We found James in Tokyo

After another 5-miler around the Imperial Palace, we hopped on the subway over to Roppongi. En route, I started feeling quite nauseous and had to get off the train and hold my head between my legs. I think my body was pretty freaked out from all of the travel, different food, time change adjustments, and walking. Eventually, I got a Coke from a vending machine to help settle my stomach. Fortunately, I did not puke on the subway. I think I would have been banned from ever entering Japan again....

After a lunch at an Italian restaurant where we couldn't understand the waiters, we met up in Harajuku with my friend and former tutee James, who is studying abroad this semester in Tokyo. Unfortunately, it was raining quite a bit so we didn't see much of Harajuku. From what I could tell, the fashion is just as strange as Gwen Stefani's back-up singers make it look...

We went to a shrine dating from the Meiji restoration. Before entering the main area, you were supposed to cleanse your mouth and hands with water:


There was an enormous walkway:


This was the inside of the main "complex":


And a wall covered with wish tablets:


After filling our "reflective" quota for the day, we headed to Omotesando, a big shopping district (sort of like Beverly Hills). We checked out the inside of Omotesando Hills, which had a strange architectural layout:


Trying to wait out the rain, we stopped for expensive tea and afternoon cake at a French cafe:


Though it was still raining, we forged ahead toward Shibuya. On the way, we stopped for tako balls, which are little fritters filled with octopus chunks. They pour batter into rounded out molds and quickly spin the dough around with chopsticks to make the ball shape. It looks like something that I would screw up royally.


Inside, the balls are a mess of filling and octopus. They are very hot.


We went into a couple stores, including one called "TomorrowLand" or something. It was quite expensive. We also stopped in "Tokyu Hands," which was similar to multi-purpose Target.

...except the toilets are terrifying. I definitely cannot use a squat toilet, so I found the one Western model in the bathroom.

(This is not a sideways urinal photo. It is actually mounted in the ground like this and you squat over it.)

James took us to a famous bookstore (Logo) to look at the wide selection of books and magazines in all different languages. Isn't it nice to know that Zac Efron transcends international boundaries?

For dinner, we went to a sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt. While these types of sushi restaurants are kind of pricey in the US, they're a deal in Tokyo. The boyfriend and I both ate our fill (and then some) of sushi for about $25...and you don't even have to tip.

There is a seven-plate minimum, but we smashed it:



After dinner (It was still raining.), we walked around Shibuya, which is kind of like Times Square with lots of neons and shopping. Unlike Times Square, it mostly caters to young people.


Outside of the subway station, we found the famous Hachiko statue. Hachiko was a very famous dog who loyally came to the station every day waiting for his master to come home. Sadly, his master had died, and no one bothered to tell poor Hachiko. Everyone in Japan loves this story, and Hachiko has been immortalized in popular legend, as well as in statue-form.


After we said our good-byes to James, the boyfriend and I checked out a pachinko parlor. Pachinko is kind of like pinball except without much skill involved. Basically, you fling a ton of little metal balls into a machine which makes a lot of noise and flashes scary lights. It is supposedly a popular pasttime in Tokyo, but we could not figure out how it works. I managed to snap this photo before a scary girl in a modernized kimono told me to put my camera away:


My legs are screaming at me from all the walking and running that I have put in the past two days. Time for bed, yo!