Since I got told I should check out Kōenji (高円寺) while I'm here (thank you anon in the last post!!), that's where me and Paris headed yesterday.

Used/vintage clothing stores, small bars and restaurants, the birthplace of punk in Tokyo, alternative styles and what not. That's what Kōenji is all about. With these on our minds, we hopped on the train and rode all the way to Kōenji. The original plan was to check out Nakano broadway as well (since it's the next stop from Kōenji), but we stayed in Kōenji a bit too long so the stores in Nakano were already closing down when we got there. Maybe another day then!

Anyway, some pictures from yesterday:

overall spinns second hand top jóuetie cap fig&viper shoes fig&viper socks fig&viper
belt somewhere in tallinn necklaces somewhere in harajuku

Woooppp have an outfit shot for once! I've never really been into buying used clothing, because I hate the idea of not knowing who's worn it, and in Finland all the second hand stores I've been to have been suuuper messy and full of crap, so I haven't found anything. And to me, the smell of old clothes is off-putting as itself as well lol.

But some days ago, I visited Spinns in Harajuku and noticed they were selling some pretty neat used clothing side-to-side with new items and they we're displayed really nicely in the store, so it didn't feel like buying something used at all (infact, I didn't even notice they were used at first!). So, as I didn't feel like I was digging through somebody's garbage, I actually found this cute denim overall and bought it!

I was also pretty impressed that I was able to find something that fit me here and is not stretchy material! Maybe I have done something right lately and shouldn't totally cross out the option about buying bottoms here in Japan...




While me and Paris were taking some pictures in front of this cute little store, a japanese lady came to us and asked if she could interview us for some TV program for a moment. After we said yes, a whole camera crew appeared out of nowhere lol.

They just asked us the basic questions like where are we from, what do we think about Japan/Kōenji, are we musicians or fashion designers (this is weird because we hear it almost everyday hahah, why can't I dress like this and be a nobody) and so on.

Then we went into the store above and they filmed us while we were checking out the clothes and took us to another store next to it. The other store was on the second floor and it would've never crossed my mind to go there if the TV staff wouldn't have told us to. Because the stairs were super scary and rotten like, and then you arrived to a little balcony and found a small door to the actual store. It beats me how do people find these places if you don't know where you're going??

I don't know where the footage will end up to, but I got a t-shirt that says "I ♥ 高円寺" on it as a present from them hahah.





After the filming, we decided to check some more stores on our own, and this one especially was super cute! Used clothing and toys galore!



They had a room like this inside the store and I just couldn't resist to snap a couple photos there. It would be a perfect set-up for some pastel themed photoshoot!






More pastel goodness. They look so nice like this but I don't think I could pull off wearing something like that.

After we were done with Kōenji, we met up with our friend Laka in Nakano and continued the night at Shinjuku Nichome and Kabuki-cho. I have no plans for today yet, but I think I'm gonna go ask Paris to go grab some food with me now. So, laters!

I'm not much of a tourist when it comes to traveling and I prefer doing things in my own pace and enjoying regular things like hanging out with friends, having lunch/dinner at a restaurant, shopping, partying, you name it, which is pretty much what I would do in any location.

Which makes me wonder why I'm even writing a post called "what to see in Tokyo" when I literally have no suggestions for you to give :D Well, in the end, this post is more like what I saw, which places I visited and where I liked to hang out while being in the capital of ~the land of the rising sun~.

Well, there is one tourist-y like place I visited and it's the 明治神宮 (meiji jingū = meiji shrine) in Harajuku (see the pics above). Tiina and her friends wanted to go check it out, so I decided to tag along. Although, the third picture shows how far I got before I had to run back from the forest to see Jojo and her friends whom I had agreed to meet with later that day. Went better than last time anyway, when I didn't even cross the gate, haha. Maybe I'll actually get to have the full experience next time lol.



My main districts to hang out at in Tokyo were 渋谷(shibuya > fashion & night clubs), 新宿(shinjuku > bars, night clubs and shopping) and 原宿(harajuku > youth culture & street fashion) and I bet nobody is surprised about that.

The pictures above are something I snapped while walking around Shibuya by myself and it was probably the only day I had my big camera with me.

In the second pic is Tower Records, a huge 9 floor music store where I did some cd shopping and bought some newer cali≠gari mini albums. My favourite place to buy visual kei cds is Closet Child in Harajuku though, because you can buy used cds for so much cheaper than new ones. And to japanese people "used" often means a new one that still has the plastic wrap on it, lol. In the end I bought seven albums/singles in total during my trip.

