Second update from Japan

Second update from Japan, on the last night we will spend in Tokyo before traveling to Osaka this morning. We've been able to do and see a lot more, because we've been feeling better. My IBS is almost gone, we're getting used to the heat and for the past 2 nights we've been sleeping through the night instead of waking up at 1am and not falling asleep again until 5 am.

I believe I left off on Monday. The evening after I wrote my last mail we decided to go to Tobu, a large department store, to get some food. Many Japanese department stores have a food department at either the top floor or in the basement. But there are 2 Tobu buildings. One is a sort of university, not a department store. Of course we ended up there first. XD We went to all the floors and each time it was a surprise what we were going to see whenever the elevator doors opened. XD Not the right place, obviously.

We then went to the other one and that was the right one. The food department in the basement was freaking intense! Food and people everywhere. Each different type of food was laid out or displayed in a square, in the middle of which were the cashiers. Who kept yelling what kind of food they had and what was on sale, etc. So you're walking around, trying to recognise anything, through throngs of bustling people, with cashiers yelling in rapid (rabid) Japanese... Well after an hour we had some fruit (very recognisable, yay!), Eddie had some sushi and I had finally found a stand that sold a million kinds of yakitori. I bought 4 sticks, each of a different kind, and we went out into the relative peace of the Ikebukuro clubbing district again. 3 of the yakitori I had were great, the other one wasn't so good, so I didn't eat all of it.

On Tuesday we went to Akihabara, 'electronic city' as it's advertised as. Lots of neon, lots of computer/phone/other electric stuff shops and lots of girls dressed in Lolita clothes advertising a maid cafe (maid and host cafes are places where you are served by very pretty girls or boys and you pay not only for the food and drinks, but also for them to sit with you. They're quite popular here apparently). We went to a large department store where they had these vending machines full of balls with toys in them. I got a few of them, all kinds of trinkets, pretty cool.

Then we walked to Kanda Miyojin Shrine, which is close to bustling Akihabara and surrounded by flats, but it's very peaceful and of course there were loads of cicadas. I swear; the noise those bugs make is unbelievable. Sometimes you actually feel like it's too loud to bear. Like you need earplugs. XD We went to the shrine at sundown (which is 7pm; super early for us West-Europeans) and all these people came to pray at sundown. We wanted to throw a coin in as well but because all those people were there, we felt like it would be a bit disrespectful, as we obviously don't follow the shinto religion.

We went back to the hotel and for the first time this week I ate a normal-sized dinner.

On Wednesday I felt much better; I had slept through the night for the first time and I had some time to get up and get ready in the morning in peace. I did our laundry in the coin laundry downstairs from the hostel. Then we went to Koishikawa Korakuen Garden, a stroll garden which has replicas of famous sites in China and Japan, only smaller. We spent a few hours strolling around there and got stung by so many mosquitoes, it's just unbelievable. I took pictures of my legs, otherwise I really don't think you'll believe me if I say I have 25 mosquito bites on just one leg. But wearing my jeans is not an option in this heat; I prefer my skirts. Today I bought some mosquito repellent, though. I think it worked. I also had some cream to put on the bites, so hopefully it will all be gone soon. I look like I've got some kind of disease or something. XD They're not even small lumps; they're a centimetre across! Eddie's word to describe it was 'grotesque'. XD He has some too, though; first time in his life he's ever had mosquito bites. The mosquitoes aren't even that big, but they're different than the kind we have in Holland and England. They're black. Tomoki had alrady warned us, but yeah..

For dinner I went to an udon shop nearby (for those who don't know; udon are thick noodles). I had passed the shop every time I needed to go to the station and it smelt sooo good outside all the time, so I decided to have dinner there. I got kintetsu, which is the udon noodles in a broth with some vegetables and fried tofu. It was delicious. The guy who worked there spoke some English and he was very excited to hear I was from The Netherlands. He even knew the word 'Nederland' and he said we have a very good soccer team. As I was eating,he came by asking me if it was nice, and when I left he told me to come back again, and I think I will.

