This story is factual. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Let me begin by saying this is one side of a two sided story. Sparks is writing up the same story, from his point of view, as I write this. I highly suggest you read both as it is possible one of us will remember details the other forgets. Also this is quite a large update. Just FYI.

About 4:00pm of Friday I got an e-mail from Sparks saying his train would get in to Ueno station at about 8:00pm. From Shimotakaido it takes about an hour to get to Ueno station. I left the house at about 6:30pm so as to have an extra half an hour should anything happen. I arrived, as expected, at 7:30pm. I strolled around the station complex to find some dinner and to see if Sparks maybe got in early and was waiting already. I found some onigiri (rice balls) and a pepsi twist (my new favorite drink). Not seeing Sparks in the station I went up to the platform and ate my dinner while I waited. 8:00 came and went. No Sparks, maybe he’s on the next train… no… the Next train… no… the NEXT…no? Hmmm. Before the next train came I decided to duck back into the station and have another look around. As I descended the stairs into the main terminal who do I see but a lanky foreigner standing by the main gate looking like he wants to be found. We did the typical “hey, what’s up man” greeting and headed back to the platform to board a local train. As we walked we talked and got somewhat caught up. It turns out that he got in to the station about 7:30 as well, but we missed each other when I went to look the first time.

Not having any particular place to go, we stopped in Shinjuku and walked around for a while. After a quick bit at a McD’s we went up to the bottom of the Tokyo Government building then walked back to and around the shopping district. We paused and had a soda in a nifty little alleyway and people watched for a bit before heading back to the train to Shimotakaido. Back home we finished getting caught up and talked for several hours before crashing.

In the morning we got up and had a light breakfast. Anyone who has seen up in action knows how indecisive Sparks and I are, so needless to say we took a minute to ponder what we should do with out day. It had been raining all night but stopped when we woke up. We came to the decision that Ginza would be a good place to visit and headed for the station. Two trains later we were in the area. After consulting a map board and walking a few block in the wrong direction we found the main drag in Ginza. It seems that most of the stores in Ginza open rather later, as at 10:00am when arrived, many were still closed. We wandered the streets of Ginza, occasionally stopping in a store that caught our attention. There was a “Go/Shogi” board store where the shop-keep made all the board himself (the cheap ones costing $200.00usd, the nice ones $6000.00usd!) Of course we stopped in the Apple store and ogled the iPod-micro (oooh, shinny). After walking for quite a while, and making a few circles, we found the Wako store (picture below). After snapping a few photos, we went inside. Want a $200,000.00usd watch? How about a $50.00 umbrella? Leaving, we walked down the street to the Sony Building. I had head that the Sony Building had on display “one of everything that Sony ever made”. Close, on display was one of everything Sony currently makes. Still very cool. After a 9 floor geek-fest, it was about lunch time so we started to look for someplace to eat.

At this point it started to rain rather heavily (something about a Typhoon?) We stopped in a drug store and bought some $4.00 umbrellas and walked about searching for a meal. Remember how I said Japan wasn’t all that expensive. Well, I hadn’t been to Ginza yet. Most of the restaurants wanted $15.00+ for a lunch dish. I’m used to paying $5.00 at most. We walked for several blocks finding nothing. Just when we were about to cave and pay up, in the distance, Sparks spotted… a Denny’s! Yes, THAT Denny’s, over here it’s owned by 7-11/iHolding (I’m not sure who owns it in the states) Much to out surprise when we walked up to the menu board however, we did not find Dagwoods and griddle cakes, but more traditional Japanese dishes. There were some “American” dishes but they were hidden away on the menu. Congrats to Denny’s on knowing their customer’s tastes. Here too, however, the food was pricey so we both had a light lunch. We paid our bill and walked outside. By this point we had wandered in search of food so long that getting back to the station we arrived at would have taken too long so we asked a local for directions to the closest one. We walked the several blocks to the station and whipped out the Fodor’s to see where we wanted to go next. Deciding we both needed to see Tokyo Tower (T.T. from here on) we got on the corresponding train and headed out.

We got out at the station the guide suggested and found a woman from Mass. who seemed to be toughly lost. Sparks took the business card she had from hotel and went to ask directions while I chatted up the woman. When Sparks returned he had bad news, she had gotten off at the wrong stop. Not believing him she wandered off, refusing further help. I wonder if she found where she wanted to go... Anyways, as we walked towards T.T. and found a descent sized shrine on the way. We stopped in and paid our respects. It had recently (the day before) been decorated for the Vernal Equinox and the decorations were still up. Traveling on we passed by a few Christian churches. We stopped in the Episcopal Church and said “hello” to a fellow who was playing the organ in preparation for a recital. Outside we were only a few steps from T.T.

We both paid the $8.20 to visit the main observation deck. The Special Observatory was closed due to high winds (er, Typhoon?). Up on the observation deck I took some pictures and we both looked down on the wonder that is Tokyo.

