Tokyo continued: Sleepy in Shinjuku
On Tuesday I discovered how joyful it was to have a city apartment. My town is nice, but going to Osaka City is 30 minutes ride and the most I can access within 2 minutes walk of my apartment is a convenience store. Better yet, a SPACIOUS and CUTE apartment. I could have gotten up, headed to Tokyo Bay and spent the time walking and window-shopping, or better yet gone to the Embassy, but instead I opted to stay in bed until noon and listen to the new Barenaked Ladies CD with Benjamin and Randy over Skype. In fact I stayed there well into the afternoon, wrapped up in my conversations, and only stirred when Emily tempted me with a trip to the grocery store. We went together to the new Sbarro (yes!! a sbarro in Japan!!) restaurant in Shibuya and had a fantastic dinner; the menu was different from home (which meant no baked ziti *tears*), but they had a very non-Japanese meat sauce and you could choose three toppings you wanted (I think mine were garlic, mushroom and chicken), have they'd pan-fried in olive oil, then they'd pour the toppings over your pasta. Oh wooow was it ever delicious. After that we ducked down under the Hachiko Crossing to go to a grocery store and ended up buying gelato even though we were STUFFED. Each of us got three flavours...for me, berry, kiwi and lemon. Then we bought supplies for a future dinner, and I accompanied Em back to the apartment with the groceries, then grabbed my "Dave Barry Does Japan" audiobook and went to meet Mitsu in Akihabara.
I had let Mitsu decide what was happening as 90% of the time I can't follow what he's planning anyway. XD Turned out we were there to win Mr. Saturn dolls in the arcade. Huh! Well, the arcade guy was generous and positioned the dolls in a very favourable way, allowing me to win 4 of them on 500 yen (about $5). Mitsu also won a few. Quest completed, we headed out to Tokyo Dome instead.
I had never been to Tokyo Dome before but it seemed to be popping up entirely too much in my conversations the week prior for a place I'd never seen. Solley referenced "the big egg" during a baseball conversation and I was like "Huh?" I looked it up on Wikipedia. Dave Barry called it the Eggdome in the book (a chapter I was not yet on, so Tamaki got it before I did) as well. As a proud Osakan, though, I could not jive with all the Tokyo Giants propaganda. >:( Psht. We weren't there to see a game, though; just to stroll around and look at the place. We played a Lupin III maze game which was very cool and I took photos of the fountains (surprise). Mitsu got some takoyaki which unfortunately had mentaiko (pollock fish eggs) on it so I declined. He wanted to go to the onsen but it was 9:30 PM and a) I needed to get to the embassy early the next day and b) even in gender-separated baths going to the hot springs alone with mitsu seemed somehow awkward. Bad enough he was hitting on me just a little bit. XD; So we did an hour of karaoke instead which was ALL DIGIMON, then separated, and I headed back to Ai's for the evening.
Next morning I managed to depart for Aoyama in a timely manner at last. I left in decent weather, but coming out of the subway it was pouring. I had to buy an umbrella and some envelopes. I also found a flash drive lying on the sidewalk in the rain. Opted to finish my own errand before dealing with that.
When I got to the embassy I sat down and re-filled-out the entire application with all the updated info, did the declaration, forked out $150 (seriously D:) and my old passport. Oh yeah, and just to make it harder, they wouldn't accept my driver's permit as I.D. because it had expired since I arrived. I luckily had taken most of my entire old wallet with me, so I had MCP (also expired, but they didn't know it), SIN and my birth certificate, and I was able to use the passport as the 4th piece of I.D. I do have to re-apply for my Japanese visa, though. :( It can't be done during Gen's Golden Week trip but I can do it in Osaka I think.
