Another shinkansen ride took us back to Tokyo. Even though the shinkansen travels at 300km/h, the trip took a good couple of hours... I guess we did travel over 680km in that time though... insane really. I gotta say that traveling on the shinkansen is a great way to get around Japan quickly and comfortably. The trains are quite long and there are always plenty of seats, especially if you book some seats the day before. Since we both had J-Passes, we didn't need to book seats but we did anyway, just to be safe. Anyway, if I ever go back to Japan and plan to travel lots while there, I'd definitely buy another J-Pass.

Back in Tokyo, we had made reservations at Kimi Ryokan in Ikebukuro. Unfortunately we hadn't planned our arrival in Tokyo particularly well, arriving at one of Tokyo's central train stations right on rush hour. Until this moment, we'd heard plenty of horror stories about how packed the trains / subway can get in Japan but we hadn't really experienced any issues travelling by these means. Oh boy, we soon found out however that those stories aren't lies, and that the trains really do get packed out. Chris and I boarded the subway train that would take us to Ikebukuro and ended up wedged to the point of finding it hard to breathe! Because the train was so full, we had no choice but to stay put near the doors. Every time the train stopped at a station more people would squeeze in, holding onto the roof of the train until the doors closed and they could relax and slam their faces up against the doors. Carrying 20kgs of stuff on my back did not help the matter, nor did the fact that I was wearing all my winter gear - thermals under my jeans and top, thick socks, knee-high boots, turtle neck, sweater, jacket, scarf, gloves, you name it, I had it on. And because there were a million other people wedged into the same train as us, it was also about 100 degrees in there. OMG I thought I was going to pass out from the heat! Oh, and not to mention the fact that I was basically no longer touching the floor since people were leaning sideways and my giant backpack was getting in the way and making me lean at unreasonable angles. I couldn't see Chris anymore, well, I couldn't turn my neck to see him although he was directly behind me. Meh. I'm not in a hurry to ride Tokyo trains at rush hour again, that's for sure!

Having said all that, we managed to find our accommodation really easily and it was very nice. The only downside was that they didn't have any Internet on their premises. I was so so SO glad to take the lead weights off my back and put my feet up. We had tatami mats as our beds again, we were getting quite used to this hard type of mattress. Before we got too comfortable however, we dashed out for a quick bite to eat and ended up finding some of our favourite new drink, umeshu, at a 7-11 in perfectly sized cans! So we grabbed a couple of cans and some dessert which we promptly shoveled into our mouths in the warmth and comfort of our hostel's common room. Yum.

The next day we spent all day just wandering around Tokyo. We needed a small carry-on suitcase for all the extra stuff we'd bought while in Japan and Chris wanted to look for some accessories for his new Nikon so we spent a good couple of hours looking through Yodobashi in Ikebukuro, where they had some of everything. While there, Chris was lucky enough to find a shop attendant who was 1) particularly good at English and 2) really keen to help him find stuff for his camera. This guy was so helpful that he even got Chris a free English version of the manual for his camera. Apparently Chris should have kept his Japanese version and would've been able to exchange it for an English version but since he didn't know this, he'd thrown it away ages ago. The guy said that he could probably go and buy one from somewhere but then said that he felt like being nice so he rushed off and came back with one telling Chris he could have it for free. How nice! He wasn't so nice about my new Japanese sweatshirt that had a picture of a cute bunny rabbit and some Japanese characters on it however! As soon as I showed up by Chris' side, this guy stopped talking, looked at my sweatshirt and laughed. I asked why he was laughing to which he replied "umm... your sweatshirt says 'I'm going to kill you'" on it. SHAME! I'd been walking around Japan for 3 weeks with a sweatshirt that says "I'm going to kill you" on it? No WONDER I was getting funny looks from people! :|

Anyway, after all that, I dragged Chris back to Harajuku as there were a couple of shops there that I still wanted to look in. Shoe shops. :) That night we met up with Kaoru and Miki and had a great dinner in Shinjuku. Kaoru and I flatted together in Wellington for 2 years while both attending Victoria University. We hadn't seen each other for about 6 years so it was really really cool to catch up. We ate lots, talked lots and laughed lots. Thanks for taking us out that night Kaoru and Miki, it was sooooo cool to see you both!!!



