When we went out we were given flower petals to toss to the newly weds. It was so beautiful to see them walking down with bubbles all around them.
Immediately after they got out of the chapel Ayako tossed the bouquet! It was raining a little bit so I was impressed that none of the girls running to catch the bouquet fell!


I sat in a table with Kay's friends Erik, Keethan, and Wes.  We all had a bag with gifts for attending the wedding. How nice!

The table was set beautifully.



After a little bit Kay and Ayako made their big entrance and she really looked like a princess and the dress... Oh so GORGEOUS!!!!




 While we were eating Ayako got escorted out of the room by her mom, who was wearing a beautiful Kimono!


While Kay and Ayako were out they showed 2 slideshows, one with pictures of KAy and Ayako growing up and another one of the ceremony and the first part of the reception. I was impressed by how fast the people work to put together such a nice video!
It made me happy to see the ceremony and everything that I missed but at the same time I felt sad that I came this far to have missed the most important part of the day!

A little bit later Kay and Ayako made their second big entrance! This time Ayako had change to a beautiful Tiffany's blue dress and wore her hair down. Kay had also had a little wardrobe change, adding a vest to his suit!
They entered the room and went all around lighting up the center pieces on each table.





The after party had a lot of food and booze but no water! I don't really drink and at the reception I already had champagne and a glass of wine so I was in desperate need of water so I went to the back and got myself a pitcher of water for the after party...

Kay forgot to mention that it is customary in Japan for the guests to pay the entrance to the after party which was $100! I had no idea and no money... quite embarrassing!

In Japanese weddings there is no dancing but instead there are games and entertainment! At the entrance of the after party we all got a card to write our wishes for Kay and Ayako and write our names. All the cards were placed in a container and in a lottery style were drawn to have a chance to win one of the prices: a piece of meat, 2 tickets to Disneyland Tokyo, and a $500 gift acrd for transportation in Japan (or something like that).
To make things more interesting there was a barrel with holes in it; when a name was picked the person would grab a plastic knife and stick it in one of the holes in the barrel. The person to stick the knife in the hole that made the top explode would win!


 After the games there was a fabulous Bartending show!


And after the show the after party was over :(

I don't think I have ever gotten a decent picture of us!

I am so excited to go to Japan!

Many months ago my friend Kay told me he was getting married and invited me to the wedding. I kind of had the idea of starting my trip in Japan and working my way down so his wedding date was not ideal for my travel. Long story short he convinced me that nobody wants to be in Japan in August due to heat so I very easily changed the plans to start in Australia even though that meant spending 20 extra hours in airports and in the air.

I have known Kay from day 5 of being in the US since we went to the same English school. We literally had every class class together and we even transfered to community college together and I don't even know how but little by little I got to love this crazy japanese guy!

 When he told me he was getting married I couldn't believe it! Who would marry Kay?!?! (I am not being mean! I think every single one of his friends asked themselves the same question!)  I even asked for proof that such women existed! So I pretty much had no choice, I had to go to Japan... I had to see it to believe it... so here I am!!!!!!!

I left Sydney in an Air China flight to Beijing; after dinner one of the flight attendants approached me and said that in the back of the plane they would be having a mid-Autumn festival, handed me a moon cake, and said that we were all invited and that I should join.


A festival? In the airplane? Of course I would go!
So I get to the back of the airplane and they had put up decorations and had a rolling cart full of moon cakes and gifts.
People started singing and clapping! I couldn't believe it!



I was 100% lost on what was going on since everything was in Mandarin but luckily one of the ladies who walked with me to the back was able to explain a little bit what was going on. The flight attendants were asking questions about Chinese history to the passengers and whoever got it right got a selfie stick or a phone ring as a gift.
Some people were singing some traditional songs and dancing and also got gifts! haha

The whole experience was very entertaining to see, people really got competitive over those selfie sticks! haha Anyway, it was super random but fun to witness! My first festival in the air!!!


