Sakura of DOOM

Yesterday was incredibly confusing because of culture shock from Seoul, strangely enough. I'd anticipated speaking Korean instead of Japanese, but it's really hard to break the habit. I keep saying "ne" and "aniyo" and "kamsahamnida," and I can't quite get back into the habit of thinking in Japanese after not having done so for years (I've read manga in Japanese after undergrad, but not spoken the language). Thank goodness my listening is still all right. Also, Seoul Metro had conducted a "keep to the right" campaign with stickers on all the stairs and escalators and hallways in the subway. I'm already terrible at switching over to the other side (I kept trying to get on the wrong escalator when I was in Hong Kong), and that probably made it so much worse.

That said, today was much more fun, probably because there wasn't anywhere we had to be or anything we had to do! We headed over to Shinjuku to see the Bunka Costume Museum, which is sadly closed during my entire visit here, I think for Obon. I also found out that the Takarazuka performances while I am here are completely sold out, though I'm going to try lining up the day of to see if I have a chance then. Then I dragged my sister to yet another Book Off, where I sadly didn't fill any holes in the gaps I had from yesterday, but I did find Saiyuki Gaiden 4! After that, we were going to head to Harajuku but got somewhat distracted by Takashimaya Times Square (HUGE!). We originally were going to go to Uniqlo, but after I saw the sign for yukata on sale, we headed over there instead. And! Upon entering the eleventh floor, I was met with yards and yards and yards of cloth on sale! It makes me want to sew. But even better, there were shelves and shelves and shelves of YARN!!! I went and ogled all of it, most of which were Japanese brands I've never seen. It was seriously the size of a medium yarn store right up there in the department store! They had hemp and rougher material for crocheting and knitting hats too. They also had trims and beads and all sorts of awesome arts and crafts stuff.

They also sold school uniforms on that floor, probably for very exclusive and expensive private schools? My sister and I wondered why Japanese school uniforms seem to look so much better than ours (a painfully bright shade of pink). And so many yukata and gorgeous kimono! Oh! They also have a Din Tai Feng there, which is much more expensive than the one in Taiwan. I thought the line was only a few people and figured that was good enough and indicated a fair amount of popularity, and then I turned the corner to find people lining down the entire other wall. And! They have green tea donuts at the Krispy Kreme here with green tea cream inside and green tea icing on the top! They are very good; not too sweet and tasting very strongly of green tea. Sadly, we have not yet encountered a Mr. Donut.

( Harajuku and Omotesando )

In conclusion: I'm actually still not in love with Tokyo, but I suspect if I ever lived here for only a month or so instead of just visiting and doing the whirlwind tour, I would fall pretty quickly.