Last Day in Tokyo

Yesterday was our last day in Tokyo and we had it jam-packed with stuff (hence my being too tired to blog last night).  The first thing we did was skip our crappy bread breakfast in our hotel and went to a pastry shop nearby.  Ben and Dan both grabbed what looked like jelly-filled donuts.  Mmm.  However, food is never what it seems in Japan.  Ben’s was filled with a bean paste and Dan’s with curry.  My cinnamon stick was plain though, so I lucked out.  After breakfast, we made a short return trip to Akihabara (Electric Town) to have one more go of finding joystick parts for Dan… and we did!  He has a bag full of goodies now and was so excited that he could have happily eaten three more curry doughnuts.  On our way to find the joystick place, we saw a lady handing out brochures, so we took one and inside were pictures of glasses.  I lost the screw in one side of my glasses early in the trip and just so happened to have them with me.  So, I went up to the lady with the brochures and showed her my broken glasses.  She lit up and started leading me and Ben to the shop.  Along the way, she chattered away in Japanese, apparently making jokes and laughing every once in awhile.  Ben and I laughed when it seemed appropriate, but we had no idea what she was saying except when Ben almost stepped out on a don’t walk light, then we knew why she was laughing.  The shop was actually quite a ways away, but when I got there and they fixed my glasses, Ben asked how much, and it was free.  She walked us all that way, enthusiastically, and they made no money from it.  Japan is confusing… and nice.

After Akihabara, we went to the Tsukiji fish market for lunch.  Even though it was a moderately stinky, we found the coolest little sushi stand with a nice old man and his wife working there.  We ordered very plain sushi as sushi goes (cucumber, tuna, salmon), but it was really delicious.  The man at the counter was a nice older man and Dan got some great pictures of him making our sushi.  We don’t have time to post them right now, but when we get to Mt. Fuji, we will do it.  At the end of the meal we said “Arigato Gozaimasu” and he nodded and said, “In America, Thank you very much!” triumphantly.

We jumped back on the subway to go to Roppongi Hills which is this new, fancy city within a city, where a bunch of people live and everything they need is within this little complex.  There is also a high-end shopping mall there, where Ben was actually able to find a decently priced shirt.  Roppongi was alright, but a little creepy and 1984-ish.

After Roppongi, we had to take a “private rail” (which meant it was a little more expensive, but super nice) out to an island in Tokyo Bay where Ben wanted to see a giant Gundam (robot character) and also visit Sega’s amusement park, Joypolis.  The view of the bay was awesome on the trip out there.  Unfortunately, Gundam was being disassembled, but Joypolis was like a giant arcade with rides and we had fun there.  There was a big deck out back of Joypolis, so when we were done, we went out there to see an amazing view of the city at night, all lit up.  Dan also got some great pictures there.  Did I mention that Tokyo is HUGE?

We went back to our hotel, grabbed some dinner (Ben and Dan got McDonalds! tsk tsk!) and then Ben and Dan went back out to go to one last arcade in Tokyo.  It was about 9:30 and I thought they were crazy because I was so exhausted I could have died right there.  They got back at midnight and this morning, we are all looking forward to the two hour bus ride to Mt. Fuji as there is no walking involved.  We need a break.  Bai Bai Tokyo!