This weekend was a busy one, and although I'm exhausted, I hope the coming weekends follow suit! On Friday night, my friends Neeka and Hannah took me to a different Yakiniku restaurant, and I definitely prefer this one. As you can see, I couldn't even take a picture until after I'd already finished eating!
After dinner, we met up with the rest of our friends for karaoke and we had a blast singing Justin Bieber, One Direction, Taylor Swift and more throughout the night.
On Saturday night, Matthew, Kaiden, Ian and I headed to Shinjuku for "Ramen Jiro," a ramen shop which always has a line out the door, precisely why we wanted to try it. To our surprise, the bowls were piled HIGH with bean sprouts. I enjoy them and they evened out the salty broth, but I could have used a little less for sure. However, the noodles were obviously scratch-made, and tasted unlike any ramen we had had yet. The broth was extremely rich, and we thought we might explode when we were finished. To finish off the night and burn off the meal, we strolled around Shinjuku and then Kabukicho, a busy nightlife neighborhood and unofficial red light district.
On Sunday, we rendezvoused with Temple University's hiking club to visit Meiji Jingu, Tokyo's most popular Shinto shrine. The walk consists of passing three massive Torii gates before reaching the main temple complex. The expansive park area was refreshing after spending so much time in the dense city, and I especially enjoyed the towering, winding trees.
Meiji Jingu is located next to another popular district, Harajuku. We ate some especially crispy Tonkotsu on this busy entertainment street.
On Sunday night, there was a Chinese New Year festival in Yokohama's Chinatown. We were able to make it, and it took place behind this incredibly detailed gate. Drummers held a rhythm while dragon dancers performed acrobatic jumps, winking and chomping their faces all the while. They also traveled through the tight crowd, occasionally biting an unsuspecting viewer.
Finally, we walked to the Gundam Factory, where a giant robot is on display and walks out of its structure dramatically on occasion. We didn't have tickets, but were still able to see from outside the complex. 180 degrees from the view of the robot was an excellent view of the Yokohama skyline, across a pleasantly reflective bay with several ships. Back in Chinatown, all the girls were buying Chinese hair pins, and I could not be left out. Here is Neeka and I posing with our pins. Kawaii!!