So we decided not to hit the bookstore after all. But that’s ok….
On Thursday, we had our usual breakfast at the Ushio’s (eggs, ham, the most delicious apples in the world, green tea, and kiwi juice). Then, we trekked off to the train station again. We kicked around Shinjuku again for a while, while Robert was in class. I picked up some assorted Otomo manga at the Kinokuniya bookstore, and Emily picked herself up some more Gunnm and Trigun. I also got a coupe of t-shirts at Lover’s House, near the subway station, but upon arriving back home, I discovered that one of them was waaaaaaaaay too small, despite the fact that they were both labeled “Medium.” Oh well. I’ll have to find a tiny person to give the other one to. And I mean tiny…
We also went back to the department store where Emily got her boots earlier. She wanted to get some presents for people that she had seen but didn’t buy last time. They happened to be playing Operation Ivy downstairs, in one of the punk rock boutique areas on the first floor….pretty cool. I almost bought a pin that read “Dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians,” but decided against it. I did, however, pick myself up an FLCL shirt (on sale for 1000 yen). I tried on a really cool looking jacket as well, but it was too narrow to fit my shoulders comfortably. I tried all three sizes and nothing really worked quite right.
Next, we caught the subway up to Yoyogi, where we met Robert and changed lines to go to Asakusa. The main attraction at Asakusa is a large temple right near the station, with a long strip of tourist-y gift shops and stands along the way from the gate to the temple itself. We picked up a handful of little odds and ends there as well, and had a quick bite at a little yakitori tent outside the temple.
We rode back to Shinjuku after the temple, and had some more food at the Cafe Jr. Italian Tomato again, then just sat around there and read (or looked at, in my case) our new manga for a while. Then it was off to a little (and I mean LITTLE) rock bar around the corner, called Mother. Mother is somewhat similar to Kuraneko, except crowded and noisy. There’s a drinks menu as well as a music requests menu, and the evening’s selections were very biased towards gothic/industrial type music, although they did play a little Clash as well. We met a few of Robert’s friends there, but ended up leaving pretty early and heading back home. It was a little too crowded and overwhelming for us at the time.
Oh, a small correction: we’re staying in Iriso, apparently, not Tokorozawa. Iriso is a small suburb on the ouskirts of Tokorozawa proper. The Tokorozawa station is where we initially arrived on the bus from Narita, but we took the train a couple of stops down to Iriso then. Oops…my confusion.
Anyways, we had some drinks at the house and watched some Japanese TV for a while. There was this bizarre show on, that looked sort of like a talk show or comedy show of some sort. Basically, there was a guy who appeared to be the host, talking to two young women, and telling jokes. At one point they appeared to be discussing breasts, complete with hand gestures and amusing facial expressions. Then, the man put on a jacket, and one of the sleeves of the jacket had a plush fish sewn on to it. As soon as he brought it out, one of the girls got really upset for a moment, and started crying a little bit. Then, every time she said something, he would make some sort of joke involving the fish, or talking to the fish, or something, and this eventually cheered her up. Next, he had them put on a maid’s apron with hearts on it and act out some sort of scene. Very strange….finally, he went outside of the set (which was sort of like a sitcom-style living room) and had a conversation with a man in a large dog costume. And then the show ended.
This morning, we got up and went over for breakfast, while Robert was recovering from the night out at Mother. Apparently, he came back on the 6am train. So the Ushio’s took us, and Duc, another student staying with them, to the temple in Kawagoe. and the historic downtown area of Kawagoe. We got to see more of the countryside/town area on the drive over there, which was very interesting. The temple had a large museum section this time, based in a 350-year old building. There was a garden area to the back, which was very beautiful but must be 10 times more so in the Spring, when the cherry blossoms are out in force. This temple was home to a large and aggressive flock of pigeons. So aggressive in fact, that I saw a few of the sitting on a child near a statue.
Down in the town area of Kawagoe, we visited several shops that specialize in various types of cakes and sweets, on a narrow street with historic style houses. Along the main road were several museums and galleries. We visited one gallery dedicated to the street festivals that take place every year, with large “mountain cars,” sort of like vertically stacked parade floats. These mountain cars are pulled by a bunch of men, while actors in masks and costumes perform dances and act out mythical characters on the various levels. We also visited a small museum housed in another old house, showing the traditional Japanese lifestyle from the Edo era.
It was snowing very lightly when we woke up this morning. Not enough for the snow to stay around on the ground, but there were tiny little snow flakes looping their way to the ground and disappearing. I haven’t seen snow actually falling in a long time….It’s actually started to fall a little heavier now that it’s evening, but still not enough to cover anything. It all pretty much melts once it touches down. But it’s still very pretty.
Later tonight, we;ll be off to Roppongi, the infamous nightlife district of Tokyo, for an event called Midnight Mass, an all-night goth club. It ends at 6am, and our flight back on Sunday is at 6pm, so we’ll head back here for our bags and then catch the train to the airport. Some of our large bags are already there, so that saves us from lugging some of it around, at least. This trip has seemed way too short, even though we did get to do and see quite a bit while we’ve been here….
More later….
