Japan Trip - Day 2

Today was weird/fun. I woke up at 5 (as I said before), mainly due to the fact I wake up around that time at home (actually home time: 9ish). So it was weird. Besides that, my day got started very quickly. I got up around 6:15AM and took a shower. My head wasn't that far from the ceiling and, being the idiot who left his toiletries in his *other* bag, used the ones provided, which weren't that terrible. Then Ryan and I went down to breakfast at 7AM and it was amazing. You know how we normally have a continental breakfast with pancakes and whatnot? Well, they had salmon, egg sandwiches, rice, sausages, everything. It was awesome. I should have taken a picture of the food.... Either way, that was great. I had miso soup, bacon (delicious!), salmon, potato wedges, eggs, and sausages. Everything was delicious, even the stuff that I normally could get at home. We finished up there and then went out to go shopping before we had to meet up with Hayashibara Sensei at 9AM. Well.... the stores were closed. The mall we were near wouldn't open until 10AM, which was weird, but I suppose it's fine. We ended up going back to the room and almost falling asleep (Maurer did.).

When we went down at 9, we had to do a temperature test, to make sure that we weren't contracting or had the swine flu (as mentioned before, with the whole biohazard suits and all). Well, normal body temp is around 36-37 degrees Celsius. My body temperature was 34 degrees. Which is way below. Either I'm slowly becoming the walking dead, or I'm just starting to freeze. In any event, I don't have the flu.

Our first stop of the day was at a sort of garden area (I forgot the name....) that was located in an area that a hundred years ago was beneath the ocean, which was a really fascinating and beautiful place. It had finished raining on me, so it looked even better, though everything was wet and making me wet.... We wandered around and I took pictures, tons of pictures, of the surroundings. I seriously took more pictures then than I had taken previously since I had gotten the camera, a year ago! It was nice, and very scenic. I can't really describe it in words....

After that we took a lunch break, splitting up to find whatever it was we wanted. Ryan and myself went around and got squid (ika) from a seafood shop and went to go sit down at a table. We were sitting there, mind our own business, when a lady told us no and *took* the table away from us. We headed back to the meeting place, early, and sat and waited.

After that, we headed over to Ginza where the two of us and our buddy Kao wandered around a toy store. Four floors or games and electronics and anything that was fun that you could play with. We were searching for Magic cards, but were highly unsuccessful. Tons of Yugioh, but no Magic....

Then we headed over to Akihabara and were introduced to all the cosplay and electronics that were there. Girls (mainly) dressed up as their favorite anime characters, walking around like it's nothing. Manga shops, electronic stores, all over the place. We visited a four story electronic store and a 7 story manga store. Only one of each. There were tons! All over the place. I wanted to look around everywhere, but we didn't have time. And we were terribly hungry again, around 4:30~5PM. We visited a restaurant with a fairly large group and had a kinda pancake style food. Basically, it was a whole bunch of seafood mixed into batter and cooked on a grill in front of you. Then, after it browned on both sides, it was covered in a kinda of barbecue sauce and their mayonase (which is better than American mayo) and served to us. It was delicious (I seem to enjoy that word right now). I wasn't filled, but it tied me over then.

We then headed over to Shibuya, which had the one of busiest crosswalks in the world. It had two going in the street like normal and then one that went diagonally through it. Traffic would go one way, then the other, and then stop, and all the people would cross *at the same time.* We're talking anywhere from 300 to 1000 people at once. (Side note: This is also where the famous story about Hachiko originated. I got to see the statue and everything.) We then wandered around there for a little bit, and finally started making our way back to the train station, our primary mode of transportation around Tokyo.

Here's where it was depressing. We were about to board the train, after waiting for it to unpack itself, and I was the last one in line. I was about to step into the train, when the doors closed on me. I tried sticking my hand through so that a sensor would let me through, but there were no sensors. I was stuck. The guys looked at me as the train left.... I waited for the next one, and, knowing my memory, tried to stick to what I knew and where I needed to go. At the next station or guide was waiting for me, so he hopped on the train and joined me. I found out that this had happened before on previous occasions, and that they were prepared and had a plan. Sure enough, the rest of the gang was waiting at our stop for the two of us. Apparently, when the doors closed on me I had an extremely depressed and sad look on my face (I kinda was, because I knew that this would only happen to me....).

We headed back to the room, dropped off our stuff, and I went out to get deodorant and toothpaste. No deodorant, so I got Axe (Grrr...). Well... here I am! The day was pretty long, basically like going to Disneyland without the rides; a lot of walking and a lot of browsing around.