Hey all,
Well it looks as if I can use internet at the hotel, so I`ll give you guys a little update. Im tired and have to go to bed soon, but Ill say what I can.
Last night we began our journey by meeting at Hirakata-eki. We ate dinner at a place Jake likes that has a lot of fried foods. After, we went to do karaoke in that very same building. I really like that place - you can do pool, read manga, play games or do karaoke for only 100\ per fifteen minutes. So, Sam, Haley and I did karaoke while Jake played pool. We sang almost every anime song we knew, and it was great fun. After an hour and a half of that, it was time to leave. We headed out for Kyoto eki, and missed our stop. Thus, we turned the huge chunk of buffer time we had into a last-minute dash for the bus. We really had no idea where the bus was going to be when we got to Kyoto eki, so we ran around asking a million people in Japanese and finally we found where it was supposed to be, only it hadnt come yet. Phew.
Bus ride was, as expected, uncomfortable and none of us got any sleep. We arrived at Tokyo Station around 6:45AM Weds. morning, to find it pretty much deserted. So much for the supposed rush hour. We had decided that, since it was early, we might as well go see the famous Tsukiji fish market, like the guide recommends. Oh, btw we have been living off of the Frommer:s guide to Tokyo that both Sam and Haley own. It says that Tsukiji is the largest and freshest fish market in the world. Well, after freshening up a bit we went there, only to find it deserted. Merely a large warehouse-looking parking lot with a fishy smell and lots of little vehicles sitting under patios. Well, if the fish was already auctioned off, might as well try to eat some. The guidebook recommended a sushi breakfast of fresh fish; most sushi places were closed at that time, but we managed to find a 24 hr sushi place. We all ordered some manner of tuna; I finally tried some ootoro, or fatty tuna which is very expensive(400\ for one slice). But if i:m going to eat it, it may as well be here, where it is the freshest possible! It was very good- a delicate flavor. But due to the expensiveness ofsushi, my *breakfast* was only 4 pieces of sashimi.Yikes.
We left Tsukiji and, after some reevaluating and backtracking, headed towards the Imperial Palace. The palace is only open two days a year, and the rest of the time only the East Gardens are open to the public. So, that:s where we went. The gardens themselves are not particularly beautiful or interesting - mostly the fact that we were near where the royal family lives is exciting. I did see camera crews by the gate as we passed on the bus- perhaps the Emperor would show his face today? Ill never know...
Finally we quit those boring gardens and went to Ginza, the haute-couture department store capital of Tokyo. But we didn:t come to go shopping, no- we came to see the Sony Building, Sony`s world headquarters. It was very exciting! They dont let anyone in until 11 AM - there are guards standing by the doors to make sure the rule is enforced. Finally, we were let in and we ran to the showcase floors. There was everything Sony sells, all the newest models - from Walkmans to cameras to Vaios to TVs, PSP and PS3. They let you demo everything but the game consoles. There were some gadgets in there that blew my mind with their awesomeness. I:ll detail them more later.
After the Sony building, we were tired so we left to find our hotel in Akihabara. The only thing is, I forgot to print out the map from the hotel:s website as to whereit was located with respect to Akihabara Station...this caused an hour of agonizing walking around, hard feelings and endless inquiries at convenience stores for directions. At last, one nice man pointed us in theright direction and we found it. We checked in, but werenot allowed to stay because they were cleaning, so we left and atelunch at a burger place. Then, we walked around Akiba!
Akiba would have been alot better if I wasn:t so dead tired. But even as it was, ti was great. Wandering through the stores, recognizing every other songplayed over the speakers, looking at figurines, DVDs, books, manga, it wasall great. We even saw some cosplay stuff ( I really want this Naruto sweatshirt, but it was waaay too expensive). Then Haley and I returned to the capsule hotel to meet with Sam and Jake, who had returned early to take a nap.We all finished the evening by going out to see Tokyo Tower and eating dinner there.
Boy is Tokyo Tower a tourist trap. Yes its: bigger than theEiffel tower, but it has much less meaningto inhabitants of Tokyo than the other one. It is gaudy and overpriced, costing you 1400\if you want to go to the top, and *only* 820\ if you don:t. They have thigns like a wax museum there too. The view was good, though, especially at night. We saw the ferris wheel, yay! Got to ride that tomorrow. Tokyo tower has also appeared in many anime, like MKR and Sailor Moon and X. Yup.
Ok and now to bed. I get to sleep ina capsule, yay. They don:t look bad at all, really. Then tomorrow its up early to go on the mt. Fuji tour. I really hope the weather is good and we get to properly see it. Mt.Fuji is only visible 50 days of the year, you know, and its unlikely that tomorrow will be one of them. *sigh. One can only hope....
Well we:ve got stil alot left to do on this trip! I hope I get it all done!
As always, commments/tags plz
