I went to Tokyo for a weekend, and made travel diaries for both Akihabara and the Tokyo Skytree. I also went to Osaka (spoiler, video coming soon!), but I didn’t show what I bought, so this post will be a haul from all 3 places! In Akihabara, the only thing I bought was a 500 yen tripod, if you don’t count the 2 mini fake plants I got out of the Gatcha Gatcha machine (Capsule machine).

But I spent an entire day shopping at the Tokyo Skytree department store, so here’s what I bought. Zara had a large clearance section, so I bought this cute black and white polka-dotted dress, and it’s a soft silky material. Along with a black shirt with white pearls (obviously fake) sewn on. Evidently I have a thing for black and white polka-dots. I was also in need of a watch, so I also bought a rose gold sparkly watch in Osaka which fits perfectly so I don’t need to worry about getting it resized. Also got a red necklace tie thing that tbh kind of makes me look like a present when I wear it. But it’s cute so it’s fine.

I also got a pair of white low-cut Converse shoes since I don’t really have closed toed shoes that aren’t boots or running shoes. To match those I got a blanket scarf that I mentioned in my Skytree video, and like I said they had a sale life buy one get one free or something so I also got this pink shirt, and it’s reversible! As in you can wear it front or back, not inside out. I also got a necklace choker pair, which you’ve probably seen me wear in a variety of pictures on Instagram or in my videos.

To be completely honest, I thought this blog post would be longer since I usually have so much more to say. So for those of you still reading I will let you in on a little secret reveal! On my YouTube Channel, I plan on starting a series that I think I am calling my TLDR series, where I will be making short videos about tips, tricks, or hacks I’ve learned about travelling to places. For those of you who don’t know, TLDR stands for Too Long, Didn’t Read. I chose this name because for those people who either don’t have the time to read long articles about travelling or just simply don’t like reading much, you can just watch my short videos instead and they will give you some quick insight on the top 10 ish things that I learned from going to these places that maybe you wouldn’t find on the internet, just to help you out. Thanks for reading! Even though now it might be a little TLDR-esk itself. 😉

So as I mentioned in my Instagram post,  bicycle is the best method of getting around in Japan. The streets are narrow but nothing is further than a short bike ride away. Japan is convenient, and not just because they have a convenience store around every corner, but because anything you could ever need is accessible and close by. A car can be hard to navigate through the tiny streets, so everybody here bikes, including kids and the elderly. Not only is it great for the environment, but it’s good for your health too. It allows you to get in some of your required daily exercise without even thinking about it. Many people ride their bikes to work, so it adds a little movement to their static desk jobs. Did you know, Japan is one of the oldest nations in the world? And by that I mean it has one of the largest, if not The largest, elderly population in the world and one of the highest rates of reaching over 100 years old. In my opinion, riding bikes throughout their lives helped contribute to their ability to reach such high levels of old age.

One interesting thing about bicycles in Japan is that they are treated like any other vehicle. You must follow the rules of the road, and there are hefty fines if you break the law. Also, did you know it’s illegal to bike with an umbrella opened? I see people doing it all the time! But nope, not legal. You cannot bike in designated pedestrian areas (aka the sidewalk), unless you are a small child or an elderly person. I’m so used to driving on the right side of the road that when I went biking for the first time a couple days ago, instinctively I started biking on the right, and someone literally honked at me from their car!

Another thing that I don’t know why North America hasn’t adopted yet is the bike locking mechanism on Japanese bikes. There’s a key lock attached directly to the bike that doesn’t allow the tires to turn unless the key remains inserted. Also, it’s a steel rod which is waaay harder to cut than a regular bike lock. Now you might be thinking okay well someone could just pick up the bike and take it. Well at a lot of stores they have bike racks that clamp onto the front tires so you can’t just steal the bike without taking off the font tire, and even if you took the back part the back wheel still wouldn’t turn because of the built in lock. Like why can’t we have those? It’s so smart!

To be honest, I didn’t really think I would have this much to say about bikes, but I have one more awesome thing to add about Japanese bikes … Their Kickstands!! They go under the bike and hold the back tire completely off the ground to stabilize the bike upright instead of leaning it on a side kickstand! It is so much better and keeps your bike from falling over. And you can lock the kickstand too, so not only does the back tire not spin when locked, but the tire itself isn’t even touching the ground! Would make a bike either difficult or pointless to steal, right? Not sure why this “technology” hasn’t made it’s way to Canada and the United States yet, but we really need to get on it.

Anyways that’s my not so short spiel about bicycles in Japan! If anyone is really curious, leave a comment and I will upload pictures of all the different mechanisms I talked about or list all the rules about biking in Japan.

Hope you learned something!