I failed to mention in my previous post that we're staying at the National Olympic Youth Center in Shibuya. It was initially built in the 1960s to house the athletes in the Olympic games. Now, it functions as a youth hostel. It has facilities to cater to everyone who would need it for seminars or cultural activities.
The nearest train station is Sangubashi, which is only two stops away from the famous Shinjuku station (Times Square).
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Despite sleeping late last night and despite my lack of sleep two nights ago, I woke up as soon as my alarm sounded. I anticipated that several people will be lining up to use the toilet and bath when I decided to I get up at 6am. It seemed that I was one of the few awake people that morning. After tending to some personal stuff, I proceeded to the lounge to catch up on some emails, hence the Facebook status.
Breakfast this morning was salmon, Tamago and bread. Miso is served 3x a day. By now, we've figured out that they serve the same dessert selection everyday. The Japanese people have a healthy diet. They always have salad and veggies in their main course. Our meals at Cafe Fuji cost between Y450 and Y700. Salad and drinks are limitless. Convenience stores are everywhere. Water price ranges from Y98 to over Y200, depending on the size and brand.
Eating with Hapons for two whole days, I notice that I haven't seen them drink soda. In fact, it is not served in the dining area. Coca-cola/Pepsi products, except for Minute Maid and water, are not so popular in this area. I have yet to partake of Japanese food in a good resto.
After a very heavy breakfast, we proceeded to the arts building for our morning rehearsal. It was quite productive. We reviewed the music we'll be singing with SYC (Singapore Youth Choir) and Gaia Philharmonic (our Japanese host). The facilities are more than we expected.
We haven't burned up our breakfast when we headed to lunch at Cafe Fuji. Josme.
One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to the Y99 and Y100 stores. The stores are in the vicinity of our afternoon rehearsal venue so we dropped by before and after practice. We got several pasalubongs and some useless but cute items.
Another highlight of the day was the joint rehearsal with Gaia and SYC. Ko Matsushita, Gaia's conductor is so hip. He sported a pair of red jeans and polka dot socks. He is such a metro-sexual. He livened up the rehearsal with his rendition of the traditional Japanese dance.
Singing "A Better World" with the rest of the group gave me goosebumps. It is so inspiring and heart-warming to hear people of different races to express one dream through wonderful music. Ko M. found the song sexy. I dunno why. Kung wala lang siyang 3 anak, pagkakamalan ko siyag bading-gerzee.
I attempted to shop at a department store in Shinjuku. I had 25 minutes to go around. I hate being rushed while shopping so I ended up not getting anything. Longchamp, by the way, is more expensive here. The model I was eying turned out to be $60 more expensive than the DFS price in Manila and HK. Oh well....
After dinner, Harajuku was our destination. The map showed that it was just around the corner so a number of us decided to walk to get there. It was just on the other side of Yoyogi Park. We didn't know that Yoyogi park is as big as NY's Central Park. It took us 45 minutes to get there. When we reached our destination there wasn't much to see. Most shops are closed already. The sore feet and legs were so NOT worth it. At least, I got to wear my boots the whole day.
Tomorrow is concert day. I need to get the wrinkles off my costume so "tata" for now.
The nearest train station is Sangubashi, which is only two stops away from the famous Shinjuku station (Times Square).
------------------------------
Despite sleeping late last night and despite my lack of sleep two nights ago, I woke up as soon as my alarm sounded. I anticipated that several people will be lining up to use the toilet and bath when I decided to I get up at 6am. It seemed that I was one of the few awake people that morning. After tending to some personal stuff, I proceeded to the lounge to catch up on some emails, hence the Facebook status.
Breakfast this morning was salmon, Tamago and bread. Miso is served 3x a day. By now, we've figured out that they serve the same dessert selection everyday. The Japanese people have a healthy diet. They always have salad and veggies in their main course. Our meals at Cafe Fuji cost between Y450 and Y700. Salad and drinks are limitless. Convenience stores are everywhere. Water price ranges from Y98 to over Y200, depending on the size and brand.
Eating with Hapons for two whole days, I notice that I haven't seen them drink soda. In fact, it is not served in the dining area. Coca-cola/Pepsi products, except for Minute Maid and water, are not so popular in this area. I have yet to partake of Japanese food in a good resto.
After a very heavy breakfast, we proceeded to the arts building for our morning rehearsal. It was quite productive. We reviewed the music we'll be singing with SYC (Singapore Youth Choir) and Gaia Philharmonic (our Japanese host). The facilities are more than we expected.
We haven't burned up our breakfast when we headed to lunch at Cafe Fuji. Josme.
One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to the Y99 and Y100 stores. The stores are in the vicinity of our afternoon rehearsal venue so we dropped by before and after practice. We got several pasalubongs and some useless but cute items.
Another highlight of the day was the joint rehearsal with Gaia and SYC. Ko Matsushita, Gaia's conductor is so hip. He sported a pair of red jeans and polka dot socks. He is such a metro-sexual. He livened up the rehearsal with his rendition of the traditional Japanese dance.
Singing "A Better World" with the rest of the group gave me goosebumps. It is so inspiring and heart-warming to hear people of different races to express one dream through wonderful music. Ko M. found the song sexy. I dunno why. Kung wala lang siyang 3 anak, pagkakamalan ko siyag bading-gerzee.
I attempted to shop at a department store in Shinjuku. I had 25 minutes to go around. I hate being rushed while shopping so I ended up not getting anything. Longchamp, by the way, is more expensive here. The model I was eying turned out to be $60 more expensive than the DFS price in Manila and HK. Oh well....
After dinner, Harajuku was our destination. The map showed that it was just around the corner so a number of us decided to walk to get there. It was just on the other side of Yoyogi Park. We didn't know that Yoyogi park is as big as NY's Central Park. It took us 45 minutes to get there. When we reached our destination there wasn't much to see. Most shops are closed already. The sore feet and legs were so NOT worth it. At least, I got to wear my boots the whole day.
Tomorrow is concert day. I need to get the wrinkles off my costume so "tata" for now.
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