Things are Heating Up
As the end of the quarter draws near my workload is finally starting to pick up. Lately, I've been working on essays or assignments everyday.
Saturday, I took a break and Stephanie and I went to Sunshine City, a 5 story, mostly underground mall in Ikebukero. It is famous because it is one of the biggest malls in Tokyo. Despite it's reputation it was actually smaller than the mall that I occasionally visit at home.
While there, I was looking for photo-worthy things that I could shoot for my mom. The mall was already decorated for Christmas and in the main square there was a three story blue and white flashing Christmas tree. As I moved close to get a good angle, I found that there was a small stage at the front with three guys in full samurai armor and a lady announcing something in Japanese on it. Since they were obviously worth the film I decided to snap them too. The lady on stage noticed my camera and she brought Steph and I on stage to get our pics taken. It was great.
In one of the stores they were selling air fresheners, similar to the pine tree ones at home except instead of a tree they were shaped like a marijuana leaf and were advertised as "hemp" odor. Why would someone want their car to smell like pot? Especially in a country where you do hard time in prison for so much as looking at a joint. Anyways, I thought it rather interesting.
After we finished walking the mall, we stopped at the busiest Starbucks in the world. It is located at "the crossing" in Shibuya. I almost choked when I had to pay more than $4 for a plain cup of hot chocolate. We got our drinks quickly but we ended up having to wait for more than half an hour to sit down. They were playing Christmas music in the store, reminding us that it's almost time for us to head back for the holidays. It also reminded us that we would be missing all of our Thanksgiving traditions. We sat and comiserated for almost an hour. With the rain outside and the Christmas music playing, while sitting and drinking Starbucks, it was almost like Seattle just without the people that make me call it home.
Saturday, I took a break and Stephanie and I went to Sunshine City, a 5 story, mostly underground mall in Ikebukero. It is famous because it is one of the biggest malls in Tokyo. Despite it's reputation it was actually smaller than the mall that I occasionally visit at home.
While there, I was looking for photo-worthy things that I could shoot for my mom. The mall was already decorated for Christmas and in the main square there was a three story blue and white flashing Christmas tree. As I moved close to get a good angle, I found that there was a small stage at the front with three guys in full samurai armor and a lady announcing something in Japanese on it. Since they were obviously worth the film I decided to snap them too. The lady on stage noticed my camera and she brought Steph and I on stage to get our pics taken. It was great.
In one of the stores they were selling air fresheners, similar to the pine tree ones at home except instead of a tree they were shaped like a marijuana leaf and were advertised as "hemp" odor. Why would someone want their car to smell like pot? Especially in a country where you do hard time in prison for so much as looking at a joint. Anyways, I thought it rather interesting.
After we finished walking the mall, we stopped at the busiest Starbucks in the world. It is located at "the crossing" in Shibuya. I almost choked when I had to pay more than $4 for a plain cup of hot chocolate. We got our drinks quickly but we ended up having to wait for more than half an hour to sit down. They were playing Christmas music in the store, reminding us that it's almost time for us to head back for the holidays. It also reminded us that we would be missing all of our Thanksgiving traditions. We sat and comiserated for almost an hour. With the rain outside and the Christmas music playing, while sitting and drinking Starbucks, it was almost like Seattle just without the people that make me call it home.
5 Comments:
I can't wait till you come home. All of the malls are decorated and Starbucks has brought out its new Christmas goodies... It's beginning to really look like Christmas. I miss you lots.
Wow, you suddenly posted a ton of stuff. Nice card, Emily. :) Good luck on all your finals. All the business just reminds me how close I am getting. :)
The air freshners sound funny. LOL.:)
Are you trying to make me cry?! That was a fun day though, huh? Good times, good times...
Missing Thanksgiving, the same can be said of the stores here in FL. I saw Xmas decorations on shelves TWO weeks ago. There's hardly any thanksgiving decors.
As for the pot smelling thing, I guess imitation is as close to the real thing:o)
The Samurai swordsmen sounds cool. Hope u didn't get too close to their swords.
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