Tokyo for Two, and Two for Tokyo.... Days that is.

In the morning, we got up, showered and got out of the hotel, and then had a good time getting to the station with our bags in tow, stopping at a good donburi place. We got some cheap Butadon (pork and onions on rice) before heading stationside to get our train. In the station, I stopped to make a call to Air Canada and try to confirm my flight. However, in my waiting on hold, I noticed an American with a "Tune In Tokyo" shirt like Bendar-san had. In fact, it was Bednar-san! Daniel Bednar has been travelling around Japan for the past week with his father, and heading to Kyoto the day I left it, and I happened to run in to him. Pretty damn cool. He was on his way to enjoy Kyoto, and I was on my way to Tokyo. So somehow, I had the opportunity to run into all of the JCMU students that I knew were still in Japan travelling while on my own travels. What a small world, eh? By the way, hope you had a good time, Bednar-san! We waited for an hour for our train, and then got on to what seemed like an airplane on the ground. It looked the same on the inside, except for being fairly spacious. I was pleased. We rode along, the Shinkansen banking left and right with the turns, and just cruising along. Soon enough, we got to Tokyo station, transferred to the Yamanote line (Kore ha Yamanote-sen desu ka...?), rode to Akihabara, transferred to the Sobu line, then rode to Koiwa, and made my familiar walk to Ryokan Toki. Can you believe it, I am in the same room I was in when I came with Allan! Room 111 once again! We relaxed a bit, since it was about 4:30, and then went for a walk. I forgot my camera, but there were a few good shots to be taken. Kevin led the way for a while, getting us suitably lost in the Koiwa suburbs, although I knew where Flower Road (the main road) was the whole time. I think dad knew too. Perhaps even Kevo knew. We went to a yakiniku place for dinner, and it might be the best meal I have eaten in Japan (asided from the feasts of our weekly barbeques). Kevin got chicken, I got Kalbi Beef (Korean sweet-marinade beef), and dad got squid. I also got us some rice and "Cabbage Salad" which was absolutely delicious. I was so stuffed, I did not even think about getting a snack at night. That is pretty rare. You know how I like my snacks... With our bellies full of tasty grub, we read the night away and slept a long time. Our full day here was not wasted. We first went to get our Tokyo Tower, like Allan and I did a few weeks earlier. However, we went through Zozoji, the temple out front, and around back, followed a hidden staircase, and found a few Shisaa (guardian lions) guarding... a thing. It was cool, but the lions were better. Then we were in the Tower. It was great, Kev and dad enjoyed the view, and we found the glass floors so Kevin and I stood on them and were freaked out being 300 feet up and standing on just glass. We looked through the tourist trap vendor shops on one of the lower floors, where they had really cool lighters, and kept going. Our next stop was to be the Imperial Palace. Hop on the train, go to Tokyo station, get off the train. Logic would dictate that exiting the train station to buy a beverage would be the best course of action, saving some precious yen, so I convinced them that we should find a convenience store just outside the station. No luck. Nothing in site, not even a vending machine. Just my frigging luck, to find the one place in Japan that has no beverage access! The imperial palace was all right, but we only got to go to the outer edge, since it was no special occasion, we could not go inside. Oh well. Wandering around, we saw a strange thing in the moat, and it turned out to be a giant carp about two and a half feet long by our estimation, swimming on the top of the water. Its dorsal fin was sticking out of the water the whole time. We also saw a turtle, and another lizardy creature that had a long nose, kept its head above water, and seemed to be a shelless turtle. Kevin named it Frank because we didn't know what it was. We determined that these mutants (except for the turtle) kept invading forces out. Shortly thereafter, we found our salvation, a nook of vending machines in the shade of Yuurakucho station, pop and beer, as well as sake. We got many a stare sitting on the steps sipping our beverages of choice, but we gave them right back. It was kind of fun, actually. Kevin's feet hurt, so we kind of just headed back to the Ryokan after this. We discussed going to Rainbow Town, a popular place to visit, but that did not look fun (all shopping). So we read for a little bit, then got some Chinese food for dinner. It was delicious, and now I am here writing this journal entry now. In the morning I go to Hiroshima for three cool days at the beach. See you then!