locations. It was pretty crazy, the neighbourhood was exactly how it is in the film - down to where specific bikes and cars were parked.

A few other fans stopped by and it was clear that it is a nerd hot spot - they had numerous Kimi no Nawa posters around the block.

We even had dinner at the restaurant! Montana and I were getting along great, so we also went to Omoide Yokocho for some snack foods and some sake.

I had spotted this cool clock on the train a few days earlier and went in search of it. It turned out that it was a Miyazaki construction that comes to life with music a few times of day! Super cool! It was neat to see the mechanical motions.

Someone from the LINE group had recommended Hamakyuu Gardens so I headed there next as it was right next to the clock - it was nice, but I still like Shinjuku Gyoen much better. The highlight here was the 300 old pine tree that I initially thought was a collection of bushes !

There were also tons of gardeners everywhere in this park.

I got past Ginza and decided to head to an art store I had read about that made its' own paints. It felt like quality and it didn't really break the bank. After that I met up with some people from LINE in Aki and Montana showed up too. We had the best meat meal of the trip here in the tiniest restaurant.

Wednesday morning Tomo had an early meeting so I had to be out the door hours before anything in Tokyo opened. I was surprised at how late the city is really awake - not until 10 or 11. So even though it was raining I went to Shinjuku Gyoen, since nothing else was open yet. And it was nice!

I dried on the way to this weird area by the stadium where the Moomin cafe was. It was crazy expensive, but a cute experience.

I then met up with Montana at a fluffy pancake spot in Minata. It was pretty amazing. The caramel was the strongest I've ever tasted and the tart berries made us survive the overwhelming sweetness.

 And then we walked over to our Ghibli appointment! We had been scared that 2 hours would be too little time but it turned out perfectly. I was pleased with the visit but was a little disappointed in the lack of originals in the museum.

We headed back into the city and I felt like a true local when I ran across the Scramble Crossing in Shibuya to get to the Dr. Sketchy's figure drawing event.

The models costumes were great, but her poses were a little safe or stiff.