Travel: A Glimpse of Japan - Part III - Osaka and Universal Studious

Time has come to finish up third and last part of my Japan's adventure which takes us to Osaka and Universal Studious.

Universal Studious Japan

Boy, it was something unbelievable! For a big kid like me it was like a paradise!

The first thing we did - we headed to newly opened Harry Potter part of the park to enjoy the 4D ride.
And I must say it was really impressive! All the part of Harry Potter was crowded with fans lining and queuing for souvenirs and rides, attractions or food. (As it was Sunday the part was crowded, luckily we were on a " mission" and we could skip the lines!

Travel: A glipse of Japan - Part II

My London trip has come to an end so it is a time to continue with my Japan story so can catch up with timing and switch to my European adventures.

The second part of my Japan unexpected meeting took us to Kyoto - an ancient Japan's capital a city full of UNESCO heritage objects. Indeed it is an amazing city even more beautiful than I have imagined from the movies and books. 

Couple dressed in kimonos at Kyoto

(One of my all time favorite books is Memoirs of a Geisha which gave me a small preview of a life of a geisha back in 30ies, strolling down the narrow streets heading to a fancy dinner party and life back in than in general). Actually Kyoto is still an active geisha district where, if you are lucky, can see a real geisha heading for a dinner appointment).

On our free time we started our sightseeing (2 hours) tour with old part of the town and than heading to temples and shrines.

Travel: A Glimpse of Japan - Part I

It's been over a week that I have been back from Japan but the impressions are still live and vivid like it was just yesterday.

Welcome to Japan

This trip came as pretty big surprise to me as it was kind a last minute announcement from my company to join our company's bi-annual Expo in Tokyo (Sanrio Inhouse Expo)  and an offsite meeting in Kyoto.. So you can imagine HOW excited I was. Like a little girl before Christmas or Kevin from Home Alone.
What a thrill was to go to see the land where Hello Kitty was born with my own eyes and to see Tokyo with my own eyes. I must say it is even more colorful, crazy, hectic and advanced than I could ever imagine. but the same time so safe, so clean and organized.
The flight was long and tiring and didn't even manage to close my eyes for more than an hour therefore arrived at my destination pretty destroyed, but after hotel check in, quick shower and outfit change I was ready to hit the city. With which I mean I was ready to go for first meetings and Store check.

Hotel Check in and checking myself out before hitting the town

In late afternoon and after all the blinding city lights, colors, people I started to get pretty tired and sleepy but still could resist and continued my store check cheerfully.

Tights and stocking paradise is in Tokyo

 The ones who knows me are aware of my passion of cute, colorful, trendy and fun socks, tights and stockings I have in my collection so you can only imagine my thrill seeing all these lines of socks in department stores - ahhh a Paradise.

socks paradise as well

 The same for the socks. So colorful, fun, cute and playful. just you want them all and want to make your feet happy and show off.
Of course as a culture where the shoes comes off at the house doors right before entering a nice pair of socks is an nice idea for a conversation starter.

Luckily dinner was scheduled pretty early as we were kind a starving after the long trip and working all afternoon.

Traditional style Japanese restaurant

We were taken to a quite but trendy street right near of Shibuya (the district where we had our hotel) where we could have a nice peace of mind and enjoy our traditional Japanese dinner.

After a delicious dinner we were heading back to our hotel - Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel. On our way we had a glimpse of an Japanese socialising after work and side walk bars.

Traditional Japanese bar at Shibuya

Even if I felt like walking dead and sleep walking the curiosity to see the view from our hotels 40th floor was stronger than me. 

..and I was right - the view was definitely worth seeing. Pity that couldn't manage to sit down at their famous restaurant on 40th floor as it was too late but still managed to catch a glimpse from above.

view to Tokyo from above in the night

Tokyo at night from above

My room was at 23rd floor and I can say that my view was not bad at all.

The next day we were off and running to our in-house Expo, meetings and some more meetings.

Sanrio Expo 2014

A nice review of the Expo you can also find here.

Blending in

I tried to blend in in the Expo as a mannequin but unsuccessfully but turns out I shouldn't move and stop smiling to make it more believable.

rice triangles

 Even when travelling I am trying to stick to my diet therefore for lunch I looked up for a healthy food store and got myself a nice rice triangle and salmon with seaweed to get my daily protein and good carbs. and in top of that managed to save money + ate clean. Really proud of myself.

Salmon with seaweed

 Luckily half of the food packaging is transparent and I was able to spot and choose things without finding someone who would translate it for me as in Japan is pretty tough to find someone speaking good English.

 Before dinner we had two hours free to see near district so we went to near Yoyogi park.

Yoyogi park selfy

Yoyogi park

 already getting closer to the entrance in the park we instantly felt the serenity and silence that isolated all the sounds from the street and the city and made you feel like you are in other dimension - more calm and peaceful.
Heading to the shrine we found a wall of Sake barrels from typical brewers as an exhibition and reminder for keeping alive Japanese traditions.

Sake Barrels

Sake barrels

 Coming closer to our destination we stopped at a place where you can purify your soul with a clear water by washing hands and drinking a sip of the clean and running water.

purifying water

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The place for me was something amazing, relaxing and just so great. we were even lucky with the lovely afternoon sun that shined above us making everything even more magical.

Meiji Shrine

 I kept on having feeling and imagining how it was centuries ago when people really lived there, worked and prayed there. something that makes you travel back in time and put yourself in their shoes.

wall of prayers

 For a good fortune and getting hopes come true there are a wall of prayers where everyone could put their own good thought or prayer to get it fulfilled.

Even if I would have loved to stay there for hours and get my mind relaxing I knew the time is thick but Tokyo is so big, so tried to managed as much as possible and headed to near Harajyuku shopping street where you can see various styles, colors and cos-play costumes. eat and shop till you drop.

Harajyuku Takeshita street art

Takeshita street 

Cos-play Costumes

As two days before there were a grand opening of a Sunday Jam X Mister Man cafe than we headed also there to see it for ourselves and have a quick rest with a cup of coffee to share our impressions.

Sunday Jam in Harajyuku street

Sunday Jam X Mister Bump pancakes offer

wouldn't be nice to have a breakfast there with nice pancakes on this lovely organized plate? if heading to Tokyo make sure you stop by there and than tell me how it was as i did not manage to try anything but a nice cup of coffee from Mr.man mug. Which you can buy also there.Neat!

Little Miss Sunshine table

You can not not love the interior - so playful, colorful and fun!

And this, my friends are end of first part of my trip. Stay tuned and Kyoto part will follow up - even more colorful and beautiful..