Cara and Laura's Visit in a Nutshell

It's been a long time coming (there's no excuse for my procrastination, just a load of Karaoke visits that have been consuming my time).
So here are the long-awaited best photos of the duration my friends stayed...

Sunday June 27th

We gave a culture class for the local Girl Scouts group including myself giving an amazing Japanese (if I do say so myself) speech, making Welsh love spoons, and Earl Gray tea and homemade scones.

Monday June 28th

We headed to Asakusa (the one with the giant red lantern) and I played Ms Tour Guide for the day ^^ We drew our fortune and made a wish at the Shrine. Asakusa was followed by a trip to an observation deck overseeing the city, and some chopsticks practice at a Japanese-style bar.

Tuesday June 29th

In Ikebukuro, my favourite hang-out spot, we made some feline friends in the Cat Cafe, where one can get up close and personal with ten cats, before having a snack at the Maid Cafe. This Maid Cafe was much more 'pop musicy' compared with the last one I visited a few months ago, and we were treated to a slightly bored-looking Maid doing some cute dance rountine..

 

Friday July 2nd

We headed to a World Heritage site- Nikko, North-West of Tokyo. It is home to a fantastic five-storied Pagoda, a Golden Temple and the origins of the "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", which turned out to be a very small carving of the Three Wise Monkeys (reenacted by us truly). Followed by the heaviest downpour I've experienced (ruddy rainy season..)

Saturday July 3rd

We had dinner with some teachers and coworkers at a Chinese restaurant, where Lara and Cara unwittingly ate pig's ears followed by their first Karaoke!

Sunday July 4th

Disneyland!!!! I can't begin to describe how hot it was. My highlights were meeting Robin Hood, beating the unbeatable Jen at the Space Blasters shooting game, and laughing at the ridiculous amount of Japanese people queuing for hours for the new Michael Jackson ride in the heat.

Monday July 5th

We headed to Shibuya and ate Shabu Shabu- this is a cook-it-yourself style meal (popular in Japan, as it's fun to cook your own food at a restaurant apparently) where you dip the meat in boiling water. Pretty healthy ^^

This was followed by Puri-Kura (derived from the English "Print Club") where ridiculously fast passport-styled photos are taken, followed by much more slow-paced editing of the photo adding cute graffiti and bows. Many Japanese women long for Western-styled eyes (there is an increasing trend of eyelid surgery, yes you read that right), and the machines' software creepily edits facial features and whitens the skin (not that I need any help).

Wednesday July 7th

Day 1: Kyoto is a city far West of Tokyo, and is far more traditional in comparison. We got hugely lucky and saw two Geisha in a rickshaw within a couple of hours! We took a train to Arashiyama where we visited a Japanese Zen Garden, the Bamboo Trail, and Monkey Mountain (quite a muddy climb!).

At the Japanese Inn (a ryokan) dressing up in yukatas (summer kimono)

Thursday July 8th

Day 2 in Kyoto: We checked out Gion, Geisha Town, had some green tea, got bitten loads by mosquitos in Fushimi Inari and finally I tried on and bought a Yukata (summer kimono)!!

The place where they filmed scenes from 'Memoirs of a Geisha'

A maze of thousands upon thousands of Torii Gates at Fushimi Inari

What's next?

On Saturday 7th I'm attending the Hikarigaoka Summer Festival, on Sunday 8th I'm climbing a small mountain, Mt Takao, to prepare for Fuji, I'm off to Korea (excitement!!) on Aug 10th, where I'll be visiting the North Korean border..to be followed by the conquering of Mt Fuji August 22nd-23rd..