DAY 7: KOISHIKAWA KORAKOEN GARDEN

today was sort of a random day because we were supposed to go to hakone to see mt. fuji closer up, but it was really cloudy/overcast and supposed to rain all day so there was really no point in going and spending all that money if you can only see mt. fuji on a clear day. so, we headed out thinking we would be spending the day in department stores, but it was actually not raining when we walked outside! so, we headed to the koishikawa korakoen garden instead since it was on our list of things to do.

i took a few pictures of some things that we saw along the way...

a lot of tokyo's highways are up in the air like this at all times, interweaving through buildings. it's really awesome and smart!

the first gas station we've seen!

we arrived at the garden, and it's quite gorgeous. it started drizzling a bit after about an hour that we were there, but it wasn't bad! just cold, and we were prepared with our umbrellas! here are a bunch of pictures that we got :)

this weeping cherry tree is 60 years old

lots of people enjoying their bento boxes (lunch boxes) by the big pond

it was cool to see the huge buildings in the background :)

i thought this was so pretty

it was a beautiful garden that we really enjoyed :) we'll be seeing a lot more once we are in kyoto, but it's cool they have a lot of things like this in tokyo too! we headed back to the hotel, ate lunch, then walked back all the way to shibuya again (seriously wish we had a pedometer to see how many miles we walk each day...i can already tell i've lost weight!) because we wanted to see all the lights/TVs at night

oh! and these are the umbrella accommodations i was talking about in an earlier post:

they are literally in front of every store/restaurant/everywhere you can go inside. the blue thing is where you wipe your wet umbrella, and then there are plastic bags to "dip" your umbrella into as erik is showing in the picture. then, you just take your umbrella-in-a-bag with you inside :) it's great!

after all that, we were in for the night. but not before buying this!

"for a relaxing time...make it suntory time"

yes, we love Lost in Translation THAT much haha :) saw it, and had to do it! haven't tried it yet though. i'm sure i'll hate it haha

DAY 6: THE STUDIO GHIBLI MUSEUM IS AMAZING!

i forgot to show on the map where exactly we are right now (tokyo still) so you can see where it's located in the country in case you dont know :)

the little sakura flower shows where we are!

well, today was WAY more productive than we thought it would be. first of all, it said rain all day. secondly, i still felt crappy this morning from being sick. well, a few hours after we woke up and a couple advil later, i felt ready to go! so off we went to the meiji jingu shrine :)

gorgeous. this is located in that giant park from the first day, so it was another familiar and pretty walk

and we were SO excited to see this...

...but then...

we actually got to see a WEDDING HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

they take about 20 minutes making sure EVERY fold is perfect for the big family portrait. 

and here it is!

afterwards, we walked to harajuku, known for it's fashion 

it was...packed. haha

these shirts cracked us up

"i want to go to there" haha

this was crazy! suddenly, we see a band (literally musical) of protestors making as MUCH noise as they possibly could, heading towards the Nike building. we couldn't really figure out what was going on, or what they wanted/hated, but one of the signs said (that a ghost was holding), "is there life in the NIKE PARK?" and on the back it said, "R.I.P. the Nike Park" with the Nike swoosh on it haha...it was so weird, but when they got to be in front of the Nike building, they got SUPER loud with their instruments/yelling (yet still staying peaceful haha) and then they moved on. it was interesting to see...

one of the ghosts

a super creepy looking guy!

afterwards we headed to the bridge because we were going to try and catch the kids in their costumes. unfortunately i think we were maybe too early (noon)? or it was too cold (it was freezing/windy)? but i managed to get a few

although, i think this guy might have been promoting a restaurant haha...either way, he was standing there, so i took his picture! and then there were these guys!!!

so obviously i had to hug them haha

so fun :)

next on the list of things to do this day (since it was still surprising to us that it wasn't raining) was to head over to the studio ghibli museum!!! 

here is the bus you can take from the station, but we chose to walk because we like seeing stuff and stopping to take pictures instead. but, the bus looked awesome haha

it was a beautiful walk. the sakura are blooming more and more!

these signs kept telling us we were on the right path

and these haha...so cute

we arrived!

now, the museum doesn't allow you to take pictures inside, but we SOOO wish we could have. it was AMAZING in there. cool animation stuff, things around every corner, it was way cooler than we thought it would be. and these tickets they gave us at the front desk got us into a 15 minute movie that was made JUST for the museum this year!!! it was about sumo rats, and it was adorable :) 

also, it was really cool sitting in a theater filled with japanese people and seeing when they laugh at things. it was just a really fun experience. oh, and the movie wasn't subtitled for us, but that's okay because it was an easy enough story that we didn't need them. and again, it was super cute. but what else would you expect from studio ghibli???

here are some pics i took from the outisde:

the entrance

sprites crammed into a window!

us with totoro :)

more of the outside

a giant awesome robot soldier from Laputa: Castle in the Sky

then we went into the Straw Hat Cafe (which was connected) for the CUTEST food we will ever eat. yes, i said CUTEST

i got the "fruit sandwich of your dreams" (it truly was haha), and erik got the pork cutlet sandwich. oh, and we both got the coffee!!!

WHO DOES THIS?!?! the studio ghibli museum does, that's who haha...LOVED it.

it was getting dark by this point, so we started to head home

everything is so very pretty and completely safe at night

we stopped at a grocery store on the way home too :)

baby squids...

so. much. delicious. candy. everywhere!!!

we're home now after a long day of walking, but it was a great day, and i'm glad i'm feeling better already!!! i'm going to get a lot of rest again tonight so hopefully this will be COMPLETELY gone soon :)