Below is a Vine clip I filmed in front of Shibuya station on the very same day ↓

One place I also have found myself at (surprisingly often too), is お台場(odaiba). I mean, sure it has a few big shopping malls, livehouses and what not, it's still a bit.. mehh, in my opinion. The Venus Fort mall is pretty (see the pics from my first trip: 1, 2, 3) but the shops are not really for me.

In front of the Venus Fort mall you can also find 大観覧車(daikanransha), a big ferris wheel from where you can get a great view of the city. Last time I rode it during the day time and now me and Anna rode it during the night! My iphone pics don't do any justice for the view but it was great.

One of the carts has transparent walls and floor and you can ride that too by paying a little extra, but Anna was too much of a coward to ride it with me :(

Odaiba also is one of the few places in Tokyo where you can go to a beach of some sort, not to swim but to hang out. I've seen some people letting their dogs play in the water but that's pretty much it. Where do the people of Tokyo go if they want to go swimming? That I have absolutely no idea of.



Here's Shinjuku by night and it's known for it's flashing lights and signs, especially in 歌舞伎町(kabukichō). But then again, which part of Tokyo isn't?

In the third pic you can see the east exit of Shinjuku station, which was the usual meetup point for me if I was supposed to meet friends in Shinjuku. The station was also one of the few places where I managed to find free wifi, so it was also a good place to stop at if you wanted to check your social media accounts during the day.



And lastly, 横浜 (Yokohama), where me and Anna ended up going one night when we had nothing else to do. It was really easy to get there, because Yokohama/Minatomirai was the end station of the same train route I used daily to get to my favourite districts from Toritsu-Daigaku.

I'm actually a bit bummed, because when we arrived to Yokohama, there was tons of people who were wearing yukatas, arriving to the station and it seemed like there had just been some matsuri -thing going on which had ended just before we got there. Would've been cool to get to witness it but we had no idea such thing was happening in the first place.

Yokohama was really pretty, but since we couldn't figure out anything to do there, we took a train to Shinjuku and the evening turned into bar hopping.


What are your favourite districts in Tokyo? Or where would you like to visit the most?

Btw, I'm actually going back to Tokyo in September! I'll try to get the posts about the previous trip out, before I go again. I have two posts left to do, so that should be possible. This time I'm traveling with my friend Paris and we're staying for 5 weeks (the exact dates are 17.9.-22.10.). Is any of you going to be there at the same time? If so, let me know!

I'm assuming most of my readers know what purikura is, but just in case there is someone who doesn't here's what in short: the word プリクラ (purikura) comes from the words print club (プリント倶楽部 = purinto kurabu = purikura in short) and basically means photos taken in a photo booth, which you later decorate with different backgrounds, stamps and text, and then print them on a sticker paper. Depending on the machine you pick, they have options that make your eyes look bigger or your legs slimmer and longer.

One sheet usually costs about ¥400 (about 3 euros) and you can choose different layouts for the printed version, depending how many people you're with, so you get to share the photos with your friends. If you have a japanese email, that way you can get the digital version of the pics to your phone too. I don't, but some of my friends do and that's how I got some of the pictures for myself as well. The rest are scanned.

I guess I don't have anything else to say about purikura. These are the puris I took during my trip with different friends and different occassions. It's gonna be pic heavy but I'm sure you'll manage!

WARNING: Before reading this post, go grab yourself some food or else you'll be craving for it after you're done reading. I mean it, this post is gonna be filled with food pictures.

I don't really know what's the thing with taking food pictures, but everyone, me included, seems to be doing it almost everytime they eat out. Why is it so much fun to snap a pic of your plate before you dig in? :D Well, I do not know the answer to that, but since I snapped quite a few during my trip I thought I might as well dump them here!


My favourite kind of places to eat at were different izakayas. When you're not sure what and how much you want to eat, it's super easy to walk into one and order a few of the various small dishes they offer for small prices. It was also a good choice when you want to share your food with your friends. It's not a part of finnish culture so share your food, but it's very common in Asia.

A thing worth mentioning about ordering food in an izakaya is that you often have a tablet-like thingy on your table that has a digital menu you can use to order the things you want. This way you don't need to call for a waiter, because your order goes straight to the kitchen and will be brought to you shortly.

