Back in America. Last Post

I never got to post a "Last Day" post, so I'll sort of do that now, even though I'm not in Japan anymore. This will be the last post in my blog.

It was really depressing to pack everything up. I tossed out three pairs of shoes, the towel I'd bought, and I left my sheets behind. I didn't bother going to bed at all, and neither did Emily, so we stayed up all night packing. I had several moments of thinking I couldn't fit everything I need to take home. We walked to Lawson around 4am to get breakfast, since I had to leave by quarter to six. No one was in the Lawson, not even an employee, so it was really weird wandering around the store. Right when we were about to go up to the counter, a guy appeared from the back of the store.

Evan and I shared a taxi to the Miyako Hotel, where we'd get a bus to the airport. Our luggage barely fit in the taxi. We had to hang around in the hotel for a while, before we could get on the bus. I think I was awake for fifteen, twenty minutes at most, and then I fell asleep, and woke up when we got to Narita.

Here's when we were going across the Rainbow Bridge.

The Fuji TV building on Odaiba.

I thought this looked cool, when a bus passed by right when I was taking a picture.

Once I got to the airport, it took barely any time to go through the luggage check, security, and immigration. I called Mom from my cell phone while I was waiting for people to be let onto the plane (I had to wait for two hours, and luckily the plane was exactly on time), and used up close to the last of my minutes. I got a message from Softbank shortly after, saying I had a balance of less than 500 yen left, and to recharge it. *sigh* When I was waiting in the airport, I got really close to crying, because I didn't want to leave.

Unlike the plane ride to Japan, where I had no one sitting between me and the person on the aisle seat, this time two Japanese guys who looked like they were a couple years older than me were sitting in the seats. Actually, I first walked right by my seat because one of them was sitting in my seat. The flight attendant asked him to move, and he did it without complaining. His friend helped me put my carry-on into the overhead compartment. I couldn't help but be amused when I realized that the guy sitting next to me (he was the one who had my seat before) was wearing bright, hot pink, fuzzy slippers.

For the entire plane ride, I didn't speak a word of English. I think it helped that the two Japanese guys were sitting next to me, so the attendants spoke to them in Japanese, and then I always asked for things in Japanese. During the very beginning of the flight, the guys were practicing English together, and they were looking up several things in one of the guys' electronic dictionaries.

I watched three movies on the plane: "Hero," a Japanese movie about lawyers, that was based on a tv show of the same name. Takuya Kimura, the guy who's in SMAP and in half the commercials on tv (or at least it seems like it) was the star of the movie, so it felt like I was back, watching tv in my apartment. I also watched Water Horse and the second National Treasure movie. The guy sitting next to me also watched Hero and the Water Horse (at the same time as I was...it was a little weird), but he fell asleep several times when watching Hero. At one point his head was in really close proximity to my shoulder, which made me a tad bit nervous, but then he sort of sat up again, watched five minutes of the movie and then his head went down again, on his friend's side. Toward the end of the flight, he tried watching Hero again, but I'm pretty sure he fell asleep again. I slept for a few hours when all of the windows on the plane were closed, but it wasn't nearly enough to make me not tired.

The food on the plane was good, and wonderfully Japanese, but I didn't have much of an appetite. At one point, the attendants were handing out ice cream, but they didn't hear me say I didn't want any, so one of the guys sitting next to me had it.

When we were over New York, I started feeling really sad and unhappy. Meanwhile, my two seatmates were looking through the window and going, "Nyuu yohku! Sugoi!!" (New York! Cool!") Obviously it was their first time going to New York, or maybe even America. We landed and then I went through customs (which took forever), during which I was minorly startled when the one of the security people told the people walking through the line to fix the rope, because someone's luggage had gotten caught and disconnected the ropes. In Japan, the people working there would have apologized to the people in line and fixed it for them. Not sharply tell the people to fix it themselves. Once I cleared customs (nearly saying "Arigatou gozaimasu," to the person and stopping myself just in time), I went to the baggage claim, bought a cart to put everything on (and had to pay with my credit card because I realized I didn't have any American cash on me), and got my luggage. One of my bags was ripped, and I asked if there was anything I could have done about it, and they told me, but when I saw my family two minutes later, my dad said it wasn't too bad, so I shouldn't bother.

