Tokyo: Day 2 and 3

Today turned out to be chain food with names day. First off, let me say that the sun rises EARLY here. Maybe at about 4:30am. We got up at around 6, maybe and decided that we should go find breakfast. We started wandering around town and eventually found a McDonalds, which we both eagerly wanted to try. C'mon, its Japanese McDonalds. Anyway, I was able to order our food and drinks without any trouble. Our drinks were TINY, but I guess that is to be suspected. Coke tasted a little different here, I guess you could say it was less syrupy.

As you can see, that coke is pretty small. We had to wait a little while for our food, but it wasn't a problem.

I have never had one of those in the states, but it was pretty good. The important thing is that it was cheap. This is when we learned that the Japanese are really, really big on recycling. Even in McDonald's they have different cans for different types of trash. It was neat.

After breakfast we made our way back towards the train station, I saw this sign and thought it was cool.


This is the first time we had to use a train without Yasu's help. But I was able to figure out that we needed to take the Ginza line four or five stops towards Akihabara. I was a little skeptical of my choice at first but then I was really proud of myself when we actually got there and there and we saw these.

They also have mosaics with household appliances on the sidewalks. I thought it was kind of neat, so I took a picture.

A random building. I thought it was cool.

I thought this building was kind of funny because it said "The Computer". It warranted a picture in my mind. **EDIT** I have been informed that the Kanji after Computer is かん, or kan, which means building. So it is actually "The Computer Building", less funny, but still cool. If I had stopped to think about it I would have known that, but my eyes were a little glazed over at the time (at least, that is my excuse) so I didn't.

One thing you will find out really quickly when you come to Japan is that Japanese vending machines are really neat. I like them a lot better than American vending machines because you can see what you are getting, for one, and two... they are just cool.

Just look at it... it is all colorful and happy. I got a Dr. Pepper, but it wasn't at this particular vending machine. That one is near our hostel. I got the Dr. Pepper in Akihabara because I wanted to see what a Japanese Dr. Pepper tasted like. The drink itself tastes a little different, but the can is waaaaay cooler.


I wish our Dr. Pepper cans had cool artwork on them.

Here are some pictures of Akihabara.


Above is a really big comic store. It is two separate buildings, we figured out later that one was for guys and one was for girls. All of the stores seem kind of small at first, but they actually all go up to seven or eight floors with different things on each floor with escalators going between each floor. A lot of times there was no telling what was going to be on each floor. Sometimes it was comics, sometimes electronics, and sometimes an arcade.


Those two buildings had huge advertisements for animes I liked. Well, the second one had an anime I liked, the first one was just neat looking.

We figured out that most of the stored in Akihabara don't open until 10 or 11 am, but there were a few open so we explored a little bit. The first store we went into was a touristy duty free shop with different floors of stuff ranging from clothing to electronics to jewelery and watches. On one of the floors there was a "big fan".

The next store we went into was a manga/anime store. All of the stores in Akihabara have advertisements and posters on the steps and escalators. Here is a good example, which happens to include a couple of animes I like.

Here is one of the floors with comics.

We wandered outside some more and saw a Mr. Donut and decided to get a snack.

Again, I managed to order food without problems. Or so we thought. The "donut" Erin thought looked good and ordered turned out to be curry bread... or fried bread filled with curry. Not what we expected. It was really, really strange.

As you can see, mine was a normal, tasty donut thing. Hers was filled with curry. Again... really strange.

A little later things started opening up and we wandered into an arcade. Let me sat first that the Japanese must have a thing for crane games. They were everywhere, with all sorts of different things in them. You could probably live out of crane games if you tried, no joke. The arcades here are seriously awesome, with everything you could think of and all the latest, coolest gaming technology. The ones in Akihabara were kind of expensive, so I decided I was going to wait until we went to Shinjuku to play some of the 50 yen arcade games there. Anyway, this arcade we stumbled upon was 5 or six floors, and had a maid cafe on top (a cafe where all the waitresses are dressed in French maid costumes). I asked one of the staff members, in Japanese, if I could take pictures. He looked kind of surprised and told me "no picture" in really broken English, smiling. I managed to sneak some pictures anyway.


Some IIDX machines and some other music games. I took these for Derek and Chris, I hope you guys enjoy the pictures.


I need to give a little explanation for the back to back machines shown in the above picture. A lot of them are fighting and/or one on one multiplayer games. They put all the fighting games back to back, which I think is really cool, since you can't see your opponent. There are also viewing screens available for people who want to see the carnage without crowding the players.

A crane game with happy poop in it.

And of course, I had to take pictures of an Initial D machine. There were cooler ones than this, but this one is still pretty cool.

These are Gundam Pods. Basically it is a realistic cockpit. The inside looks like a Gundam cockpit with the same style controls and stuff, and the screen is all the way around you. I really want to play one of these.