I don't know if I should be ashamed, but the sushi in these pictures was the only sushi I ate during the whole trip... :D But I figured I'd try other japanese foods instead of sushi, because that I can get in Finland as well. What I especially liked to eat at izakayas, was 餃子 (gyōza = dumplings), 唐揚げ (karaage = japanese style fried chicken) and おむそば (omusoba = beef and noodles with an omelette on top). The fried avocado on left in the pic above was quite interesting too.

As I mentioned in my post about bars & partying as well,  izakayas usually offer 飲み放題 (nomihōdai = drink-all-you-want menu) too. For a certain price you can order as many drinks as you want for a limited time (usually 2 hours or something).


On one of the days I met up with Jojo and her friends for some shopping time and food, and we ended up going to this 焼き肉 (yakiniku = japanese style barbeque) place in Harajuku. Which basically means you order different kinds of thin sliced meat and vegetables that will be brought to you raw and you cook them on your table grill.

I went to this kind of restaurant on my last trip too, but damn, I still find them scary. It gets quite hot because you're sitting in front of an open fire and at one point the flames got too high and I was so surprised I actually threw my pliers away lol. The blue/transparent glass seen in the pics was filled with water, so you could pour it on the flames if they got too wild.... Still, scary. But super tasty!!


I'm not really a big fan of desserts, but I had a few of those too! One thing I really wanted to try out was かき氷 (kakigōri = shaved ice, flavored with syrup, fruit and condensed milk) because I've heard it's a popular dessert during the hot summer season and helps you to cool down. Well I don't know if helped at all and I didn't really like it that much... It was literally like eating ice and stawberry syrup, ugh. But atleast I tried it!

The cute penguin shaped chocolate thing was filled with mousse and fruits! It was pretty good, but the main reason for buying it was because me and Anna thought they had wi-fi in that cafe in Ikebukuro but they didn't, hahaha.


On the left you can see a pork with rice dish I often had as a take out from Yoshinoya on my way home. They had most of the take away dishes in 3-4 different sizes and they were super cheap and tasty, so it was easy to grab one for a evening snack.

And on the right is a とんかつ (tonkatsu = pork cutlet) dish I had at Jonathan's. I sometimes feel a bit baffled with japanese meals because they often come with so many different things I have no idea what they are and how I'm supposed to eat them... Well, I can always pull out the バカ外人 (baka gaijin = stupid foreigner) card if someone gives me a disapproving look.


Even though Tokyo is full of different theme restaurants, I only managed to visit one, which was the Rilakkuma Café at Tower Recods in Shibuya. And that was kinda spontaneous too, since I just tagged along with Anna and Rena before the GazettE live. When we got escorted to the table for 4 people and there was only 3 of us, the waitress brought a big Rilakkuma plushie to sit with us on the 4th seat, aw.

The cafe mostly served different pastries and drinks, all with cute Rilakkuma designs, but I decided to go with the curry because I was feeling hungry. I don't particularly enjoy curry (or indian food in general, everything tastes like that freaking tikka masala lol), but japanese curry is really good!

I felt bad because I had to destroy the cute food, but let's face it, it was gonna get eaten anyway haha. On the left you can see a regular japanese curry from CoCo's for comparison :'D That was what I sometimes had for hangover food. Both were delicious!


I also had some non-japanese food during my trip, such as T.G.I Friday's delicious avocado burger, where I went with Tuomas, Yameki and their friend Mariko. Instead of nomihōdai T.G.I Friday's had a "limu"hōdai hahah (limu = soda in finnish).

On the right is some avocado dumplings I had as a snack in some bar. Can you already tell I friggin' love avocados :DD



Left: Deep fried "closed down" pizza aka panzerotti which I had somewhere in Harajuku and it was quite weird but tasted OK.

Right: Steak at a restaurant in Venus Fort, Odaiba. You could choose rice or bread with it, which I thought was super weird since the meal already had potatoes in it... like... why do I need two side dishes? Also the blue lights made it look like you were eating in a toilet with drug preventing UV lights, lol.


As much as I love different salads, the ones I ate in Japan were quite.. meh. These were still close to what I'm used to having when I'm ordering a salad, but often it was more like just having grated vegatables. Maybe making salads isn't one of japanese people's strong points.

Anyways, that's what I ate during my month in Tokyo. What's your favourite japanese foods?