I have finally arrived in Japan... apparently the land of Hello Kitty! Who knew Eva Air had a whole line of Hello Kitty airplanes!!! That is just completely crazy!
The boarding passes have hello kitty, the pillows have hello kitty... absolutely everything is hello kitty! Maybe one day I'll try it! haha

My friend Kay picked me up from the airport and we drove to his apartment... on the 42nd floor overlooking Tokyo!


The elevator in his building has a toilet... just in case! haha
 And the view is just crazy!
 What impressed me the most was the toilet...
The seat is heated! You can get your booty washed, and it flushes itself! How nice! This is a man's paradise!!!
Then we went for lunch... so hard to find vegetarian food so I had a little bit of fish...


At night I finally met the brave Ayako, his fiancee, and she is the sweetest Japanese girl I have ever met! Kay is for sure lucky... I still don't know how he did it!
They got sushi delivered for dinner and Ayako had bought cakes for Wes and I that said "Welcome to Japan"! So nice!!!


 Here with Wes and our Welcome cake!!! <3
The next day I woke early, got ready and went out on my own to find the 7Eleven to get some cash and get familiar with the area. The guys got back home from partying at 5:30am so I knew we wouldn't have an early start but had to wait for them since we had decided to go out together.

At around 1pm we left the house heading to Shibuya and Harajuku!

The metro station... super clean and nice!!!

Maybe because it was saturday the metro wasn't as busy!.. Everybody on their cell phones!

Ok... So i am SOOOO impressed by how orderly people are in Japan! They are always in a line... look how perfect people are lined up going up and down the stairs to leave space for those walking! It is actually incredible to see!
 I have no idea where we stopped first because Kay was leading and I was just looking everywhere!
The amount of people in the streets is just plain crazy! There are thousands of people walking up and down the sidewalks, as far as your eye can see... there are people!!!! I'm in shock!


I loved watching the fashion.. Japanese people have some crazy outfits and shoes!
Wes and Kay wanted to go shopping and I have zero interest in shopping so I just stood on the street looking at everybody! So.. apparently furry shoes with HUGE platform are in! And I don't mean regular fur, I mean stuffed animal fluffy kind of fur on platform sandals! It's crazy! I wish I could just stayed there for hours watching people!



Then we finally made it to the famous Harajuku street well known for its young culture and fashion.

Little kids backpack are a big thing here in Japan!

There were a lot of young people with signs asking to go into their shops
I saw that guy holding a hello kitty sign so I thought it would be a Hello Kitty store but No! It was a cafe! Where they put a Hello Kitty sticker on everything and get to charge three times the price!




The unique Harajuku fashion...

Rainbow platforms anyone?


 a stuffed animal backpack... no comments!

Also, lots of really fun unhealthy food...

 hmmm... come on sweet girls?!?! Because, you know... only girls like sweets!?!?!

Then we made our way to Shibuya!!!
This is the iconic Shibuya dog, which apparently came here everyday to greet his owner after work and even after his owner passed away the dog would still come and wait for him!

Shibuya it is known to be the busiest intersection in the world!
It does get pretty crazy packed every single time the light turns green!

Check out this fun time-lapse:

I walked around Shibuya for a couple of hours, there were hundreds of stores varying in price and fanciness! The whole area was exploding with people, everywhere I walked there



Arcades are a big thing in Japan... Tons of places to play games, like the one where you put money and have to move "the claw" to get a stuffed animal!

These guys playing the drums!

After Walking Shibuya I walked over to a temple where they were having a Harvest Festival!


There were lots of performances!

 And the beautifully lighten temple!
This was my first time at a Japanese temple and I noticed that people bow, ring the bell, bow two times, clap two times, and bow again. The religion practice in Japan is called Shinto, and you see many Japanese people on a daily basis going to shrines all over the city to worship different gods.





Can't wait to keep exploring this city and all it has to offer!!