Japan Day Six
Day Six had us back in Tokyo, ready to walk some more and open up the second phase of our adventures. We started at the Imperial Gardens sometime around 11am. I really can’t overstate the importance of blackout curtains. I’m not used to getting more than 5-6 hours of sleep. We explored the gardens and were continually amazed at how frequently the other people exploring with us were middle age women. That or business guys playing hooky from work. We joked about where the best place to hide might be in the gardens. We took pictures, looked at flowers, and left for a Hawaiian burger place on the 6th (maybe 45th?( floor of a random business building. The burger was huge but I got chicken nuggets too because I wasn’t in the mood for fish or rice. Why is fruit so expensive in Japan.
Next up was Naka Meguro, my favorite place in Tokyo. Basically it’s a small maybe 8 block neighborhood along a canal, down in the southwest part of the city. It is unbelievably relaxing, beautiful, and perfect. We went to some shops but nothing fit me. Nothing ever fits me. I tried to make my pictures look like France. We ate at a cafe called Be My Self and I finally found fruit t a reasonable price. $5 for an amazing fruit cup. Also some banana cake that was cold and a smoothie with acai berries. It was a healthy afternoon. We found a salon that was also having a yard sale. There were only a few items for sale, most notably: a M16, a faded book of what appeared to be porn, and a sign that said “Twiiter” on it. I wanted to buy the M16 but it was determined that. given my recent passport troubles, I probably wouldn’t get it in to the US. (Note, I passed by the next day and someone had bought the M16 but not the bullets. They had their own I was told).
We went to Roppongi in search of Nana’s Green Tea but found a construction site. Like many of my favorite stores or places in Tokyo from two years ago, Nana’s had vanished and no one knew where it had gone. The Koban looked at me funny and then they all left. I wondered if I had something to do with their mass departure. We went to visit the Mori Tower and timed it so we could be up on the HeliPad when the sun started to set. It was windy and there were maybe 15 of us up there. Girls took pictures of their hands silhouetting against the sunset. I took pictures of them taking pictures. Everyone was using each other as subjects while trying not to get caught doing it. Pictures with people are more interesting. The Mori Art museum was surprisingly awesome. Very ‘out there’ but so are we so it was fun.
We had dinner at an Italian place and I got a glass of wine. The owner was walking around saying bon appetite every 10 minutes. We made eye contact and he thought this meant I wasn’t enjoying my food. He looked concerned, asked me lots of questions, then continued with his routine. He was from Italy, I was from San Francisco.
On the way home I read my notes fro two years ago and wondered if the same person wrote them that was writing the new ones.
