"Apparenly, she finds the gaijin more interesting than the 150 meter drop." by Rob
Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 9:45 AM

Day 2

7:05 Toyo time now- awake at Kayts.....headin into the city to meet with Colt and look around. Be back later.

much later- Today was interesting. First experiences all around. Met up with Colt at an early time for me (before 8...gasp!) and we headed in to see some sights. First stop was the Meiji shrine. This was my

first experience with the Tokyo metro on my own, and let me tell you, that's an experience. Learning to navigate the system thats SOMETIMES in English as well as Japanese is a fun time. I managed since there

was only one connection and my Japanese can get me by, and met Colt at the JR station near Meiji. We wandered down a famous shopping district before most of it opened and had a lively conversation with one of the store owners. After looking around,(I should have gotten the pink Fujiko T-shirt for Tikki!) we headed litteraly across the street to Meiji shrine. You cross the thresh-hold and it's like being transported to another world. A quiet park like atmosphere makes it hard to believe you're in downtown Tokyo anymore. It's so quiet you can hear the birds sing and the leaves rustle. Sometimes the tall buldings creep into view over the trees, reminding you of where you are. We purified ourselves before entering the temple and went in just in time to see a procession of priests heading for the altar. We tossed our ten yen into the prayer buckets and watched the priests chant for a while before they broke off to do their seperate duties. We went to get Colts book stamped (something you can do at all the shrines in japan) and saw some seriously cute shrine maidens selling charms and souveniers. I bought one for good health as I could feel the creeping crud tugging at my insides at this point. Damnit! I wasn't about to get sick now! We bid farewell to the shrine and made our way deep downtown to Tokyo tower...or at least within a mile or so of it...for it was a long walk to it from where we got off. It's ok because then I got to see the city life in action on a weekday morning. One long walk later and we were at the famous orange and white spire of 50's (!!!) era technology. A cheap ticket to the observation deck puts you 150 meters above the city, level with most of the tall buldings. If you spend some aditional money while you're up there, you can get to the additional observation deck, located another 100 meters above that. Yes, that little round bit at the top 'IS' another deck. And the view from it is astounding! 250 meters up (or roughly 750 feet) lets you see the whole city in a way you never will otherwise. Hell, on a clear day you can even see Fuji from there. we spend some time looking through the panorama and taking pictures, and look straight down thorugh the clear class floor on the lower deck(straight down baby) and then head into what's known as 'foot town' to get some food. We eat, though I don't have much as my illness is starting to get to me. As we leave the tower, I snap some interesting shots at the base, too bad it's 'rape proof', or I coulda gotten another good one. Sadly, no earth shattering events happen while we're there. We head to the train station and check out Akihabara for a short while (I'll go into more detail about that place later), after which we head to Shibuya to meet up with Kayt and Shin, an old friend of ours, for dinner. We meet at the famous 'Hachiko' statue and head out to a small okinomiyaki establishment where we have rather good food. I feel rough at this point despite getting medication at the station to help, and Kayt makes note of this to me at dinner. Not wanting to spoil the fun, I soldier on, trying not to look as dead as I feel. As we head to the train station to head back to Kayts, we pass a pachinko parlor blaring out Tom Cats 'Tough Boy' from Houkuto No Ken. As I smile and sing along I think 'Only in japan...'. Apparently I fall asleep on the train on the way out...as Kayt shakes me awake for our stop.I collapse at Kayts with the intent of sleeping in to try and nip this cold in the bud, the last thing I need while here. Kayt leaves me a key and the notes on how to get into the city to meet Colt the next day...so tired...I just need to sleep a bit....

Reisitance of illness after Katsucon is FUTILE!!!

Neo-Vader III

'She must have the noisiest tongue this side of "A Chinese Ghost Story"!' by Kara
Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 9:05 AM

OH MY GOD I LOVE PIZZA.

But I'm more looking forward to the leftover crab au gratin casserole from my birthday dinner last night. Nuke that and it'll be the best lunch ever. Well, at least the best lunch in a fairly long time. Gonna be thinking about it all morning. Ah, delicious lunch.

Damn, okay, gotta distract myself from that. Where was I. Right.

Expect another piece of travelogue from Co-Writer later today, when he has a chance to do it up. Thus, until he's done, gonna try to keep things short.

Mater decided to use gift-buying as an excuse to hit the Harley store, so I got shirts and swag and things. 'But no chrome this time,' she told me in advance. Bawww. Doesn't matter -- been so preoccupied that I'm amazed I got gifts in the first place. She showed up with the big gift bag and I went, 'Oh, yeah, gifts on birthday, forgot it works that way.'

If you have been, why do you need one?

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