The ride home was terrible, because it took forever. I was really hungry, but the "oriental" snack mix my mom bought for me to munch on tasted really gross (it didn't have any nori flavor, even though it looked like there was some on the crackers) and made my stomach feel weird. We stopped at a rest stop at one point, and when I was going into the bathroom, I almost walked into an old woman staggering along on her cane. I automatically bowed my head and murmured, "Sumimasen," as I passed by her. It took me at least two or three seconds to realize what I'd said, and felt really relieved that she hadn't heard what I'd said.

The rest of the ride back was just as bad. I was feeling really blah, and it really didn't help that the scenery was so gross and...unmanicured. XD Shortly after taking out all of the gifts and random things, I passed out on my parents' waterbed, and woke up in time for dinner. Then I went to bed some time after eight, and woke up at 3:15am. I stayed up for a little while, and got a cup of water before going back to sleep. I woke up again at seven, and there was no way I was going to fall asleep again, so I got up, took a shower, and got dressed. Right now my body feels tired, but my mind is wide awake. It would be 11:42pm in Japan right now. I haven't changed my computer clock yet...I'll do that in a second.

I feel like I should end this in a really nice way, but I can't think of a good way. Overall, I'm not happy to be home, and I feel like my time in Japan was just a nice, long dream. I miss my apartment already, even though it's nice to have my own room again. I emailed Yumika this morning to tell her that I had arrived, and that I really miss Japan already.

Preparing to leave

The depressing site of my luggage. I pulled it out last night, and started packing up all of the gifts and souvenirs I've accumulated. I expanded the blue suitcase to its limit so I can fit things into it. So far it seems to be working well, since I'm putting together as many things as possible and taking advantage of any boxes that I can use to protect things while at the same time fitting odd shaped items better into my suitcase. I think the only thing I'm worried about breaking is my matcha container and wisk, even though they are in their own little boxes. I also discovered that my sketchbooks will fit into my blue suitcase, just barely. I just have to make sure the lower level is flat, so they can rest on the top and not get bent.

I'm a little pissed off because I really wanted to go do more things these last few days, but my foot has been hurting too much to let me go somewhere that involves a lot of walking. (AKA anywhere worth going.) Today I had to go to school for my Japanese final oral exam (which, by the way, I completely messed up, because I kept forgetting what I was supposed to be talking about), and then Evan and I walked to Miyako Hotel so we could both reserve seats on the bus for Friday. Even though he carried my super-heavy portfolio to take at least a little strain off of me, just walking the fifteen-or-so minutes to the hotel really hurt. I was going to meet Emily in Harajuku to get one or two last things and eat at the stone bowl ramen place, but I ended up not going. Luckily I still have my bike until tomorrow, so I can use that to get around in Jiyuugaoka. One good thing, though. I found out that Evan has a flight at 11am on Friday, too, so we're going to share a taxi to Miyako. Which means that's 1500 yen less that I have to pay.

Tomorrow I'm going to force myself to suck it up so Emily and I can go to Ikebukuro, to go to Sunshine City. I'm a little disappointed that I won't get to see Shinjuku's kabuki-cho, lol, since I have to get back before dinner time tomorrow. And no, I'm not talking about kabuki theater. Kabuki-cho is the red light district...where a ton of host clubs are.

Emily went there a week or two ago with Brian, and she said it was so crazy how there were the host guys outside trying to get women to come to their clubs, and there were bright, glittery posters and billboards everywhere. She told me she stuck close to Brian when they were walking by the hosts, so they wouldn't try to target her, hahaha. Nothing like a tall, heavily bearded gaijin man to scare off the pretty boys. XD I had wanted to talk about those kinds of things at my presentation, since it's not just in kabuki-cho that there's host clubs. We get fliers from the guys all the time in Shibuya, too. Brittany and I were even accosted by a host club targeted for foreigners, so all the hosts (or "butlers" in this case) were foreigners. But the point is, I don't have any pictures to show, so I wanted to take pictures so people have a better idea of what I'm talking about. Wow...I just found this article by TIME, and it's really interesting, but I couldn't stop laughing for most of it, because I could picture a lot of what they were talking about. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,193635,00.html

Okay, I'm starving, so time to find some dinner...and continue packing and cleaning.

