After the flight! Vending machines and Takoyaki!

After Amy and I had got off the plane, sorted our residences cards and retrieved our luggage we met up with the welcome group for Waseda exchange students that would take us to our dorms. However we had around an hour to kill before the coach would arrive so we decided to go to have a look at the airport shops. At the group we met two other girls on our course called Kayan and Shereen so we all went together.

One of Japan's famous vending machines

We were thirsty so one of the first things we did was get a drink. And of course we used one of Japans many vending machines!

The display was quite attractive and there were quite a few drinks on offer from soft drinks to coffee. And as it was summer the blue label under all the drinks all read つめたい meaning "cold". However I have heard that in winter some drinks such as coffee are heated.

I went for this energy drink, I was really tired after the flight and was just what I needed! It tasted quite similar to red bull - the generic mystery energy drink flavour!

After looking around the shops for a bit we got peckish so we decided to have a quick bite to eat.  The meal came with complimentary green tea which was nice.

Amy ordered Gyoza

I went for mentaiko takoyaki

It was really yummy but so hot inside!

Takoyaki is a kind of battered octopus snack. Although the inside was burning with the heat of 1000 suns it was very tasty! We were in a rush to get back to the group in time so we had to scarf the meal down.

We spent most of the day doing dormitory orientations and settling in but in the evening we all decided to go out to get something for dinner and have a look at the surrounding area. While we were having a look around we found this curious little shrine.

In the end we all decided to grab something from this bento shop. It was priced reasonably and was pretty tasty. We ate them all in a little kids park that was near to all of our dorms and then went back for a well needed sleep!

Catch you later!

Food shopping, spaghetti dinner and a trip to the arcade!

Last Monday I realised my fridge was looking rather empty - I had up until then been living off bentos, ramen and rice bought at a ピカソ (Picaso store) - and decided a trip to the supermarket was in order.

A very sad looking fridge

I went to a Santoku supermarket - which I was later informed to be a rather expensive supermarket - to buy some groceries. Although I really didn't know what kind of things I should buy I knew vegetables were a must!

Unfortunately vegetables were rather expensive but nonetheless I ended up buying some broccoli, Japanese spring onions and a mix bag of carrots, potatoes and an onion. The Japanese spring onions were quite different from English ones. They were much thinner and had a very strong smell. My fridge still smells of them! The mix bag of veg is quite useful if you are thinking of making a curry. I had already bought stew blocks so this veg bag was just what I needed!

As I had been eating a lot of ramen I wanted to buy something to pad out any future bowls of ramen so I bought some eggs, the spring onions and some narutomaki. Narutomaki is a kind of processed fish cake, it is round with frilly edges and a pink swirl in the middle.

I also bought some tofu from the reduced section, cereal, instant yakisoba and some cheese gyoza.

Shopping haul!!!

After my shopping trip my fridge started to look a bit less depressing!

A much happier looking fridge - note the veg section!

After shopping there was a university meet up to try some Japanese restaurants and then go to an arcade.

There were so many of us so we were split up into groups as there was no way we were going to all fit into one restaurant - we filled up the square in front of Takadanobaba station!

Our group went to a spaghetti restaurant. There was quite a variety of spaghetti dishes from more classic flavours to dishes that incorporated Japanese flavours like nori (seaweed) and mentaiko (fish roe).

My dish

For my dish I went for the 4 cheese carbonara, although I like to cook it myself it just looked so yummy, and I was not disappointed!

Amy's dish

Amy decided on a more Japanese-style dish which had mentaiko and nori on top!

Both of our meals came with some soup which was also pretty yummy! Overall the meal was pretty delicious and the portions were large so no grumbling stomachs after!

After the meal we headed off to a nearby arcade where we played a drumming game, Dance Dance Revolution (Amy's first time playing!) and some UFO catchers! But those UFO catcher games are such a scam! Most (if not all) are rigged! We saw that only some toys are actually movable and even if you get one to drop onto the hole (as I did) there are toys tied town to hang over the edges so nothing can fall past it and you don't get your prize!!!! I came back to find that the toy I potentially could have won had been placed back in its original position!!! However despite all this someone in our group managed to win something from one of the other machines!! Everyone was so impressed.

At the arcade there were also purikura machines (photo machines) so Amy and I decided to have a go. We chose the New York and Paris machine - they had quite a few others to choose from.

Here was the result:

I think the large eyes really look creepy!!

Japanese purikura machines have lots of features not only can you add writing, backgrounds and stamps but the pictures can make your eyes larger and you can add makeup and change your hair colour. I will try to cover purikura machines in more detail in another post!


We had to leave soon after taking the photos as the arcade was closing. We all said goodbye and then made our way back to our dormitories.

It was another busy day but we had lots of fun and I was glad I had some time to stock up my fridge!

See you later!

Visit to Shibuya, Asakusa and the Skytree!

Yesterday I went with a friend to Shibuya to meet a pen-pal from Chiba for the first time to have a day out in Tokyo.

