Alpha's J-Adventure 2 - Final Update (P28) All Updates (P1)

[Deception]

Aw that's crappy man. Sorry about the in-joke thought then, I just figured it was odd you flew over to see her and then you thought about splitting up.

Hope something works itself out in your favour man. I am a little worried about bringing my gf to Japan now mind, first aaron and lewis and now you. Is Japan the country of destroying gay and straight relationships?

[mas22]

After all the highs of this trip it's sad to hear the lows. So much drama.

[Alpha eX]

Aw that's crappy man. Sorry about the in-joke thought then, I just figured it was odd you flew over to see her and then you thought about splitting up.

Hope something works itself out in your favour man. I am a little worried about bringing my gf to Japan now mind, first aaron and lewis and now you. Is Japan the country of destroying gay and straight relationships?

Don't worry about bringing your gf to Japan, that's fine and i'm sure you'll both have a great time. Just be careful of falling in love with someone who is going to move back to Japan. My girlfriend completely changed when she got back, she's a different person now and not a nice one.

Part of me wishes we broke up when she left, on good terms with nothing but good memories, at the moment, those good memories are being mixed with bad ones and negative feelings.

[The People's ElboReformat]

Loving the updates, Alpha, sorry to hear about the girlfriend troubles though.

[Alpha eX]

Day 8 - Tokyo Imperial Gardens

Well today sucked, was supposed to meet my gf but when I emailed her this morning she canceled so I couldn't meet her today. Not letting that get me down, I decided to go check out the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo.

For breakfast this morning I decided to go to Mister Donut, again. Instead of following the main road, I decided to go via the shrine through the back streets to Ameyoko, where the shop is. On the way there I passed some shrine, lots of food stores and the SNK Playmore offices before arriving at Mister Donut.

I had a two donuts today, was really hungry, one I had before and the other was new, it was similar to the donut balls I had before but this one had chocolate on top and cream in the middle. Wasn't that nice, i've tried all 3 and the best one is the Coffee / Custard followed by the Strawberry one.



After Mister Donut I headed for the Imperial Gardens which is closest to Tokyo Station. I was actually following a leaflet that recommends a walking route, first point was from the West Exit of Tokyo station. From Ueno, it took just 9 minutes on the JR Yamanote line.



Yeah, that's a stray baby at Tokyo Station!!

After looking around the station area I headed towards the gardens, the route suggested I go down the main road but it wasn't the best route, on closer inspection, the route was rubbish so I binned the map. First stop for me was the fountains, a small cafe area with some really nice fountains, I think the ones in the pictures are hourly.

From the fountains, it was a short walk to the enterance to the gardens, it's free entry but you get given a ticket you have to return when you leave. When I got there, the weather got colder and a bit more cloudy, kinda crap weather but could have been a lot worse!

The park took quite a while to walk around, maybe about an hour.
Lots of photos of the park in the next spoiler.

After the park I decided to walk around and go back to Tokyo station, I actually got lost and ended up at another station. From that station, I went to Shibuya.

I only stayed in Shibuya for a while, I forgot to bring my touristy map so wasn't sure where to go and didn't want to wander. I went to the Starbucks above the main crossing but it was really busy so couldn't get a good seat, had a Gingerbread Mocha, not that great.

I came back to the hotel at 8pm to rest for a bit before going out for dinner. For dinner, I went local to Ameyoko, sadly, I got confused with the time and got there about 10pm when most of the shops were closing, I decided to go to the 24 hour place near my hotel. I had a hamburg curry, I love this dish!

After that I was in the mood for desert, I always pass Mc Donnalds and they have this awesome cinnamon desert that I've been meaning to try. There's a Mc Donnalds a minute from my hotel so I went and got one. Amazing, such an awesome desert, it's a hot, soft, cinnamon swirl type thing.

Not sure what's going on tomorrow, my girlfriend said she'll defintly meet me but hasn't been in contact or replied yet, I guess she's busy with her report or whatever it was she said she's doing today.

Going around Tokyo on my own was really depressing today, it would have been nice to have some company walking around the park or even someone to talk to but nothing. Oh well, tomorrow should be better but not sure what the plan is. My girlfriend said she'll meet me but hasn't been in contact or replied to an email I sent this evening. I guess she's busy with her report or whatever it was she said she's doing today.

[Shalashaska]

Just out here visiting. But yeah Happy hour in the Hubs must be good but I usually manage to miss it. Every other time 900 odd yen for a Guiness seems a bit steep. Just need to find the all you can eat and drink, that they had in Kobe, somewhere in Tokyo now.

[The People's ElboReformat]

I no longer want to go to Japan.

[Alpha eX]

Just out here visiting. But yeah Happy hour in the Hubs must be good but I usually manage to miss it. Every other time 900 odd yen for a Guiness seems a bit steep. Just need to find the all you can eat and drink, that they had in Kobe, somewhere in Tokyo now.

900 yen for a Guiness is steep! That's like £5.40. Happy hour was best, nearly everything was just 460 yen which is closer to £2. If you find a good all you can eat and drink place, let me know, need to go for a good drink soon!

Johnny, those strawberry floaters were all over the Imperial Gardens, took ages to get that photo, nearly fell into the web at one point

[Dangerblade]

It's really upsetting and sucks that I had to come all the way out here to realise this. What makes it worse is the way she's treating me even after i've flown across the world to be with her.

I've been through that. strawberry floating shite isn't it?

[JiggerJay]

Alpha man loving the tour! surely though you are going to become a right fat bastard with all the Mister Donuts you have been eating!

can i ask though, roughly, how much would it set me back to fly out to Japan? me and a mate have been talking about it for years, he loves anime and I love Arcades! a rough ballpark figure, I.e. travel, accomedation and expenses? I was thinking in the region of £2,000 but I maybe wrong?

