Lazy Eggs

August 11, 2015

This morning was a super late start. Because of the early morning partying just the night before, all of us just wanted to sleep in the whole day. But today would be our last day in Tokyo and we had to check out of the hotel. Luckily for us, the hotel actually had a late check out fee. I know strange that I said lucky, but usually most hotels don't even let you stay late past thirty minutes or so! But with a fee of 1,000 per extra hour, we figured that getting those extra four hours would be well worth it when the cost is split six ways. So we didn't get up and functioning until 3 pm! Tonight we would be taking the night bus back to Kansai so we went to Shinjuku Station to put our things in a locker. After that, the boys decided to check out one thing and the girls another. I asked my sisters if they wanted to see traditional Japanese things but I think they were more interested in shopping. So we headed to Shibuya to check out what we didn't get to yesterday.

Shibuya is commonly known for the Shibuya Crossing. When looking at it the first time, I didn't feel so impressed but it is actually the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world. I took the girls up to the neighboring Starbucks to take a look and take some photos. Afterwards we walked around to some shops in Shibuya but figured the area really wasn't for us. I had always heard of cat cafes but never had gone to one. Christina recently got a pet cat so she is currently all about them. I quickly Googled cat cafes near by and found one near Ebisu Station. We figured with a late start and no real plan, why not go check out this cafe. I was afraid that it would be packed with many visitors but it actually was empty! There was one person leaving as we were coming in.

So I had never gone to one of these before so was unsure of the process. The woman at the cafe was really nice though. Each of us paid for an hour with the cats and a drink. Once we went in, we saw the place was really well kept and there were so many cats! There were maybe about 15 cats that we counted. Most of them were asleep. It was fun getting to hang out in this space for the hour and pet cats and feed them snacks while taking pictures. I don't have a cat now but I would like to get one some day!

After the cat cafe, my sisters and I decided to go back to Odaiba for actual shopping. Last night we just went to see the Gundam and didn't have time to actually shop around. The mall was like any mall you would imagine, filled with shops and things to buy. My sisters bought a handful of things but I only found one or two pieces to my liking. What I really did see that I loved was this Gudetama pillow. Gudetama has become one of my favorite characters in Japan. His name is a combination of "gude gude" and "tamago" which pretty much translates to "lazy egg." Yes that's right, this character is an egg, and not an egg in the shell, an egg out of the shell that lays around on anything. I saw him on the store shelf but was reluctant to buy him because of cost. If you couldn't guess, these last few weeks have drained my bank account. But my sneaky sisters actually ended up buying him for me as a surprise!! I was actually really shocked when the girls pulled him out of their shopping bag. I'm really thankful to have such sweet sisters. Before leaving this mall, we got dinner in the food court. It was no fuss and we were just hungry.

On the way back to Shinjuku, we stopped by some sweets shops. I'm not sure what it is, but with my sisters here we have all been indulging in any sweets we want. It is so bad! I feel like I'm going to turn into a sugar cube! The place we went to get dessert had a yummy shaved ice bowl with macha flavor and red bean. Our eyes were so big we got TWO desserts! They were so yummy but so filling!

When the time came around, we met up back with the boys at the bus terminal. To my surprise they were actually hanging out with Toshi and Jack.

Every time I've come to Tokyo it has been a different experience. I'm really happy and lucky I got to share this place with my family and hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. Thank you Tokyo for the hospitality and good times!!


xx
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