Topshop and Muffins

This past Thursday, Topshop/Topman had its grand re-opening. They closed THREE days before I came to Tokyo so that kind of sucked but I guess it was (supposed to be) worth the wait.

Because the H&M opening in Ginza had two hour-ish lines the day it opened, I decided to wake up early and grab some food at Pure Cafe and then wait in line for the opening.

After only thirty minutes or so of sweating in queue next to two French girls, we were let in.

It was SUPREMELY disappointing. The clothes were uninteresting. It was basically like H&M in terms of style of clothing ( blah / nu-wave remnants ) and also in terms of shitty quality. Even if I had found something interesting, the prices were 'chotakai' (extremely expensive) as they say in Tokyo.

Ohh well. With all the money I saved on not buying anything there, I went to Shinjuku and bought some Cheap Mondays I had my eye on. The highlight of my dad was certainly my vegan choco orange muffin and coffee from my perma-favorite restaurant "Pure Cafe":

La Vie du Marie

On Friday night, after shopping Harajuku, Hannah and I went to a party two floors below ground that had the slightly pornographic film "Shortbus" playing on the screen. People were sporting such things as: Panda fannypacks, Sir Galahad / Ramones style haircuts, destroyed t-shirts, perfect blonde bobs, etc. etc. Also, the kids are still keen on "MGMT". At around 5 a.m. we staggered to the Harajuku station and went home.

I woke up around 4 p.m. and took the train to Ginza to meet up with friends for tea and macarons at this famous French pastry shop that's modeled after Marie Antoinette's private house ( Le Petit Trianon ).

Later in the evening, Hannah and I people watched in Shibuya while eating more macarons.

Macarons are probably my new favorite dessert and I'm going to try my best to veganize them.

Flavors I ate:

-- Pistachio
-- Lime
-- Coconut
-- Dark chocolate
-- Orange blossom
-- Strawberry
-- "Red fruits" (basically just tasted like raspberry)
-- Vanilla
-- Chestnut

SO good.

First here are some photos that are not mine:




And here are my photos:







I do not want to go to class tomorrowww.

Ke-Ki to Ko-Hi-

Labour Day Means You Work Here

Hi hi. Before my American comrades even woke up yesterday, I had finished all my first day classes. Weird! Now, by the time I finish my second day of classes, most will not even have woken up to begin their FIRST. No labour day in Japan. Oh wells.

I managed to get myself to school using the Tokyo subway without getting lost! If you think trying to figure out the NY subway is difficult ( it isn't too bad once you do it a few times ) or the Philly subway system ( the main lines just go up and down and then left to right... ) than do not attempt Tokyo system unless you have some getting-lost time to spare. There are TWO different systems owned by two different companies and both are massive. Swirl in that most of the signs are in Japanese, and you've got a confusion stew. By it's not too bad I suppose. Hopefully this weekend I will attempt to go to Shibuya and Harajuku. Oh and downtown Shinjuku again. Technically, we live in the ward of Shinjuku but Takadanobaba is so big, that it's almost it's own little ward.

After getting to school, I of course had my classes. It's a very long day that could get daunting as the semester continues.

10:30 - 11:30 I have "Russian Avant-Garde". It's an Art History course discussing the abstract / crazy Russian art pre-World War II, revolution, Soviet, and maybe post-Soviet. Should be good. The professor seems understanding and friendly. She's English as a Second Language with a noticeable accent and there are many ESL students in there of an Asian persuasion so I wonder if that will be difficult for them.

12:40 - 1:40 is Japan Today. It's a modern history course. The professor wrote a series of books and seems to love the topic and his non-stop talking did not bore me and made time go by quickly. Reminds me a bit of High School 'social studies' courses ( which I loved FYI ).

