This was my first view, when I got out of the station and I was kind of like overwhelmed of how big everything was and how many people there were everywhere. I felt like I was bothering the others while taking this photo because they were all heading to somewhere and I just stood there taking photos.
With thousands of maps in my hand I made my way to Otome Road which was recommended by my guidebook. To be honest I didn't realize that I was in Sunshine City until I arrived at my Ryokan at the end of the day. But it doesn't matter since it's basically the same spot, I guess.
As you can see on the pictures it was already getting dark. Due to the fact that my room wasn't available until 3pm, I guess I was down there about 5pm? But nevermind, when it's dark you are able to enjoy the beautiful look of all those lights and illuminated advertising. Furthermore the night always gives me a special feeling without intending to sound strange.
I had no particular goal. I was just strolling down the roads to see what was waiting for me behind the next corner. I entered some kind of supermarket, I guess which was super tiny and super crowded. But at the entrance to staff members were live cooking and serving us for free. I was given a hot soup with a meatball in it. Quite delicious. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of it. But I was surprised how friendly everyone was :)
I suddenly found myself in a district which was full of anime, where staff members cosplayed manga characteres, where people were shouting on the streets and inviting people to enter their stores. It was super exciting for me. I never experienced something like that.
I passed by a street food stand that selled Takoyaki in different flavours. Up till then I didn't know what Takoyaki was exactly made of, but it looked delicious so I ordered (in english) one. Although I could read most of the flavours they offered, I didn't know what I ordered in the end. I got the Tanuki (たぬき) one so I obviously ate some kind of racoon? :|
The staff asked me if I would like to have some Katsuoboshi (鰹節 - fish flakes) on my Takoyaki. I thought to myself "Well, if I order Takoyaki then I'll order it with any toppings they have!" So I got fish flakes onto my Takoyaki and it tasted awful. Not only the Katsuoboshi tasted awful, the Takoyaki itself did too. I didn't know it consisted of octopus.. Definitely not my flavour. Gomenasai.
I have been to several stores, game centers and, of course, animate. A huge building of, I guess, 7 floors selling all kind of merchandising for anime and manga you can think of! If only my japanese would be good enough for reading mangas :( I would have spent all my money on those mangas! Well in the end I left without buying anything unfortunately because it was the first day and I was afraid of spending too much :(
While I was walking through the streets I discovered those tiny streets where it's suddenly super cozy and super quite. There were lots of restaurants as tiny as the streets they were in and if I hadn't had my awful Takoyaki before I would have eaten there.
One thing happened when I was relaxing on a bench that I consider quite dangerous in retrospect. A women approached me with a friendly smile on her face and asked me where I'm from and what I am doing in Japan. She was joined by two men and we were having a little conversation. She asked me if I would like to join a buddhistic ceremony in a temple nearby. They told me they were on the way to the temle and would be happy if I joined them. I thought it was a nice idea to experience such a ceremony and agreed. Just as we started walking I thought: "Oh my god, what are you doing? Where are they taking you? You don't know them. What if they are going to attack you, rob you?" I felt very uncomfortable und just hoped the best. They made such a friendly impress on me but maybe I was just naive. I was happy when we actually arrived at the temple. Which was more like a modern building with a room to pray. There was a big statue at the front and a lot of benches in front of it. We sat down on one bench and they handed me a rosary and told me the words I had to say which I don't remember anymore. When we finished praying we left the room and took an elevator to the 3rd floor. They didn't answer when I asked where we were going because they were chatting with each other.
And now it started being really awkward. We entered a room that looked like a class room. On the walls were pictures of several temples and mountains in Japan. One of the man showed me around and told me what kind of temples and mountains were shown on the pictures. Then a girl brought some cups of tea, to be more precised, four cups of tea. One cup for each of us. Then they put some books onto a table and told me to have a seat. Suddenly a monch (!) entered the room, dressed up in a traditional garb. I felt really uncomfortable because I had no clue what they were up to. They obviously chose me on purpose to take me to that monch. He started a conversation with me about common things like where I was from, if I can speak japanese and things like that. They even wanted me to show them my hometown on thei iPad.To my astonishement they actually knew some of my town's landmarks. One of the men even started to sing traditional german songs I didn't even know of. Then the monch asked if I planned to visit some temples like the one in Asakusa. He told me that I shouldn't pray there like many tourists do because I have an other religion as they do and it woud be rude to pray. I tried to assure him that I won't do that and that I will only go there for sightseeing purposes. He was fine with that. They started to talk about another topic with me. Apparently they offer japanese language lessons in that building and they invited me to come there tomorrow. I tried to make clear in a friendly that I have plenty places where I want to go and that I won't have time to take part in one of their language classes. But they didn't understand and said I definitely have to come. After a while I just agreed so they would stop telling me to come. Then we were talking a bit about this and that for a while and then we finally left the building. At least they were friendly enough to bring me back to Ikebukuro station and made sure I will find my way back home. They were super friendly after all, but still some kind of creepy.
Of course I didn't go to the language class the day after although the woman said she will be waiting for me. I somehow felt bad about it. But to be fair, I overslept the appointment anyway due to my jetlag. So maybe I would have gone there, if I hadn't overslept :D Maybe..
Here's a picture I took after they brought me back to Ikebukuro station. I just love this glooming advertising everywhere!
Ah! And here is a video I took while being at Ikebukuro station! There were some street artists who were (illegally) playin their songs on the street. Shortly after I made the video a police man came and told them to stop. Unfortunately. It was great to listen to their music while sitting on a small wall next to them and looking around. Sorry for the bad quality of t he video. My camera has focussing issues while filming :(
Their name is Hibiki (ひびき) and I really like their sound! I just wrote an email to their management to know if they sell their CD's online and ship them to Germany (which I highly doubt) but maybe I have a chance.
Here's the link to their official website: http://hibiki.office-pj.com/pc/index.html
