Good morning loves♥ Once again, I got up before the sun, so I’ve had lots of time to go through all the pictures from our day trip to Arashiyama. Prepare for a lot of pics! First I thought I’d tell you how we ended up going there. I was looking at different day trips for us to take at Japanican, and totally fell for the bamboo forest and the temples. We found out that in stead of going on an organized trip, we wanted to go just the two of us. Japanican has lots of different organized tours to gorgeous locations, so if you’re ever going to Tokyo, I would recommend finding whatever catches your eye on that site, and if you feel comfortable with it, just go on your own.

Arashiyama is located in Kyoto, and the train ride there took a little over two hours. We were quite shocked when we saw the price of the train tickets, we payed almost 3000kr for a roundtrip. We didn’t understand why it was so expensive, the train wasn’t that fancy, haha. Then we realized that the distance from Tokyo to Kyoto is actually the same as Bergen-Oslo, which explains the price. Norway has a lot to learn from Japan! If there was a two hour train ride from Bergen to Oslo, I would definitely take the train instead of flying. But anywho, picture time!

The first thing we did when we got there was checking out the monkey park. It was a 20 minute steep hike to get up there, but the surroundings were so beautiful that I almost didn’t hear my own heavy breathing. Remind me to start doing more cardio, I was out of breath after like two minutes, haha.

I love animals, so the monkey park was one of the things I was most excited about. Then I spotted this, and was like “Hey, that monkey park, isn’t that sort of lame? Maybe we should just go back“. I was super scared, monkeys can actually be very dangerous, but my boyfriend comforted me with the fact that they were probably behind a fence..

While hiking up there I was just minding my own business, then all of a sudden I made eye contact with this little guy, and I almost peed my pants. No fence, help!

The monkeys turned out to be pretty cool though, mostly they were just busy scratching their private parts, and didn’t even notice the terrified blonde right in front of them.

The view from the top was amazing!

After that we headed downtown for some food..

I really miss the food in Japan! Everything was so good and new to me.

Then it was time for a little boat ride, which was such an amazing experience. The surroundings were so beautiful, and I think I was the most relaxed I’ve ever been, hanging out at the river while spotting temple after temple on the sides.

Pretending to be meditating again, haha.

After that we walked towards the bamboo groves, and met these pretty ladies. I have always just assumed that these outfits are for special occasions, sort of like the ‘bunad’ we have in Norway, but I saw Japanese girls rocking these every day I was there. Super fun to see!

The bamboo groves was nothing less than breathtaking!!

Walking on this little path surrounded by thousands of super high bamboos was such an amazing experience.

Puh, that was a lot of pictures! I think our trip here must be the most memorable day we had in Japan, it was all just so fun, relaxed and romantic to share with my love. This is my last post from Japan, so if you have any questions for me about the trip, shoot in this post. I’ve gotten some requests to do a Tokyo guide, but I’ve already shared all the things we’ve done, so I don’t know if that’s neccessary. Have a lovely day sweeties♥

My traveling outfit // The view from our suite during sunrise, gorgeous!

My birthday look 

Boatride in Arishyama. My boyfriend was rowing while I pretended to be meditating, haha. I figured that if I’d ever start meditating, doing it in a gorgeous Japanese village, on the river, with temples scattered on each side would be the perfect place to start. It was so peaceful there! A post with more pics from Arishyama is coming up tomorrow.

My beloved new Chanel // Birthday dinner with my boyfriend at the New York Grill. Such an amazing view, even though I felt bad for my boyfriend who treated dinner as the food there was super expensive..

The view during sunset from the second highest building in the whole world; SkyTree. // Enjoying a relaxing morning at the hotel, taking in the lovely surroundings..

My three favorite bags // At a lovely Mexican restaurant our last night in Tokyo. The food was so good, the restaurant was the most charming one I’ve ever been at, and real mexicans walked around in the restaurant singing and playing guitar. La Fonda de la Madrugada was the name of it, definitely recommended!

Having sushi in Japan for the first time, yum! We had sushi every single day there, it was so good! // People really aren’t kidding when they say that the portions in Japan are small. This is one main dish at a restaurant! Two bites and I was done, win!

I had so much fun with the Japanese photo booths. The first time I had no idea what to do when the pictures were taken, everything was in Japanese. So I just waited for my boyfriend to finish up, and just as we were about to leave, I saw the pictures to the right on a big screen in the arcade!! Super embarrassing as I just made ugly faces, haha. I had no idea how to get them to go away either, but after a little help from a Japanese girl I got them printed out and off the big screen. When I discovered that we could get them printed, I of course had to drag my boyfriend in with me. Those pictures crack me up!

