Off we went to Shibuya on the subway. We went to Soft Bank which is a phone company that advertised prepaid phones in addition to their regular contracts, but apparently they didn't actually have any in the store, so we left and went out to find some food. There was a Ramen shop near by, so that's where we went. (We had all been nervous to try going into a restaurant individually, but as a group we felt comfortable attempting it.) It was surprisingly easy and the chef was enthusiastic and encouraging. We ordered our bowls of ramen, which came in options of something, salty, or spicy. There was an additional dimension of options which I didn't understand, so I asked him which of the salty options was the best and he pointed one out. I took him up on his suggestion and asked for some Gyoza as well. It was all very delicious, especially considered all that I had had previously since arriving in Japan was a vending machine Fanta, 100 yen cups of noodles, and some left over beef jerky.
After devouring the bowl of Ramen and Gyoza we attempted to pay the chef, but it turns out that we had clearly missed an important aspect of dining at this kind of location. The Chef finished up with another customer then came around the counter and took us over to what looked like a Vending machine/ATM. He put Cameron's money into the machine pushed the buttons that were associated with his order and the machine printed a receipt and returned some change. restaurant employees never actually see money in this shop, just receipts. It's kinda cool and very Japanese.
Following the food adventure we headed off into the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and let ourselves get lost in the urban jungle of shops, people, and noise. We visited the Apple store to get Cameron a case for his Japanese iPhone, and we found a Manga store where I got a recommendation for One Piece from an employee (the conversation was in Japanese of course). I purchased the first four books of the series of 30+ and we once again headed out into the city.
A few wrong turns got us into a few questionable alleys which contained various "adult" stores and "love" hotels and we made jokes accordingly. The rest of the evening had us simply wandering around looking at things. Eventually Cameron, who is engaged to a Japanese lady, had to met his brother-in-law, so we ended the night there. Frankly I'm glad because my knee had started to give out an hour or so before and it was getting painful to walk.
Sam and I took our leave and attempted to find our way back to our neck of the woods and failed miserable until we got some advice from a generous young woman who noticed that we were obviously lost. We had found ourselves in a local station and needed to find a "JR" station to get home. We ended up not using her advice since we couldn't figure out where the JR station was. Instead we just back tracked to the subway we came in on and took a best guess as to which train we needed to board. It got us pretty close, but was much further away from where we wanted to end up than we intended.
I made a quick stop at a nearby 100 yen shop to get a cup and a small bowl and plate for future home cooked meals, and we headed home. Eventually we got to the point where we had to go our separate ways and each took off towards our respective residences.
Oh, on a different note, I decided to shave about one and a half hours before I had to leave for orientation and it was a good thing I did so! The razor that I bought and brought from the states in incredibly in effective! Maybe it was because my beard had started to get long, but my normal razor was never this bad. Now that I am clean shaven though, I'll probably start shaving every day which should be easier on on the razor.
Thought of the day: Friends make life a heck of a lot easier to put up with.
Thanks Ben. Your title got that Beatles song stuck in my head ALL DAY. I'm so glad you've met some people though. It really does make all the difference. I can't wait to talk to you next!
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