Japan adventures: Tokyo Day 1, Shibuya

 I'm in Japan!

I barely can believe it myself. I already have been here for a week now, and I still haven't realized that I'm here. I still remember when I was 14, and how much I wanted to visit Japan. While I have matured over the years, and my reasons for wanting to visit changed as well, Japan was still a country that was on the top of my travel list.

 Got a quick snack at the airport before heading to the Skyliner express into the city. The train's  super~ expensive but not much more than the bus, which would take a whole hour longer. Japanese Onigiri are so delicious! I love those rice triangles in Korea too (Taiwanese ones are not that good tbh) but Japanese Onigiri are seriously the best! 

Short stop at a 7-eleven. I always thought convenience stores in Taiwan are already awesome, but looks at those cute cakes!   

Had some delicious tempura set for lunch.

Something that surprised me a bit : The set included rice and Soba noodles! 

I was so full afterwards, had a small set but it was a huge portion anyways.

And after lunch:

Shibuya ~

As I really wanted to go to the Disney store there, we headed for Shibuya right after lunch. This is the famous Shibuya crossing as seen from Shibuya station.

One word to describe Shibuya: Loud. There's ads playing from huge screens all over the crossing, and you'll definitely will have one of the pop songs that's being promoted there stuck in your head all day.

Like Super Juniors Devil, which had its japanese version being promoted there.

But much more important was Shibuyas most famous statue:

Hachiko

The area around the statue is always crowded, as it's not only a popular photo spot for tourists, it's also the easiest spot for meeting up with friends.
If you want to take a photo with Hachiko, make sure not to hesitate. Usually people just stand around it in a circle, so when someone finishes taking a photo and no one else starts moving, just go ahead. And don't worry if you came alone, as most people around you will be tourists wanting to take photos themselves, just ask for help with taking a picture and help othersin return!

At the entrance to the Shibuya JR subway station, there's another mural for Hachiko too.

There's also a Lindt store in Shibuya, which is a famous chocolate brandt originating from Germany.

I'm not sure if there's a store in Germany, so we had to go.

My friend got a Matcha Macaroon, which was very expensive but so, so good~

Definitely try some of the chocolate there!

We headed to the Disney store afterwards, which I will show in a seperate blog post as I jusst took way~ too many photos there.
Another great store in Shibuya that I visited was Loft, which had lots of gorgeous stationary!

~

One thing I learned to love about Japan is the vending machines ~

They are everywhere, and there's such a big selection of drinks that you can get, warm and cold!

After shopping, we headed to a 5 level game center in Shibuya. Those claw machines are really tempting, they had so much better prizes than claw machines back in Europe!

Like this cardcaptor Sakura figurine! Don't be fooled though, you can find this one for 1200 in Akihabara, and those claw machines are really difficult so you'll end up spending much more than that. I only managed to get something one time, a big Mew plush, and only with quite a few tries and help from others!

Another place we went to was the local DonQihote , which I don't know how to describe. They basically have everything, and it's really chaotic.

Also there is ALWAYS an adult section in stores here...

Weird costumes are available too.

Japanese cakes all look super delicious, but they are so expensive

Our dinner that day was Tonkotsu Ramen (I really hope i spelled that the right way) and Ramen in Japan is the most delicious thing ever! Really unhealthy, but always super yummy.

More convenience store photos...

And one of the things I bought on my first day in Japan: An Alice in Wonderland eyeliner! I used it daily, and it lasts the whole day which is great.

So much for my first day in Tokyo~

Hope you enjoyed this random assortment of photos. I know it's quite a lot~

Did anything interesting catch your eye? Have you ever been to Tokyo? 

Please tell me in the comments below!

Love, Lydia

Taiwan Travel Diary #27: Attack on Titan exhibition

Hey everyone! By now, all my Taiwan posts are absolutely not in chronological order anymore, i'm sorry. But this one might be of interest to some of you who live in or will visit Taipei in the near future.

So, any Attack on Titan fans out there?

From december to 29th of February next year, you get a chance to see some original artwork in Taipei!

The exhibition is held at Songshan Creative Cultural park, and open every day from 10AM to 6PM.

Tickets for the exhibtion are 320NTD (300 if you have a student ID)

There's also some 3D movie experience that i didn't try, but the ticket for that one should be around 150 (only available in Mandarin or Japanese though)

When you first enter, they make you wait in a small, dimly lit room that already sets the atmosphere for the rest of the exhibition.

The reason for that is not the regulation of visitor crowds, as the exhibition is not crowded at all and quite small (there's a Rilakumma exhibition next to it that's obviously more popular).

The reason is a short movie that you get to see right at the beginning of the exhibiton. Pictures and videos are not allowed so unfortunately i can't show you any of it.
Let's just say there's a Titan attack and a staff member dressed in Survey corps unifrom tries to protect you. You can imagine how well that goes. It's pretty fun though! 

Afterwards you enter the actual exhibition, where photos are fortunately allowed.

It mainly consists of Hajime Isayamas original drawings, pages from the Manga.

His handwriting is quite messy xD

There's also some of his calligraphy...

childhood drawings...

And some other works that inspired him to draw Shingeki no Kyojin.

They had a few 3D-ish pop-up installations too that looked great.

As well as life-sized cardboard figures of all the characters.

I always thought about cosplaying Hanji or Ymir before but omg I need heels for that. Didn't realize both of them were so tall!

This installation was really cool, it highlighted different panels of Eren closing the hole in the wall and had different effects and sounds that fit to the actions of him.

Marco....Jean~

This bit was one of the coolest places in the exhibition!

This one made me laugh a bit. First you got cool Levi with his weapons...and then you have cleaning Levi.

You get to touch Mikasas scarf as well.

Sasha's potato is very important too.

And then...the most impressive part. Life-sized colossal Titan!

Size comparison.

Another area had works by different artists portraying AoT characters.

This one was a favourite with the girls.

Kawaii Titan~

They had a few stamps there that you could use too.

After the exhibition there was an area with merchandise available for purchase, which wasn't that~ expensive considering it was official merchandise sold at an exhibiton.

They also had a nice Christmas tree set up for Christmas.

Hope you enjoyed this post~

If you like Shingeki no Kyojin, make sure to go! It's not a huge exhibition, but I think it's worth the money.

Oh and also, I will be going to Tokyo next week for 13 days, if you guys have any recommendations please tell me in the comments below!

Love, Lydia