新宿、渋谷、原宿、明治寺

Finally, we got out of his house and we went to Harajuku （原宿） first. Over there, you could see some young people who donned weird costumes. Look at this photo I took outside Meiji Shrine (明治寺）. My ex told me every weekend, youngsters would come here with their creative mixture of clothings. Then we strolled towards the Meiji Shrine (明治寺）.

Upon entering Meiji shrine (明治寺）, it was such a serene place where you could feel at ease and you could feel the atmosphere of zen in the air where the Japanese and tourists would stroll silently, absorbing in their thoughts. We also walked along the gravel-strewn path towards the temple which was quite a distance away.

Finally we reached the temple and it was such a solemn sight with huge Japanese gate post guarding outside before you entered the temple. My ex brought me to the a tiny spot on our left side and asked me to pour the water over the small statue. Then we entered the temple and we could see a huge space around us. On the sides, there were 2 paths leading to somewhere and we proceeded forwards to the main temple. We entered the temple and my ex explained to me to throw the coin into the coin box. Then we clapped our hands 2 times and prayed. Then we walked to the right side to see the board with numorous papers being tied along the strings. Then we walked to the small shop and bought 2 wooden cardboard for us to write down. He handed me the wooden board and black marker. I could not remember what I wrote down but I remembered that I wrote that we hoped to love each other forever which to me, today, it was merely a little childish nonsense. We hanged the cardboards together and we went out of the temple. We walked towards Shinjuku (新宿) and we could see 2 huge metallic government building looming ahead of us while walking. My ex explained to me that this building was govt building and was the tallest building in Tokyo.

We finally arrived at that building and we were greeted by staff who greeted "いらっしゃません” (Irrashamase) a common greeting which the Japanese greet their customers. We were ushered to the lift which took us to the top floor to have a full view of Tokyo. In the top floor, we could see sprawling metropolis crawling backwards into infinity and my ex pointed out some familiar places that we had visited. He also pointed at the nearby Tokyo Tower (東京タワー) which was in crimson red. Of course, it was not as beautiful as Tour de Eiffel in Paris.

Finally the night fell and we went to Shibuya （渋谷）and I was bombarded with flashing neonlights lighting up the facade of every building. ”パソコン(computers)”、”カラオケ(karaoke)”、"おいしい食の物 (delicious food)"、”ビテオ(video)”, and so on. Everywhere you could find huge katakana words written in the advertisement placards. We walked around Shibuya before we returned to Jiyuugaoka.

あーやっと東京だね!!!!

As the bus was inching towards Tokyo, ubiqutous skyscrapers accumulated in the distance and my ex told me that we were passing by the Tokyo bay. In other 20 more minutes, we would be in Shinjuku. Wow..so many buildings that are built closely to one another. It was like a second New York though I had never been there before. As the bus went along the bridge crossing the Tokyo bay, I could see human life increasing in intensity and finally we arrived outside Shinjuku Station. My ex nudged me to go out to collect the baggage and we went into Shinjuku JR station. Again, these Japanese still were walking at their incredibly fast pace and my ex went even faster than before that I could not catch up with him. Finally we arrived at the ticket counter and he got the train pass for me. We zoomed to catch the JR to Shibuya （渋谷）which was 2 stations away. In this train, it was horribly packed with passengers that your face could virtually touch others. And we had to struggle through the crowd in the train. Finally we arrived in Shibuya and rushed off to catch other train to Jiyuugaoka (自由が丘) where he stayed alone.

In another 30 minutes, we finally arrived at 自由が丘 and it really impressed me to some extent. It was quite similar to Holland Village where you could find many small shops selling bread, vegetables and many stuff that you could need at your own convenience. The pace of life over there was definitely much slower than that in Shinjuku or Shibuya. We walked to his house which was quite a stone's throw away and we arrived at the 3-storey apartment. It was really a small building with around 10 occupants. We arrived at his brown door and we entered his room. Wow. It was so small that everything including the kitchen, bathroom and living room were cramped into one room. The only space for you to move around was in his living room with his low dining table with tatami （畳）. "小さいだね！" I muttered to myself as we walked towards his living room. His small-sized bed was at the corner and in front of his bed stood a huge mirror with huge cross hanging. On the right side of his bed stood a small cupboard and low dining table. On the other side was simply a chair with his warm clothings strewn over. Finally both of us jumped together on the bed and we hugged each other for a long time before we got out of his small house.

日本へ旅行したことは初めて!!!

日本へようこそ!!!!
It was my first time I visited Tokyo in Japan. It was 22nd December 2003 and I was feeling so excited for 2 main reasons. One was to experience my real freedom to travel alone to Japan with a new challenge to practise speaking Japanese with the native Japanese and the other one was to see my ex. It was kinda hardly for me to contain my excitement as the TV screen indicated the time remaining to reach Tokyo. I was on en-route from Bangkok International Airport. It indicated "10 more minutes" and a red signal on top of the passengers required all passengers to buckle our seat belts before landing down at Narita International Airport. As I was fastening my seat belt, I lifted up the window and one thing catched my attention. It was definitely an unforgettable moment. It was Mount Fuji. It was simply symmetrical and so godly with its sunlight-kissed snowy peak. It was so awfully beautiful that no other words could describe the majestic mountain which was greatly revered by all Japanese as symbol of Japan!

Another 5 more minutes, as the Narita International Airport inched into my vision and I was smiling to myself. Another 10 minutes, I was out of the airplane and everyone seemed to pick up their paces once again. It seemed like everyone who had switched to their fast mode when they were in Japan. I began to catch up with the fellow passengers to the passport counters. Everyone started pulling out their warm clothing and it was my first time to experience winter in my life. I followed the suit to fish out my white warm clothing. As I was waiting outside the immigration counter, I was wondering whether my ex was waiting for me outside the arrival gate and I wondered to myself whether I could find him. After I cleared the immigration counter, I hurried to the baggage counter to collect my baggage and carted my baggage outside. It was such a hive of activity with so many people walking fast. In fact, they walked at such an incredible pace which was not like in Singapore. Finally, i found him waiting for him wearing his winter clothing which was my first time to see wearing.

”東京へ来たようこそ!!” . I nodded and replied "はい！私は少し疲れましたね!でも、貴方にまた嬉しく見ました。” He took my luggage and took me outside to the bus platform. Wintry air hit my face for the first time. He demonstrated with his mouth open and puffed out the visible vapour. I smiled and followed huffing out my vapour. He said that we would buy the bus tickets and we would go to Shinjuku (新宿) before taking JR train to Jiyuugaoka　(自由が丘). I said "うん。。。分かった!” with my stiff nod as I was trying to imitate the Japanese nodding whenever they understood. We laughed together and our bus finally arrived. Before boarding the bus, I had to hand in my ticket and took our front seat. He told me that it would take 2 hours to travel from Narita International Airport to Tokyo. "本当ですか！！！” I said with disbelief upon hearing that Tokyo was so far away from Narita International Airport （成田空港）.

Finally the bus started moving and off we moved towards the world's biggest city Tokyo 東京 with buzzling metropolis.