Kittiesssss

Today I went to Odaiba with Marina and her friend Sam, who was in our Practical Asian Society class with us, so I already sort of knew her. I had so much fun with them, since they act a lot like my friends back home, lol.

We went to Cats Livin first...and I got omiyage for Eclipse and Luna, hahaha. I spent too much money on them...they'd better appreciate it! XD

This is the entrance to the store, haha.

They also had a room (more like seven rooms) where you could play with and pet cats. (Adults had to pay 800 yen.) There were SOOO many. They were really tiny and funny looking most of the time. I definitely prefer Luna and Eclipse, who don't feel like they're going to break when you pet them. XD

This was my favorite cat to pet, because it was really friendly and had more muscle. It even climbed onto my lap at one point, to get my camera, haha.

This one was Marina's favorite. It was really scrawny, and like sitting on the fish tank. But I thought this picture was really funny.

HAHA this cat was such a scaredy cat. It stayed under tables and chairs, and slunk around. It had the hugest eyes, though.

There was a show at one point, and all of the cats came into the room because they knew they were getting treats, lol.

There was a gray cat that looked like he was the same kind of cat as Eclipse is, only scrawnier. His name was William, hahaha. He practically attacked this dude's hand to get to the treats, lol.

This is a better picture of him.

This cat...makes me laugh every time I see it, hahaha.

Here's the Fuji TV building, or part of it.

A poor tree that's getting its circulation cut off. XD

WOW. That's the first field of grass and flowers I've seen in a while! I went and touched the grass, hahaha.

More pretty flowers.

We went on this ferris wheel!

From waaay up top, just one of the many pictures I took.

And the sort of sunset over the Fuji TV building.





We did purikura! I think they turned out cute.

And then....I got the cutest shoes ever!!! They're really comfortable, too. I might have to get some of those special socks for them, though, but they're not difficult to find here. XD Anyway, I love them so much. Which is kind of funny, because I've never liked anything with polka dots, but I think these are adorable. ^_^

Oh, and just one random note: I've noticed that in the stations where there are a lot of foreigners expected, the escalators and stairs have the up and down on the right side instead of the left, like in all of the other stations and such...and EVERY time we have to go on the right side, I get really disoriented. Especially with the escalators. I don't even want to think about how weird it's going to be the first couple days when I get home, haha. It took a while for me to adjust to automatically move to the left whenever I go somewhere, and now that it's finally second nature, I have to get readjusted again.

Gazette....and MIKU!!!!

Yesterday was The Gazette concert!

This is the venue: Yoyogi Stadium. It was huge!

Here's one of the trucks that drives around, playing the band's music to advertise their new singles/albums. (And that's all they do, seriously.)

These four people...attacked and interviewed Marina and I when we were approaching the stadium. They stuck a video camera in our faces and asked us lots of questions. It was terrifying. I hope I didn't say anything stupid, and I really want to know where that video is going. They had staff badges hanging from lanyards.

We went up to the booths where they were selling things, but unfortunately the tour shirts had too many religious symbols on them (I do NOT need a picture of Jesus being crucified on a shirt, thank you very much. *shudder*), and the one shirt that would have been okay (though it was pink) wasn't in my size. Oh well.

The obligatory picture in front of the truck....

And in front of the stadium...

Another shot of our interviewers...the guy with the paper was the one who interviewed us.

Here's the other side of the truck.

We came back when it was close to time to go in, and there were hundreds of people. It had started raining by that point, lol. I had to buy another umbrella.

Their bag searches are silly...you open your bag, they look in the top, and then let you through. I hid my camera under everything....and snuck this one picture. I didn't take any pictures or videos during the show...because I have a conscience. XD Anyway, the pink area is where the stage was. Luckily there were screens on either side of the stage, so we could see the band members clearer there.