Chris and I had planned to go to Disneyland the next day but found ourselves still fast asleep at 11am. Doh. Not much point in going at that point we thought so we made up some lame excuse about it being a Sunday and obviously Disneyland would be too packed anyway so we should wait until the following day to go. Sweet. Seemed to work coz we got up and mooched around the city again, finding more shops and things to buy.

Later that evening, we met up another old friend of mine... but this time someone who I hadn't seen in more than 10 years. Miki and I had gone to school together in Mexico and hadn't really stayed in touch until Facebook helped re-ignite our friendship. We agreed to meet up in Shibuya, at that crazy busy intersection that is so often videoed. I was worried I wouldn't recognize Miki after so many years but we found her without any problems. We went to a cafe and had some dessert and a drink and chatted about the old times. It was so nice catching up with you Miki - I hope we can meet up soon sometime!



The following day, Chris and I forced ourselves out of bed and went to Tokyo Disneyland!!! HOW COOL IS THAT? It was surprisingly easy to get there, well, I shouldn't say surprisingly - the public transport system in Japan is all it's cracked up to be, it's awesome. Chris was like a little kid in a candy shop, with an flashy expensive camera permanently stuck in front of his face. Although I've been to Euro Disney in Paris, Disneyland in LA and Disney World in Orlando, this was Chris' first time to any Disneyland and he was over the moon. It was a particularly beautiful day in Tokyo, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining hard even if it was still a bit cold. The waiting lines for the rides were quite long but not overly so. There were so many Japanese girls wearing Mickey Mouse ears and other cool outfits - sometimes it felt like they were there in a fashion parade rather than just there having fun!



The first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, so cool!! Then we went on to the Haunted Mansion, followed by Space Mountain. We had churros (yum!!!) and later had some lunch in the "Western" area. While we had lunch we sat and watched canoes full of teenagers go past. Chris had his camera out and as soon as they saw him they would start waving, do the "peace" sign with their fingers and yell out random things in English like "I love you!". Chris took lots of cool photos and we just sat there contemplating how cool it was that we were in Tokyo Disneyland.





At this point we were killing time before going on Splash Mountain (we had "booked" a time slot in which to go on the ride without waiting in line) so we decided to go on the Spinning Cups ride. I normally get quite dizzy on rides like that, but seeing all those young kids on there having so much fun made me think... harden up Annie, it can't be that bad. Yeah right. Lesson learnt - if you normally get dizzy and feel sick on rides like that, don't try to harden up. Just don't go on the ride. I felt fine for about the first 1.2 seconds of the ride. The last 5 minutes were AWFUL. I tried closing my eyes, that made it worse. I tried looking down, that didn't make it any better either. Chris was laughing and spinning, as was everyone else around us - not that I could actually see anyone - but all I could think about was not puking. I was sooooooooooooooooo glad when that ride ended and I hadn't thrown up. Chris could tell I wasn't feeling particularly well so we sat down. Apart from my head still feeling like it was going round and round, all my surroundings were getting to me. The smells, the noises, I just wanted it all to stop. After trying to settle my head for a while, we went for a bit of a walk but I just wasn't feeling much better. Unfortunately at this point I really didn't think I could muster the courage to go on Splash Mountain so after apologizing profusely to Chris, we called it a day and headed back to Tokyo. Lame. I got sick at Disneyland, on the spinning cups ride! SHAME!



That same night we packed up and moved to a hotel closer to Narita as we were flying out really early the next day. We stayed at the Hotel Sky Court Narita which felt a bit run down but was excellent value for money. They even had a complimentary shuttle service between the hotel and Narita which we took advantage of. They had a wee restaurant in the hotel which we had some dinner in - one last Katsu Curry with a shot of sake.

Ahh Japan, we love you!