Starry Wisdom

Well no Business class, but I got economy plus, in the exit row, so at least I’m not cramped. Not sure if I’ll be able to sleep or not, only time will tell.

Boy the rain today is hard. I chose to skip Ueno park, as I mentioned, but I kind of wish I saw the statue of the samurai walking his dog. Zannen desu.

The propietor woman as I was leaving te hotel was very nice and gave me some tea bags with little US and Japan toothpick flags and a hotel card. Also she gave me a plastic luggage cover. That, and my raincoat and umbrella I got yesterday made the treck to Keisei Ueno terminal fairly dry. I decided to spend Y900 extra for the superliner. I currently have Y21,000 in bills to reconvert when I get back home. I think I spent 60-70K on food and trains and such (not counting hotel bills on credit cards). Not too bad for 10 days, considering I had some fantastic meals. Japan is not cheap but it is not super expensive either.

Anyhow, I got to the airport and checked in. I got tokoyaki to eat, because I could, and I noticed it before the soba/udon place. Oh well, I can get noodles at home, but not takoyaki, as far as i know.

I have 3 hours until my flight boards, assuming I get on. We shall See, we shall see.

Oh, I got duty free daifuku mochi, and a good number puzzle magazine. Too bad I don’t have a pencil, or I’d be doing puzzles now.

Slight disappointment here – no an pan! Maybe an pan is too plebian for this place? I have a muffin and an appl tart and the tea is good.

It is raining hard today. I think I shall not get to see Ueno Koen. Oh well, I’ll survive. What this means is that I’ll be heading back to Narita early (like 10ish) and I can chill there, I suppose.

It’s pretty amazing that the trip is concluding. Months (and years) of planning and here it is, at the end. Was it how I expected? Of course not. Was it good? Of course – er no, it was great. It’s so razy to be in a place like this. So homogeneous – I thnk that’s the #1 most striking thing to me. Followed only slightly by the sense of history. Places that make New England seem young, let alone IL.

No An Pan at Andersen, but I got An donut, and it was fine. I hope to find An pan tomorrow AM.

Back at the hotel I took a short (15-20 minute) nap and relaxe a bit, then decided to go out. I went to Shinjuku, taking the Yamamote line, so I’ve now done the whole circuit of central tokyo. I checked my email at b@gus and tired to find the address of Tengu in Ueno, but failed. On my way I saw a BIG one in ikebukuro, so I figured I could go there if nothing else. (nevermnd the Shinjuku one). After my hour in b@gus I JRed back to Ueno to look for Tengu. I found it. Two things – 1) I didn’t go far enough earlier by 1/4 block and 2) they had a sign out in the street now that they were open, so I could have seen it where I was earlier today. So i was right, easier to find at night. I ordered all different things than last time. The fires ame with ketchup, bu about 1/4 the amount htat I would have wanted normally with that volume of fries. This Tengu is less animated than the other one, but still good. Here is what I ate:

• Baked Oysters with mayo, cheese and panko
• Pickle assortment
• Sukiyake Nabe
• Potato Fries
• Chicken Meatball Yaki.

I did not order the shrimp and mayo pizza or whale sashimi.

I got a snack at Mistukoshi then headed back to Ueno. On account of the rain I skipped the park, but I’ll probably look at it tomororw before I leave for Narita. Instead I visited a toystore, then looked for the Tengu I saw yesterday. I failed, but I hope that it was just hidden because it was closed. I’ll try to look it up at the hotel. I then slogged down to Kappabashi Dori o see if I could find a bento box to buy – but nothing I liked for less than 30 bucks. I think i can do better than that at home, and not have to worry about it breaking in transit. Feet sore. I stopped in the cafe to rest a bit before returning to the hotel.

Joan’s directions were spot on for for this one. I hope the food is as gooda s I believe it will be.

Rainin gtoday – sort of sad but oh well. I visisted the east garden of the Imperial Palace. It has neat ruins of Edo Castle in it. On account of the weather, not too many photos. Well, so be it. I strolled around for about an hour, then I hit Mistukoshi’s main store. I explored the store pretty thoroughly – funny place. Kind of like you stepped back in time to the 1950s. I bought some Genmaicha.

Ok, I got my food (medium sized ungai donburi and miso soup) and it was delicious. The soup had lots of tofu, mushrooms, and some sort of celery and parsely hybrid. Great on a rainy day lke today. The unagi was tender, mild and delicious. Good pickle too. Probably a bit better than Kyoto eel. I shall finish my tea and get a pastry at mitsukoshi.

It’s very nice out, so i went for a short stroll. Earlier I had gone to Yokohama china town – amusing, and saw Yamashita Park, and the statue given to Yokohama by San Diego. China Town has lots of gates. Then I rode the train back to Shin Yokohama and went to the “Raumen Museum” which I already mentioned. I had spicy miso ramen. It was good, not as good as aoba, but good. I got some fried bread for dessert. Then I headed back to tokyo.

I picked up a Cherry Danish at Andersen bakery in Ueno Station, mostly just to check it out. If I wanted to be scientific and compare it to Andersen in SF, I should have gotten An Pan! Well, maybe tomorrow. Anyhow, I looked for a manga cafe and I found one, but they lied and said they werne’t open, despite the 24 hour sign outside. Oh well. I found another Tengu which I might go to tomorrow. And the hotel has a computer to check my email at.

LC gave me the phone number for a friend of her’s in Tokyo – I will call him, but it seems likely that he is currently out of Japan. Oh well.

How strange to be here! This place is hilarious. Not so much of a museum, but more of an all ramen food court with an entrance fee. That’s fine because it’s fun. And I got to order and pay by the ticket machine, finally.

I am about to be on my way to go to Yokohama for the RAMEN MUSEUM. Yar!!!!! I will also check out china town. I failed to find Kaitenzushi for lunch, but there was a sheap standing sushi bar I ate at. It was pretty decent, but not as good as Tsukiji breakfast sushi. I went to the Shibuya b@gus to check email. I like the one in Shinjuku better. However I had weird corn soup drink. My hotel in Ueno seems decent enough. My current room has the cutest little door, with cute multi colored numbers on it.