I wasn't ready to leave right off - the Embassy was pleasant and nostalgic. In the spotless bathroom, which had a huge marbled makeup counter, I composed a letter I'd been meaning to write. Then I listened to some CDs at the little music station with lots of recently big Canadian artists. Liked the Hayley Sales tunes I listened to. Almost went down to the embassy library (they stock Highlights magazine!!) but since I had the flash drive to deal with and I wanted lunch in Hamamatsu and some court time if the weather cleared up, I decided not to. Instead I went to the post office to mail my letter, then to the koban (police box) to turn in the lost item. From my Hachiko research I already knew the basics of getting back lost property so I willingly filled out all the paperwork, then helped the policeman translate for a lost tourist. :P I opted not to re-claim the drive - apparently if it goes unclaimed for a certain period, I would become the owner as the finder, but I told them to keep it as I wasn't a Tokyo resident. We had a good conversation in the meantime.
The passport, post office and koban matters out of the way, I headed for lunch to a cafe I'd read about on a blog that made authentic Montreal-style bagels. It was in Hamamatsu-cho, on the waterfront, and the owners were both former exchange students who'd studied in Vancouver and North Bay. They were so friendly and nice. <3 I had a sesame bagel with lox and cream cheese (SO DELICIOUS) and it came with a salad and corn soup. Yum. Then I started to head to Rainbow Park, but someone distracted me severely with text messages and I ended up popping into a cafe at Shimbashi to check IRC. I nursed a sakura latte for an hour or two there before tossing the laptop, purse and etc into a parking-lot coin locker and heading across the Bay with just my iPod, cell phone and wallet and my basketball. I had squandered the gorgeous weather we'd had after having that ball hanging off my suitcase for days...well, no rain was about to stop me now. Getting off the train, I went to the 100-yen ($1 store, where EVERYTHING is actually a dollar) store and purchased:
a) A plastic raincoat
b) dry socks
c) work gloves
d) hot tea
e) hair elastics
Then I put on the coat before leaving the store, bagged my wallet and cell phone and set out for Rainbow-koen.
It was still pouring rain and nearing dusk. Unsurprisingly, nobody was on the court. It was also wet, and I valued not slipping and breaking my tailbone, so I simply shot free throws until my arms gave out, then lazy field goals. I stayed until it was dark and my shoes were full of water. XD; Then I went to the building with the Saizeriya, cleaned up, changed my socks and had a $5 dinner of clam chowder and baked rice casserole with a soft-boiled egg. <3 Then I browsed the Maruetsu in Searea Sanbangai a bit, before getting on the Yurikamome to go home. Decently satisfied with my day, I picked up a sub for the next day's lunch, then called Emily from Aoyama-Icchoume and had her turn on the water, so when I got back to the apartment I could slip right into a hot bath. :D
On Thursday Em and I decided to hang together. I overslept, fell into conversations and finally dragged myself out of bed to join Emily in going to see Sherlock Holmes. I'd wanted to see the Haruhi movie, but it wasn't playing at the theatre near Ai's. The theatre was less than 10 minutes walk...it reminded me of the way Sarah and I used to walk to Bay and Bloor to see a film in Toronto. :D So we saw Holmes which was amazing. I was sure I'd hate it, since I'm a hardcore Holmes freak, and the DBZ-esque fighting scenes ground on me (even as a DBZ fan) but DAMN the dialogue between Holmes and Watson was amazing. Absolutely loved the movie. As we were walking out of the theatre, we passed a Uniqlo, and couldn't resist looking...where, amazingly, they had a rack of "last season's" jeans on sale for $12. (How do BOOT-CUT JEANS ever go out of style?) So I helped myself to four pairs; two blue, one cream, and one pink just out of badness. I almost got lavender but I'm always nervous wearing stuff that was in style when I was in 6th grade.
We walked back to Ai's place and decided to do karaoke before dinner. There was a karaoke box halfway down the block. We got a 3-hour package and (this is definitely rare for us) sang all English songs. Started with the As and just sang whatever took my fancy until we got as far as the Ms, then I did Sakuhin No.2 "Haru" A Major as the final song to bring some Japanese to the table. Back at the apartment, we cooked tacos, then I spent the evening watching Hetalia with Em. I was not particularly impressed with it and escaped after about an hour, went to bed.