*At this point I stop writing and go to bed, it’s 11:00pm and I have class in the morning*

When we last left out hero’s they were looking out over Tokyo from 150meters above the ground. One of the things we saw was a large temple complex. We decided to go check it out. After spending a moment in the bottom of the tower, where there was an information center, a wax museum, and a Guinness world record museum. Outside we walked down an incredibly slippery rock path in a nice little park. Crossing the street we found what we thought looked like the back door to the shrine. What we had found was actually a graveyard attached to the temple complex. Walking through the graveyard, there were an odd number of ravens about. It was quite creepy. We walked around the complex for a while and went in the main and sub shrine buildings. The main building was quite lavishly decorated. After paying our respects we headed for the subway. Our next destination: Akihabara!
I have, before, gone on at length about Akihabara so I’ll skip the details here. I showed Sparks the sights like the Akiba department store, the used computer district, and some of the other cool things. After wandering we both decided we were hungry. After looking so long for lunch we decided to take a more direct approach to dinner. We stopped in, maybe, the third ramen shop we saw. Unfortunately, our swift decision was our downfall. The ramen had a certain taste to it. Let’s just say this “Miso-Ramen” didn’t taste like miso. Thinking it time to “drink”, we headed back to Shimotakaido after a quick soda to cleanse out palettes.

I don’t know if Sparks went into it, but after getting home, I received some bad news. I’m going to leave it at that. I will say, however, that I really needed a drink at that point.

There’s a bar not quite a block from my house that all of the other students said was really good, but I hadn’t been yet. It really is a nice little bar. Here, unlike in the states, pretty much all bars serve food. Not pretzels and peanuts, but real food. We ordered a beer and began to look at the menu. All in kanji… Sparks used his E-Dictionary to find that they served yakitori (grilled meat on a stick) and we ordered some, after some visual help from one bartender as to which parts of the chicken we were ordering (we went with thigh meat). There were seven other people in the bar, a couple, two girls, and three bartenders/chefs. We sat and chatted with the bartenders and each other while we ate the yakitori. Later Sparks ordered yakshuo (Japanese whiskey) for us, which was pretty tasty (it had a strong front, but almost no aftertaste). We sat a while longer then settled the bill and went back to my apartment. We played “Mina Daisuki Katamari” (a new Japanese game) for a while before we both crashed.

Sunday morning we slept late and lazily prepared for the day. After some thinking we decided to head to Harijuku in search of some affordable fashion. We stopped at the McD’s by the station to have some breakfast. Unfortunately the McD’s here stops serving breakfast at, like, 10:00am so we had lunch instead. Then we got on the train.

Switching trains in Shinjuku we noted that we were probably going the right way because all the “hip young people” we getting on the same train. Exiting at Harijuku station, we started to walk down the main shopping street. This place was packed, with people and shops. This, evidently, is the place to go to get the hottest fashions at reasonable prices. We walked around for quite some time, stopping in the interesting looking shops every so often. After a while I had to use the toilet, so we headed for what looked like a park, it turned out to be another shrine. We noted it for later and kept going (soon after finding said bathroom). Figuring we’d done enough shopping for the moment we walked across the train tracks to the entrance to the Meiji Shrine.

An aside about current Japanese fashion: the “American” look is really in right now. But they do it so much better than Americans do. (To Jozi: You’ve done your homework, you’d fit right in in Harijuku) On the bridge over the tracks there was a group of Japanese people in rather outrageous dress (kind of goth-punk) were gathered getting their pictures taken by foreigners and natives alike.

*There is another break in my writing here as I went to watch Rashomon with several other international students*

Right, so we entered the Meiji Shrine and walked up the main path towards the main shrine. Walking here, surrounded by old growth trees you could forget you were in a bustling city. You can almost believe you’re back in the feudal era, walking down a tree lined path to some important building. Maybe a kilometer of walking later, we arrived at the main building. There were two Dutch tourists who asked us to take their picture. In return I had them take our picture (seen below). After the ritual cleansing of our hands, and by extension our souls, we entered the shrine. Just as we crossed the threshold we saw, coming through the courtyard, a traditional Japanese wedding procession. We stepped to the side and just watched. It was quite awesome. There in Tokyo, the after typhoon winds blowing the trees, watching a traditional wedding procession (picture below). After the procession passed (to get the wedding pictures taken in a corner of the courtyard) we proceeded to the inner shrine, paid our respects and headed out the side door. Next, we went to the Meiji Museum which is also in the Meiji Shrine complex. Here were many things from the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Meiji as well as portraits of every Emperor since 664ad. We left the shrine complex and started walking north.

After quite a few blocks we appeared in Shinjuku. Deciding to look for a “hip-bag” (a trendy pocket like bag worn at the hip. Like a fanny pack, but more “cool”) we searched several department stores top to bottom. Realizing that we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and that our search in Shinjuku was going to be fruitless, we sat down and had a snack (I had some of the best gelato I’ve ever eaten). While sitting we agreed that we both wanted “hip-bags” enough that we would go back to Harijuku and get them. Also, seeing how popular the crepe store in the mall was (and seeing several in Harijuku) we figured we’d get one of them while we were there too.

Back in Harijuku it took only a few minutes to locate what we came for and get our crepes. We sat and ate and then walked back to the shrine we spotted earlier in the day. What luck, but when we arrive all the doors were closed. Looking through an opening in the wall, we saw the reason was a wedding ceremony. This leads me to believe that the Japanese like to get married on Sundays. After deciding there wasn’t much of anything left for the both of us and knowing we both had work the next day we went off to Tokyo station. I bid Sparks farewell and headed home.

Typing this in MS Word its 4 pages long. Wow, we got a lot done this weekend. Its time to go study for a while. I don’t have class in the morning so I get to sleep in. I love my schedule.

Ja Mata Ne.