Japan day 3. Tokyo                       Ottercafe, arcade and temple

The breakfast at the hotel Sakura Hotel Nippori was only toast that you could toast in the toaster, and where the toppings were butter and jam. I think I ate breakfast there once, otherwise I bought an egg sandwich at 7/11.

We gathered the group again on the terrace outside the hotel, when we were going to tell a little about ourselves. We said our names, which country we came from, and why we had chosen Japan as our destination. After this we had a kahoot about Japan, it was fun, before we went through the plan for the day. We were also given bus tickets. 

It started with us looking around the city, Tokyo. On one roof there was a 3D screen. When that screen was up that high it gave a good effect that was cool to watch. Next we saw Harajuku, which is the birthplace of Japanese teen pop. Here there were lots of different shops, small and large.  

The group split into smaller groups before we moved on. Two from my group and I started by going to an ottercafe, it's not a cafe, but a place where you can say hello to otters! We had to wear suits, pink sweaters and skirts, as well as masks, and put our hair up so that the otters didn't eat our hair. Our bags were put into a locker which we locked. Then we were led into a small room with some sofa benches we could sit on. The otters had cages and toys, as well as a place where they could go to the toilet. They were loose inside the room itself, they jumped on our lap, played with us, and we gave them water, cuddled them and gave them some treats. 

There was a lady there who kept an eye on everything going well with both the otters and the people. They were very cute, the otters that is. Then we returned the clothes, washed our hands and took our things. It cost 600 yen (43 NOK) for 30 minutes with the otters. 

After this we looked around some shops and ate at McDonalds, before meeting the rest of the group to go on to the temple Meji Shrine, which is located in Yoyogi park.

The Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu, 明治神宮) is located in Tokyo, Japan, near Harajuku Station, and is the Shinto shrine dedicated to the souls of the "Meiji Emperor" Mutsuhito and his consort Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji died in 1912 and Empress Shoken in 1914. The temple was built soon after. https://no.wikipedia.org  

Entrance to the temple was free, but it cost 5 yen, (Approx. 3 øre in NOK) to pray, and you could buy various souvenirs 

Here we also saw a bridal couple with an entourage walking through the entire area where the temple was, they walked two by two in a row. 

When we felt finished in the temple we split up again, now we could go wherever we wanted. I went with one of the girls from the group back to where we were first, because we didn't feel finished there yet. Wanted to shop more. We bought earrings, and a new plug for the phone charger as my travel adapter didn't work in Japan. We took a break at a restaurant where we bought a drink that was very sweet and ate a hot dog. The hot dog was not a sausage, but potato and cheese with which you could add sausage if you wanted. It tasted good!

We then went back to the hotel to relax before continuing our trip to Akihabara. 

Akihabara is Tokyo's electric city, where we went to the arcades where you could play games. There were car games, card games and more, plus you could win teddy bears on claw machines (I won but didn't have room so I gave it away). We also went to a Manga store (comic book), there was a lot of different things, before we went back to the hotel for the day. 

All in all a great day greeting otters, visiting temples and looking at a 3D screen, playing games in the arcades and being with nice people, as well as tasting new food's and drink's. 

Sources: 

- https://no.wikipedia.org  (8 Mar. 2022 at 18:57. U/f).