Traveling Tourist

Today we traveled all over. My bravery came in crossing the famous busy crosswalk in Shibuya. Before today, Tokyo feels busy, but not Tokyo-worthy busy. This is the first time I feel like I am in the fastest, busiest, most crowded place in Japan. It was overwhelming to see the crowd of people at each of the corners waiting to cross. Traffic flows regularly, then it is totally stopped and all crosswalks cross at the same time. People go diagonally across the largest part of intersection. There is no order and everyone is for themselves to stick together and get across before the light changes. It was so amazing to feel the energy and crowd! The billboards and lights reminded me of New York, but at 10:30pm it felt busier than I remember NY being.

We’ve been traveling all over. We went to Kamakura Daibutsu and Jinja, Tsukigi, and Ginza, just today. However it has been taking a toll on my wallet. The train fares for today totaled over $25! I did not budget for so much money to go toward travel alone…

I feel like I have been playing tourist since I got here…and I have. We have been in a hotel thus far and our days are filled with sightseeing and shopping. Harajuku yesterday was a perfect example. We walked around for hours there. The shops are almost entirely women’s botiques. A lot of them are really girly and almost all sell inexpensive and cute clothes of all sorts. Although some stores are cramped and others have poor quality items, I was able to find a variety of shops that I loved!

I still can’t believe I’ll be here for 4-5 months. It feels like I am just visiting. I am finally moving out of the hotel and into my dorm tomorrow. Curtis goes home tomorrow and Val back to Sendai. Travis and I are finally gonna get outta the hotel and move into our places! I need to start budgeting so I don’t spend more than I need to. I have to make sure I work it out so I don’t run out of money next month! Tokyo it turns out is a lot more expensive I was even expecting.

Only today do I realize how much we have been doing each day. We wake up early, run around all day, end up going out at night and get to sleep late. I feel like when you travel you learn about yourself. So far I have found out, I like down time, some alone time, and botiques more than shopping centers and department stores. Also I now know I would rather spend money on souviners, clothes, and gifts than food. I would miss meals any day if it meant I could bring something home. I surprise myself on how cheap I am when it comes to food. Lucky for me I can get decent meals at any 7-11 for cheap!