I'll find that restaurant if it's the last thing I do...

Went to the East Imperial Gardens and the Edo Museum this afternoon. The gardens were nice, basically just a big park. The museum was really good, giving an entire history (with most things in english) of the city of Edo (which became Tokyo).

The plan for the evening was to eat at an Anna Miller's, a restaurant chain that's been on my list of things to do from the beginning, but evidently the one where we went had shut down fairly recently, so instead we went to Freshness Burger, probably the last Japanese fast food place I still had to try. I looked on their official website tonight, and I'm pretty sure I found a REAL Anna Miller's in Shinagawa, a few stops to the south. I'm gonna get me some "American Style" pie damn it!

Man, I really don't want to go to class this week...minimum effort...minimum effort...

PICS HERE (being uploaded as I post this)

I have taken 1110 pictures in Japan

That's a lot.

Curry filled Doughnut and Flat Mountain Dew

Today most of my regular crew was going down to Yokohama to visit the ramen museum and other things, so I, having already visited the ramen museum, decided to go off on my own and finish my souvenir shopping. After visiting the huge markets in Ueno and Asakusa, I went back home, finished some homework, and took stock of all the silly things I've bought and plan to take home.

I should be in pretty good shape for luggage space (thanks to Mary and her amazing luggage) surprisingly enough. I guess we'll see this coming week when I pack everything up for real.

This evening I went with my friend Liz to a (beginner friendly) swing dance farther away from the center of the city. There were some cool people there and it was a lot of fun. It seemed like about half of the people there were actually Japanese, and the rest were foreigners from a variety of places. I felt a little intimidated, though, since some of the people there were pretty incredible, and I'm way out of practice anyway. (I feel like there was a time where I actually had a decent repertoire of moves, but that might not actually be true...) There were a number of beginners there also, so I didn't feel too bad.

Now I'm chilling in my room eating curry bread for the first time. I feel like I had to try it since Carrie and Jane have this crazy obsession with curry and curry bread, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. It's actually pretty good, even the cheap convenience store stuff. I think I'm really gonna miss Japanese bread when I come home.

Sugar Rush

Went to Akihabara (for likely the last time) after class on Friday. My tasks were to find Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 for Mathan, and a set of cosplay dog ears for Jazmyn. I didn't manage to find any dog ears (lots of cat ears, though), but it was worth it for the experience of hopping between weird cosplay stores asking for "inu no mimi". I also looked in a number of used game stores for Mathan's game with no success and was about to give up when I found a well-hidden copy of the first Virtual Pro Wrestling. Taking it as a sign, I vowed to continue my search and found a copy of VPR2 (with box and booklet!) in the next store I searched.

That evening I went with a group back to Shibuya to eat at the all-you-can-eat dessert buffet "Sweets Paradise". In addition to their wide selection of cakes and sweets they serve some pasta, so after eating a plate of spaghetti, I went back and ate 2 plates of dessert and a bowl of ice cream. It was a good night.

Then we came home and watched "Run Fatboy, Run" on Ethan's computer. Pretty good movie.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so pics will not be posted :(

Mori Art Museum and Shibuya

Went to the Mori Art Museum and Shibuya today. The Mori Art Museum is a surprisingly cool modern art museum at the top of a skyscraper. There was also an observation floor with another amazing view of the city. The artist who's works were being displayed was all about taking objects (often extremely valuable ones) and stripping away their usefulness (to find the material's true essence... or something). It was interesting, but I think if you can afford to buy a ming vase and paint Coca Cola on it, you should find more productive ways to spend your money.

After that, we took hopped over to Shibuya to look around. Shibuya is a huge shopping district with (probably) the largest, busiest intersection in Tokyo. When that walk light turns green and you see that huge wall of people coming towards you, it's a pretty crazy experience.

PICS HERE

Plans for the coming days:

Friday: Akihabara(?) and Outsider Shot Bar (?)

Saturday: Imperial Palace, Edo Museum (?), Anna Miller's, and Swing Dancing (?)

Sunday: Pack my stuff up and see if I have space to bring anything more back.

Monday or Tuesday: Gokusen the Movie

Wednesday: Karaoke

Stock Exchange and Tokyo Tower

Went to (you guessed it) the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Tokyo Tower today. The stock exchange wasn't very interesting since our tour was all in Japanese. At the end of the tour, though, they showed an "informative video" where a little fairy character (who looked exactly like Pit from Kid Icarus) informed a ditzy Japanese teenager of the wonders of capitalism. It was pretty great.

Afterwards, we finally went to Tokyo Tower, which was pretty neat. Tokyo is really big, if you didn't already know.

On the way home we stopped by a little festival at a shrine. There wasn't much going on, but it was still interesting.

PICS HERE

I believe tomorrow there's talk of going to Shibuya after class. I also think Tasha and I are going to see Gokusen: The Movie in the theater at some point. I probably won't have much idea what's going on, but as long as I get to see Yankumi kick some ass and then deliver a heartfelt speech, I'll be happy.

Grandma Betty

My grandmother passed away this morning at the age of 90. She went quietly and peacefully, surrounded by family and friends, of which she had many. She was one of the greatest and most accomplished people I've ever known.

Goodbye grandma. You knew exactly how much we all loved you.