Roppongi Perfect For Young Nightlife

So after a long day of walking around Tokyo and visiting so many amazing historical sites and learning more about the country, all of us wanted a little time to ourselves. So where was the best place to go out, have a few drinks, and dance a little bit with your friends? Roppongi, especially if you are in your twenties. You will find people from all over the globe who go out there. Bright lights, thousands of people, and night clubs and food places everywhere. It's just New York City in the sense the city never sleeps!

Sing it Out

What is one of the most popular things to do while in Tokyo you ask? Karaoke of course. I couldn't believe it myself but on almost every few blocks you would see some glass building with a front desk and three workers standing behind it. That is where people may go on their lunch breaks, to throw a party or to just have a good time with friends. You sign up for as long as you'd like to go in for. The one I visited had seven floors and the room sizes varied. The first time I went was with the other fourteen students on our trip. Since we had a bigger size group we had a room with couches, a big screen tv, and a mini stage that lit up different colors. Let me tell you we all had a blast! We hung around, had a few drinks, and sang out a few songs.

Well because me and my roomate had such a good time we decided to go back on our own! This time our room was much smaller because it was the two of us. There was two couches and just a tv screen. Still, we had an awesome time.

After seeing and enjoying the karaoke over in Tokyo I was really bummed coming back to the states knowing we don't have something like that over in the states. However, I'm glad I did it and I completely recommend it to anyone traveling to Japan because suprisingly it is a big part of their culture!

New Years In Japan

Best part about being in Japan in December? Easy. New Years at Zojoji Temple! The temple is located right near Tokyo Tower, you can only imagine how beautiful the place was lit up! Hands down it was the most amazing experience I have ever had. The celebration was so culturaly different than ours. Thousands of people came out to the tower to enjoy food, festivies, and to pray at the temple.

For the first hundred or so people who arrived recieved a balloon. When the new year rang in, everyone let go of their balloons and then the gong was hit 108 times. These are a few of the Japanese traditions. Another tradition they follow is recieving arrows. Seeing how everyone was celebrating 2011, citizens would recieve an arrown with a rabbit attached to it then bring last years arrows to be burned.

                                                           Balloons released at midnight


The food was absolutely amazing! Specialties they served were chocolate and strawberry bananas covered in sprinkles, baked potatoes, noodles, mooshi, and much more!

It was an amazing experience and something I will never forget!

Something Fishy

Tsukiji fish market is the world's biggest wholesale fish and seafood market. The key is going very early in the morning to watch the unloading of the tuna. However, when we visited this was closed to foreigners because the tradeing and unloading of the fish can get too intense for visitors. They can get in the way and even get hurt in some cases. The market opens at 3 AM! We went at 9 AM to see all of the other parts of the market and hopefully miss the "rush" of people. This was the first place I was able to visit and travel to in Tokyo. When we got there I was immediately overwelmed by the loads of people travleing up and down the rows in the market. As I explored the market, I entered the heart of the market where the huge fish are killed, sold and traded. I've never seen such big fish in front of my eyes before. It was so cool. It's definitely something you need expeirence for yourself. I highly reccomend it!