Shibuya at daytime

We met at Tsutaya, a music and dvd shop (pictured) and then went upstairs to the Starbucks (also pictured) famous for overlooking the busiest crossing in the world - Shibuya Crossing.

View from Tsutaya Starbucks - Shibuya

The crossing wasn't too busy as it was early morning on a Saturday, but this crossing is well-known for being cram-packed!

We pondered where we would like to go for the day over our drinks using a Tokyo guide magazine. And eventually decided to start with Shibuya 109 - a department store in Shibuya that was only a short walk away.

Shibuya 109 is a popular department store for young women in Japan. Inside were lots of women's fashion shops and makeup shops. The clothes shops inside 109 have a variety of fashion trends, there were so many cute clothes! I wanted to buy so many things but 109 is not particularly cheap! The store pictured above is called Liz Lisa and has lots of pretty clothes inside! If only I was rich! There are also some food shops inside for when you get the shopping hunger pangs! The shop assistants were all dressed up in their shop's style and looked so cute.
Although Shibuya 109 only has women's fashion there is also 109MEN'S nearby for the fashion-conscious man.

After looking around Shibuya 109 we went to another department store and looked at more clothes. There were some really nice bikinis in both Shibuya 109 and the second department store that I might check out again in the future. Bikinis with skirt bottoms seem to be popular at the moment and look really adorable. They also had swimming thongs that you could buy to go under a swimming skirt or some more fuller bottoms to give a layered look. Some bikinis even came with matching hairbands and you could buy wedge heeled flip-flops for the beach! I was surprised how fashion-conscious all the swimwear was.

We started to get hungry so we headed for the food court in the second department store. We took a while to decide but finally chose a really nice restaurant where you ate in a little private area with a door that you could close. We all decided on the same meal set in the end, it was quite expensive but you got a lot of food in one set. Pictured above is everything included in the meal set, water and tea was also free. The set included a salad with dressing, mushrooms, kimchi, soup, soy sauce with wasabi, beef with rice and for dessert an almond jelly. The meat was juicy and tender, it was a good meal and would definitely eat it again. 

After eating we went to Asakusa, it seemed quite touristy as there were quite a few foreigners and people selling maps. We went to see the Sensouji temple which is surrounded by many touristy stalls selling Japanese food and souvenirs. Before we went to see the temple we stopped at one of the shops to have an Ice cream. There were so many flavours to chose from varying from more common flavours such as chocolate and vanilla to some more unusual flavours like purple potato and soba flavour.

White peach soft ice cream

There were so many snacks I wanted to try but I will have to wait until next time!

At the temple we each payed 100 yen (around 63p) to get a mikuji. You pay through a slot on the counter then shake a tin which contains numbered sticks upside-down until one falls out. You then look up the number on that stick on the numbered draws in front of you and take one sheet from the drawer (not forgetting to replace the stick). I got a regular fortune (chuu kichi 中吉) and my friends got a small fortune and a curse! If you get a curse then you fold up your fortune and tie it to a metal wire on a special stand (pictured below)

We then went further in to see the main shrine where people where queuing up to pray.

 After spending some time in Asakusa we walked all the way to the Tokyo Skytree - it was pretty far! I feel like I have been getting a lot of exercise since I arrived in Japan!!

By the time we got to the Skytree it was already getting dark! We arrived around 7pm but you couldn't buy a ticket straight away, when we arrived we were given a slip with a half-hour time slot in which to come back and buy tickets. This is done because the sky tree is such a popular destination. While we waited for our time-slot we had a look around the many shops near the sky tree and shared an ice-cream at the Cold Stone Creamery. At the Stone Cold Creamery they have many different flavours of ice-cream which could be combined with other flavours and additional nibbles like sponge cake pieces, crumbled Oreos and sprinkles. The servers also sing while making the ice-cream, they seemed to have a different song for each flavour!

When our time-slot came we still had to queue for ages until we could even buy tickets! It was quite expensive around 2000 yen (roughly £12) to go up half-way but the view when you got there was amazing. It was particularly pretty as it was night-time so you could see all the lights of Tokyo twinkling against the dark scenery.

When we were finished looking at the sights and taking photos we had a quick look in the gift shops and then decided to head home. We had been walking all day so I was glad to head back to give my feet a well-deserved rest.


Overall I had a really amazing day, I was glad to finally meet my pen-pal and we were able to  pack in so many things going from Shibuya to Asakusa and finishing at the Skytree before returning to Shinjuku, what a day!

I only hope that my pen pal will be able to come and visit again soon!

The flight

Hey everyone!

My ticket was an e-ticket so I was able to check-in online and print my boarding pass the day before my flight. This meant that my friend and I were able to both check in online together and choose seats next to each other on the plane. If you want you can also add extra baggage whilst completing the online check-in. Because I had already checked in the evening before, when I arrived at the airport I didn't have to wait in a long queue to get my boarding pass and could quickly check my bag into the hold. This was really good because it meant I had much more time to spend with my family.

