Day 10: Takaozan

Today we got up super early so that we could meet Kyeong-jin (chris' girlfriend) at the bus station to go to Mt. Takao. The little village of Takao was very cute and everywhere we looking there were shops selling skewered dango (like mochi which is sticky rice pounded so much that it turns into a cross between dough and taffy like consistency). The skewers were always stuck into some ash sand that was around a small fire pit which slightly charcoaled the sugary sweet on the outside. After gaining the strength to go up the mountain and stretched we headed out. The trails were very nice but more steep than I had imagined. Also we noticed that there were many strange unwritten rules on the hike, such as, say "konnichiha" when passing people and the women go ahead of the men because they're "slower" etc. It took us about 2 hours to go up to the top where all the jinja (temples) were. once we got there, there was a cute shop to relax in and ice cream, shaved ice etc. was available for purchase. James and I had vanilla cones and kyeong-jin and chris got shaved ice. Afterwards we walked down the other side of the mountain on the various winding and steep slightly cobble stone roads (which ended up taking a toll on my knees and mine and james' feet). We then took the various trains home and the one bus that went fairly close to chris' place which was nice.

To be continued...

Day 5: Department store

Today was really laid back. We slept in a whole lot and then left to go get some dinner. We stopped at this department store called Otoyou kado. it was pretty nice and I got a little notepad to keep track of our excursions here. The place we ate at was not busy and it was mediocure with the food. After that we kinda just walked around and tried to find a Dance Dance Revolution to no avail at the Sega World arcade. Afterwards we headed home and called it a night.

Day 4: Karaoke

Today we were shown some interesting thrift shops in the nearby area around Chris' apt. The first place was SUPER cheap! it was called sogo seigatsukan and the second place was a little more in cost but had good quality stuff. It was called Hard Off. Afterwards we went to a community cafeteria called Higashi-yamato shokudo. It made me think of a japanese fresh choice sort of. Then we headed to the grocery store and then home to take a load off. A little while later we got a call from chris' girlfriend and she invited us to go to karaoke with her. We accepted and then I took an hour nap since I was feeling funny after dinner. The weather here in japan right now is very humid and thus can be not so nice on the organs. However, despite this I was determined not to spoil everyone's plans and fun, so I got up and went. We stopped into a 7-11 and I got what I thought was gum for my nausea (it was candy..good candy..but candy..) after meeting up with chris' girlfriend, I started to feel a bit better and we arrived shortly after at the karaoke place called Shilax. This place was HUGE! There were balloons everywhere and some all-you-can-drink soda/tea/coffee/corn soup(yes..) fountains outside the rooms. It cost $18 roughly/person for unlimited time. We paid and then they pointed us to our room. It was cozy, but unfortunately the AC was broken.. so they moved us to another room around the corner which was much bigger. You could probably fit 12+ people in there! It smelled like tobacco but we didn't mind since it was so big. So after singing many decent songs and me trying to sing some Korean songs to try and impress chris' girlfriend we ordered some much needed food. I ordered a basket of fries for James and I with ketchup and mayo dips, and chris' girlfriend ordered some kind of spring roll. It was おいしい(tasty). Then when it was time to go home at about 5am, we said goodbye to chris' girlfriend and went to another 7-11 for あさごはん(breakfast). When we cameout we experienced some weird movement. At first Chris thought it was the train coming, but I quickly said, "trains don't make buildings move dude..." So we ran out and waited for it to stop. It lasted about seconds and I supposed it was a 3-4 and james said it was a 6-7 on the richter scale. (we later found out james was right, and it was about a 6.8-7.1) Being on the train home at such an early time, was very strange. We had all lost but a miniscule amount of vocabulary and kept speaking non-sense due to fatigue. We saw our first sunrise here and let me tell you, it was the most beautiful one I have seen in my life.. I don't know if it was because of being in another country, fatigue, or the fact that it was starting it's rotation around the earth from the beginning point...but it was definitely something NEW.

Day 3: Zoo

We spent over 5 hours at the Tama Zoo, which wasn't quite enough time to see everything. The most interesting exhibits for me were the butterflies, lions, elephants, and snow leopards. Afterwards, we ate at an Indian restaurant which was very good.

Day 2: Shibuya

Today we headed out to Shibuya where we found the famous 109 building. However we soon realized we were looking at the wrong one. There happen to be two of them 109 and 109-(2). After looking around a bit in shibuya, we stopped into this tall department store called Tokyu Hands. Here we found common items to use in the house, tools, art craft items etc. that are very cheap in the States but for some reason Japanese people have decided certain items are as valuable as precious gems. These items include but are not limited to, A 3 inch foam ball priced at 980¥ roughly $10.00, and a 4 inch glass ball worth 12,000¥ roughly $120.00!! After leaving we decided to have lunch at this very inexpensive ramen place. Afterwards we went to a Mcdonald's and I used the bathroom they had upstairs. One thing that's different I noticed in the McDonald's is that you're allowed to smoke in the joint. Crazy huh?

Anyway we then proceeded to Omotesando, which is the most expensive and high fashion area in the Tokyo metropolis. Common shops seen here are labels such as, Gucci, Louis Vitton, Armani, Christian Dior, Vera Wang, Dolce & Gabanna, Vivienne Westwood, etc.
From there we headed to Yoyogi Koen and stadium famous for independent start up musicians playing outside and the stadium where they held the 1960's olympics in japan.
Then we headed through the famous bridge in Harajuku that all the anime-loving-Jrock-punking youth go to, to get their photos taken of their awesome cosplay* We proceeded to the shopping mall outside and it was packed!! I started to actually feel claustrophobic with all the people in a skinny street. I definitely want to go back though for some real shopping.

*(note: a play on the words costume and play, generally dressing in Japanese rock band or video game or anime costumes homemade or bought)

Day 1: Arrival

We arrived in Narita Airport on time and took the JR Direct Express train to
Shinjuku. There, we met up with Chris at the East Exit and took some trains to
Higashiyamato-shi station, 10 minutes walk from his apartment. Everywhere is hot and
humid, it feels like a sauna, which is gross when you're wearing clothes. On the way
to the apartment, we stopped at a little curry restaurant, luggage still in tow. It
was tasty and supplied much glycogen.