Tokyo: June 17-21

2:30 AM on June 17. I had been up already, really, since about 2, so I shut off the alarm on my phone and alarm clock. Then got all my stuff downstairs, and headed out to grab a cab. Got to the airport, and had to wait for them to open check-in – the woman who checked me in asked why I was there that early! Argh! The woman I had spoken to on the phone earlier TOLD me to be there that early! Anyway, spent several hours hanging out in the airport, got on the plane, watched The Hustler (which I had never seen before), watched some of A Bug’s Life, then arrived in Tokyo.

Despite rumors to the contrary, everything in Narita airport is in English (in tiny letters under the kanji). I waited in an interminably long immigration line, then got the Keisei line train to the city. 1000 yen for a 75 minute train. On the train I saw a bunch of Chinese girls with maps, so I asked one if she got the map at the airport. She said yes – apparently in my haste to find the train I missed the free Tokyo maps. Stupid. She gave me a map, which was of limited use to me, since it was in Chinese! Got to Asakusa (after 1 transfer), walked a little while, found the hostel, checked in. The hostel was filled with loud, annoying college-age kids talking about how drunk they had been the night before, and how drunk they were going to get that night. Ugh. The showers required you to walk across the common area in order to get to them. Weird.

Walked around Asakusa a bit, saw the big temple (Senso-Ji), found the tourist info center to get a map. Found a laundry and washed off some more of the dirt from Taman Negara (I had done laundry in Malacca but it didn’t seem to remove much dirt…). Then out to find some noodles – ended up going to a place known for their tempura soba. Entering a restaurant in Tokyo, you are greeted by pretty much every staff member. When you leave pretty much every staff member says thank you and goodbye 100 times. The food was good, but not cheap – 15 bucks for a bowl of noodles with a little shrimp tempura.

Next morning (the 18th), went out looking for breakfast, ended up at McD’s again (it pains me to type this admission, but I've gotta be honest) because I was intimidated by not being able to understand any signs in Japanese… Took the subway to Ueno (was going to take it to Akihabara but I didn’t realize that they were two different lines (one Toei and one Metro) and in order to transfer between those you have to have a special ticket. So I walked from Ueno to Akihabara, the electronics and anime capitol of Tokyo. Such cool stuff here, that I really want to buy. From all categories. Heh. There are girls dressed in maid outfits advertising for the maid cafes (where you get tea and snacks served to you by one of those girls). Stores have girls in cosplay outfits advertising for them. Japan is a strange place. Got some rice and beef from a place called Pepper Lunch – a chain place that was quite tasty.

Walked back along a different route to see a little of untouristed Tokyo. Relaxed a while, bought a phone card, then headed out to Shinjuku - Shinjuku is one of the “bright lights, big city” parts of Tokyo. It’s one of the places they always show when they show Tokyo on tv. The huge tv screens, neon everywhere, etc.

Next morning, headed out late, got noodles (the cheaper places here have little ticket machines where you put your money, then give the ticket to the person serving the food at the counter). Then walked to Akihabara to get an adapter so I could charge my camera battery. Walked around a little again, then up to Ueno – saw Ueno Park and its giant pond full of lilypads, got a little lost, but just headed in the direction that I thought I needed to and eventually made it back to Asakusa. Was quite tired by this point. Relaxed a couple hours, then headed out to get some conveyor belt sushi – tasty, but not cheap. 13 bucks for a small meal – had 9 pieces of sushi, and none of them were large. I later discovered that this place was voted the #1 kaiten-zushi place in Tokyo.

On the 20th Marina arrived. That morning, I headed over to Shinjuku to drop off my luggage at the Sunlite Shinjuku hotel, then headed over to Keisei Ueno station to get the train to Narita. At Narita I waited a bit, found a working ATM to get some cash, and then Marina arrived. She exchanged some cash, and we headed to the JR Office to exchange our receipts for JR passes. Then we got on the Narita Express to Shinjuku station. A pleasant 1 hour trip, wherein we caught up a bit and talked. All the while she had no idea we were going to a hotel instead of the hostel. Luckily, she had forgotten that the hostel was in Asakusa, and we were headed to Shinjuku. Once we arrived, we walked for a while, then stopped at Starbucks to get Marina some coffee, which she claimed to sorely need.

Then to the hotel. Masha was surprised, and happy about our own real room with a real bathroom. We unpacked our things and showered, and then walked around Shinjuku a bit. Had dinner at a noodle shop – I had a pork chop with curry and Masha had some noodles with a tofu tempura. We wandered Shinjuku, including Kabukicho, the red-light district, and then made it a relatively early night – she had just been traveling for a long time.

Next day - the 21st – around Tokyo. After a breakfast at the same noodle shop, we headed to Ginza for some Kabuki theatre. We saw a play/dance about a general who won a decisive battle thanks to information from a fisherman who he then killed. Years later, the general was confronted by the fisherman’s mother. If I remember the name, I’ll fill it in here later.

Afterwards, we walked around Ginza, and went to the Sony center, where I decided I must have a Blu-Ray player and an HDTV. MUST! Then we got our ticket reservations for the train to Kyoto, and tried (unsuccessfully) to visit the Imperial Gardens (they were closed). Stymied in our sightseeing efforts, we headed to a great sake bar in Tokyo Station. A bunch of temporary tables on a concrete floor, 70 different sakes. Deelicious.