This was our last day in Tokyo, at least until the end of the trip. By this point, my feet are in constant pain from all the walking. And here I thought I brought along my most comfy pair of shoes. My pinkie toes beg to differ, however, as I honestly have blisters on top of blisters. I swear to Jebus, if I haven't lost weight from all the walking and healthy food by the time I get home I'll freak.
Since Scott and Aiden were as tired as I was this morning, we decided we'd make a mellow day of it. We grabbed breakfast at the local market (I had small pieces of chicken, spaghetti, potato salad, and rice...odd indeed) and then hopped on the train. Lindsey and Troy decided to brave Shibuya on a Saturday for shopping, while Scott, Aiden and I headed back to Electric Town in search of a new camera.
Electric Town, or Akibahara, has a ton of stores selling gadgets for cheap, including some stores that sell them duty (or tax) free to overseas customers. I ended up scoring a great deal on a new Canon, which is my new precious. I need to figure out all the different features of it, since it has a ton more than my old, crappy camera.
We made it back to the hostel and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. The three of us headed back to the same sit down restaurant from a few nights ago and had a smaller, chicken version of the simmering pot. Here's where I go on and on about how amazing it was: the veggies were fresh, there were delicious chicken dumplings, and this time in the ponzu sauce she cracked a raw egg. That meant that every time we scooped some of the goodness into our bowls, the egg would cook. Oh my god, so good. Scott and I decided that we're going to invest in a table top cooker like that and start to eat this style regularly.
Again, the chef came out and visited with Aiden. This time at the end of the meal, he presented him with three kids' books in Japanese. We looked through them with him at the table; it seems to me they're kind of like Aesop's Fables, or stories with a message. Really cute drawings, and Aiden liked to look at the kanji and thought it was funny that the books are read backward.
As we were leaving, we told them we were heading out of Tokyo the next day, but that we would be back for sure. Aiden said “arigato gozimas” to the chef, and he gave Aiden a big bear hug. I told the owner I didn't want to leave and she said we should just move here and stay. I really wish I could.
Back at the hostel, Troy and Lindsey were home with some cute things from the stores downtown. They were heading out to see Troy's friend Kimi, and I'm an ass so I invited myself along. We met her at a restaurant in Ginza, which seems like a pretty fashionable and pricier neighborhood. The restaurant was kind of spendy, but since I had already eaten I ordered a drink called a Harvey Wallbanger, just because it made me laugh. Troy got some really amazing duck and veggies, and we sat and visited until around midnight. We got to experience the last minute crush of drunk people running through the stations and trying to catch the last trains of the night. The cars are so different late at night; in the day time, people are very focused on being quiet and respectful, but that night everyone was talking much more loudly and animatedly, trying to stay standing against the swaying of the train.
We got back to the hostel and headed to bed; Aiden and Scott were long asleep by that point. The windows were all open, and I noticed that Scott had hung some laundry to dry in the window, which was now getting rained on. I was so tired and lazy I just left it for the morning and another round in the dryer.
0 comments:
Post a Comment