I can’t even tell you how luxurious it was to fly on business class! The best birthday present EVER!! // Japan from the skies..

Arcades are huge in Japan! There’s one at every corner, and every morning right before 10am we could see long queues of people waiting to get in. Inside there’s hundreds of different game machines, and hundreds of Japanese people sitting there super focused playing different things. It was hilarious to be there, business men in suits were absolutely crazy on the dancing machines, and the girlies gathered around the photo booths, which I of course had to check out. So while my boyfriend was super concentrated on some Saga game, I had so much fun with the photo booths. They’re called Purikura, and the photos turn out like this..

Haha, I did them so many times! My eyes were suddenly huge, my skin perfection and my face slimmer. These are going right up on my fridge, such a fun memory to have! Right now I’m actually on my way down to Amalie’s for a girl’s night out. I feel pretty weird after the change of time zones, but when my bestie wants to go out, I pretty much have no choice. I just wanted to pop by before I leave to show you these, they’re so funny! Have a fun Saturday night you guys♥

Our last full day in Tokyo we decided to spend sightseeing. We headed to Ginza, and the gorgeous garden Hama Rikyu. It’s so fascinating with these city parks, because outside there are millions of people rushing around, tall buildings, thousands of cars, and just the general big city vibe. Then you enter the park, and feel such serenity, and all you can hear is the sound of grass hoppers.

We spotted such a pretty butterfly just hanging out in one of the trees, and I of course wanted to get a good picture of it. It sat pretty high up, so I ended up having to sit on my boyfriend’s shoulders while snapping pics. I bet that looked totally normal, haha.

The park is so pretty!

And my fascination with cotton candy-looking clouds continues..

Hama Rikuy garden is located right by the ocean, so we decided to take a little boat ride. I’m so fascinated by the Japanese letters, did you know that there are over ten thousand of these? Insane!!

We drove around in the boat for about an hour in the insane heat, and I don’t know if I recommend it. Everything looked pretty much the same, just tall grey buildings on each side.

We jumped off the boat and decided to visit SkyTree. What’s so fun about Tokyo is that wherever you go, there’s funny things to see. Did you know that they actually have vending machines where you can purchase women’s used underwear? Haha!! On our way to SkyTree we spotted this funny sculpture, these sorts of crazy things are everywhere in Tokyo!

SkyTree in all its glory. It’s actually the second highest building in the world!!

The view was amazing. I just had my zoom lens with me, but it seriously looked like the view from an air plane.

My boo♥

We were lucky enough to catch the sunset from up there! So gorgeous!

Inside it almost looked like a spaceship, super fancy..

After a long trip back we got home late last night, and as I managed not to sleep on the plane, I fell asleep like a baby once I went to bed at home, and actually managed to get up pretty early this morning. Hopefully I won’t feel the jetlag, I just hate jetlags! It’ll probably take me some time to get over the Japanese way of acting though, I’ve become so used to it. Like bowing and saying ‘arigatou’ every time I say thank you. We’re off to grocery shop soon, and I just know that I’ll bow to the cashier! Haha. I hope you’re all enjoying the weekend sweets♥

Good morning sweeties♥ First of all thank you so much for all the birthday wishes yesterday! You guys are the best! I had a really nice and relaxing day with my man, just walking around in Tokyo, eating yummy food and being in a beyond bubbly and happy mood like I always am when it’s my birthday.

Loving my new Chanel!! A little birthday present from myself, to myself, that’s allowed right?

Before dinner we headed to Shinjuku for some shopping, which didn’t exactly go as planned. Tokyo is such an overwhelming city! You can be a two mintue walk away from a great shopping street without even realizing it, because all you see is hundreds of people right in front of you, hundreds of billboards with letters you don’t understand and a jungle of small buildings without any street names. That’s of course just a part of the charm with Tokyo, and it’s really fun to just get lost in this little jungle.

We had dinner at The New York Grill, on the 52nd floor of Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku. One of the most incredible restaurants I’ve ever been at! We dined by the window with a breathtaking view, while an orchestra and a singer stood next to us playing lovely live tunes from New York. The food was amazing, but the prices were really high. Oh well, it’s only my birthday once a year, so it was definitely worth it. Stop by there if you’re ever in Tokyo!