The concert was pretty good, though I'm not the hugest fan of Gazette, so I didn't know a lot of their songs. Luckily all of the songs that I normally don't like listening to sounded much, much better live. It was really weird how the fans kept growling (instead of screaming). I would never make myself kill my throat like that, lol. It was pretty scary, haha. Oh, and the headbanging was crazy. There were three wild girls in the row in front of us, right at the balcony bar, and at one point a staff member actually made his way through the row to tell them to be careful to not fall over the side. Later on, I noticed him glancing at them over the balcony from the aisle, checking to see if they were planning on throwing themselves over. XD

I kept waiting for the band to play "Cassis"...but they didn't play it, and I was disappointed. Then there was a second really long break during which everyone chanted "An-ko-re! An-ko-re!" (Encore!) And the girls behind us broke our ears drums with their shrieking. Brittany and her friends started to pack up to go, and were about to leave, but I was like, "They haven't even turned the lights off on the stage! Let's wait for that, at least." Then, the band came out again, and Brittany saw Ruki with his guitar, and went, "Are they going to play 'Cassis'? I don't know many other songs where he plays guitar!" And then Ruki said they were going to play "Cassis"! I freaked out for the first time during the concert...because that's my favorite song, hahaha. I was super happy that they played it, and Aoi's guitar solo was even better than the recording. *melts* Then they teased the audience for a while with a false ending, and then played "Best Friends" as the very last song...and they kept teasing us with false endings. They played some music that was just the members with instruments, with Reita (the bassist) shouting things into the mic to get the crowd even more riled up.

When we were leaving the concert three and a half hours after it started, with the huge crowd of people, there were jrock-looking guys handing out fliers just outside the gate, and when I wondered aloud who they were, Marina told me that they were guys giving out fliers for their own bands. I didn't think much of it, since none of them looked familiar...but then I glanced at the otherside of the sidewalk, I thought I saw Miku, the vocalist of An Cafe. I quickly looked back at him, and it was him! I totally flipped out and started quietly saying to Marina, "Oh my god! That's Miku, from An Cafe! I love them!" Unfortunately, because the crowd was moving too quickly in one direction, and I was an idiot who doesn't think fast enough, I didn't go over to him to take his flier and say hi. *kills self a million times* But for the next...I don't know, hour, I kept fangirling to Marina and then Brittany when we ran into each other in Shibuya station. I don't even care enough to have shame about that. I was in total jrock heaven, partly because I know it was him. (Not like on Thursday, when I only was 99% sure I'd seen Kame from KAT-TUN in Shibuya.) When I looked at Miku the second time, there was no doubt that it was him, because he just has a very unique look:

He was ridiculously short (my height, about), and was adorable. He looked even better in real life, unlike so many people who get their pictures air brushed and crap. Aaah, but I was so, so, so happy for the rest of the night, hahaha. I was joking with Marina, "I just saw Gazette, but it's seeing Miku that has me fangirling!" I've definitely never gotten all excited about seeing someone like that, before. XD I completely regret not pushing through the crowd to see him. -_-

Then we headed back, got food at the only non-bar place open that late (Miami Garden), and then came back and watched Yasha on my laptop in the common room. (It's a Japanese tv show from 2000 or 2001 that's about two twin genetically engineered genius brothers...one of which has released a deadly virus into the water to kill off old and weak people, the other of which is trying to stop him) Haha, I got Marina and even Brittany hooked on it! We were up until three watching, and then I went back to my room, told Emily all about my evening, and then finally went to bed around 4:30ish...but couldn't fall asleep for the LONGEST time because a) I'd gotten a blended jelly coffee frappachino around 11pm, b)I was still running on excitement from the concert and Miku in my head (XD), and c) the birds were starting to wake up and get noisy outside. -_-' So right now I'm functioning on slightly more than three hours of sleep, because I got up at eightish since we're going to Odaiba today. (I'm thinking that I won't even bother going to sleep the night before leaving, since I have to get up so early to leave, anyway, so I'll just stay up and hopefully crash later so I can sleep on the plane...unlike last time.)