4:50 - 5:50 Japanese intermediate begins. After what seemed like an eternity in between classes ( two hours and twenty minutes ) I had to take an exam to see where I stand in Japanese. It was really hard... so we'll see. I really want to drop this class because: a) I took more classes than suggested b) It's a really draining class c) It's really late in the day. I shouldn't drop it because it's basically Japanese and what better time and place to learn Japanese than now. Ugh ugh.

After that, I came home and Hannah and I hunted down a curry place to eat. We also saw a bubble tea restaurant and a pudding shop. How fun!

Photos:

Part of my on-going drink experimentation, I tried this Mitsuya Cider. The liquid is clear so I wasn't sure if it was just going to be water. It turned out to be a less sweet and really delicious version of Sprite. I couldn't place the flavor until I eventually wikipedia-ed it.

Breakfast yesterday. A big spongy piece of bread with sugar on top and choco swirled all about. Also, the usual banana and coffee.

This type of brown curry is basically EVERYWHERE. It's almost always served with the curry on one side, rice on the other. Then there are bunch of toppings and stuff you can get. I got eggplant and it was so so so good.

Japanese TV shows are so weird.
Japanese olympic softball team player getting kissed by these chefs. It's some complicated show where the interviewees sit on the top of this stage and talk with the interviewer while two chefs cook down below. After the interview wraps up, the interviewees eat and decide which they like best. It's kind of fun to watch...


Wha-bam! Outta nowhere, Will Smith and Charlize Theron show up.

Oh Tokyo, Je T'aime.

Land of the Setting Sunday

Tomorrow classes begin already! Booo. That means while you kids are enjoying your Sunday, you I will be in class and you won't even have to worry about your classes til Tuesday!

Anyways, Hannah and I had a busy last day of summer.

I started my morning with a banana and a rice cake wrapped in nori. Iced coffee is EXTREMELY popular over here. Since it's also extremely cheap compared to hot coffee, I just microwave the iced. Not as delicious, but it will suffice (for now).

Cat hangin' out on my porch with me.

After breakfast, I walked around town while Hannah was getting ready. When we were about to head out for the day, we ran into the other TUJ students and they were going to a park in downtown Shinjuku so we tagged along.

Walking near Shinjuku Station (largest in the world I think?).

The park was massive and had zany trees.

And these weird things that looked like hands.

Jurassic Park bunker.

Traditional Japanese garden.


Crows are gigantic and do not care how close you get to them. I thought that one was going to eat Hanners for sure.

Snack time!!!






So many (disgusting) turtles.

These next two photos do not do justice to the sheer immensity of this park. These trees were so tall.


Lunch:
I had udon noodles and Hannah had hers with tofu.

So good (apart from standing).

Dinner:

We decided to eat at the restaurant that gave us our umbrellas the other night. They were again helpful because we didn't notice the "vending" machine in the front of the building. Basically, you put your money in this machine, pick what you want, and then you give your ticket to the people behind the counter and they make it. So fun!

Well like I said, tomorrow is my first day of classes. Boooo.

Foreign Foods: Calpis Soda and Coffee

Every now and then, I would like to highlight some food and drinks that I've eaten.

First off the bat:

This is called "Calpis Soda". There is also "Calpis Water". It tastes like a sweeter version of sprite and the liquid is milky white giving it the appearance of soap water. It was cheap so I down to experiment. I later found out it's like... vanilla yogurt flavored soda or something. Pretty good! Would get again.

ORIGINAL BLEND. It's iced coffee. In a can! For only 55 yen (like... 50ish cents basically). So delicious. Plus it's the cheapest close thing I can find to coffee and it's in every vending machine. Vending machines are basically everywhere and filled with really delicious drinks and snacks. I haven't seen any ZANY vending machines like with used panties and what not. In due well time, I'm so very sure.

Also, I accidentally drank barley tea. It's really gross and I'm very disappointed. But it was also really cheap.

ALSO: The Seven Elevens are mad classy here and I plan on buying my lunches there ( a very filling lunch is only 400 yen / $4.00 ).