Sorry y’all. I didn’t blog yesterday because by the time I realised that I’d forgotten to, I was tucked up in bed and about to sleep.

Yesterday was a very quiet day for me – I finally got to ride on the new Fukutoshin Line which joins Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro stations thus meaning that you don’t have to change. Just so you get an idea of what this means, if it were Sydney, it would mean that you could go from Granville to Macquarie University to Chatswood and then to City, all on an express train. Oh wait, something like that was in the works wasn’t it?! Yeah like it’ll ever happen.

As the Fukutoshin Line is brand new, there are never many people. I figured this out by the way in which I caught the last train home, and it was almost empty. Generally, the last train is crammed with people trying to get home before they can’t use the trains anymore, and have to rely on the extortionately expensive taxis (which are only expensive if you are alone, which in most cases I am.)

So I dragged myself out in the early afternoon and went over to Shibuya. By some strange twist of fate, I decided to get off one station later to change, at Shinjuku Area-3 Station rather than the usual one. This is where I discovered the new Fukutoshin Line, which takes you to Shibuya in half the time, for half the price. Win-win!! The brand new stations are also very pretty <3

Anyway I got to Shibuya and went directly to a Saizeriya to eat. I was starving as it was already 3pm by this time and I hadn’t eaten yet. Had a grilled steak with melted cheese and a fried egg on it, plus wedges and 2 supposedly German sausages which were tiny. All of that, plus unlimited drinks worked out to be around Â¥910 or $9.10. Love for this country = ?

Afterwards I went for a stroll through Dogenzaka and checked out the love hotels. No reason in particular, just thought I’d do it so I could say that I’ve done it this time round too. Got asked an interesting question by a guy standing on a corner – something that is best not revealed here. Went back onto the main street and found a Don Quixote. Yes, I know, I’m addicted.

So I bought some Sony Earphones, some Pioneer Earphones (for my sister), 1GB USB flash drive and some batteries for my electronic dictionary. Went outside and switched earphones to try out the new Sony ones – not bad but nothing special. Didn’t cost much though 😉 I took a quick snapshot at the bit Scramble Crossing which came out crappy, but I’ll take another one tomorrow, so don’t sweat it 😉

Walked over to the train station (my feet are starting to hurt at this point) and took the Fukutoshin Line (yes, I’m in love <3) to Meiji Jingu Mae Station (literally “Station in front of the Meiji Temple”, temple is actually situated in HARAJUKU). Went for a walk through Takeshita Dori and bought some chains to hang from my jeans. Very bling – I love it 😉 Noticed it’s very common here so figured I’d give it a try. Also went looking for some interesting earrings but no luck =(

Got spoken to by a black guy. This gave me a chance to practice my Italian. I’ve since found out that stacks of these black guys who try to sell you stuff on the streets here speak English AND Japanese equally well. So when this guy approached me, I just started going off at him in my dialect of Italian. Not “going off” at him mind you, because the guy is like 3x the size of me and looks hella dangerous. Just stuff like “yeah hi I can’t understand you, no I can’t understand you, (fobby English) I-a don’t-a capish-i yoo!!” Haha… so the guy thanked me for my time and wandered off to find some other foreigner to sell “urban hip hop designer wear” to. (This, by the way, is a euphemism for fake ass Sean John clothing and the like. Those guys are pretty funny to watch, but I hate when they talk to me…)

Got myself a crepe as I had already decided that I’d jump off a building if I didn’t have one at least once while I’m here. I also made it a point to purposely tell June when I got home. Now, I’m planning to have another one tomorrow. They’re friggen excellent. Even watching the crepe people make them is mad fun. <3

Sorry about the photo by the way, it’s really shit… I had both hands full and was alone… I’ll take a nicer one tomorrow =D

So anyway afterwards I went around back to the Meiji Jingu Mae Station and spotted Kyushu Jangara, a world-famous ramen restaurant that serves special Kyushu-styled ramen. I got in and two Korean girls in front of me were making a big deal of choosing something. That’s the interesting special thing about this place – their menu is available in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and of course Japanese, and from what I can see the translations are good. Very internationally friendly place, they speak little English but make up for it with their smiles and shit. Also they call things out every few minutes – “thank you for coming to see us!!!” and “two more nice people have come to our store YAY” … it’s hilarious. The fact that there’s only seating for 14 people or so is really difficult, you usually find yourself having paid already but having to stand in a corner and wait until someone else finishes their meal. People kinda go in and out there. It would be nice if it was bigger.

Wow, was that a shameless plug or what? LOL.