The weird thing, though, is that apparently I set my alarm for 8 PM, so of course it didn't go off, but I woke up around the right time because my right calf muscle suddenly seized up and was REALLY painful, instantly waking me up so I could freak out about my leg falling off or something else gross like that. I somehow mananged to get it to stop hurting so much, but it still sort of hurts, haha.

Okays, time to go get some food, since I'm starving!

Tiny post

Not much has happened this week, other than writing essays, doing my Japanese take home exam, and going to my art critique this evening. Oh, and having it rain nearly every day. On Wednesday I went to Asakusa for omiyage shopping, and was extremely successful, but had to go back yesterday for some things that I hadn't gotten before but needed to double-check before buying. Yesterday it was raining, so there weren't many people at the temple or along the shop street...completely different from the day before, lol. I still have several things I need to get, though.

Tomorrow is the Gazette concert...which should be an interesting experience, since none of us are going to be together. Even though Brittany bought her tickets for her and her visiting friends right after me, she's twenty spots away from me in the same row. Marina is three rows back, and I have no clue where Tamaria is.

Oh, and tomorrow it's supposed to rain all day. What is it with it raining on days I go to concerts?!

I'm pretty sure on Sunday I'm going with Marina and one of her friends to Odaiba, and then we're going to ride the giant ferris wheel. ^_^ I'm so excited. I think it's around 920 yen for a full revolution, which is 16 minutes long.

This evening after I got back from school, I turned on the tv and discovered that Finding Nemo was playing...but it was all in Japanese. It was hilarious still, though, because I understood most of it, and for the parts I didn't understand, I remembered what the characters were talking about. Dory had a great Japanese voice actor, and was almost as funny as the English one.

On Monday, I looked out the window and realized that they're building a new house/apartment on the other side of this block. Here's what was up on Monday.... Now there's wooden structures covering it all, and there's even a full floor for the second level. I wonder how much they'll finish before I leave.


The tree in our little patio area finally is blooming...it's a dogwood tree! Very pretty, especially in the rain.




I think something happened to my left foot, but I'm not really sure what. It really hurts when I try to move my big toe, and this afternoon when I was walking to the bus stop, I nearly started limping. XD It stopped for a while, and then started up this evening, so I put some arnica on my foot. The funny thing is that last night, Emily was complaining about her foot hurting in exactly the same way, so I had her use my arnica. Hopefully my foot will be fine tomorrow, especially if I'm going to be standing during the concert. I'll wear my crappy shoes because they're more comfortable, lol.

....This time next week I'll be home.... I'm starting to really look forward to going home

Last Day of Classes

Today I got permission to put up the fliers I made for selling my and Brittany's bikes, and even though they mysteriously disappeared by four thirty (when I got out of class), it looks like we have two people who will buy them. One girl, Kelly, happens to be in my Japanese Art class, and she wants to buy my bike, and she has a friend who will probably buy Brittany's bike. It's too bad we had to settle for 5000 yen (half of what I paid for it), but I honestly just want to get it off my hands before going home, and it's already saved me money rather than taking the bus. I'm still getting some of it back, so it'll be like I only spent 5000 yen (plus the bad weather days and the first month of not having a bike, so about 10000 yen?) on transportation to school instead of 31500 yen. XD Pretty good, I'd have to say. It's better than the bus pass everyone else got, which only saved around 10000 for the semester, I think it was. The only thing we have to figure out now is getting the registration changed to the new owners' names, so they don't get arrested. XD

On less exciting news...the art exhibition was today (accidentally wrote "toady" but that seems to work, too ^_~), and it was wayyyy boring. They didn't even put up the drawings I wanted them to put up. -_-' Also, I was supposed to meet Yumika there, and show her my art, but I forgot to email her until this morning, so I didn't even know if she was coming. Then I found out I didn't have to stay the full three hours (THANK YOU), and then Brittany dragged me away by five thirty (as she said, there were "way too many boobs," HAHAHA). As soon as I got home, I emailed Yumika, and found out that not only had she gone, but she hadn't known which drawings were mine. Blaaah I felt so bad. She asked me if I could send pictures to her, so I promised to send her pictures as soon as I get all of my drawings back on the 23rd.

