How to spend a great Christmas Day in Japan! ^^
Hello everybody!
First I wish you a merry Christmas! ^^ I hope you have a nice time with all the people you love. :)
Yesterday was my first Christmas without my family and of course - in a different country. ^^
So I asked myself "What can I do on Christmas here in Japan?" and I found a great solution and have a wonderful Christmas here in Tokyo! ^^ I want to recommend this to you, because it was such a great day!
Me and my boyfriend have a nice trip to Odaiba yesterday. ^^ And it was soooo romantic (and that's perfect for Christmas, isn't it? ^^).
Odaiba (お台場) is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay. It's not far away from here - only around 30 minutes by train and it's really easy to get there (and not expensive, too, so it costs one way 500 Yen for this great Odaiba experience). So only take Ginza line at Tawaramachi station (around ten minutes walk from here) to Shimbashi and then take the train to Daiba with Yurikamome line. If you can take a seat in this train, then do so, it's great, to get some nice pictures there and you can really enjoy.^^
For itself, Odaiba is total wonderful and fascinating. You have a great sight to the rainbow bridge. That looks so fantastic!
And there's the only sand beach in Tokyo. That was so great walking along the beach in the sand watching the small waves. You feel like beamed in another world.
But hey, you're not allowed to swim there! :D
I don't know, if that's usual, but yesterday they played romantic music which you can hear on the strand, like "Eternal Flame" or "I will always love you" and that was really heartmelting, hihi.
I never before in my life see so many couples as I saw yesterday on Odaiba. There were couples everywhere and you really could feel the love in the air. ^^ But Odaiba is not only on Christmas popular for couples, you can go there the whole year and have a day full of romantic.
And nobody went alone to Odaiba - everyone takes "somebody" he/she loves with. ^^
So first we have a nice time on the beach and took so many pictures (because everything looks so great there) of the skyline and of course the Rainbow Bridge.
Then we walked around, see the Fuji TV Building and the Telecom Center (doesn't they look like from outer space or from a Science Fiction movie ^^).
Can you see the Tokyo Tower? ^^
There was a great street artist there, too and so many people enjoyed his show. He was really cool and entertaining! ^^
We were totally fascinated of the big ferris wheel we saw. It's one of the world's largest ferris wheels and you surely have a great sight over the whole area (the complete revolution takes around 15 minutes).
And of course you can take boat tours too at Odaiba. ^^ Here you can see more (but not only ^^) info.
But we had spend so much time with taking pictures of us, the things around and gaping ^^, so that we realized, that we now should find a nice place to have a delicious Christmas dinner and be ready for the evening, when it's getting dark and the atmosphere would be totally great because of the many lights you can see then! ^^
So we went to Aquacity Odaiba, which is a shopping mall with many various stores, boutiques, restaurants, cafes and a cinema complex.
There we found a nice restaurant, where many couples wait for a seat. Unfortunately we didn't had a reservation and have to wait for an hour. But that was fun, so we could watching all the people and thinking about, what we want to eat (on Christmas, restaurants often offers different Christmas menu choices). ^^
The restaurant looks a little bit like a pirate cave and it was delicious (and really not so expensive as you would imagine for a 4 courses dinner). All the couples around had fun and give their loved companion it's Christmas presents. ^^ So we had a lot to look at! ^^
Aquacity has nice Christmas lights inside, so - of course - we have to take a picture, like hundreds of Japanese couples, too. ^^
When we were finished with having dinner, we enjoyed the night sight and atmosphere. It was so great, I'm not able to describe that properly. So enjoy the pictures (and I wish, I had and DSLR-Camera with me, but I hadn't, so sorry, if the pics aren't so clear at night ^^).
So just enjoy! ^^
Later there were a group of boys and make big party on the beach. Seems, that they are friends, who didn't have a date on Christmas Eve, but much fun together with celebrating ^^).
I'm honest, I didn't see really any other foreign couple there (so where have you been?) and my boyfriend either (sometimes I'm blind ^^) but the many many many many Japanese couples there showed us, that Odaiba was the totally right choice to spend a great Christmas day here in Japan! ^^
In Germany, there often is snow on Christmas and me and my family take a walk through the woods and along the two big ponds close to our house, so this Christmas was really special for me (but in a really good way! ^^).
So even if you don't visit Japan here at Christmas or only for a short holiday trip, please don't miss Odaiba. You will never forget the sight and can spend a wonderful day there! I'm sure, I'll went there a second time (and maybe in every time of the year one visit), because it was so great, I will never forget! ^^
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