In the evening, Eddie and I went to Sunshine City. A sort of... wow how can I describe it? It's typically Japanese: shops full of toys and Hello Kitty stuff, lots of noise, lots of neon, lots of music, pachinko parlours, etc. Just loud and wow. We went to the Sunshine building, which is 60 floors high. On the 60th floor is an observatory. The elevator took about 10 seconds to get us up there. At its fastest it goes 600 m per minute! My ears popped, but other than that it felt ok. What was funny was that the moment the elevator stars, the lights go out, blacklights go out and the walls are covered in cheesy paintings of dolphins and stars and galaxies. Cheesy music plays as well, so much fun. XD

The view from the observatory was amazing. We could see all over Tokyo, on all 4 sides. And.... we saw Fuji! The sun was just setting (it was after 7), so I've got some great pictures of Tokyo in sunset and Tokyo with all its lights after dark. It was well worth the 620 yen we paid each. We spent about an hour there and then we went down again. Just outside that building is Tokyu Hands, a popular store for household items and party items. and there, I bought an Itazura kitty bank!! I've wanted one ever since I saw them on the internet. Here'sa cat with one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AIilzwdREE They are just so cute!! ^^

On the way back to the hotel we passed a McDonalds. Eddie wanted a meal and I got some chips (fries). Then on the way back to the hotel we saw a couple of very pretty boys (with typical Japanese spiky and dyed hair, cool clothes, black nailpolish, etc) and one was fixing his hair as we walked by. I was like: f*ck it, I'm going to ask them for a picture. So I asked and three of them were ok with it (one stepped up to the side) and I took the picture. One of them asked me where we were from and in crappy English he explained they were hosts from a host cafe!! XD Then I couldn't get rid of him, because he didn't understand what I was saying and I couldn't understand what he was saying and I just wanted to be polite and not just walk off. Finally I said in Japanese we were going to eat (I remembered that sentence) and pointed at the McDonalds bag. Then he let us go. XD He was cute though!! So Eddie and I kept joking how we should go to the host cafe and I could hit on the guys, etc. XD Hilarity ensued when, upon returning to the hotel, we discovered that in a booklet with ads that had been handed to us in Sunshine city earlier, there was a Host club guide with pictures of all these nice-looking hosts. XD

So yeah, Thursday (today) arrived and it was still hot, hot, hot and super humid. On TV we saw some Americans and after seeing nothing but tiny Japanese people all day, we couldn't help but say: OMG they're so fat! No offense to anyone. Just the ones on TV were all really big... Anyway, we went to Asakusa, which is the more traditional area of Tokyo; where old Edo used to be before Tokyo was a superlarge big ass city. There's a big temple there, Senso-ji temple, which is Buddhist, not Shinto, like the shrines we've visited so far (shrine = Shinto, temple = Buddhist). If you google Asakusa, you get all these pictures of a big red lantern; that's at the Senso-ji temple. There's quite a few of those. Leading up to the temple is a big street lined with souvenir shops and shops where you can buy kimono, yukata, fans, etc. We got a few souvenirs there and some stuff for ourselves as well (I really hope I'll be able to fit all of it in my bags; I only brought a small suitcase (courtesy of Bonny) and a big backpack, because I've been told on the shinkansen there isn't much room for big suitcases. We'll find out tomorrow. Eddie has a big suitcase, though, so when push comes to shove I can put some of my stuff in his suitcase and take it out again in Holland).

After Asakusa we went to Ueno park, which is really large. Eddie's feet hurt, though, so we didn't see the entire park (I'm so glad I've spent much of the past two weeks walking to walk in my new shoes; otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do all this walking either). We did see the Inari shrine. Inari is a goddess whose shrines can be recognised by the fox statues in front and inside of them. There was also a realllllly cute kitty lying outside the shrine,very hot obviously. I took some photos. In Ueno park is also a Museum of Western Art, which has a big statue called the Gates of Hell outside of it (probably a replica, but still) (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gates_of_Hell.jpg) I took a picture of that, but we didn't go in.

We got back to the hotel and decided to go out for shabu shabu. This is a type of food where you get a large bowl of boiling beef stock on the table and you dip pieces of beef, pork and vegetables in it to cook them. It was super delicious!! And it was all you can eat so we got some refills of beef as well. Now I'm full. XD