Oh, nearly forgot. Late last night, I was watching a weird Japanese horror movie called "Fu-rai" (怖来)...which was translated as "Junk" in the subtitles, but if I look up the kanji, "fu" means to feel scared/apprehensive, whereas "rai" means...well, I can't figure out what it means because my dictionary won't tell me outright...I think it's a suffix or something...and I think it has to do with time, but I'm not sure. ANYWAY, I'm not sure I understand why the title is translated as "Junk," because although it would make sense if it was talking about expendables, having "fu" mean to be scared, kind of kills that. Also...maybe I'm looking into things too much, but if it's also supposed to be a pun on "furai" (fry)...it would totally make sense with the movie's ending.

Okay, I've gotten way off the point of why I even brought up the movie here. XD It was an okay movie, for a horror movie. It wasn't very scary, though. The only parts where I got nervous were when it was dark, when there was a needle, and when there was one of those super strong/thin wires that cuts anything. It was interesting to watch, though pretty gross in the end, but none of it made sense if you really thought about it. The basics of the movie was that four people (three men and one woman) woke up naked in a room full of white powder, and had no idea why they were there. One guy was Korean who spoke somewhat okay Japanese, the other three people were Japanese. Every once in a while white-suited (like in a dangerous chemical lab) people came in and force-fed them some kind of liquid that we later find out is beer. The prisoners vomit it up nearly every time, and they start working together to escape. It's only when they escape do things start getting scarier, though. I don't feel like summarizing the whole movie, but I will ruin the ending; they all die. Yes, even the cute guy. He has the most exciting death, though, and breaks the microwave that they're all in.

But back to the topic of subtitles. (When was I ever on that subject, anyway?) The movie was online, and therefore was subbed without giving me the option of watching without, so it's not like I couldn't not cheat. But I was listening very carefully to the Japanese, and there was one scene that sticks out in my mind because I understood everything they were saying, but the subtitles didn't match what I was hearing. The scene was of the Japanese guys and the Korean guy arguing because the Korean guy was trying to be nice and caring, but the Ken (the cute guy) got really angry because he didn't trust anyone and shouted at him, "You're not my friend!" but the subtitles had him saying, "Fuck off!" I suppose that works with the scene, but it bothers me that it really wasn't what he was saying. There were other parts, too, but I forget them now. Whenever instances like this come up, I always don't know whether to doubt my own Japanese capabilities...since I obviously don't know very much...or doubt the subtitles. -_-'

Btw, even though the movie didn't scare me, and I kind of enjoyed watching it to see the characters' reactions to things, later when I was half-asleep, I heard a crash in the kitchen, and it freaked me out. I didn't get up to see what it was, and I didn't know if Emily was still awake, so I didn't say anything. I also started hearing the clock ticking in the kitchen, though it took me a while to realize it was the clock...and not something else. XD In the morning, though I asked her if she had heard something in the kitchen, and she said that her bread had fallen off of the shelf and fell into the sink, where she found it when she woke up. I don't know how it fell by itself, though. XD

Tomorrow's a Reading/Study Day.....I think I might have to actually do work, though. Stupid final essays. Though I really shouldn't complain, since one is only 2-3 pages and one is 6 pages. And my Japanese take-home final (due next week) is only three pages plus my three-minute oral presentation that I have to prepare. I'm going to talk about my plans for the summer...and hope that I get all of the particles/conjugations right. -_-' I hope, though, that I can go to Asakusa on Wednesday to do some souvenir shopping.

Sweet Rain 死神の精度

This evening I saw Sweet Rain 死神の精度 (Shinigami no Seido), and it was really good. I was really proud of myself, too, because I understood at least half of what was being said...which is a lot more than the third I understood during the last movie I saw, lol. Takeshi Kaneshiro (the dude from Returner, and House of Flying Daggers, and several other movies I can't think of right now) played a shinigami (death god). One thing I couldn't quite understand, though, is whether he was actually protecting the people he came into the human world for, or...something else. Usually the shinigami takes the person's life...but he was always trying to keep the people from dying.

