MegaBus?

       A busy weekend with no posting in between days has come to mean a megapost, a post so big I would compare it to a Megabus, not only just a Megabus, but a megabus with wifi on it, epic in proportion, and full of content like a delicious falafel sandwich. I thought about splitting this off and giving y'all a bathroom break, but I decided that requires too much time from me when I have other adventures (new bus routes) to travel to, thus this Driver needs no sleeping breaks, and you'll just have to pee in a cup if you have to go. (I also am going to warn you now that I thought about this Megabus analogy and contemplated writing it through the whole post, but I decided since I've never actually ridden on Megabus, I might first, do Megabus a dishonor, and secondly, I decided I really can't be that lame, though the latter is questionable. So I'm prewarning you that occasionally a little bus joke might stow it's way on to the bus in a suitcase or something) Haha.  Anyways, on to the epicness, the epicness that I'm getting nervous just writing about how big it is, the pressure is intense, especially the pressure I've built about how cool it is, when it's probably not that exciting. But, that's besides the point, can I get a drumrollll please?

     So to start things off with a bang, after Saturday classes (the kickback of the gun), I decided to head out with a few friends to a festival that I heard about. This was my first Japanese festival, as I'm sure you know, or I would have written about it, but it was quite the site. Although it cost a pretty penny to get out there on the train (1:15 in time, 700 Yen in price for one way), it was well worth it. As soon as the sea of people poured out of the train, we were attacked with the smells of delicious foods from stalls and awesome colors of stands and people walking around in their beautiful kimonos. 

The sheer amount of food stalls and deliciousness going around was ridiculous. I probably saw about 50 banana stalls in the 3 or 4 hours that I was there. 

These fish were just chilling cooking whole. I tried to convince my friends to eat one just because it was an experience, but sadly, I have no pictures of anyone biting the head off a whole fish.

Colors colors colors! Food stalls food stalls food stalls! 

So I'm not exactly sure, and I apologize if more informed people out there know I'm wrong, but these floats that you'll see, represent different characters, and they travel around the streets of the city playing out a story. Occasionally the floats will meet and they'll act out a scene. It was pretty crazy to watch! 

Lots and lots of people. All the streets were closed down, basically throughout the whole town. Each street was filled with food stalls, games, and people selling things! 

There were also occasional stage type things with people acting things out. This girl was doing a fan dance!

Here is another character coming. Somehow we got stuck at this intersection, and we literally couldn't move. It was like 8 am sardine train, but on a giant street. Basically all the floats/characters kind of ended up at the same intersection? I mean, it must have been part of the story, but they all were trying to come at the same time, and then the main Shinto shrine wanted to pass through, and since they were most important, all the other floats had to let them through..

Here are two of the floats/characters meeting. See the Lion? He was trying to bite the other guy. 

This guy was making Caramel cookies...

Games!

I was shocked by the fake gun stands. Lots of little kids were buying them....concerned? 

Catching fish with paper nets, a very classic Japanese festival thing. Though I don't really support it, since these little fish will most likely not be taken care of properly, the little kids were really cute when they would finally get one. 

After wandering around for a good while, and after eating delicious foods including sweet potato fries (yum!), our feet were tired, and it was time to head home for the night. After getting home, my Mom, sister and I, had a potluck to attend for Hippo, the language learning group! So we headed over to that where I proceeded to eat even more delicious food. Yumyumyum! 

Sunday came very quickly, and next thing I knew, it was time for the VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL! I'm so excited that I found out about this. Last week when I was at the English bookstore buying a hiking book, I saw this Vegan's in Japan book, so I proceeded to do the very Japanese stand and read, and wrote down a few websites that had info on a few yummy looking restaurants and all that business. After checking them out a bit, I saw that this very weekend there was to be a VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL in Yoyogi Park, a big beautiful park in Harajuku. I haven't really been having a hard time being a vegetarian here, but sometimes it just gets tiring being the odd man out. I haven't met a single other vegetarian the whole time I've been here, so I really wanted to go out and not have to worry about the food I was ordering and kind of just immerse myself in other crazies, and boy did it feel and taste good. 

It wasn't huge, but there were lots of people and lots of delicious foods. I really appreciated all the samples. hahah.

