Japan's natural phenomenons - part two
Full of motivation, Essi, Laurien and I stood up early on Monday to get to the ward office and finally complete our student discount request (you have to pay only 30% of the National Health Insurance fee if you are a student, so it's definitely worth it). But we had made our plans without the Japanese calendar. While waiting at the bus station, we were kindly informed by a lady that it was a national holiday - Respect for the Aged Day! So, of course, the office was closed and we had to return home.
Because we still needed to pay the rent for our rooms, we went to Hiyoshi campus later for the first time. It was surprising how many shops there are in the school building, so it actually looks more like a shopping mall than a university. Having successfully fulfilled at least this one task, we also visited a so-called "mini mini bazaar" for students, held in a dormitory near the campus, where you could buy dishes, cutlery, towels and so on for very low prices. Well, I did not expect THAT small a bazaar. However, it was also holding a treasure: You could get kimonos for up to 500 yen (that's less than 5 euro). REAL kimonos with obi (the wide belt) and other accessories. Where they actually cost tens or hundreds of thousands of yen. Wow!
The next day we finally managed to get things done at the ward office (third time lucky!) - despite the heavy rain, which, as we found out later, was actually a typhoon. While this storm called Malakas caused lots of flood and landslide in Taiwan and southern Japan, it passed Tokyo in the form of just more rain and wind than usual. Still, I was very glad to be able to stay at home the rest of that day...
Not for those with a fear of heights
As quickly as it had appeared, the scary typhoon disappeared the next day. So nothing stood in the way of a meeting with the Tomodachi program group on Wednesday. After having lunch in the Keio University cafeteria, we visited the Mita Kasuga Shrine just next to the campus. Everyone had the chance to ring the bell at the entrance :)
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| The entrance to Mita Kasuga shrine - photos of the shrine will follow when it is less crowded |
The highlight of the day was a visit to Tokyo Tower. For 900 yen, you can go up to the Main Observatory, which is 150 meters high. It also has the Special Observatory 250 meters above ground (which is apparently not worth the extra money, especially when there are places which offer a similar view for free), and for One Piece fans, there is even a special One Piece Tower! :) Here are some views from outside and inside
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| A warm welcome at the entrance |
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| There was even a small shrine inside |
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| Looks more like an expensive hotel |
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| A lookdown window - my Tomodachi buddy Jenaida took this photo for me because it was too scary to even approach it. Thank you :D |
With all the nice and (finally!) cool weather, I decided to go for a run in the evening. Of course, as soon as I was outside, it started to rain again. But enjoying the view of nightly Yagami river was definitely worth it.
Because high is not high enough...
... fellow Siegen student Tharshi and her friends, Brianne and Jessica, invited me to join them on a trip to Tokyo Skytree today - the world's tallest broadcasting tower and second-tallest structure with its height of 634 meters.
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| It's huge! |
I hope you will not be too disappointed to hear that we didn't go up, because it is very expensive and the weather was too rainy and foggy, as you can probably see in the photos. I still need to do that some day with better conditions. So be prepared for startling pictures!
At the Skytree base, you will find a large shopping mall on 9 floors (the Skytree restaurant is on 31st floor, by the way ;)). You could even see a bit of rainy Tokyo from above:
Also, the area called Skytree Town bears lots of designer shops, character cafés (Moomins!), a variety of Disney and other cartoon stores and gourmet restaurants... there is even an aquarium (with baby turtles!) we wanted to visit, but the line in front of it was just ridiculously long. Maybe that was because today was yet another national holiday (Autumn Equinox). But that was fine with us, because exploring all the cuteness and craziness of this place was fun and adventure enough!
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| Just a sculpture outside of Skytree Town |
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| What else did you expect? |
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| Lovely interior of the Moomin café - sadly, another long queue prevented us from entering |
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| Very stylish banana sweets, indeed |
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| For those who missed the real view, probably |
Tomorrow, my tourist weeks will be over: The semester is officially starting and I am going to attend my first class at Keio University. I'm already excited and will make sure to keep you up to date! Take care and hopefully see you soon :)
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