Wednesday, May 17

So I'm hopelessly behind ... and in Beijing now. But I will try and speed through these entries so you can get an idea of what I've been up to!

May 17:
Today we got the latest start yet -- I didn't wake up until 0730. Went to check the email (no time to blog) and stopped at Mister Donut. By the time I got back people were getting up and about so we left for Ginza - home of the world's most expensive advertisement. It was a ways out but when we got there it was still before 1100 (when everything opens). Even in the subway stations, things are closed during the morning rush. It's really weird. Anyway, we tried to look for some cool shops but there were none to be found in Ginza - just clothing stores and American chains. We succumbed to the western pressure and went to Starbucks. One of the people there kind of spoke English so that was a huge victory.

After the coffee fix we decided to try and find A Bathing Ape, a store where they have hoodies that zip all the way up (thru the hood) and make a creature. Jodi's friend told her about them. We found a guy at Brooks Brothers that told us where one was - conveniently on the other side of Tokyo. Using our day passes to the fullest, we rode out only to find that the store was in a VERY ritzy district. I'm talking Prada, Hermes, etc. So it was expensive and they didn't even have hoodies (out of season). But we were partially redeemed b/c the store was so cool. The shoes were on a conveyer belt and there were LEDs that changed colors on the stairs. Really high-tech but I guess that's what you get in a store where they only have one of each product on display and a hat costs $70. Across the street was Levi and that was even more expensive. $168 for a tshirt! feeling dejected and poor we hopped on the Ginza line for the 17-stop trip to Askaksa.

How cool was the bazaar that awaited us?! It was really traditional and had a ton of small restaurants and shops. I got a really cool Japanese notebook and a headband like the one from the Karate Kid - with the red sun in the middle. We were super hungry but kept getting lost among the rows of shops. We also needed to find a place that took cards because none of us had that much cash. We finally saw a sign that said "Cards welcome. English here." The meal was, well, kind of expensive (what isn't in Tokyo?!) I got fried shrimp and saki - the shrimp was awesome but the saki was lacking ... I should've gotten it hot I guess. We sat on the floor to eat and that was cool. When we were leaving we went to pay and they had problems splitting the check. Our waitress, who spoke English, sorted things out for us. Whew! After what seemed an eternity, we got back on the train and headed for Tokyo Disneyland!

Even though we left the bazaar at 1545, it still took almost an hour to get to Disney. Steph and Dani were there and we got our after 1700 pass for 2900 yen (roughly $29). We went in at five and went straight to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. All the signs were in English but the narrative was in Japanese. After Pirates it started drizzling and we got in line for Thunder Mountain Railroad, a 60 minute wait. After about 20 mins we saw Russ and Chris (Barr) in line behind us. So we had met two others (obviously). Then we did splash mountain, space mountain, star tours, and Peter Pan. By then it was nearing close - 2100 - so we headed for the exit and souvenir shops. None of the waiting times were as long as they'd said, so we were happy. It took probably an hour and a half to trek all the way across Tokyo back to senshu. It is now 0024 and we are leaving for Narita Airport at 0500. Great.

Final observations about Tokyo:
-you can't hand money to a person directly; it always goes into a tray first.
-Everyone pursues their own fashion style and people are very concerned with hair. Women always weair pointy high heels.
-Not that many people speak English.
-Starbucks, McDonalds, and KFC are taking over the world.
-Men always carry what we cann "man bags" and wear brown shoes with black suits.
-Even at 12am, at least half the people in Tokyo have suits on. They are always at work.
-I saw no bums in 4 days here. In a city of 33 million, that's pretty good.