Valentines in Japan : Ginza, Imperial Palace, and Pork Cutlet.

I went to Ginza one day in Feb. to check off few things off from my to do list and to meet some of my awesome friends I made in Tokyo.

I first met up with one friend who I share the same hobby with.

She suggested to eat at the Imperial Hotel which is one of the most famous hotels in this area.

Before I met up with her I decided to walk around the hotel for a bit to take some pictures.

And then we met up at this diner

I chose curry for lunch. 

Pork curry~

And then we had some coffee (Japanese coffee is verrrry bitter compared to the ones in canada)

And this hotel is famous for pancakes so I decided to order a pancake dessert with banana fillings.

Ended staying at this cafe for several hours just talking about our hobbies.

I then walked around Ginza for my second time.

It was also right before valentine's day.

During and before Valentine's day,

in almost every basement floors in department stores in Japan will have these displays for the chocolates.

In Japan girls gives guys chocolates.

And on 3/11 guys give back a present for saying thanks to the girls who gave them chocolates.

(They usually say guys have to give the girls back something two or three times the price of the chocolate haha)

Home parties. aka just chilling at home.

When spring break starts in Japan unless you are a third year trying to find a job

(people start looking for their job that they will like to get after they graduate in their 3rd year of uni),

you're pretty much

BORED every single day.

It's because we have almost two and a half months of nothingness.

So my friends and I had movie nights.

Bring some snacks.

Get ready some pillow.

And get ready a dvd and get ur laptop out.

Homemade mini cheesecake cup! Thanks D and S.

We watched ratatouille. Ain't it so cute. 

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On another day my friends and I had a hotpot party.

Strolling around the super market to buy some veggies.

Our veggies and meat for the night!

The soup had a mix of miso- kimchi- and various other soup base in one.

Manga Cafe

I haven't been to a Manga Cafe since I was like 10 when I went with my grandpa.

All I remember was that I wanted to stay in the manga cafe for my whole life but my grandparents didn't let me.

What is a manga cafe?

Manga Cafe

is not a place where you only read manga 

but there is (F for anything offered for free)

1) All you can drinks (non alochol) from coffee, tea, juice, pop, smoothies : F

2)Vending machines with food

3)Any type of magazines and mangas you can think of :F

4)Shower with towels, shampoo, conditioner :F

5)Tanning Booths

6)Nail Salon :F

7)All you can watch DVDs/movies

8)Borrow cellphone charger, scanner, hair dryer, sd card reader etc.. :F

And when going into a manga cafe you can pick what type of room you want to go in.

The seat type, couch type, and the type where you take off you shoes.

In your room you usually have 

A computer, a tv, some places even have game players like ps2.

Some place even has free wifis and lockers in your room.

Headphones you use to watch your dvds and whatever on internet.

This is the set of manga I tried reading.

Photography Club: Kichijyoji

I wrote about Kichijyoji in one of the posts last week but to explain it again

it's known to be a place where young people would like to live.

The reason to why I would think people would like to live here is

a)The access to shibuya station is relatively fast (15 min by the fastest train)

b)There is nature (parks)

c)Lot's of cute/artistic stores

So I went around with a friend to takes pictures around the area.

Many people just walking around eating and shopping.

Asian/African looking store?

I noticed there are pretty different designs to starbucks in tokyo. 

Walking towards the park.

Too many ppl.. lol

Couples, old couples, friends, and families.

They also have these swan boats you can ride on.

tree bark

Some people doing some street performance in the park.

$8 to go on the swan for one hour.

It was actually cold enough that some little ponds were frozen.

The needles so the pigeons would not go on top of the tree fences. 

Ghibli Museum

My friend and I finally decided to go to the Ghibli Museum.

For all of you who do not know Ghibli,

it is a film and animation studio in Japan and have produced works such as 

Totoro, Castle in the sky, Princess mononoke, Spirited away, and Nausciaa.

The production has so many fans in Japan and around the world, the museum is always full and you have to reserve the tickets at least one day before. 

It was always not my dream but I always wanted to go here and I finally got the chance to!

We got off at Mitaka station. Even the signs are already Ghibli!

The entrance.

Many of Ghibli's work has a very european look so I guess the buildings look more western than Japanese.

Ghibli Museum.

And from here we can't take pictures inside.

What they have inside is some pictures of their work, puppets, ghibli giftstore, storyboards, and many things to do with animation.

This is the garden of the building.

Krispy Kreme in Japan and cool places I found in Tokyo.

Ta-da- this is one of the lunch? no I think it was dinner I had one day.

The restaurant specialized in gyu-tan (oxe tongue) but it was a bit expensive for me and I chose to eat grilled pork something. The price was aprox $9. So many Japanese restaurants have these sets that has rice veggies and some type of meat, which I think is very healthy menu.

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When I got off at shibuya station one day I noticed all the ads looked similar.

If anyone who reads or sees manga/anime would know what series these ads came from.

It's bunch of one piece ads.

One piece is one of the most famous comics in Japan.

Even if ure not a geek or otaku, it is marketed towards the whole population.

This is the other side.

By the way these ads just advertises that one volume is coming out. geez-

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I also went to Krispy Kreme for my first time in Japan.

And lucky me,

when I went, they were handing out free new flavoured krispy kremes!

The conveyor belt of melting donuts. 

Despite the fact I got one flavour for free I decided to get this cookies and creme flavour.

I guess it was too sweet for me. 

And I noticed I didn't really like donut that much.

I don't know why Japanese ppl who are usually not used to sweet things like this would enjoy this donut.

Zemi, Eating, Camera shopping

I am not in Tokyo, and I am not in Osaka right now!

I am in Fukuoka which is a wee bit south of Osaka (9hours south by bus), travelling with my roommate.

Will write about the travels once I get back but let's first talk about the ice cream picture above.

I got to eat haagen dazs strawberry flavour!

I don't usually eat strawberry flavoured things but when it comes to ice cream I looove it.

I also got to eat this on the same day.

The special edition called "Opera"

It had a tiramisu type of flavour and was in layers.

So why did I get to eat some expensive ice cream I would usually never eat?

It's because we were at my prof's party room helping out one of the master student's thesis.

Well actually, I was just there to eat and talk and read manga because I had nothing else to do at home.

But it was really great seeing everyone in the zemi helping out their peers.

I really wanted to help but couldn't do much so I just sat around and looked at everyone working hard.

I'm not so sure if this is safe.

It's almost morning!