Anyway afterwards I took the Fukutoshin Line home. (See a recurring pattern here? ;))

Today I woke up fairly early and spent most of the day wrapping the CDs in bubble wrap and putting them into a plastic bag. Took a really long time – I also tried out some of the DVDs included… found the Koda Kumi mini-movie Cherry Girl (a Japanese appropriation of Charlie’s Angels) quite hot. Also makes me want to learn the Kansai Regional Dialect more and more ><“

At around 11:30am the doorbell rang and the intercom screen turned itself on. So I jumped up – excited at this prospect – being able to answer the door in Japanese. Exciting!! So I pulled on some shorts and answered the intercom, then went down and signed for the package. It was the conversation I found funny though:

Courier: Hi, I’m looking for Mr. Miyake.
Rik: Yeah, that’s me.
(Yeah, seriously. I translated my surname into Japanese using its meaning, for use on official documents and stuff)
Courier: I’ve got a package for you.
Rik: Not a problem, I won’t be a moment.
*goes downstairs*
Courier: YOU’RE Mr Miyake.
Rik: Is there a problem!?!
Courier: Not at all, sir. Please sign here.
Rik: Thank you ?? 😉

Hehe, a cultural experience. I love it.

So I was packing stuff up and cleaning up a little bit, as well as putting things into my suitcase. I leave Tokyo in 4 days so I figured I’d start this early instead of rushing on the last day. I was so into what I was doing that I completely forgot that I was supposed to meet Kaori and friend at 4pm…

…and I realised this at 3:55pm. So I freaked out, jumped in the shower and ran out the door. Got to Kichijoji where Kaori and friend were waiting. Got introduced to the friend, who is called Machi. We went and took purikura photos before going to First Kitchen to eat.

A little about First Kitchen: it is a Japanese fast food franchise which serves burgers, hotdogs and the like. The one I was taken to today was monumental as that precise store was the first one I’d ever been to, where I tasted Japanese pizza and vowed never to try it again (broke that one in January though ;)) ANYWAY, Japanese people tend to abbreviate similarly to English speakers – for example, how Mac Uni students call Macquarie Centre “Mac-Cen”. First Kitchen is called “Fir-kit”, however as the pronunciation of the name in Japanese is “Faasuto Kitchin” it works out to be “Faakit”. Try to say that one 😉

I ordered some heart attack inducing burger and we sat around talking.

Kaori’s friend, Machi, is eccentric. (This is bolded for a reason!) She’s not from Tokyo, but we understood each other without issue. I think I’m getting used to understanding the dialects of Japanese also now. It’s a good feeling.

Kaori realised, at this point, that she’d left her “book bag” (bag full of textbooks) at the purikura place so she ran back alone to go retrieve it. Luckily, because it’s Japan, it was still there.

Anyway, afterwards I was still feeling fairly hungry (that was my first meal of the day) so we went to Saizeriya (yep, 2nd time in 2 days – oh noes) and I ordered pasta which I put a hefty amount of Tabasco into. Both girls squeaked that if they put that much in their food, they’d die. Then they took turns teasing me by offering to refill my glass (remember – Saizeriya = unlimited drink refills for $1.50) then coming back with some oddly colored drink that would turn out to be a mixture of the weirdest things. Today’s mix – orange juice, oolong tea and black coffee. It tasted horrible but I wouldn’t allow myself to be defeated, so I drank half the glass whilst exclaiming how delicious it was. As convincing as I was, Kaori decided to try it out too. I should have taken a photo of that moment – GOLD.

As Kaori was whining about how she wanted TimTams and they weren’t sold in Japan, I made them come to Shinjuku with me to the Kabukicho Don Quixote where I bought my family some sweets – or maybe too many. Also shouted Kaori some TimTams although they’re a rip off here, because I suppose I should have brought some anyway. Over here they’re running at approximately Â¥380 or $3.80 (almost double the Aussie price). Later on, after I got home, I lined up the sweets I bought for my family and friends in Australia and took a photo to send to my sister:

We went for a walk down the America Street in Shinjuku, whilst finding out that it wasn’t as cool as it looked from outside. We went into some random cafe and I got a drink so we could sit around and talk some more. The bag of sweets and stuff from Don Quixote was really heavy at this point, so I needed a rest. Ended up putting half the stuff into my Country Road bag and the other half I carried by hand.

It was getting late, so I walked the girls back to the station and we took one last photo before parting. Tonight, as I said goodbye I was careful to use “mata ne [cya soon]” rather than the “sayo-nara [farewell]”. Because I know I’ll be back here again sooner or later.

Got home and flopped down onto the zabuton. I’m friggin tired. Tomorrow should be a big day.