In the morning I was determined to get in my bike ride to I went to the Muji in Ginza, rented a bicycle for $5 and set off to find SOME route to Odaiba. Unfortunately the Rainbow Bridge has a "no bicycles" policy (I wish someone could explain this as Odaiba's a HUGE leisure area) so I decided the best way to get across the Bay was to start at Shimbashi and go east, knowing there was a secondary bridge on the Ariake side of the island...but it was clouding over as I got off the train...and by the time I found my way out of Tsukiji a few drops of rain had pitter-pattered down. Determined not to submit, I got across 1/3 of the river and ended up on the docks opposite Hinode. Unbeknownst to me, the Bay is fed by -three- tributaries, so once I'd gotten over the original River of Fail I discovered my way blocked by yet another. Found a bridge to get me over that as well, but that was when the rain really started coming down...I continued on, thinking it might ease off (and the fact that I was at least 45 minutes away from Ginza) but it just got heavier and heavier. Finally I was forced to stop at a convenience store and pick up a $5 raincoat. (Since it WASN'T SUPPOSED TO RAIN, I hadn't brought the one I'd worn two days before.) The coat did little to protect my legs, however, and I arrived in Ariake with my jeans soaked through and water streaming off my glasses. When I finally got as far as Tokyo Big Sight I swung into the Ariake Bay Mall to dry off and re-supply at the other 100-yen shop. I bought a pair of rain pants this time and put them on under my jeans to separate the wet fabric from skin. My gloves were also soaked, but they didn't sell any decent ones. I got a neckwarmer and some legwarmers since the temperature had dropped. I bought chocolate and tea to restore my energy and then went to the bathroom to put the dry things on. XD
I wasn't sure what to do next. I figured I might bike around and get dinner, perhaps. I caught - after nearly three years of visits, I never managed to witness this - the water show in the Bay Mall courtyard area. I remembered sitting out on that balcony involved in a conversation that seemed so important at the time; that same bathroom I had changed clothes in. It seemed like much longer ago than it actually was.
Leaving the Bay Mall, the rain had stopped and I decided that I was going to the basketball court after all. I got another pair of those pink-studded gloves at the Lawson 100 Yen before heading to Rainbow-koen. This time I could leave my bicycle on the path with the keys and my bag still in it, with the carabiner I'd used to stop the ball from bouncing out each time I hit a curb still clipped to the basket. I played until a bit after dark, then biked down past the elementary school and the roundabout by the Bridge, before I noticed something going on in the Bay. There was some kind of a light/fountain show happening. Excited by my newfound ability to get from the Bridge to the DECKS side of the beach in moments, I immediately went over to see and witnessed a cool fountain display. They also had images of flowers, animals, etc projected onto a spray of dry-iced water. It was something amazing to see. :) I took photos steadied on the handlebars of my bike. When the show ended, I biked through Soyokaze-koen and went as far as Fune-no-Kagakukan, taking pictures of more fountains. There, I realized it was time to return to Ginza, as the bicycle had to be returned by 8 PM and I had to actually find my way back. I chose to cross the island (I was at the opposite end from the Ariake Bridge now) via the Promenade, going past the Flamme de Liberte, then Palette Town and over Yume-no-Ohashi. I underestimated the force of the wind though and it was very slow going after biking and shooting hoops almost nonstop all day. I reached Ariake just before 7:30, very alarmed that I was not going to have the bicycle back before the shop closed. Really poured on the speed; figured I could just go straight until a road sign signaled the best way back to Ginza. Over 1 bridge, then 2, then 3, still on Harumi-dori...and finally the Fujiya building swam into view. That one road literally ran STRAIGHT from Ariake to Ginza. Incredible, dumb luck. Not saying I would have been lost or in any sort of danger finding my way back - not in a place like the Tokyo east-side - but I didn't think I could locate Ginza fast enough to make that 8 o'clock deadline, yet I was parking the bike outside Muji at 7:55. Amazing. They returned my deposit, I browsed the store a few moments, then got on the subway home, tired but impressed with myself.
