A sampling of my vacation

I've been on break since the end of January and I've had the opportunity to explore Tokyo and the surrounding area with my friends. I was invited to visit the Ghibli Studio Museum. Pictures weren't allowed inside, but I took these on the way there. Each ticket came with little cells from a studio Ghibli film. I have Howl from Howl's Moving Castle!

Totoro at the bus stop for the Ghibli bus. It did not come that day, so we walked.

Bus stop.

The outside of the museum.

Totoro and soot sprites welcome us.

 Then, we went ice skating! It was around $8 and you could skate as long as you want...It was fake ice. We wondered why, whenever we passed it on the way home, no one skated on it. The fake ice was sticky and there was no way to glide. Some spots were slick and you could slip, but other than that, it wasn't much fun. Well, we had fun walking around and laughing about it.

 I also went with some friends to Nippori, the textile town. There we saw just a few streets lined with fabrics, leathers, and shoes. There were many more we didn't get the chance to see!

 We met up with our Japanese friend Erika and went to eat lunch and karaoke. We had okonomiyake for lunch. This was my second time eating it. Its fun flipping and cooking it with your friends in the restaurant.

chocolate Hachiko statue in Hikarie

Okonomiyake, a sort of batter/omlette fried with whatever you want in it. 

The noodles were yakisoba ingredients, the other was pork okonomiyake.