Tokyo, day 3: Shinjuku

Exploring Shinjuku
This was the one day we didn't set an alarm clock, and we hopelessly overslept. But at least it meant I managed to catch up on some much needed sleep. It was pretty near noon when we managed to leave the hotel, which was a right shame really, but nothing can be done about it now. I'm not sure how much use we would have been if we hadn't been able to get proper rest to be honest. So needs must, I suppose. 



 

We were meeting Sayaka and Sonoko for dinner in the evening, so we decided to wander around Shinjuku and explore the part of town we were staying in. It may not sound very exciting, but it was a lot of fun!

 

Not gonna lie, I squeed when I saw Godzilla. A LOT.

 

The first shop I popped into was Donki, because I kept hearing people talk about it and I had to see it for myself. I ended up getting Maleficent socks for me and Charlotte, a few other small bits and bobs and a bag of extra matcha KitKats for my dad. We can get the regular matcha ones here at select Asian supermarkets, so getting the upgraded version seemed like the best plan. 

We had lunch at Burger King, because Bert was super hungry and that was literally the first place we came across. I only had chicken nuggets because there was no way I was having fries three days in a row. They were really good chicken nuggets. Actually, all the chicken dishes I ate in Japan were amazing, their chicken > our chicken!

 

We had a few places we wanted to see for sure, one being Studio Alta for the Swimmer store. 
Swimmer is closing, so I really wanted to visit some of the shops of the brand now that I still could. I have loved Swimmer for years, and I'll be sad to see them go. I didn't spend a ton of money there though, mostly because Swimmer is super cheap, but also because I only wanted to buy things that I'd actually use, like a double ended pen (one thick and one fine side), a new notebook (which I actually needed), some cutlery sets (because we forgot ours at home, oops), an Alice in Wonderland travel mirror (super practical, I use it ALL the time), some ring sets and a seashell shaped compact mirror for Shinto. 
She absolutely loves it, she can actually open and close it on her own, which is well cool considering she's an iguana! I really wish she'd use her brain for better things! Not trying to open my desk drawer to get at my Alice in Wonderland mirror (thankfully the drawer sticks and she's not strong enough).

 

We spent some time in games stations such as Taito (omg so LOUD) to look for Adventure Time stuff. We didn't find any, alas, but I did find a gatcha that did cute fox mask key chains so I got one of those :).



 

We spent some time hunting for Yodobashi Camera, as that was supposed to sell Japan Camera Hunter StreetPan, my favourite film. 
Sadly the shop we found didn't carry it. I ended up leaving Bellamy a message asking where else I would be able to find it and he gave me a list of places where I might have more luck. 
I did get a disposable camera though, because I hadn't brought one after the London debacle of summer 2016, as I wanted to take analog photos in Tokyo Disney Sea. 
You can still get disposable cameras in Belgium, but they're not as big as they are in Japan. In Tokyo you can even get holsters you can hang around your neck to put your disposable in. And they count down. 
For instance, my camera had 39 photos, so it started at 39 instead of 0. Which I actually liked a lot better :).

 

We find a Matsumoto kiyoshi store, where I got some more Canmake Tokyo products for myself and friends, as well as a highlighting brush for myself (which is a bit rubbish, sadly) and a brush that is an Artise dupe for my friend Marie. 
Lo and behold, when I was in the queue, one of the shop girls asked me whether or not I had enough worth in my bag to qualify for tax free and she explained to me which number register I had to go to. She kinda let me skip the queue really, but the queue was long so I didn't complain. But the thing was, she spoke PERFECT English, so I kinda don't understand why she wasn't working in a hotel. Regardless, she was very friendly and kind :).













Outfit of the day:
Glasses: Theo 
Hot air balloon print top: Friendly Oak 
Top: UNIQLO 
Skirt: made it myself 
Bag: H&M (the stuff attached to it is from all over the place though) 
Boots: Palladium 
Bag: Disney Store Japan, the bag I got the previous day in Shibuya Accessories: Rachel's Hope, handmade, Pieces, Roxy



 

After a good few hours of exploring that bit of Shinjuku, we decided to stop by the hotel to drop off our bags, and I noticed that Closet Child was right around the corner from our hotel! 
Go figure! 
So we planned to go have a look after we dropped stuff off in the room. 

Because there was little chance we would find the food department store from inside the station, we asked at reception how to get there, map in hand. 
Turns out that it was inside the giant department store around the corner (Odakyu, the HALC floors)! 
That was easy! 
I wish I could have taken photos in there, but I literally saw no one taking photos, so I didn't either. 
But it was pretty awesome! 
They had entire tentacles! 
And a whole section of Halloween candy and snacks! 
And delicious pastries, I ate several over the course of days, but I forgot to take photos of all of them, because I'm an idiot, obviously! 
But seriously, if you go there, get the tiny tiger breads because they have delicious cream cheese inside. 
Oh and the macha cake rolls. 
My god I still miss these things, so, so much!

 

At Closet Child, which took a while to find the entrance to because it was a little tricky, I found two brown blouses, and considered spending the equivalent of €160 on a Wonder Queen salopette dress by Angelic Pretty. 
In the end I decided against the latter, but I did try on both blouses and bought the Ank Rouge one. 
I really like Closet Child, because most pieces are as new, but considerably cheaper than you'd spend on a new item by a Japanese brand.

 

The funny thing was that amongst their umbrellas, they had the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright one I own too, I never thought I'd see that sold somewhere ever again. 
But yeah, I only got that one blouse.

 

Because we had some time to spend, we went for a drink at a local bar, because it seemed like a fun thing to do. And it was! :) 
Bars are so expensive in Tokyo though, it's crazy. 
Ironically, Irish pubs are not, but that's a story for another post (stay tuned for day 4!). 
It was well and truly dark when we came out, even thought it was only about 6.30pm, so I took some nighttime shots.



 

Because we were meeting up outside the local Yamada Labi, we of course popped in, although this time we knew better and set a spot to meet up in case we lost each other again :). 
I found 100 yen lashes in a bargain bin, which I got to do a Halloween look, because they were CHEAP! 
And they were also not that unnatural looking, so bonus, exactly what I needed :). 

The shop had several entrances, so we were glad that Sayaka knows me enough to realise I'd probably go for the one closest to Godzilla haha :D. 
I thought I had the main exit/entrance, but apparently we didn't, but they figured we'd think that was the main one, so they went straight there, too :). 

We went to a really nice sushi place, and with the best will in the world, I wouldn't be able to tell you the name or walk you there. 
But the food was delish! 
Thank you again for taking us there guys! 
I'm sorry for babbling too much (I really need to do something about that!). Sayaka gave me INORAN's new CD and a bag of dorayaki, and I gave them the presents I had for them. 
I do really love dorayaki (thank you Sayaka!). 
I managed to take one back to Belgium, but we ate it in Louvain station. Don't tell the dragon, because one of Shinto's favourite things in the world is dorayaki. Oops! 

Anyway, I had an amazing time with my friends, and of course I forgot to take food photos because I was too busy eating and catching up (I hadn't seen Sayaka since 2014). 
I also don't have photos with Sayaka and Sonoko because I remembered from the last time that Sayaka and I hung out that she doesn't much like having her picture taken. So I am not inflicting selfies and photos on her.

 

It may sound like a very uneventful day, but we had a ton of fun and saw some of the area so that's great :). 

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Day one of our trip is here. 
Day two is here. 
And the haul post is here. 
Want to see all our Tokyo photos? Click here! :) 

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