I stopped to purchase a Kuroneko box, then had a bath and more tacos back at Ai's (and a hilarious conversation in it XDD) and spent the rest of the night just relaxing. <3
Next morning was our last day in Tokyo. I was up well before Emily, and packed the box full of the jeans and clothes I'd washed in Ai's washing machine. Then Em woke and made taco omelettes from the dinner leftovers and we listened to radio, she participated in Bizarro Jeopardy, then she threatened Tamaki awhile, then we headed out to a book sale in Azabu-Juuban. All the books were 300 yen ($3) each so we stocked up with at least a dozen each, left them in a coin locker in Shiodome Station and went back to Tokyo Big FSight to see the Tokyo Anime Fair. This was all right; literally I'd been in Tokyo during this weekend TWICE since arriving and I didn't go to the event in 2008 or 2009 either. I was glad to see it once. The only thing I bought was advance tickets to the new Conan film because they were cheaper than at the theatre, and came with free swag. :D After this, we went to Fuji TV and watched the sun set from there and the fountain show from the observation deck, then continued to Aqua City (not -even- joking. so I went to Odaiba...what, 5 days out of the 8 I spent there?) and had dinner on the 6th floor in the restaurant that had taken over the place where the nice Korean bibimbap restaurant used to be. It was now a swanky yet affordable Italian place and I am definitely going there for my birthday. I had 4-cheese penne and raspberry cake and ginger ale. We took photos of the Tokyo Tower Veil (pink/purple this time) from the Aqua City Shrine, then took the long way to Odaiba-Kaihinkoen Station and went home. To out surprise, when we looked back while walking along DECKS, Tokyo Tower was gone. Not even the top was visible. We guessed there was a light malfunction as the entire tower had gone dark. Weird.
Back at Ai's, I went to get Krispy Kreme to take back as omiyage for my co-workers. I figured with Ai's 5-minutes-away apartment it was only fitting. Had to chase down an ATM though. Doughnuts in tow, I returned to Yoyogi and packed up everything else - the books into the box for Emily to ship back to Osaka, the rest in my suitcase. Then Emily proceeded to misplace the apartment key, causing us to turn the place upside down in case I had accidentally packed it and, Em unable to locate it to accompany me to the bus stop when it was finally so late I HAD to go, I sprinted across the Southern Terrace again all the way to West Shinjuku alone. I made it just barely in time, thank goodness. I actually arrived 2 minutes after we should have departed, but the bus was still boarding, thankfully.
Turned on my audio book, curled up under my blanket, took some medication to relax and passed thoroughly out. So thoroughly that when they let me off the bus in Osaka the next morning, I was too sleepy to function, and ate curry in a cafe in Umeda before feeling fit enough to get on the train home. XD I didn't even -wake- when we went through Kyoto, haha. Love how the bus passes through my town but doesn't stop there, so I have to get off in Kyoto and get the last 40 minutes by train, or continue on the bus to Osaka City and double back on the train. Sooooooo tired when I got home. XD Spent it all just winding down from the trip.
Man. Having an apartment in Tokyo is so great. Jealous. XD;
I had let Mitsu decide what was happening as 90% of the time I can't follow what he's planning anyway. XD Turned out we were there to win Mr. Saturn dolls in the arcade. Huh! Well, the arcade guy was generous and positioned the dolls in a very favourable way, allowing me to win 4 of them on 500 yen (about $5). Mitsu also won a few. Quest completed, we headed out to Tokyo Dome instead.
I had never been to Tokyo Dome before but it seemed to be popping up entirely too much in my conversations the week prior for a place I'd never seen. Solley referenced "the big egg" during a baseball conversation and I was like "Huh?" I looked it up on Wikipedia. Dave Barry called it the Eggdome in the book (a chapter I was not yet on, so Tamaki got it before I did) as well. As a proud Osakan, though, I could not jive with all the Tokyo Giants propaganda. >:( Psht. We weren't there to see a game, though; just to stroll around and look at the place. We played a Lupin III maze game which was very cool and I took photos of the fountains (surprise). Mitsu got some takoyaki which unfortunately had mentaiko (pollock fish eggs) on it so I declined. He wanted to go to the onsen but it was 9:30 PM and a) I needed to get to the embassy early the next day and b) even in gender-separated baths going to the hot springs alone with mitsu seemed somehow awkward. Bad enough he was hitting on me just a little bit. XD; So we did an hour of karaoke instead which was ALL DIGIMON, then separated, and I headed back to Ai's for the evening.