I was actually really surprised the whole time about the sheer amount of Organic producers and fair trade things there was! I haven't really seen the super enviro-friendly Japan at all, so to see people who were really in to it, was a beautiful thing. It honestly put a smile on my face. 

Organic hemp hats and knitwear! 

Organic fruits and veggies, grown locally!

VEGAN TAIYAKI. 

Taiyaki as seen above and below, is a delicious fish shaped pancake batter type thing filled with sweet red bean paste. This was my first one ever to eat, and it was vegan! I was so happy. 

   Oh the ironies of a vegan pastry that is fish shaped. I couldn't not take a picture. Doesn't he look kind of sad to be eaten!?

Vegan PAELLA! Yum! I spoke with this man for a bit in Spanish, he's from Barcelona! 

I also had lots of samples, and I had a vegan Samosa not pictured. Delicioso! I was planning on stocking up on some vegan baked goods to eat later on, but the vegan baked goods were actually really expensive. I guess that's to be expected. Overall, the veggie festival was awesome, and it led me in the direction of the next unplanned adventure. 

So right where the Vegetarian festival was, there was a Sunday market type flea market that I think is always there? There were other (non-vegetarian) food stands, and lots of people selling things. I don't know if this is always there, but above is an earthquake simulator! The fire department was there, and were putting on a small event to raise awareness and preparedness for disasters.

I didn't do the earthquake simulator since it was on a lunch break, but I did do the fire smokey room one that is pictured above! It was done with a fog machine, so not real smoke, but it was crazy. You really can't see anything and it's kind of stressful. Plus, the guy zippered me in, and then the guy on the other side didn't know I was coming, so he didn't unzip the exit for me, and I actually thought I was stuck for  a few minutes. It was scary, I can't imagine a real fire. 

In this little area, there was also a band playing, and I don't think they are normally there, but there were stands for NGO's trying to raise money and awareness for their causes. I stopped by the Rescue Dog one and gave some money and played with the dogs for a bit. It was really cool to see the activist side of Japan. I really loved it. 

I know it keeps going and going, but stick with me. Sleeping on the bus is not allowed! (I tried to hold off, I made it pretty far....but everyone needs car games, right? hhahahah)

These kids^ were basically dancing with basketballs. They would challenge each other (seen above) and try and outdo one another. You could tell they just really loved to be out there enjoying themselves. I actually walked back this way after another 3 hours or so, and they were still there doing their thing. 

I definitely held up to my blogname on Sunday and somehow followed people down this path which I didn't realize at the time, but was the entrance to probably the most famous Shrine in Japan, the Meiji Shrine. I don't really have any pictures since I didn't realize it was the most famous Shrine in Japan, but I'm sure I'll go back. I did happen to be wandering at just the right time and came across a wedding ceremony in the shrine. I'm sure that to use this Shrine for a location is supppper expensive. I mean, you can't really tell here, but her dress was absolutely gorgeous. The procession was intense. 

I also wandered down to one of the famous little Harajuku alleyways full of tiny little shops full of cheap clothes in crazy styles. It was really fun to just wander along. 

Even outside of the Vegetarian area, Harajuku seemed to be really in to the whole environmental thing, and that's why it's probably my favorite neighborhood area in Tokyo I've visited so far. The picture above is of a random booth on one of the main streets in Harajuku explaining the benefits of organic cotton and fair trade. It was awesome. There were also tons of second hand shops that were promoting the environment and lots of signs and posts talking about being environmentally conscious and things like that. 

The other reason I love Harajuku is that people are really just there to be themselves and do what they like to do no matter what other people think. Just like the guys playing basketball for hours, I saw people dressed in fashions they liked, young skaters rocking punk vibes, goths, and further down, even people who were so in to the fifties, it literally looked like they toaster travelled (boy meets world?) to the 50s.

Phewwww. We've made it. We've reached the final destination, and I'm proud if you've stuck to the end with bad jokes and all.

Overall, this weekend was full of wandering, eating and awesome sights. I found myself exploring back allies, eating VEGAN food, and having smiles almost constantly arriving on my face because I was just so happy to be experiencing all of these things.

 That's all for now folks. 

Thank you for riding Megabus, we know you have a lot of choices when you blog-read, so all of us here at "the wanderer lucy" give a big thanks, and hope to see you next time.