May 4, 2008

Well, I spent the day with Shoko (our family friend) and her family. It was so fun. I met them at about 11 am and we went for a walk in the area. There's this big Japanese lantern that is the biggest in all of Japan that's just down the street. We went there and walked around. It's Golden Week this week so it was extremely crowded. I've never seen so many people like that. Hopefully some of my pics and video can help paint the picture. Shoko said her kids had never been there before either, so she was excited to walk around. We decided to walk around the shops they have in the area as well. They have some wicked cool stuff in those shops. I'm going to have to go back before I leave here and get some stuff. They have my paper umbrellas and some mini geisha dolls. Two things I've really wanted from Japan. Shoko said that when it's not a holiday it's not as busy. So, hopefully it won't be as bad when I go back. Because, I'm talking super crowded. People were constantly bumping into me, pushing between me and the person in front of me, yeah. If I thought it was bad, and I like black Friday stuff, than it was crazy.
After walking around, Shoko wanted to get some gifts for the family for me to bring home. She's so sweet, she kept making sure the things won't weigh too much so I can take them back alright. Well, after that we ate some lunch at an Italian place. She remembered that it was my favorite, lol. I tried some cheese pizza this time. It wasn't bad! It had too much mozzarella but otherwise It was ok. Then we said goodbye to Shoko and Saiyuki for a bit.
Minoru, Bob and I went for a walk, and as we were walking we saw these dudes that carry people around in a cart type thing. Minoru said he'd take us on a ride, so we all got on one of them. The dude who pulled us around spoke some English so that was great. It was a tour of the area, and he told me some really cool stuff. Sometimes I had to focus really hard on what he was saying and figure out he was talking English, lol, because he'd slip from English right back into Japanese. I really enjoyed the tour and I think Minoru thought it was cool too.
After that we walked to this small amusement park. Again, this place was super crowded. I was so afraid I'd lose Minoru. He saw this balloon type ride that lifts you way up in the air and thought it would be great for the view. So we went on that ride. As we were in line the people in front of us were eating Dippin Dots ice cream. I told Minoru that it was from America and he said he'd never even heard of it before. He had a hard time even saying the name. So, I offered to buy them some. Its way cheaper here than at home. Only 350 yen for a bowl, and they had bought so much for me. So I took Bob and we went and got some. They both really liked it. Minoru thought that's how all ice cream is in America and I tried to explain that Dippin Dots was unique. I'm not sure if he understood, lol. The ride was cool, and I got some cool pics and video from it. (the line for the ride took us 1 hour to get through) After the ride we played some video games then started to head back toward my hotel. On the way back Minoru saw these guys dressed up like a geisha and 2 samurais. He literally ran up to them so I could get a pic with them, lol. The one dressed as a geisha was totally a dude. It was funny. Minoru kept laughing about it. Lol. Well, then we ended up at this random restaurant, and I thought it was just for some ice cream. So we all ordered ice cream but Shoko and Sayuki showed up and we ended up eating dinner as well. We spent a lot of time talking about America and what everyone is up to. Shoko even asked about Grandma and Grandad. I gave her kids some American money and they really thought it was cool. They couldn't get over how small a dime is. Especially when compared to a nickel. It was funny. Oooh, and at dinner I had a club sandwich. Kinda weird, but eatable. Lol.
After we ate and talked for a bit we came back to the hotel. I gave them my address in Japan and they said that if I have freetime when I get back to Tokyo before I leave to let them know. They'¡¦d love to see me again. They also loved the gifts. Shoko was thrilled at the Pringles thing. It was funny. And I think Minoru liked the jerky. They all liked the whistle and bell though. It was hard to say goodbye and Shoko kept saying 'come again to japan' it was cute. She also told me that she wants me to meet a Japanese guy and marry him and live with him in Japan, lol. She's so cute.
After I left them I came up to my room for a bit to write this, but then Jon came and asked if I'd eaten. I had so he went to get some food then we met to go for a walk. I showed him some of the stuff I saw on my tour and he thought it was cool. After walking around a bit we decided we wanted a view of the city, and we saw this super tall hotel. Jon was like "I wonder if we could just go up there and take pictures" So, we walked to the hotel. It was so funny. Jon kept saying "Don't look at anyone, just act like you belong here." And like, this hotel is super fancy. So yeah, it was funny. We got a little confused in the elevator but we got up to the 20th floor. We got pics and I took a short video. So that was an adventure, lol.
That was basically my day, yay for keeping busy :p