Holiday in Tokyo

Hello to you, 🙂

I hope your day is or was great and you are still enjoying it or enjoyed it – all of it depending on where you are when you read this 🙂. I enjoyed the Christmas time. I love the lights and the scent of cookies in the air. Did you decorate your journal for this special time? This time of the year is really special for me for remembering the past.

I was quite impressed that in Tokyo so many places were decorated so soon (it was mid-November). Here in Germany, Christmas decorations are not put up so early. Still, the lights there were so beautiful.

We went to Meiji shrine and I got a stamp in my stamping book, called „goshuin“. In Yogogi Park it was quite peaceful but at the shrine were a lot of people. The shrine is popular for ceremonies like weddings. At that day, we saw three wedding couples with their families. They looked so beautiful in their traditional Japanese wedding clothes.

There was an exhibition with flowers and bonsais, too. It was so beautiful. (I love plants. It was so lovely for me to see the exhibition.)

• 

• 

We walked through Yoyogi Park towards Harajuku. I watched so many videos about Harajuku and especially about Takeshita Street. This street should be great for shopping and having really good food. Unfortunately, the street was so overcrowded that we just moved in the crowd. People with claustrophobia wouldn’t and shouldn’t go there, I think. It was too much for me and I don’t mind walking in a crowd. We bought a little plastic egg timer for cooking eggs. With the help of that, my hubby can eat his hard boiled egg and mine won’t be a hard boiled one. 😂

For dinner we had Udon in Shinjuku. There is a shop near our hotel and we went there last year too. So we decided to eat there again because it was so delicious. 🤤 And it was incredibly delicious again.

• 

• 

The next day we went to Ofuna by train. We wanted to take a ride with the monorail down to Enoshima. It was quite fun. From Enoshima station, we walked down to the beach.

• 

• 

From Enoshima monorail station you can see Mt. Fuji very clearly on a good day and we had such a good day💓

The beach was quite empty and I walked along the ocean for an hour or so. I even had my feet in the water which was so relaxing. I was really happy because during our trip in May 2018 we didn’t have time for such a moment. The weather was unbelievably good. It was 23 degrees and we had sunshine.

From Enoshima we took the Enoden to Hase. It was a lovely ride and it took just 20 minutes or so. We went all the way up to the big Buddha statue of Kamakura.

Then we walked back to Hase-dera temple. We went there because I wanted another stamp in my goshuin book and we were looking for a statue which has three little figures (a so-called Jizo).

After that we went on the Enoden to Kamakura for the Studio Ghibli shop.

• 

• 

I can highly recommend to buy a JR train ticket with a seat reservation (Green Class) because you can enjoy the ride back with a seat instead of the risk of standing for an hour and a bit 😉

The next day started quite relaxed. We decided to go to Omote Sando where the Hobonichi store is. It is a lovely walk from the station to the shop. Unfortunately, I didn’t check the opening times. The shop was closed. 🙈 So we went to Loft in Ginza where I shopped my Hobonichi. 🥳

We walked through the streets of Ginza and took the Metro to Shibuya. We went to Wrapple because I couldn’t visit the shop last time. Unfortunately, Wrapple closed end of December 2019. I am really sorry for that because I was overwhelmed there. There was so much, yes much not many 😆, washi tapes rolls. For me it was washi tape heaven. The shop had every wall decorated with washi tapes.

After that we walked through Shibuya and enjoyed the sunshine with a cup of coffee.

Our last day in Tokyo and we realized how fast time can fly. My husband made it possible for me that I could try some Fugu (blowfish 🐡).

It was a great opportunity to try it but to be honest, it was a one time meal for me. It tastes good, but it wasn’t my taste.

We also walked through Shinjuku Gyoemmae. The weather was windy and it became more and more cloudy.

I love Japanese parks. The compositions of trees, plants, water and rocks are amazing. For me, it is one of the most perfect and beautiful places to relax and recover new energy.

• 

• 

After very exciting and shopping intense days, we flew back home. At the airport we had this one moment where we both realized that Japan is more then just a summer love. Japan could be our new home, so now we work for this new home.

We will start learning Japanese, so that we can communicate. We will save money and we will look for new jobs in Japan. This dream isn’t one you can realize within a year. But we will start it. 💪

Wisdom of the day: When you have a dream, then hold it and work for it.

Love to you all,

Chrissi