It's been a long time coming but I finally found the time the other day to start my Japan diary! There are 9 days altogether and hopefully I will be able to slowly but consistently push each day out (and hopefully it won't take me the whole year to do that haha). Without further ado, here is day one!
We arrived in Shinjuku, Tokyo late on a Thursday evening so we didn't really get to explore much besides walking around the streets close to where we stayed and eating a bowl of ramen for dinner. Our first official day in Japan consisted of a fairly early wakeup to visit the Tsukiji fish market. This market is the one famous for their tuna auctions. But auctions happen very early in the morning and I don't think my mum and I were too keen on waking up at 4am in the morning to watch people buy fish. Instead, we decided to check out the rest of the markets at a more reasonable hour in the morning and enjoyed for ourselves a meal of super fresh sashimi and unagi in a little shop close by the market.
The next stop was the Sensoji Temple - a Buddhist temple in Asakusa. My favourite part was actually the long row of markets (Nakamise shopping street) that lead up to the temple. There were (of course) many tourists which made browsing a little bit hectic but I managed to buy a few souvenirs for my friends and a few nibblies. At a glance, temples are quite ordinary to look at (especially if you've already seen a range from China/Korea) but if you actually stand to admire it for a little while (whilst trying not to be in the way of the surging crowds of people) you really notice that the architecture and embellishments are actually on point.
The black/white/red floral wallet in the photo^ was purchased at the Nakamise shopping street. There are numerous shops selling these little wallets/pouches/coin purses made with the most beautiful Japanese style fabrics. It made making decisions very hard and I remember always thinking to myself "I don't need this, but it's very pretty so I'm going to buy it anyway." Travelling is always the epitome of impulse buys...
The third thing on our itinerary for the day was to visit the Tokyo Skytree. Reaching a height of 634 metres, Tokyo Skytree is the tallest building in Japan. We reached the observation deck in time to watch the sunset which lit up the sky with the most gorgeous hues (man, I love sunsets). At the foot of the tower is a shopping centre where I discovered a shop selling the prettiest rolls of paper (also in the photo above) and other paper goods. So of course, after spending aeons admiring the pretty paper and stationery, I couldn't leave without buying a few rolls (along with some brush pens) for myself.
Tsukiji Markets
Sensoji Temple/Nakamise Shopping Street
Tokyo Skytree
Now playing: Hold - Vera Blue
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