Today I slept in. After heading outside immediately after the flight yesterday I really started to understand how tired I was so I ended up sleeping until 11:00. But today I had plans, so I had to get up and get out eventually. Today the plan was to meet with a bunch of friends from AGU (Aoyama Gakuin University). But before we get into the big parts of the day we gotta start from when I left the house. Today was unexpectedly cloudy and it seemed like it was going to rain later in the day in which it did, so I packed a rain jacket in the event of rain.
The neighborhood seemed like a normal cloudy suburban town from pictures I've seen online; the mood was set. I set out to Uguisudani station (I swear its closer to my home compared to Nippori station, so its kind of my go-to now) to catch the Yamanote line towards Shibuya, thats where today's action was going to happen at. The main plan was to meet my friend Mayuka at 15:00 around Meiji-Jingu, but since I had a couple hours before meeting her, I got off at Shibuya station to go explore. Shibuya was just as amazing as I thought it would be. Getting off at the station I was put straight into the action as the famous Shibuya Scramble crossing was right in front of my eyes. I really like the view from the intersection, with the Shibuya 109 sign at the top middle, its a really good feeling!
After wandering around the general area, I knew I wanted to visit a couple stores I knew off the top of my head. First I went to Tower Records. The amount of CDs they had for sale was insane, they pretty much had every genre you could want! I didn't buy anything on this trip to Tower Records but just being there satisfied me this time. I really want to buy a lot of music related merchandise but I'll hold off until a better time. Speaking of music, I can't wait to go to some of the music events here in Shibuya. Over the past two years, I've found and listened to a lot of electronic music on SoundCloud and BandCamp put out by various artists on Maltine Records, Trekkie Trax, etc. Since a lot of events are hosted in Shibuya I'm very excited for some of the upcoming events so I can finally jam to the music in person! After Tower Records, I went searching for the Shibuya Bape store. I knew it was right next to a music venue called WWW (they hosted a really big event during the fall called Daitokai to Sakyuu (大都会と砂丘) that I wish I could have gone too!) and eventually I found it!
The Shibuya Bape store was very nice! However it was pretty obvious once you walk inside that most of the hyped or classic pieces are gone because people queue up all the time on release days to get them.
After browsing a bit and gauging my interest in a few items, I knew I'd be back eventually to buy something but I got a lot of time to think through what I actually want to buy (I still hold buying another car as a high priority and we haven't even started to car stuff yet lol). It started to near 15:00 so I made my way out to Meiji-Jingu station to meet Mayuka. I ended up walking because it wasn't that far from central Shibuya and I had enough time to walk it out and observe more of the area. Once I got to the Meiji-Jingu intersection I waited a bit and eventually found Mayuka! A little background on how we know each other, we met through a Dual-Language Immersion program at WSU (Washington State University) that lasted three weeks during the beginning weeks of the fall semester (this was fall semester 2015). A group of about 20 AGU came and we had a great time exchanging culture and learning each other's language so we all became very friendly with each other. It was quite astonishing seeing Mayuka because its been over a year since I've seen her. She planned a bit of touring around the Meiji-Jingu/Harajuku area for me and we set out immediately after linking up.
First, since we were close enough, we went to check out Meiji-Jingu shrine. This was my first time seeing an actual Japanese shrine in Japan so I was very excited. I know its going to be packed since new years is almost here and Mayuka said that we were going to see it so I will be waiting until then to experience more traditional Japanese culture of visiting shrines and things of that nature.
All of Japan's sake brands behind me
The shrine area and the path leading up to it smelled really good, as it smelled of the trees and a general scent of nature (the trees were really fragrant!). We gave a quick prayer at the shrine and after that we went to Harajuku to check out some of the main sneaker shops (we both like sneakers so she knew where to bring me). We went to a multitude of shops in the Harajuku including Kicks Lab, Nike Store, Reebok Classics Store to name a few.
Kicks Lab (Nike/Jordan)
I didn't wear either of my pump furys since it seemed ike it was gonna rain a lot. The Adidas x Raf Simons Response Trail II is always a better choice for rougher weather (I swear I got a lot of looks of awe because its such a rare and obscure sneaker).
Tina Tamashiro's signature at the Reebok Classics store
As expected I didn't buy anything yet and I didn't have any immediate plans to buy anything now but I know I will be making multiple trips to Harajuku again to double check every store for things that I'm interested. I just gotta absorb the feeling first and then I will be comfortable with buying something.
Afterwards we headed out towards AGU Aoyama campus to meet other people that were in the Dual-Language Immersion program at WSU. As I remember from looking at the map of the area a long time ago, Harajuku/Omotesando was in close proximity to the AGU Aoyama campus so it was a short walk.
Once there, we immediately went into the cafeteria since it seemed like it was where most students were just chilling.
Again, its been over a year since I've seen everyone in the program, it was kind of unbelievable but as time moved forward I reunited with more and more friends. First I met Ikeshiro Mao!
Then it was Enami Hiroya (left) and then Motohashi Misaki (right)! A wave of nostalgia hit me as I saw their faces, a lot of memories from 2015 suddenly came up and really brought out good vibes. I eventually met with others because we were going to an Izakaya later as a welcome party for me. Other people I met at the same time included Sakai Minami, Imakado Takashi, Fujiwara Keisuke, Yamada Yoshino and Ozono Naoya. It was so insane to be with so many people I haven't seen in over a year.
The Izakaya was in central Shibuya so it was easy to get to once again. All the food was delicious, I guess you could say this is my first real Izakaya experience. Over a lot of food we chatted about what we've all been up to and just generally catching up with each other. I really can't describe this event other than being a really good reunion party with people I haven't seen in a long time. It really brings me back to reality compared to the night before where I was going nuts in Akihabara.
After the party, we took some group photos and we went our seperate ways for the night. Although it ended up raining a lot at night, meeting everyone was a very satisfying way to spend technically a first day in a new country and I was more calm today than the day before. Feeling reassured about everything, from here on out I feel so much more confident about doing anything and I know theres so much more to do. I can only imagine more insane things to come so we shall see what fate has in store for me.
I think music is an important way to make memories with yourself so I'm always on the hunt for new music.
Get a taste of Trekkie Trax and what I listen to in (and before) Japan:
https://soundcloud.com/nesthq/nest-hq-guest-mix-trekkie-trax