Next morning I managed to depart for Aoyama in a timely manner at last. I left in decent weather, but coming out of the subway it was pouring. I had to buy an umbrella and some envelopes. I also found a flash drive lying on the sidewalk in the rain. Opted to finish my own errand before dealing with that.
When I got to the embassy I sat down and re-filled-out the entire application with all the updated info, did the declaration, forked out $150 (seriously D:) and my old passport. Oh yeah, and just to make it harder, they wouldn't accept my driver's permit as I.D. because it had expired since I arrived. I luckily had taken most of my entire old wallet with me, so I had MCP (also expired, but they didn't know it), SIN and my birth certificate, and I was able to use the passport as the 4th piece of I.D. I do have to re-apply for my Japanese visa, though. :( It can't be done during Gen's Golden Week trip but I can do it in Osaka I think.
I wasn't ready to leave right off - the Embassy was pleasant and nostalgic. In the spotless bathroom, which had a huge marbled makeup counter, I composed a letter I'd been meaning to write. Then I listened to some CDs at the little music station with lots of recently big Canadian artists. Liked the Hayley Sales tunes I listened to. Almost went down to the embassy library (they stock Highlights magazine!!) but since I had the flash drive to deal with and I wanted lunch in Hamamatsu and some court time if the weather cleared up, I decided not to. Instead I went to the post office to mail my letter, then to the koban (police box) to turn in the lost item. From my Hachiko research I already knew the basics of getting back lost property so I willingly filled out all the paperwork, then helped the policeman translate for a lost tourist. :P I opted not to re-claim the drive - apparently if it goes unclaimed for a certain period, I would become the owner as the finder, but I told them to keep it as I wasn't a Tokyo resident. We had a good conversation in the meantime.
The passport, post office and koban matters out of the way, I headed for lunch to a cafe I'd read about on a blog that made authentic Montreal-style bagels. It was in Hamamatsu-cho, on the waterfront, and the owners were both former exchange students who'd studied in Vancouver and North Bay. They were so friendly and nice. <3 I had a sesame bagel with lox and cream cheese (SO DELICIOUS) and it came with a salad and corn soup. Yum. Then I started to head to Rainbow Park, but someone distracted me severely with text messages and I ended up popping into a cafe at Shimbashi to check IRC. I nursed a sakura latte for an hour or two there before tossing the laptop, purse and etc into a parking-lot coin locker and heading across the Bay with just my iPod, cell phone and wallet and my basketball. I had squandered the gorgeous weather we'd had after having that ball hanging off my suitcase for days...well, no rain was about to stop me now. Getting off the train, I went to the 100-yen ($1 store, where EVERYTHING is actually a dollar) store and purchased:
a) A plastic raincoat
b) dry socks
c) work gloves
d) hot tea
e) hair elastics
Then I put on the coat before leaving the store, bagged my wallet and cell phone and set out for Rainbow-koen.
It was still pouring rain and nearing dusk. Unsurprisingly, nobody was on the court. It was also wet, and I valued not slipping and breaking my tailbone, so I simply shot free throws until my arms gave out, then lazy field goals. I stayed until it was dark and my shoes were full of water. XD; Then I went to the building with the Saizeriya, cleaned up, changed my socks and had a $5 dinner of clam chowder and baked rice casserole with a soft-boiled egg. <3 Then I browsed the Maruetsu in Searea Sanbangai a bit, before getting on the Yurikamome to go home. Decently satisfied with my day, I picked up a sub for the next day's lunch, then called Emily from Aoyama-Icchoume and had her turn on the water, so when I got back to the apartment I could slip right into a hot bath. :D
On Thursday Em and I decided to hang together. I overslept, fell into conversations and finally dragged myself out of bed to join Emily in going to see Sherlock Holmes. I'd wanted to see the Haruhi movie, but it wasn't playing at the theatre near Ai's. The theatre was less than 10 minutes walk...it reminded me of the way Sarah and I used to walk to Bay and Bloor to see a film in Toronto. :D So we saw Holmes which was amazing. I was sure I'd hate it, since I'm a hardcore Holmes freak, and the DBZ-esque fighting scenes ground on me (even as a DBZ fan) but DAMN the dialogue between Holmes and Watson was amazing. Absolutely loved the movie. As we were walking out of the theatre, we passed a Uniqlo, and couldn't resist looking...where, amazingly, they had a rack of "last season's" jeans on sale for $12. (How do BOOT-CUT JEANS ever go out of style?) So I helped myself to four pairs; two blue, one cream, and one pink just out of badness. I almost got lavender but I'm always nervous wearing stuff that was in style when I was in 6th grade.