The weight limit for hold baggage was 23 kg and for hand luggage it was 10 kg. Unfortunately laptops and cameras had to fit in the hand luggage so you couldn't have the laptop case and camera case on top of the normal hand luggage, however we were also allowed a handbag.

I would like to tell you all how the flight to Japan was.

The flight left London at 1:45 pm and arrived in Japan the next day at 9:30 am. As you know my flight was with Virgin Atlantic airlines. 

This was the plane that took me all the way to Japan!

The seats weren't particularly comfortable but pretty standard for economy seats. The headrests are slightly adjustable - you can pull both ends of the headrest forward so it cups your head slightly so you can rest your head to either side. The headrest also tilts down slightly.

This was what the entertainment system looked like. There were quite a lot of films on there including not only american films but also films from Japan, China and some other countries too. I watched some episodes of Big Bang Theory to fall asleep to (I had watched them already), The Great Gatsby and This is 40. There were lots of other fun films like Monsters University so there was plenty to keep you occupied. If you don't want to watch films there are other things you can do with the entertainment system such as listen to music, play games or monitor the progression of the flight.

You  could control the system with the handset attached to the seat in front and you could also control the brightness with the two buttons on the screen. The last flight I had been on used a touch screen which broke part-way through the flight so I was glad this one only used buttons!

For the flight I was given a blanket and headphones and then a resealable pack containing a sleeping mask, pen, earplugs, toothbrush, toothpaste and a giftaid envelope with which you can donate to charity.

The view from the window departing from London

We didn't have to wait too long for snack and refreshments to come our way! We were given sour cream and onion pretzels and for I drink I chose their specialty cocktail which was rather pleasant! We were also given the menu for the meals to come to have a look at.

The menu (click to enlarge)

Above is the dinner option that I chose: Noodle salad, Japanese style chicken curry and a roll with butter. The food came with some nice purple cutlery, tissues and some salt and pepper. If I were to choose again I would have gone with the pasta option as the curry didn't really taste much like the Japanese curries I had tried before. But overall the meal wasn't bad for airline food!

 For dessert we were given a lemon Gü  pudding and the choice of tea, coffee and hot chocolate. I, of course, went for the hot chocolate!

The view from the window mid-flight was really pretty , you could see the white stream coming from the wing tips!

Before the plane arrived we were given a snack and breakfast. For the snack I chose the sausage roll and for breakfast I chose the sausage choice. The blueberry muffin was really moist!

Overall the flight was quite good with only a little turbulence. I'm glad there were lots of films I liked on the entertainment system however, there could have been more episodes for each series as there were only around 3 episodes. Unfortunately I couldn't sleep too much so I was pretty tired when I arrived in Japan! Also There were lots of meals so I wasn't left hungry! The only main downside being that it was sad having to say goodbye to my friends an family.

finding flights

Buying tickets

 My friend is also studying at Waseda so we looked for tickets together. We looked online on different airline websites for the prices of tickets to Japan. We could only search for single flights as our return date would have been too far in the future to get a return ticket. The cheapest ticket was with Aeroflot, however I had heard a few bad things about the airline so we were reluctant to go with them. The second cheapest ticket was with Cathay Pacific for around £870. We were going to go with this so I called up my mum to let her know and she wisely suggested going to a travel agents to see if they could do us an open return as two single tickets would have been very expensive.

So we went to a Japanese travel agents in London called H.I.S (http://www.his-euro.co.uk). The service at H.I.S was really good. The woman who served us was really nice and made sure to get us young adult tickets. The tickets we got through the travel agents were much better than what we were able to find online. We were able to get direct return flights with Virgin Atlantic for only £855. The return date is set as an earlier date than when we wish to return, but we can call and change the date for free as long as we do it two weeks before the set return date.

Things to remember when buying tickets to Japan
-You must book your flights to Japan and have your Hotel or accommodation address set before you apply for your visa as flight information and an address is needed for the visa application form.

- If you are searching for flights online remember to delete your cookies so that prices don't go up. If you do not some websites raise the ticket prices if you visit them more than once, deleting your cookies will combat this problem.

- If you decide to use a travel agents make sure you do some research first. Find the best flights you can and make a note of the price, dates and airline (if you can print it out so you can show them). This gives them a target meaning you are more likely to get better flights. Without giving a price to beat you are likely to get higher prices. Travel agents are also really helpful for getting flights more tailor made e.g. if you need an open return or other special requirements.

Welcome!

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog.

My name is Erin and this year I will be living and studying in Tokyo, Japan.
I'll be studying for a year at Waseda university as a compulsory part of my 4-year Japanese and Korean degree. I'll also be staying at one of Waseda university's accommodations.

I am hoping that through this blog my friends and family can keep up to date with my goings-on. I also hope that my blog may be helpful or entertaining to anyone else interested in or planning to study in Japan!
I would like to share with you a taste of Japanese life, including my studies, travel, daily life, useful information for future travelers and - my favorite part - the food!

Not only would I like to share about my experience while in Japan, but I also plan on including other travels I may take.

I hope you all enjoy my blog,

See you for now!