Yes, I’ve done it. pulled my 1 “get out of jail free” card and went to Mcdonald’s. I had the Ebi Filet-o sandwich set… a shrimp sandwich. It’s pretty good. Before I went to Mcdonald’s I fumbled around in the Asakusa Matsuya’s food court. But abundance of choice for the loss. I had an AMPM Onigiri at 10AM – no freaking idea what wa sin it, but it was very good. I walked around Akihabra, good time. Then I went back to Kappabashi Dori and bought some sushi models. Now, I will collect my bags from the hotel and head towards Shinjuku.
At 8AM the tokyo subway is amazingly crazy, just like you’d expect. Luckily half the train got out at Akihabra station with me. I proceeded to get myself nice and lost, but after 15 minutes I found my bearings and found this mr donut.
I woke up at 4:30 AM. Since I was asleep around 9PM instead of my 10PM goal, I said “Eh” and got up, did the typical S & S & S, then walked around outside. I am locked out until 7am, but that’s ok. I took some sunrise pics of the “golden sperm” and a statue and the river. I got Boss coffee from a vending machine. Mr. Donut doesn’t open until 7:30 am. So i decided to go to 7-11. I got some really yummy cherry yogurt and a madeline.
So, I listened to/watched “Paprika” on the flight, and read through Rainbow’s End, and watched “Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer” which was just awful. Brian Posehn was in it, and I feel so bad for him. I had tea bag tea before landing with “breakfast”.
Going through immigration and customs was quick and easy. When I got into the main non secure part of the terminal, I was randomly stopped by the Po Po. I gave them my hotel for Friday night as my address in Japan, as I didn’t yet have an address for tonight. But I soon fixed that. I went to the Welcome Inn desk and got the hotel in Asakusa. I also got advice to take the Keisei line there. I had to change trains once, but it only cost 1000Y, so not bad. I got money out of the 7Bank ATM in the terminal.
Upon arriving in Asakusa I meanered to my hotel, based on the map I was given by the Welcome Inn people. I stopped on my way and bought a Vitamin C water from a vending machine. I thought it was a decent drink. After only a little bit of extra wandering I found the ryokan, and got my room. I quickly changed out of my heavy cotton shirt, and put on a tshirt and put on sandals. The latter is a mistake – sweaty foot leads to chafing leads to sadness. I sent email to my parents from the lobby, then went out with my camera.
I walked around taking pictures for a while – the pagoda and shrine. Wander around, and found kitchenware town as it was closing down. I will go back there tomorrow. I stop at a vending machine and buy some delicious Pocari Sweat – YUM. I take some pics of the giant chef head and etc. Then I wander down Asakusa Dori and I start to get hungry. I consider getting onigiri at 7-11 but I mentally vetoed it.
After much more wandering I find a typical restaurant with some nice looking models of food out front. I got ebi (shrimp) tempura and it was mighty tasty. After dinner, walking back to the hotel, I got slightly lost and ende dup walking roughly 4 times longer than I should have if I went the right way.
Once I get back to the hotel I decide to use the upstairs bath, which was mighty relaxing. I’m watching TV while writing this journal entry. There is come cooking contest show on. There seemed to have been two themes – purple food, and food cooked with a blowtorch. Now I watch a bit more TV then sleep at 10PM.
I’m sitting here waiting to see if I’ll get on the plane. Well, I got a picture of it anyway. I got to the airport at 8:30AM, and got some food and coffee, andhave been mostly reading. I guess I’ll read more until I find out if I get on or not.
later:
23G – Business class, but with an economy meal is the verdict. What’s funny is that I appear to be the best dressed person in Business class. Hurray for the dress code policy.