Attached to my hotel, which was an APA branch located right next to the Hashimoto Station in Kanagawa, was a 24-hour conbini. Thank goodness for that. It proved to be very useful throughout the trip. Near the hotel were a couple of small (fast) food places that were conveniently placed along the route to the train station. For breakfast at one of these places, I had a chicken cutlet with an egg on top of a bed of rice. It also came with miso soup and eggplant tempura. It was all very tasty.
From there I headed straight to Shinjuku, to go to the Toho Cinema. I wanted to watch the new Godzilla movie which had released the Friday before I came. There was a ticket counter, but most of the people were using one of the many digital ticket stations. I used one too. The coloration of the seats was gray for normal and red for premium box seat. I didn’t bother even trying to read what the screen said and assumed gray meant the seat was taken. So I ended up selecting the premium box seat and didn’t notice the price (2700) until I had already put in the money. I felt so dumb! On the bright side, the seat was comfortable, there was plenty of space and there was even a small compartment to put my backpack to keep it out of the way. The theater was pretty nice overall, to be quite honest. The movie itself was pretty solid. You can see my full thoughts in my full-article on the A-To-J Connections website soon (www.a-to-jconnections.com). Essentially, it was focused on the human reaction element, more than being a monster movie, which I found more appealing than just another ‘Godzilla goes on a rampage and fights other monsters or people’ story which became repetitive and stale long ago.
I had planned on hanging out with Alita and Michael in the evening, so I figured I’d just kill time until then. After the movie I went to Akihabara, and got a Crushed Orange Frappe from the Starbucks attached to the station. I always enjoy trying region specific drinks, and this didn’t disappoint. It basically tasted like orange juice in the form of a fruity frappe. I loved it.
From there, I headed to the Official Hello! Project Shop. I ended up picking up way more than I intended, but still much less than I did my previous trip. I guess I’ve finally learned a little self-control. There was some cute stuff I actually picked up for practical use this time rather than just for the sake of collecting (like a pen and pen case). I then went to Harajuku. I intended to explore, but noticed Noa Cafe. Last time I came I really wanted to go there but just couldn’t fit it into my schedule. So I did this time! I ended up ordering a tropical mango ice cream parfait. It was mostly mango, with some peach and grapes and pineapple as well as banana. I’m not usually a parfait kind of person, but I actually really enjoyed this one. I took my time and savored the whole thing. I still had a little more time to kill, so I decided to go to Meiji Jingu to relax until it was time to go. I walked around for about 15-20 minutes and then headed over to Alita’s place.
They gave me all the goods I had purchased through them, along with all my concert tickets. We hung out for a while and ordered some pizza from Dominos. We tried some exotic pizzas: the blue cheese pizza and the taco pizza. Admittedly, the taco pizza hardly tasted anything like tacos, but it was still very tasty. I especially liked the blue cheese pizza. We ate, chatted, had a good time, then I went home. The next day would be Tokyo Idol Festival, and I knew I would definitely need all the rest I could get.