![\"Namba](\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/1Q8DffJ.jpg\")
<\/a>Tokyo Haneda Airport was pretty good at its baggage handling, not long after getting off our plane we were riding the train out of the Airport to our apartment in Shinjuku.<\/p>\n <\/br>K\u016bk\u014d sen Train Arriving<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Streets of Shinjuku 2 Chome<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n It’s 2pm when we settled down at our apartment in Tokyo, and I hadn’t eaten anything that day except for my breakfast at Itami Airport (which was a small bento from convenience store), so first on our to-do list is to find food. At this time, my friend suggested to me Japanese fast-food chain Yoshinoya which we hadn’t visited before in our Japan trip, and there’s one Yoshinoya not far from where we lived.<\/p>\n <\/br>Yoshinoya Beef Bowl<\/br>It’s not until 2pm that I had my second meal of the day, and I was starving, so I decided to go ahead with the biggest size beef bowl.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Compared with other Japanese restaurants which take forever to serve the dishes, at Yoshinoya we ordered our meals, and not before we finished plugging our phones to mobile battery packs our dishes were ready. Not used to this swiftness. After “rapidly” finishing our lunch, my friend and I decided to head for Odakyu Travel Agency in Shinjuku Station to purchase our “Fuji-Hakone Pass” that we would use for our trip to Fuji area on May 7th. We would head for Mount Fuji that morning by bus, so we need to book our bus seats in advance.<\/p>\n Then given the complex structures of Shinjuku, like many first-timers, we got lost. (Of course, I would blame Google Map’s useless indoor positioning for this.)<\/p>\n <\/br>Public Speech before Shinjuku Station<\/br>This guy’s got quite some audiences, just not sure whether they were here to smoke cigarettes or to listen to him.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings in West Shinjuku<\/br>Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>NTT DoCoMo Yoyogi Building in the Distance<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n At this time my friend and I planned to go to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden,(before setting out for Japan I watched “The Garden of Words”, but unfortunately it’s all sunny when we were in Tokyo), for this we even bought cans to toast each other inside its “pavilion”. But unfortunately we lost our way in Shinjuku Station and that cost us time, and by the time when we reached Shinjuku Gyoen it’s already closed. So we decided to head for Meiji Jingu instead.<\/p>\n <\/br>North Visitor Passage at Meiji Jingu<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Torii on North Visitor Passage at Meiji Jingu<\/p><\/div> <\/br>North Visitor Passage at Meiji Jingu<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Kagura Hall<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Then we witnessed a local wedding at Kagura Hall of Meiji Jingu.<\/p>\n <\/br>Wedding before Kagura Hall<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Wedding before Kagura Hall<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Wedding before Kagura Hall<\/br>Different people than in the previous pictures.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n At that moment I had my heartfelt congratulations to the newlyweds, until later back home I heard that there was such service in Japan as “filling in as family members”, that professional actors could be “rented” to fill in as “family members” that didn’t want to attend the wedding, then suddenly I didn’t feel quite so good about these weddings.<\/p>\n <\/br>Honden<\/br>Under renovation, so one could just look at the picture cover.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Perimeter around Honden<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n There’s a bonsai exhibition Perimeter around the corridors around Honden. I couldn’t appreciate why people was so keen on trimming and cutting the plants to this extreme, instead of let them grow as free creatures. <\/br> Since it’s not early in the day and Meiji Jingu’s Inner Garden was closed, so we decided to leave Meiji Jingu for the moment.<\/p>\n <\/br>Giant Torii<\/p><\/div>\n This is the largest wooden torri in Japan, with a height of 12 meters and width of 9.1 meters between two columns and column diameter of 1.2 meters. The first torri was built in 1920 with 1200-year old wood from Mount Ali, Taiwan, and was damaged by lightening in 1966. The current torri was built in 1971 with 1500-year wood from Mount Dan, Taiwan in its original form and completed in 1975.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/br>Red Wine Barrels<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Sake Barrels<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n These wine barrels should be offerings from various vine yards.<\/p>\n Then i’s about sunset time, my friends and I decided to head for Tokyo tower for sunset viewing.<\/p>\n <\/br>JR Yamanote Line<\/p><\/div>\n Under Google’s advice, we first took a segment of JR Yamanote Line to reach Tokyo Tower. It’s 5pm in the afternoon and people were coming home from work, and Harajuku Station’s entrance was narrow, so for the first time in Japan we experienced “elbowing one’s way into the station”. <\/br>Entrance to Nishikubohachiman Shrine<\/p><\/div>\n That day the 250-meter observation deck of Tokyo Tower was closed for renovation, so we could only reach the 150-meter observation deck. <\/br>Koinobori under Tokyo Tower<\/br>Celebrating Boys’ Day.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>South Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>North Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Seisoku High School<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Z\u014dj\u014d-ji<\/p><\/div> <\/br>East Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Rainbow Bridge<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings in West Minato of Tokyo<\/p><\/div> <\/br>West Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Overlooking Koinobori under Tokyo Tower and Traffic<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Passers-By<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings in West Minato of Tokyo<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Sakurada Dori Street<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings in Shinbashi Neighborhood<\/br>With Sky Tree in the background.