Here's the site, where you can watch the trailer.

http://www.shinigaminoseido.jp/

Oh, and a few notes....Takeshi Kaneshiro has the best facial expressions. His character was rather socially awkward, and he frequently had clueless expressions. I also loved his music obsession. There'd be a really serious conversation going on (like between two yakuza guys he was helping out), and he'd be in the background, bobbing his head to the music from the younger yakuza guy's ipod.

Also, there was a trailer for Grace is Gone that played before the movie started, and I really want to see it. It's an American film about a guy's wife who was in the military, and got killed. He finds out and then has to tell his two daughters, but right when he's about to tell them, he goes, "Let's go to the amusement park!" and throughout the whole movie he's doing all these wonderful things to make his daughters happy, but he can't figure out how to break the news to them that their mother was dead. John Cusack plays the dad, and even though I don't really like him, I think he's going to do a good job with this movie.

Oh, Emily went to Akihabara today, and when she was coming back, she saw a guy wearing the same sweatshirt I bought! I can't help laughing at the picture every time I see it. XD

And this is me wearing the sweatshirt, lol. (I was also wearing it in the Tokyo Tower picture, but I was tiny in that picture. Oh, yeah. And this is my "cream soda." If you order a cream soda here, you get melon soda with ice cream on top. Sooo delish.

Tokyo Tower

This evening I went to Tokyo Tower, and went up to the top observatory deck! It was really cool.

But first, I had an early dinner at the Asian Kebab place, and it was SO good. For some reason it tasted like home, haha. I also tried guava juice, and loved it. I've never even heard of a guava before, lol.

I took pictures on our walk from the kebab place to Tokyo Tower (about twenty minutes, I'd guess). Here's the DHC sign directly across from TUJ's Azabu Hall. And of course that's Tokyo Tower in the back.

I don't know what this is, but maybe it's where the fire fighters get the water? The middle kanji means fire, but I don't know the other two. It was so cute that I had to take a picture, though. You can see my feet in the picture, lol.

I've also been meaning to take a picture of one of the sakura sewer manholes, and I finally remembered to today. It's not facing the right way here, but the kanji in the middle says "Tokyo gesui dou" or "Tokyo sewage line." That's just what I think it's translated as, though. I know what each of the kanji mean, except for the last one, which I looked up, combined with the "under" and "water" kanji. Uh...yeah, and the first two are obviously Tokyo. XD

It was still light when we went up to the main observatory, but it was quickly getting dark.

Do you see that tiny lit-up sign right in the middle? That's that DHC sign! Which means the gray building to its right is Azabu Hall. (A reddish building is between them in this picture.)

And again, the tiny spec of the DHC sign, lol.

That huge building is Roppongi Hills, and is the building I went up in with Max when he visited.

Too bad it was cloudy on the horizon....

And again, school! (The sign changes colors every second.)

Odaiba and Rainbow Bridge...and the giant ferris wheel, haha.

It looks like a starfish in the middle of the city!

Once we were outside, of course we had to take pictures of it again.

I look so tiny......

This sign amused me....

When we were waiting for the bus to go home, I attempted to take a picture of the moon and the tower together...the moon looks a LOT smaller than it did in real life. XD Stupid digital cameras.

Here's a video of some of the skyscape, with little kids talking in the background. (So cute!) I think at one point they were getting all excited about seeing a school (if their "gakkou da!"s were what I thought they were, anyway). I love Japanese kids, they sound (and look) so adorable.

And here's a video from inside the elevator going down from the special observatory (250m) to the main observatory (150m). I wanted one from us going up, but I was crammed against a wall instead of a window like I was this time.

I bought a few things in the shop...but I can't tell what they are, because most of them were little omiyage (gives for people back home). I did get myself a really, really pretty compact mirror for my purse, though. It looks like this: (isn't it so pretty? ^_^ there were so many designs to choose from!)

Well, I need to sleep, so good night! I hope you enjoyed those! I haven't decided what I'm doing tomorrow yet, since I'm really tired and don't feel like doing something hugely exciting. Especially since I should be working on my finals that are due next week.