March 27-Mike’s Day Out

            Has anyone ever seen that movie “Baby’s Day Out?” It’s really funny, go rent it.  Anyway, today began with me going back to Shibuya to meet Kozue.  We hadn’t yet decided what to do with ourselves or where to go, but I figured that since we were in one of the world’s largest and most famous cities, we could probably find something do to!  She showed up promptly at 11 and we were….WAIT!…..I forgot to tell you something.  Ok, has anyone ever seen a food place called Beard Papa’s Pipin’ Hot Cream Puffs?????  If anyone (other than a Japanese person) knows it, or knows where one in the US is, you HAVE to tell me!!!!  Let me explain…in Osaka, last summer, Sean (Watters from Canada) and I got some cream puffs from this same chain when we were waiting for a train in Osaka Station.  Let’s just say that they should be their own food group!  They’re so delicious.  They aren’t pipin’ hot at all though actually.  The cream filling is chilled.  I love that cream…it just caresses your taste buds from the moment it touches your lips until it gets to your stomach and it massages the insides all the way down.  I know that sounds kinda weird, but what I’m trying to say is that it’s heavenly.  So I bought 3 cream puffs at the Beard Papa’s that I found accidentally near Shibuya station.     

            Anyway, Kozue and I started by going for a walk, which seemed like a good idea.  I’d asked the dude at my hotel if the cherry blossoms had reached Tokyo yet and he told me that they wouldn’t come until next week….oh well.  So we headed towards Harajuku.  Harajuku, for those of you who have never been, is like Shibuya in many ways.  Yeah, that’s helpful, right?  Actually, it’s like Shibuya in that it has a lot of trendy stores and the focus is on young people.  Harajuku is actually more trendy and fashionable than the casual Shibuya, and it’s also on a smaller scale, but I’d never been there before, so therefore I wanted to go.  So, we walked around Harajuku for a while looking at the funny people and peeking into store windows.  It was a really nice day too, so that made it even better.  Kozue also taught me two new words.  I think they were “omotte” and “ura” if that’s wrong then too bad for you.  Anyway, “omotte” is like the main drag or main street district and “ura” are the back streets and more secluded areas.  Next we headed over to Yoyogi Park.  I really enjoyed Yoyogi Park!  At first there really wasn’t much to see and I was rather disappointed.  The park was build, or was improved, for use in the Tokyo Olympics some time in the 1960s and the station for the swimming pool is still there and still in use as far as I know.  I also learned the word for “pigeon”: “hato.”  I learn a lot by hanging out with Japanese people.  Anyway, the park was nice because, I guess since it’d been warm enough, all the trees were green and it looked like summer but felt like spring.  It was wonderful.  There was a strong breeze, but the air was warm so it made me feel fantastic or, as the locals might say, “Kimochi!”  We also went to Meiji o-tera, that can be found in Yoyogi Park.  It’s a pretty big temple for something in the middle of nutty, trendy Harajuku.  Over the wide paths entering the park were huge “tori” gates and trees lined the road.  When we got to the temple, we heard a large bell ringing.  As we approached, we saw there were a lot of people standing around watching something.  Once we got inside, we could see about 50 guys in baseball uniforms standing in the temple!  It turned out that that was one of Japan’s national teams: The Yakult Swallows!  Since Friday (the tomorrow) is Japan’s opening day for baseball, they were receiving their blessing!  It was pretty interesting and I don’t see interesting things like that happening in America! 

            After going through the park, we walked back to Shibuya and sat and did some people watching for a while.  Maybe that sounds boring to you, but if it does, then you’ve never been to Shibuya and done people watching.  It could be entertaining for hours!  So we sat in the shade and looked at people and made cracks about them or tried to guess where they might be going or whom they might be.  After a while we decided that there must be something better for us to do, so we headed over to Odaiba. 

            Odaiba is an area with a couple large shopping centers right along side one side of Tokyo Bay next to the famous Rainbow Bridge.  The ride over was pleasant because we were able to take the monorail for part of the way and there were some very nice views.  So, we strolled around and took a look at the fake statue of liberty in Odaiba.  It’s about….mmmm…I’d say…..25 feet high and an exact replica, except you can’t go inside this one.  Kozue taught me another word: “pakuri” or, “rip off” and I wholeheartedly agreed.  According to Kozue, Odaiba is much nicer at night when you can see all the lights of Tokyo, so we stayed until then and took a ride on the really big Ferris wheel.  Hmmmm..she taught be the word for that but I forgot, dag yo.  After the Ferris wheel and dinner at an Italian restaurant, it was getting late so we went back to Shibuya, and she and I parted. 

            I had seen a Coco-ichiban Curry place in Shinjuku earlier that day and I was determined to go to it.  So when I went back to Shinjuku I hurried over there and hoped it wouldn’t be closed.  Much to my surprise, at 11:30pm, the place was full, literally.  I swear, Tokyo is the real city that never sleeps.  Shinjuku station, the busiest train station on the planet-handling roughly 4 MILLION people a DAY, is always crowded and in the area around the station, life is always bustling.  So I got a pipin’ hot bowl of chicken curry rice and that was highly satisfying.  After that I went to an Internet café in Kabukicho for a while, but was almost dying of exhaustion so I forced myself to my feel and hobbled back to my hotel and fell asleep instantly.  It’s took bad I wasn’t able to get more sleep because would prove to be a very long day….

-Maikeru