Flight from BA or Virgin Atlantic will set you back £550. You can stay in a hostel from as little as £15 a night, I stayed in a single room for £30 a night with my own bathroom and internet.

For my hotel and flight, just over £1000, that's for nearly 3 weeks.

Per day, I spend about 2-3000Y on food, travel ect, that's about £18.

£2000 should be more than enough for a two week stay!

Cheers for that Alpha, I will speak to my mate when i get a chance, he will be pissed off cos soon we are saving to rent a place as well! which we will need loads of money for!

[Drumstick]

I no longer want to go to Japan.

I froze in fear when I scrolled down to that.

[aayl1]

Alpha:

Yeah, we went to The Hub in Shibuya after our Hanami Party was rained off. It was cool, yes. Not very far from Yoyogi park, either.

Have you been to Shinjuku yet? If not go for a stroll around the Skyscraper district. I strawberry floating loved that. Felt like the future, only now!

[Alpha eX]

Have you been to Shinjuku yet? If not go for a stroll around the Skyscraper district. I strawberry floating loved that. Felt like the future, only now!

I've been to Shinjuku but the place is huge, couldn't find the skyscraper district, will see if it's in one of my guides tomorrow.

[Fatal Exception]

It's really upsetting and sucks that I had to come all the way out here to realise this. What makes it worse is the way she's treating me even after i've flown across the world to be with her.

I've been through that. strawberry floating shite isn't it?

Women. Their strawberry floating solution for anything is to ignore you until they ruin the relationship.

[Fatal Exception]

Have you been to Shinjuku yet? If not go for a stroll around the Skyscraper district. I strawberry floating loved that. Felt like the future, only now!

I've been to Shinjuku but the place is huge, couldn't find the skyscraper district, will see if it's in one of my guides tomorrow.

How do you find getting around Tokyo? My biggest worry if this Japan trip goes ahead is getting lost or not knowing how to get places.

[aayl1]

Have you been to Shinjuku yet? If not go for a stroll around the Skyscraper district. I strawberry floating loved that. Felt like the future, only now!

I've been to Shinjuku but the place is huge, couldn't find the skyscraper district, will see if it's in one of my guides tomorrow.

One of the station exits brings you out right there. Think it's signposted pretty clearly.







Yeah!

[Alpha eX]

It's really upsetting and sucks that I had to come all the way out here to realise this. What makes it worse is the way she's treating me even after i've flown across the world to be with her.

I've been through that. strawberry floating shite isn't it?

It's horrible, I wouldn't wish it on anyone but sometimes you have to through these things, in the end, it's all in the past and you eventually find something better.

Alpha that really sucks about the gf.
I had an exact same experience in January. My gf of 2 years was american, i had been to see her, shed been over here, wed always had good times whatever country we were in. Except for this year, i went over for christmas to be with her, and after splashing out hundreds on a really strawberry floating thoughtful & impressive present, not to mention the price of the tickets to see her i was duly ignored and treated like gooseberry fool for the entire 2 weeks or so that i was there. Spent every day just wishing it was over soi could go home. So i feel for you man, from someone whos been there i know just how much it sucks, but try and enjoy the rest of your trip. Youve got tons of kickass stuff to see! I was stuck in the middle of the country with no means of transport and no way to go anywhere on my own..was a strawberry floating nightmare

Ah man really sorry to hear that, sounds awful and a lot like what i'm going through now. I'd rather be at home now, I feel as if I have no reason to be here and i'm just wasting more money. The whole point of this trip was to see my gf, i've been to and seen Tokyo before, most things I'm just redoing.

I'm not going to let this situation ruin what could be a great time in Tokyo, it just sucks having to do things on my own. For a while it's ok but then it does get lonely.

It's really upsetting and sucks that I had to come all the way out here to realise this. What makes it worse is the way she's treating me even after i've flown across the world to be with her.

I've been through that. strawberry floating shite isn't it?

Women. Their strawberry floating solution for anything is to ignore you until they ruin the relationship.

That is so strawberry floating true, I swear that's what my girlfriend is doing!

How do you find getting around Tokyo? My biggest worry if this Japan trip goes ahead is getting lost or not knowing how to get places.

Getting around is quite easy and people here are very friendly and helpful, sometimes, it's handy to take a notepad with you just incase no one can understand you but that's never happened to me yet.

Aaron, will check that out, looks great, the last picture made me laugh out loud.
No one noticed my slight edit to one of the non spoiler pics in my post




I'm glad this forum is here, you guys are great so thanks everyone for posting in the thread.

[Drumstick]

How do you find getting around Tokyo? My biggest worry if this Japan trip goes ahead is getting lost or not knowing how to get places.

That's one of the reasons why I'd never go to anywhere like Japan.

[aayl1]

Went back to look for the edit -

Yeah, I hope you have a fairly decent time, Alpha. How much longer are you there for?

Because if it's a few days, you may want to look at going to a penpal website, saying you're looking for someone to hang out with while you're there. That's what I did and it worked out pretty well...

[aayl1]

How do you find getting around Tokyo? My biggest worry if this Japan trip goes ahead is getting lost or not knowing how to get places.

That's one of the reasons why I'd never go to anywhere like Japan.

Nah, it's so easy Drummy. The train system is unbeliavebly reliable, and everywhere is clearly signposted. AND everyone is incredibally helpful and friendly. Seriously, i only had to look at a map for 2 seconds for someone to ask if I was okay. On two occasions hot women helped me and Lewis out because we lookd confused.