Today we’re giving shopping another shot, but I think we’ll head to Harajuku in stead of Shinjuku, I found it much easier to navigate there. Wishing you all a lovely day♥♥

Yesterday was so amazing! One of the most interesting days of my life, everything was so new, pretty, fascinating and fun. I took over 2000 pics, and I don’t really want to spend my birthday in front of the computer for hours, so here is just a little peek at the day. You can expect lots of pics from the gorgeous Arashiyama tomorrow♥

Yesterday we planned to spend the day shopping in Harajuku, and figured we’d walk in stead of taking the train so that we could sightsee a bit too. We walked alongside a park called Yoyogi and decided to go in for a peek, and man am I glad we did!! Little did we know that we were about to an adventurous mix of the Japanese culture, dancing, music, costumes and atmosphere in that park. As it turns out, the last weekend of August, Super Yosaki is being held in the park, which is a huge festival. I’ll let the pictures speak for them selves. And girls; Get ready for a lot of pics!!

How adorable are these little dolls? I’m in love with their costumes!

We walked around and saw so many people in amazing costumes, you can’t even imagine! It was so cool, and something I’ll never ever forget. There were different stages with incredibly talented dance groups dancing like there was no tomorrow, to super fetchy Japanese music. I was a little bummed that I didn’t get any good pictures, it was so crowded in front of the stage. Then suddenly we saw a whole street being prepared for dancers. It must have been hundreds of meters long, and one dance group after another danced their way from start to finish line, one hundred percent synchronic the whole time. I was completely mesmerized, it’s hands down the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!! I wish I got a good video of it so that I could show you! I snapped one with my phone though, so let me know if you want to see it, and I’ll post it on my Facebook page. Here are some photos..

The dance groups had members in all ages. I of course fell in love with all the little girlies..

So adorable, and so freakishly talented!!

This woman represents what I feel like all Japanese people look like. Happy and with huge and welcoming smiles on their faces. Japan I love you!!!

Eating noodles in between dancing.. They look so fancy!

After looking at the dancers for hours, we decided to check out the Meiji Jingu Shrine, which is a Japanese place of worship. The shrine is located in the same park, and to get there we walked through three of these wooden gates.

Walking to the shrine felt like a little fairytale.. Look how beautiful!

The love of my life♥

I have no idea what this is, but it looked super cool, haha.

Suddenly we had spent most of the day in Yoyogi, but I still wanted to check out the stores before we headed back to the hotel. I lasted for exactly two stores before I had to call it quits, look how crowded the streets were!

We fell asleep to this breathtaking view. Every time I look out the window my heart skips a beat, it just doesn’t look real!

Puh, that was one long blogpost!! Such an amazing day though, I feel so incredibly lucky to experience all of this. When you’re reading this we are hopefully in Kyoto relaxing in the bamboo forest, or feeding the monkeys in the monkey park. I guess it’s safe to say that you can expect at least as many pictures tomorrow. Have a lovely day you guys♥

Konnichiwa sunshines! Our first full day in Tokyo was spent in the Shibuya area, which is great for shopping. We started at Shibuya Crossing and walked around for a bit, and visited the mall Shibuya 109 which I’ve read so much about. I didin’t find anything there, it’s clear that Japanese fashion is very far away from my personal style. It was so fun to walk around there though, the Japanese teens dress so creatively and fun, they almost look like fashionable cartoons, haha. The stores were filled with Japanese fashion, and we just had to giggle of some of the clothes there. Apparently tees with English prints are big here, and they just didn’t make any sense. “Get out, fuck down” and “Black is real fuck” are just two of the funny prints we saw, I mean, wtf?? Haha. The clothes were so tiny, in most stores jeans only came in size 34 and the dresses were like tops on me. It was so funny, because those kind of stores were beyond crowded, but when we visited H&M and Zara there wasn’t a single soul there. Not the way I expected it to be.

We were so exhausted from the jetlag and only a few hours of sleep, so I didn’t bring my SRL camera. It’s so heavy! So here are some touristy snapshots from yesterday..

Here you can see the mall, Shibuya 109. Definitely fun to stop by if you’re ever in Tokyo!

My outfit for the day was casual and comfortable. Sweater from BikBok, skirt from Asos, bag from Moo and Converse.

The daily sushi, yum yum!

After shopping in Shibuya, we headed to Shinjuku to visit a vintage store that I’ve been dying to check out. To see what I got, check the blog later! Now we’re headed to Harajuku, which is an area great for shopping, but there are also several historical sights there. I’ll be sure to bring my SLR and share some better pictures with you tonight or tomorrow♥