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>West Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Buildings in Shinbashi Neighborhood<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Sakurada Dori Street<\/p><\/div> <\/br>South Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Metal Structures of Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Yoshinoya Beef Bowl<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n <\/br>Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line Train Arriving<\/p><\/div>\n Yokohama Chinatown is the largest Chinatown not only in Japan but also in Asia (larger than Chinatowns in both Kobe and Nagasaki) and it is one of the largest in the world. It started out in 1859 when the sea port in Yokohama opened and Chinese were coming here in this designated area under Japanese regulations.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/br>Yokohama Chinatown Peking Hanten<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Arch in Yokohama Chinatown<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Yokohama Daisekai Shop<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Lantern<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n There were stands in Yokohama Chinatown selling Chinese fast foods (dumplings and mantou and so on), since we already ate our dinner and things here were more expensive than our school cafeteria, so we just take that as a post-dinner walk.<\/p>\n <\/br>Neon Signs<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Paifang of Chinatown<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Kanagawa Prefectural Office<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Then we headed for Yokohama Harbor for night views.<\/p>\n <\/br>Flower Decorations before Yokohama Harbor<\/br>In celebration of Yokohama getting the “national green city” title.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Railway Bridge Yokohama Harbor<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n By this rilway bridge there were remains of railways and trainsets on display.<\/p>\n <\/br>Yokohama Elephant Nose Harbor<\/br>Got this name for its shape that resembled an elephant nose.<\/span><\/p><\/div> <\/br>Yokohama Customs House<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Streets of Yokohama Harbor<\/p><\/div> <\/br>World Porters Shopping Complex<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse was two houses first constructed in 1911 as customs buildings. The buildings experienced 1923 Great Kant\u014d earthquake, World War II requisition by the Americans and so on. After that, their use decreased with the advent of containerization, and the buildings ended their role as customs houses in 1989. Now they were converted into a complex that includes a shopping mall, banquet hall, and event venues. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n There’s a small concert going on by Red Brick Warehouse when we arrived, by that didn’t interest us so we left it right away.<\/p>\n <\/br>Navios Hotel in Yokohama<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Yokohama Landmark Tower<\/p><\/div> <\/br>InterContinental Yokohama Grand<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Yokohama Harbor<\/p><\/div> <\/br>Yokohama Harbor<\/br>Coast Guard Vessel<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n It’s approaching 11pm in the night and the sea winds were chilling us out, so we decided to head back to our apartment.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/br>Namba Sennichimae Food Street<\/br>Some of the few photos taken in Osaka on that day.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n
\nThe images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.<\/br>Since this is a public post, usual components of graduation trip such as poker games, pillow fights, ghost stories won’t be part of the post.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>
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\n\u2191\u2191\u2191\tThis is not to say that I’ve got too many cell phones.\t\u2191\u2191\u2191<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Shinjuku Dori Street<\/br>There were so many people here that the street was turned into a pedestrian street.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>
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\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Shinjuku Dori Street<\/br>There were so many people here that the street was turned into a pedestrian street.<\/span><\/p><\/div>
\n<\/a>Meiji Jingu<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nMeiji Jingu was located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and was the largest city forested area in Tokyo except Imperial Palace.
\nIt is a shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji(1852-1912) and his consort, Empress Shoken(1849-1914).
\nDuring the Meiji Period, Japan modernized and westernized herself to join the world’s major powers.
\nThe building of the shrine was a national project, mobilizing youth groups and other civic associations from throughout Japan, who contributed labor and funding. Until 1946, the Meiji Shrine was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha (\u5b98\u5e63\u5927\u793e), meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a>
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\nSo I took it as a flower pot exhibition.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/br>Bonsai Exhibition in Meiji Jingu<\/p><\/div>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Minami Gate<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>
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\nAlthough the trainsets weren’t crowded, so we didn’t need conductor’s assistance in getting onboard.<\/p>\n<\/a>Tokyo Tower<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nAnd the 150-meter observation deck actually had two floors.
\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Tokyo Tower<\/p><\/div>
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\nAfter spending more than an hour on Tokyo Tower and having witnessed the whole sunset glow, it’s time for us to head down. But at the sight of winding lines before the elevators, we decided to walk down the stairs instead.
\nThe fact was that walking down 150 meters was pretty fulfilling.
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\nThen it’s dinner time. My friends had decided to head for Yokohama for night views. In order for us not to get home too late, they decided on Yoshinoya for dinner again.
\n<\/a><\/a>Yokohama Chinatown<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Lantern<\/p><\/div>
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\n<\/a>Yokohama Harbor<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Ferris Wheel at Yokohama Cosmoworld<\/p><\/div>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/br>Ferris Wheel and Roller Coaster at Yokohama Cosmoworld<\/p><\/div>
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