The Half Life 2 machines were cool.

Here is where I am going to rant a little bit. Well, it isn't an angry rant. Just an observation. Anyway, Japanese people don't seem to believe I speak Japanese. When I say things to them in Japanese they look a little confused and then try to talk to me in broken English. They have only spoken Japanese to me twice, well, three times. Once when I was asking for directions to our hostel and the guy I asked gave me directions in Japanese. He looked happily surprised when I talked to him. The second time was in a department store where the clerk was trying to speak to my sister and I in English and I told her that I understood a little bit of Japanese. She then proceeded to talk to me like I was fluent, which was kind of hard to follow but I managed okay. The third time was in a restaurant while talking to a waitress. She, again, spoke to me like I was fluent, which kind of worked out. I misunderstood a little bit, but I still managed. Anyway, I wish most of the people would speak Japanese to me like those three, it would help my Japanese a lot more than them trying to speak English to me. Oh well, we can't always get what we want.
/end rant

Random city picture.


We figured out that on top of some of the really big department stores there are small children's amusement parks. They are kind of funny, especially since they are on the roof of a building.




After exploring that department store we looked for some lunch. My sister remembered Yasu saying that a chain called "Jonathan's" was pretty good, so we went there. Yasu was right, it was indeed tasty. I did pretty well with ordering and stuff, the only think I misunderstood was that the drink bar, once you paid for a drink, was refillable. As far as I know most places aren't here, so that is why I misunderstood.

Somehow we made our way from Akihabara to Ueno Park in our wanderings. It was kind of funny how we stumbled upon it. Erin and I were walking and then we saw some steps. We were both like "whoa, I wonder what is up those steps." We walked up and the first thing we saw was a Japanese guy dressed in a kilt and juggling some sort of things on a rope.


A little later he pulled out a bagpipe and started playing "Scotland the Brave". There were some cute kids watching him.

Here is a shot of that area of the park.

By then Yasu called and said he was on his way. Erin and I decided to wait for him where we were. Little did know that the pigeons of Ueno were very, very dangerous. I got pooped on. Erin has better pictures of the aftermath.

I was a little paranoid of sitting under trees after that, so I made Erin move to a fountian with no trees over it. We sat for a while and then a mother with a stroller rolled up with the cutest little kid. I think his name was Akira. I asked his mother if I could take pictures.

She sat by the fountain and immediately he sat up and made some noise, arms stretched towards the fountain. She got him out of the stroller, took his shoes off and put his feet in the fountain. That is where the fun began. Akira decided that he wanted to play in the water, so he ended up getting pretty wet. The whole thing was really funny and super cute.

After his mom finally managed to get him out of the water I tried to ask her if I could email her the pictures of her son, well, to the best of my ability. I think I got the point across because she said she didn't have a computer. It is unfortunate, I think these pictures were pretty cute.

Yasu finally showed up and we explored the park. Here are some random images.


The above shrine was pretty cool. You had to ring the bell twice before you entered, bow twice, and then throw a coin into the box. After that you got to make a wish.





And then I was introduced to the super, super tasty drink that is known ad Natchan. It is an orange drink that has a happy bottle. I hope I can get it in the States.

A part of Tokyo from across the lake.

For dinner we ate at Denny's. Before you think anything, please know that it is nothing like American Denny's. The only similarity is the name. The food was all Japanese and it was excellent. Oh, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the technology in restaurants here is really cool. First, the waiters don't take orders with pads, they have digital, touch screen devices that they use. Second, at every table there is a button. If you want the waiter you press the button and bam, there they come. It is very convenient.

After dinner we walked back to Akihabara and wandered a little more. We also did a little shopping. I bought some Manga and saw a GTR (the pics are for you, David).


After that we made our way back to Asakusa and the hostel. I was pretty tired and just crashed, basically. I think I even slept with my clothes on.

Day 3:

It was pretty uneventful. I was sick with what Erin calls Traveler's Stomach so I was throwing up and stuff and couldn't eat any food. We just relaxed in the Hostel all day, which was kind of needed anyway, so it worked out. I slept most of the time. At one point, Erin ventured out to get me some medicine. I am really proud of her because she was able to one, find a drugstore, and then two, get stomach medicine. Both were done in a foreign country where she knows none of the language. I am and was really impressed. I am also great full that I have such a good sister.

We sat around and watched Sumo on TV for most of the afternoon. We also watched some other shows and more or less explored Japanese TV. It is very different and cool in a way. Sumo was interesting, there were a couple of huge white guys that were Sumos as well. I ended up eating a few pieces of bread throughout the day and drinking a lot of water. By night-time I was feeling much better but played it safe and had a cheese sandwich for dinner. We did go to a grocery store, which was fun and different. Some of the stuff they sell is wild. I will have to take pictures next time I am in one.

That is all for now. I will post Day 4 when I get the chance.