2/10/2010 ? Tokyo

Today we went to Tokyo. The greatest challenge of today was to take the train. I have the feeling that after a few days of use I would begin to understand the system. But for the day we had to ask directions to platforms, and how much fare we needed to purchase, for each destination.

First we went to Shibuya where it is supposed to be very popular for the younger generations. Lots of clothing and electronic stores were in the area. We found lunch on the 6th floor of a building. This was interesting. We went into a little walkway, toward the elevator, where plastic creations of dishes were displayed. Next to the dishes were prices.  There were three cases of dishes and each display had a title of F# at the top. The dishes we thought were good, and decently priced, were in the F6 case. This is how we knew to go to the 6th floor for the restaurant.

After lunch we began to wander around. Up and down the different streets, we saw more people than I have seen in a year. At least that is what it felt like. There are so many people in Japan! We found one ally that had a music studio, a vinyl record store, and a 70s clothing shop. That ally had the most unique character we found. We also found a little shop selling crepes with fruit, ice cream, and chocolate. I got a strawberry one. It was delicious!

Next we went to Shinjuku, an area of Tokyo known for its electronic shops and video arcades. Here is where we were told we could see people dressed up as manga/anime characters. Unfortunately we did not see anyone dressed up until we got on the train to go back to Yokohama. Here we saw a guy with silver spiky hair like Cloud from Final fantasy. He had the long black pants and a black button down shirt. It was really like he had hoped out of the television.

After walking around in Shinjuku for a while we decided to find an Internet café. I heard some people talking in English and asked if they knew where to find an Internet place. They were from Australia and said that we could go to a hotel and use their business center (English computers) for 100yen/ 15min. So that is what we did. We found a hotel and walked in to use the Internet. It was here where I could finally put some pictures on the blog.

We then went back to Yokohama, absolutely exhausted from figuring out Japanese, asking directions, and walking all day for the last two days. Our feet hurt, and our heads were filled with an overload of information. As tired as we were however, the taste of pork baos was calling to us. We went to china town in Yokohama and walked down the main street eating pork baos and sesame balls (with bean paste mmm…). It was cold and beginning to rain, so the experience was even enhanced with all the lights bouncing off the shiny street. One of the lady’s, who was selling us pork baos, invited us inside to her small, heated little grocery, as the baos steamed. We walked back to the ship with sesame balls and pork baos in hand. Everything was in our tummies before we got to the terminal.

Side Note: As we exited the Kennai train station in Yokohama, I saw (again) a man urinating just outside the station;  it seemed no one else paid attention or cared.