Ohmigosh. Tokyo was crowded today!! I knew that this week contained a couple of holidays, but it seems that the whole of Tokyo was out today! I had looked up a Japanese website whilst I was in Sydney that said this week - Golden Week - was the worst time to travel and I think I experienced it today!! I had to queue a couple of times just to get to the ticket barriers! It was madness! However, there was hardly any shoving or pushing or people tutting and sighing, so it was actually not as awful as I thought it was going to be. Imagine if that was at home! There'd be people shouting and swearing left, right and centre, and making sure they stepped on your toes at every opportunity. If I could take my pick of where I'd like to be in rush hour, it'd be Tokyo! So much more civilised!

Anyways, I headed out early-ish today, to Harajuku but I obviously got there too early as there were hardly any Harajuku girls about. So, I decided to have a look around instead. Found the Shibuya flower festival whilst walking around, which was very nice. Not actually that many flowers as I thought a flower festival would have, but there were a few flower decorations around. One where there were flowers spelling out something in Japanese, but obviously I could make head nor tail of it!

Found an open arena type place too, where there seemed to be lots of groups of dancers strutting their stuff. There were some pretty good dancers as well, so I stayed a while to watch whilst everyone else around me seemed to just pass on by! Lots of stalls around selling all sorts of stuff which wasn't that interesting though there were a few nice stalls selling ceramics. If only I had another suitcase!! Though I'd probably injure myself really badly trying to get to the airport and I have enough luggage already! Sigh.

Went back to Harajuku to have a look at the shops (I'm just being a Tokyo-ite as shopping is like second nature over here - I fit right in :D ) and found Takes***a-dori which is Takes***a Street. It's a famous street for having all sorts of teeny bopper type shops selling all sorts of cute stuff, and also where some of the Harajuku girls come to shop. I thought I might see a few whilst walking around. Instead I sort of shuffled around with everyone else as the street was PACKED!! So rammed that sometimes I had to wait for other people to pass by so the rest of the crowd could move again!! It's like shopping in Regent Street on Boxing Day, but again, without the incessant shoving and elbowing that happens in London.
Found a really cute shop selling LOADS of stuff, it took me a while to get in there, but it was worth it, hahahah! Managed not to part with any money, but I think I'll be going back there to part with a bit in the next couple of days! Good thing I am on a budget, otherwise I'd probably buy half the shop! However, I can't carry that much else home with me (and still have to buy some pressies for some of you lucky people) and I really shouldn't be buying any more stuff that will just sit on a shelf in my room and gather dust! 'Don't buy anymore stuff' I do hear some of you cry!! :D
I am in Japan, I've got to buy some tat, but good tat (yes, there is such a thing!!)

However, I think I must have some Japanese in me somewhere (amongst the Chinese, the English, a bit of Danish somewhere, and underneath the Ozzie tan) because of my love of socks. I have come to sock heaven here. Seriously. There are shops just dedicated to socks. Like Sock Shop that disappeared a few years ago at home, but better. There's a shop called Tutuanna and I want it. I want the shop. Plus, the socks there are really cheap, and seriously cute, but I am being good and only buying a few pairs. The exchange rate is something like £1 = 200-odd JPY and one pair of socks in Tutuanna is 367 JPY. Three pairs for 1,050 JPY. I really can't argue with that logic to be honest, hahahahahha! A girl can never have too many socks, or knick-knocks, or handbags, or shoes, or, or, or.... :D
Did also see some Harajuku girls whilst in Takes***a-dori - some girls in pink outfits!! They both were wearing pink and getting a lot of giggles and funny looks from all the other people there. Plus, me trying to take sneaky photos of them without looking like I was taking a photo. I probably failed miserably, but I still got my photos! There were also a few girls out on the bridge as I went to try and get back into the station, and they were actually very cute. Lots of people taking photos with them as well but I was too embarassed to ask, as well as not having anyone to take the photo for me!
I was hoping to see some really outrageous Harajuku girls, but perhaps it was still too early for them. There were some goth kids hanging out, but you get those at home!

After my morning of shuffling around and my eyes popping out of my head at stuff, I shuffled back to the hotel for a bit of a rest. I had bought another day pass and so thought I'd make the most of it by having a bit of a rest first, and then heading out to Roppongi which is apparently the entertainment district. Tokyo seems to concentrate things in certain districts, which I find a bit strange, but there we go. So, Roppongi is known as the entertainment part of Tokyo - has a big cinema (all the films in Japanese), there's a modern art museum there, and then all sorts of bars and clubs and stuff.
I just went there for a bit of a wander really, seeing as I'm by myself and have hardly any money! Didn't see much nightlife (probably wasn't in the right bit) but I did wander up to Roppongi Hills which is the posh part of Roppongi. The cinema is up there as well as the museum, and it's really nice. As it's up on a hill, you can see the Tokyo Tower from up there, which was pretty cool. It gets lit up at night and so it was a nice orange colour at first, then it went blue! My book says it's the communication tower for Tokyo and it's actually quite pretty. It resembles the Eiffel Tower a wee bit in the way it's structured as well.

I guess I could have had a look to see where the action was happening in Roppongi, but my feet were absolutely killing me after walking around more or less all day, so I came back to the hotel for a nice nights sleep! Plan for tomorrow is to have a nice relaxing day and go to Ueno Park. There are a couple of nice temples up there that I can have a gawk at, and then it's obviously a park so I can have a nice sit down and read my book. Have no idea if shops are going to be open tomorrow seeing as today was a holiday and apparently shops are usually closed on a working day following a holiday, so I thought a day in the park would be a good idea. Also, I really don't feel like rushing around trying to see all sorts of stuff all in one go! I am sight seeing by just being in a park too :D