February 13

Today was the last day in Tokyo. We got off to a semi-late start around 10:00 am. After all of us got out the door and found both of the room keys (one was lost in a bag) we headed off for Asukusa. It was a bit of a trip, but we finally got there and it was a beautiful place. There is a huge buddhist shrine surrounded by a traditional park and many smaller shrines, as well as a giant pagoda. At the entrance, there was a long line of shops (selling traditional Japanese toys) that we visited later. Inside the temple grounds were a few significant items. The first was a giant covered pot emitting smoke. People come by, breathe in the smoke, and pray. There is also a fountain with ladles around it. You are supposed to clean your hands (and mouth) with the water before entering the shrine. Another part of the shrine is the omikuji; you pay a small fee, put your hand in a box, and pull out a paper that will say bad, good, or very good, indicating your fortune. You are then supposed to roll up the paper and tie it to a wire in the shrine. Another similar item is a cylindrical box of small bamboo sticks. You shake the cylinder until one stick stands out from the rest and it will tell your fortune. There was also a koi pond. It was a really beautiful area and I wish we had more time to explore, but we didn’t since we would have to catch our bus today (after returning to the hostle to pick up our bags and going back toward Tokyo. Ana and Mandy left before us to catch their earlier bus (as they had earlier last trains to catch when they got back to Nagoya).

Molly’s friend, Yoshi, met the remaining three of us at Asukusa after lunch (of cheap but delicious tenpura udon). He brought us chocolate pies and hashi as parting gifts. We tried to show our gratitude by buying him a donut from Mister Donut (expensive but delicious) but he wouldn’t accept. Soon after, we had to go, so we went to the hostel to retrieve our bags. We had our picture taken by the nice receptionist and signed the guestbook. When we finally left and arrived at the eki, we saw the real tokyo bananas (the cakes Yoshi said would make good gifts for our host families). Unfortunately, we had been tricked into buying (relatively expensive) knock-offs around the shrine earlier that day, and decided to do the respectable thing; we bought the real banana cakes for our families and kept the fakes for ourselves.

At the bus stop, we had a long (and sad) goodbye with Yoshi. We tried to get him to come with us by getting in the baggage compartment, but it couldn’t be done. On the bus, Dan, Molly, and I (all swindled at the shrine) pulled out our fake banana cakes and toasted to a successful trip to Tokyo. Despite it being Friday, the 13th, it did not rain and we did not miss our bus (thanks to Yoshi). The bus trip, in fact, was fairly short, and when we did make it to Nagoya eki, I was able to board my train by 11:00, long before the last bus.

The ride was long, and I was completely exhausted when I got home. I was worried I would scare my host family by being home, since they weren’t around when I got there. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, and I gave the (real) Tokyo bananas to okaasan.