On Friday I taught three classes at the elementary which went well. While I was at school, Lauren headed to Tokyo to buy a yukata she had seen in a store when were there before. After school I headed straight to Tokyo and met up with her at the hotel. We checked into our room and then went to karaoke.
We stayed in the same hotel as before. I hadn't taken many pictures around the area (Ikebukuro) the first time we were there so I took some more this time.
There's Big Echo, the karaoke place we went to.
This time I ordered food. I successfully ordered food over the phone in Japanese!
I did NOT order this. Fried Chicken Knee Cartilage does not sound appetizing.
I ordered Teriyaki Chicken Pizza. It was really good, though it would have been better without the mayo drizzled all over it. However, I like mayo in Japan much better than mayo in America so it was OK.
The next morning Lauren had to leave. :( I went with her to Tokyo Station. The Narita Express is expensive though so she went to the airport by herself.
I took this picture in Tokyo Station. The cat is adorable!
After saying goodbye, I went to Yoyogi Park. It was very interesting. It used by many people to exercise and practice various things. There were a lot of trees and open fields. In the shaded areas there were many exercise classes, singing groups, and drama groups. One drama group was acting out something that made me feel like I was watching a cheesy romance drama on TV. It was really funny. I also saw a guy playing a ukulele.
There were a TON of runners. Many of them were running as teams. It's hard to see in this picture, but those two guys are holding onto a loop and are running together.
As I was leaving the park I saw a sign for Meiji Shrine and decided to visit. There were a bunch of people heading there. It seemed like some sort of event was going on. A lot of the older women were dressed in sparkly outfits and had cat ears and face paint. I wish I had a picture of them up close, but here's a picture of the back of three of them. They didn't even have the cat ears like the rest of them though. :(
I don't know why they were dressed like they were, but at the shrine was a dance festival! I love how in Japan sometimes I just have to follow a crowd to find something exciting! I never know what I am going to find next.
My camera was almost dead and the memory card was almost full, so I couldn't take much video, but I still managed to take a few short clips. I edited them into one video. It's my first time ever doing anything like this and I didn't really put a lot of time into it, but it's more convenient for you to watch this way. I don't like the way the title screens look or the way the beginning/ending music sounds with the music from the dances. Oh well...
After this I went to Shibuya where I ate lunch at Freshness Burger and went to a bookstore before heading back home. As I was heading home it really felt like summer vacation had ended. It was an awesome summer vacation. I did so many different things!
I forgot to put this link in any of my other Tokyo posts so I'll put it here:
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