February 9

Today was the first in Tokyo. Befoe I left, I ate breakfast as usual (but a bit more quickly) and okaasan sent me off with a big lunch of a bagle sandwich, mikan, melon pan, and a muffin. Amy, who I was upposed to meet at Akaike station, called me just as Otousan pulled up to the eki in the prius. Everything went (relatively) smoothly until Nagoya station (though we got a taste of the crowded morning chikatetetsu on the way).

It wasn’t too long before the other memberst of our gourp met us at the golden clock, but Molly came with a delemma; her gaikokujin card had to be picked up from her ward office within the days we would be in Tokyo. Her host family was away and didn’t have the papers to pick it up for her, so, not knowing what the “consequences” of not picking up the card were, she decided to switch her bus ticket to a later departure. (luckily, this was feasible).

The other four of us boarded our 10:00 double-decker bus (we were at thetop, back) and began the (about 6-hour) journaey to Tokyo. I was pretty embarrised by my fellow travellers for the better part of the trip because they were rather boisterous in a no otherwise silent bus. The trip did turn out fairly pleasantly though. At one point, we were ble to see (most of) Fujiyama. It was really beautiful, as was the nearby bay. round the aiea, there ere very meticulously -shaped rows of bushes on the hills/mountains.

When we finally got toTokyo eki, we had to navigate a huge eki, but having been to Nagoya eki, it wasn’t that bad. There was one reverse culture shock though. Nagoya’s chikatetsu is much cleaner than Tokyo’s. We had to ride both the train and the chikatetsu to get to our hostel (for check-in).

Tokyo feels more like an American big city (than Nagoy) with its huge skyscrapers, tall apartment bildings, and dirtier streets. The hostel however, was pretty upscale for only 2137en per night. When we got to the reception desk, the lady (maybe in her 20’s or 30’s) was very happy when we answered that we could speak a bit of Japanese. She particularly likes America (and Americans) and had lived in Washington State and Boulder, CO while she was a college student. She was also very happy that we gave her exacth change “nihonjinnoyouni”. I got my own room for the first night (as proposed) and while small, it was not ucomfortable or seemingly unclean. The other four of us stayed in a six-bunk (stacked three-high) room that also has a carbench-seat style couch and an attached shower and bathroom. Their beds seemed the slightest bit more questionable, but the ostel is definitely clean and up-scale for the preice and being a hostel. There are two computers downstairs with internat access, DVD’s and games for rent, and two lounges.

We sent a lot of time just talking int he six-bed room and finally went to dinner around seven. Weserached out the small restaurants aroudn the hostel (all advertising ramen) for the chapest one. We settled ona 24-hour restaurant were theordering is pretting interesting; you put your money in a vending machine, puressa button (corresponding to the meal you want), and get a ticket. Then, you give the ticet to the clerk, and he brings your food once it is made. I ahd udon and ebi katsu. It was really greasy, but pretty good.

Afterward, the four of us who had arrived returned to Tokyo eki to rescue Molly, whose bus hd arrived. We spent most of the rest of the evening at the Starbucks in the eki talking and waiting for Dan’s friend, Rian, to come meet us. After he arrived, we talked until the Starbucks closed at about 11 and returned to the hostel to plan our week (since there were a lto fo things we decided we wanted to see while there). The planning was kind of slowi (as expected) but I think we came ujp with a pretty good line-up.

We’ll see tomorrow hen we start with the fish market (not at 4:00 am) nd akihabara.