Akiba/LakeTown/Ueno.

This last post will just be a round-up of the smaller trips we made whilst Dan was here.

The day after Dan got here we went to Akihabara and experienced... it. We nommed on some treats from Vie de France, played in the arcades and had a general wander around. We also went to Mr. Donut and had bright green melon soda. Another day we went back and we went to Book Off, a discount book shop near the station. It was in the evening, and the floors with manga on just had people standing shoulder to shoulder openly reading them across all the shelves, all ages and genders. Would have been a good photo opportunity if I didn't feel so self-conscious about taking photos like that ^_^

Another day we headed to Laketown, which is a giant shopping complex not far from here in Koshigaya. There's a display duck outside which we took photos with and a pet shop which had baby kittehs and puppies and I had to practically be physically dragged away lest I spent all day in there oohing. Laketown is absolutely massive and a little confusing, so we just perused the shops, tried to find interesting flavoured Kit-kats and bought a Daruma drop toy from a slightly odd shop that sold sweets and toys. We had lunch at Saizeriya, where I couldn't get over how cheap and not bad the wine was and I had an arrabiata that wasn't very spicy but still nice all the same.

Finally, the day before Dan left we went to Ueno and to the park. We watched some baseball that was going on whilst eating some snacks from Daiso. Then we had a walk around the lake and decided to get a pedal boat, which was fun :3 We then found an amazing pizza place in the middle of a department shop which was also cheap and quite a find considering.

On Sunday morning we got up super early to take Dan to the airport :( It wasn't as hard as in Spain as I know I will be back soon and that is exciting :3 I am having a great time here and it will be hard to leave, but I am also anxious to get back and see friends and family and live in Cardiff and be with Dan. I think that's a normal balance ^_~

Mum and Paul visit Part One.

From the 24th of May to the 28th of May Mum and Paul came to visit. It was a short visit but we managed to pack a lot in so I'm splitting it up into two parts :3

On the 24th, a Thursday, I went to pick them up early in the morning. This was my first time getting the train to the airport, and it was surprisingly easy and cheap (about 1300 yen total) compared to the coach we took when we first got here. Admittedly we were horrendously jet lagged then so navigating the Tokyo train network for the first time probably wouldn't have gone well. Aside from a slight getting-on-the-wrong-train mishap I managed to get to the airport fine, and after a short wait at the gate they were here!

After we had got back to my apartment I had to leave them for a nap and cycle back to the university to do an test. The nap was appreciated though, so it wasn't like I was abandoning them... After I had cycled back home a few hours later we got on the train to the next stop where their hotel was.

After checking in we were all pretty tired so we just had a wander around the surrounding area, got some noms and then head to bed.

The next day we headed to Asakusa to see the usual sights. We stopped in a café after wandering around and then hopped back on the train to head to Ueno. We decided to go to the zoo there. It's relatively cheap to get into and they have a pair of pandas loaned from China. I'm not a massive fan of zoos but it was a good opportunity to see some animals I might not have the opportunity to see otherwise (i.e. the pandas :3) 

The pandas were an interesting experience, and we also saw some lions, gorillas and the cutest monkeys with the fluffiest tails. Possibly the cutest thing was actually a baby prairie dog. It was soo tiny. We actually only ended up seeing about half the zoo, as it was close to closing time, they charged for the monorail between the two parts (??) and we were already incredibly tired from walking about. 

We had lunch before that in Saizeriya, an italian-themed 'family restaurant'. They essentially have a buzzer you can press when you want the waitress' attention, or to make your order, and they bring you the bill when they bring your food (well, that is true of most restaurants here, not just family ones). Why that hasn't caught on elsewhere, I don't know. It's amazing.

more in part 2 :3