We walked back to Ai's place and decided to do karaoke before dinner. There was a karaoke box halfway down the block. We got a 3-hour package and (this is definitely rare for us) sang all English songs. Started with the As and just sang whatever took my fancy until we got as far as the Ms, then I did Sakuhin No.2 "Haru" A Major as the final song to bring some Japanese to the table. Back at the apartment, we cooked tacos, then I spent the evening watching Hetalia with Em. I was not particularly impressed with it and escaped after about an hour, went to bed.
In the morning I was determined to get in my bike ride to I went to the Muji in Ginza, rented a bicycle for $5 and set off to find SOME route to Odaiba. Unfortunately the Rainbow Bridge has a "no bicycles" policy (I wish someone could explain this as Odaiba's a HUGE leisure area) so I decided the best way to get across the Bay was to start at Shimbashi and go east, knowing there was a secondary bridge on the Ariake side of the island...but it was clouding over as I got off the train...and by the time I found my way out of Tsukiji a few drops of rain had pitter-pattered down. Determined not to submit, I got across 1/3 of the river and ended up on the docks opposite Hinode. Unbeknownst to me, the Bay is fed by -three- tributaries, so once I'd gotten over the original River of Fail I discovered my way blocked by yet another. Found a bridge to get me over that as well, but that was when the rain really started coming down...I continued on, thinking it might ease off (and the fact that I was at least 45 minutes away from Ginza) but it just got heavier and heavier. Finally I was forced to stop at a convenience store and pick up a $5 raincoat. (Since it WASN'T SUPPOSED TO RAIN, I hadn't brought the one I'd worn two days before.) The coat did little to protect my legs, however, and I arrived in Ariake with my jeans soaked through and water streaming off my glasses. When I finally got as far as Tokyo Big Sight I swung into the Ariake Bay Mall to dry off and re-supply at the other 100-yen shop. I bought a pair of rain pants this time and put them on under my jeans to separate the wet fabric from skin. My gloves were also soaked, but they didn't sell any decent ones. I got a neckwarmer and some legwarmers since the temperature had dropped. I bought chocolate and tea to restore my energy and then went to the bathroom to put the dry things on. XD
I wasn't sure what to do next. I figured I might bike around and get dinner, perhaps. I caught - after nearly three years of visits, I never managed to witness this - the water show in the Bay Mall courtyard area. I remembered sitting out on that balcony involved in a conversation that seemed so important at the time; that same bathroom I had changed clothes in. It seemed like much longer ago than it actually was.
