We love Tokyo - Day 2

Day 2, got up quite early, which was rather difficult because the hole-in-the-wall was too comfy. Walked down the streets randomly towards Shinjuku station.

Came across "Songwu", or "Matsuya" fast food restaurant for some breakfast, just one of the many fast food chains in Japan. "Matsuya" is a competitor of Yoshinoya in Japan.

Luckily there are pictures on the vending machine's buttons this time.

Yan's beef bowl with raw egg.

Rice with curry stew. If i remembered correctly, it costs around 450 Yen.

Shinto or Buddhist temple, i have no idea.

Should be a statue of Buddha.

Shinjuku Gyoen. A large park close to Shinjuku station, has 3 main garden types, Japanese, English and French.

Foreigners.

Large maple tree, too bad the leaves are wilted in winter.

No idea why are we so fascinated by it.

The tree grants its divine powers to Yan...

Breathing roots.

Look at the fishes!

"Feed us! Feed us!"

Japanese gardens.

Really well maintained. Everyone in Japan takes pride in their work. Even gardeners and cleaners.

I think he was trying to refill his bottle.

English gardens.

More vending machines.

This one sells cup noodles. Since we are fated to meet each other, i bought a cup.

Curry cheese cup noodles, out-of-this-world experience!

Waiting...

French gardens, modeled after Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris. Too bad there are no leaves in winter.

Another fast food chain that we saw everywhere in Tokyo, but didn't try.

Super realistic food models. There was a place selling them, but i forgot where. But those are really expensive.

Writing poems out of Kanji characters.

Meiji Jingu shrine. Devoted to Emperor Meiji. To read more, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Shrine

You can write down your prayers on a piece of paper and throw it in. I think...

Vats of sake.

Wine from France.

All the lucky charms you can buy in the shrine. Money, health, love, and charms for road safety.

Japanese lanterns.

Wash your hands and rinse your mouth before prayers.

Everyone washing hands.

Entrance to the main temple.

You can get a plague for around 300 yen and write your wishes down, then hang it around the magic tree, where they will be blessed by the priests.

This is a picture of the magic tree.

Throwing coins and praying.

Main temple building, not open to public.

Charms shop, they sell other stuff too.

Hardly anyone smokes on the streets in Tokyo, they are all huddled at the smoking points. Really considerate people.

Harajuku train station.

I forgot the name of this street, but its a really trendy place in Harajuku for young people. Lots of clothing and accessory stores.

Harajuku ward.

Didn't get to try this vegetarian restaurant. Quite famous, according to Yan.

Waiting for lunch to be served.

Contrary to popular belief, i actually adore reading.

My lunch.

Yan's, we had a set with 2 bowls each.

Omotosando hills.

Home of all the prestige brands.

Japan is home to Burberry Blue label.

Japanese favourite, Louis Vuitton.

Some of the weird buildings in Japan. This is a hair salon if i'm not wrong.

Only 5pm and its dark in winter.

The eclectic Prada building at Aoyama.

Everything is see through.

Too bad i had no money to shop here.

The biggest Prada building in the world, larger than the headquarters in Milan.

Funky buildings in Aoyama.

Take 5, we had been walking the entire day. No trains for today. Yet.

Drinks on sale.

I love coffee. One good thing about the vending machines, they are able to dispense hot canned drinks.

Camwhoring.

Thank you Yan for always looking at the map and ensuring we didn't get lost. Really appreciate it. Without your expertise i would be wandering aimlessly, perhaps it will be less fun too.

Roppongi

How much is the doggy in the window? 159000 yen. That's like SGD2140.

Roppongi at night. You can see Tokyo tower in the background.

Finally!

And the breathtaking view from the top.

Roppongi Hills, city within a city. But.... we didn't go inside.

We walked all the way to Shibuya in search of dinner. And ended up in a ramen shop. No idea why i didn't take the pictures. Maybe it was too cold. And my brains froze up. Average temperature at night is 2 degrees C.

About to head back, when we saw this. I wished it was a group of girls instead.

Home sweet home!

Internet counter.

Well that's about it for day 2. We had a really long day. It felt like route march from our army times. Except it was freezing. Coats and gloves don't help much either, and i lost one of my gloves too, don't ask me why, i have no idea.

However, from my observations, i realised that Japanese ladies are highly resistant to cold weather. Especially schoolgirls. Really amazing shit.