Leaving the Bay Mall, the rain had stopped and I decided that I was going to the basketball court after all. I got another pair of those pink-studded gloves at the Lawson 100 Yen before heading to Rainbow-koen. This time I could leave my bicycle on the path with the keys and my bag still in it, with the carabiner I'd used to stop the ball from bouncing out each time I hit a curb still clipped to the basket. I played until a bit after dark, then biked down past the elementary school and the roundabout by the Bridge, before I noticed something going on in the Bay. There was some kind of a light/fountain show happening. Excited by my newfound ability to get from the Bridge to the DECKS side of the beach in moments, I immediately went over to see and witnessed a cool fountain display. They also had images of flowers, animals, etc projected onto a spray of dry-iced water. It was something amazing to see. :) I took photos steadied on the handlebars of my bike. When the show ended, I biked through Soyokaze-koen and went as far as Fune-no-Kagakukan, taking pictures of more fountains. There, I realized it was time to return to Ginza, as the bicycle had to be returned by 8 PM and I had to actually find my way back. I chose to cross the island (I was at the opposite end from the Ariake Bridge now) via the Promenade, going past the Flamme de Liberte, then Palette Town and over Yume-no-Ohashi. I underestimated the force of the wind though and it was very slow going after biking and shooting hoops almost nonstop all day. I reached Ariake just before 7:30, very alarmed that I was not going to have the bicycle back before the shop closed. Really poured on the speed; figured I could just go straight until a road sign signaled the best way back to Ginza. Over 1 bridge, then 2, then 3, still on Harumi-dori...and finally the Fujiya building swam into view. That one road literally ran STRAIGHT from Ariake to Ginza. Incredible, dumb luck. Not saying I would have been lost or in any sort of danger finding my way back - not in a place like the Tokyo east-side - but I didn't think I could locate Ginza fast enough to make that 8 o'clock deadline, yet I was parking the bike outside Muji at 7:55. Amazing. They returned my deposit, I browsed the store a few moments, then got on the subway home, tired but impressed with myself.
I stopped to purchase a Kuroneko box, then had a bath and more tacos back at Ai's (and a hilarious conversation in it XDD) and spent the rest of the night just relaxing. <3
Next morning was our last day in Tokyo. I was up well before Emily, and packed the box full of the jeans and clothes I'd washed in Ai's washing machine. Then Em woke and made taco omelettes from the dinner leftovers and we listened to radio, she participated in Bizarro Jeopardy, then she threatened Tamaki awhile, then we headed out to a book sale in Azabu-Juuban. All the books were 300 yen ($3) each so we stocked up with at least a dozen each, left them in a coin locker in Shiodome Station and went back to Tokyo Big FSight to see the Tokyo Anime Fair. This was all right; literally I'd been in Tokyo during this weekend TWICE since arriving and I didn't go to the event in 2008 or 2009 either. I was glad to see it once. The only thing I bought was advance tickets to the new Conan film because they were cheaper than at the theatre, and came with free swag. :D After this, we went to Fuji TV and watched the sun set from there and the fountain show from the observation deck, then continued to Aqua City (not -even- joking. so I went to Odaiba...what, 5 days out of the 8 I spent there?) and had dinner on the 6th floor in the restaurant that had taken over the place where the nice Korean bibimbap restaurant used to be. It was now a swanky yet affordable Italian place and I am definitely going there for my birthday. I had 4-cheese penne and raspberry cake and ginger ale. We took photos of the Tokyo Tower Veil (pink/purple this time) from the Aqua City Shrine, then took the long way to Odaiba-Kaihinkoen Station and went home. To out surprise, when we looked back while walking along DECKS, Tokyo Tower was gone. Not even the top was visible. We guessed there was a light malfunction as the entire tower had gone dark. Weird.
Back at Ai's, I went to get Krispy Kreme to take back as omiyage for my co-workers. I figured with Ai's 5-minutes-away apartment it was only fitting. Had to chase down an ATM though. Doughnuts in tow, I returned to Yoyogi and packed up everything else - the books into the box for Emily to ship back to Osaka, the rest in my suitcase. Then Emily proceeded to misplace the apartment key, causing us to turn the place upside down in case I had accidentally packed it and, Em unable to locate it to accompany me to the bus stop when it was finally so late I HAD to go, I sprinted across the Southern Terrace again all the way to West Shinjuku alone. I made it just barely in time, thank goodness. I actually arrived 2 minutes after we should have departed, but the bus was still boarding, thankfully.
Turned on my audio book, curled up under my blanket, took some medication to relax and passed thoroughly out. So thoroughly that when they let me off the bus in Osaka the next morning, I was too sleepy to function, and ate curry in a cafe in Umeda before feeling fit enough to get on the train home. XD I didn't even -wake- when we went through Kyoto, haha. Love how the bus passes through my town but doesn't stop there, so I have to get off in Kyoto and get the last 40 minutes by train, or continue on the bus to Osaka City and double back on the train. Sooooooo tired when I got home. XD Spent it all just winding down from the trip.
Man. Having an apartment in Tokyo is so great. Jealous. XD;