Tokyo

Dear diary,

I'm hung over. It's 09:00 local time. I'm laying in bed waiting for benadryl and pain killers to kick in. Pain killers for the aforementioned splitting headache and antihistamines for the Guiness I finished last night with. When I got home I was so drunk I didn't have the energy to chug water like I usually do.

So, yesterday. Still in Tokyo. I woke up early, around 05:30 to go to the fish market by 06:00 like Alan had wanted. After soaking and blogging we sat out and got there by 08:15. Had to take a subway to get closer to it. It was a couple of bucks. Same deal. I didn't know there was a JR station a few minutes walk away. At the fish market Annmarie quickly found where good pieces of tuna were sold on top of some rice so it looked like really-really expensive sushi. Alan had some too. It looked overly meaty, but fresh fish was delicious and it was the kind that just melted in the mouth, so totally worth it. I kept walking and ended up having a bowl of fish over rice. I think I either ordered the wrong thing or the waiter took the wrong number, but I ended up with a third spicy tuna, which I of course didn't eat. Alan made a point later that I should have called him over. He loves spicy food and would have happily ate the remains.

We reunited after everyone's had their food. Annmarie and Bria went to the Gibli museum or something like that. In the mean time I was spending the day with Alan. We had a blast together. Alan wanted to go to the maid cafe. I wanted to go to the closest observation deck. However before we could go anywhere I needed to get my legs fixed. The aches have gotten so bad the idea of going somewhere didn't seem exciting anymore. Stairs felt like hell. I needed something. I looked up pharmacy and only got like 3 listings around. Then I looked up "pharmacy" in Japanese and googled that and got like 40 results around which included all of the convenience stores. I needed a middle ground, but didn't know how to search for it. I figured I would have better chances finding something besides a convenience store was to go to one of the pharmacy places.

Inside a pharmacy was a regular Rx-only window with no over-the-counter things around. I asked where we can find "ankle braces" or something like that. The nice lady behind the counter drew us a map to the closest "Drug Store". It was just a few blocks away. I looked at the bonding isle for a while. I made a comment out loud saying that I didn't know whether to get large or medium size knee support. To which someone said they will help me right away. The guy appeared back a few minutes later apologizing that he couldn't find a tape measure and asked if there was some other he could assist me. Such great service!

I bought 2 compression socks, a pair of compression sleeves and a knee brace. Well, that and some chocolate. I was checking it out when the woman at the register suggested that I can buy it duty free if have my passport. I said sure and they quickly told me to go to the back of the store so they could process that for me. 0.o The register at the back was behind boxes. A lot of boxes. It was clear that they don't get to use it very often. I thought I needed to show them my passport with a temporary visitor stamp, but they stapled an export invoice to it and bagged my braces into a duty free bag. Sigh. They didn't have ankle braces.

Alan wanted to go to a nearby park and I needed a place to put the stuff that I bought. I don't know the name of it but it was really pretty there. It was large, too. There were trees and flowers and a 300-year old tree with a rich history etc. Entrance was 300 yen (about $2.75) and totally worth it. We walked around and took photos. The knee brace came off because it didn't fit me very well. While we were taking photos there was a loud announcement followed by sirens and people running for the exit. I think it might have been a tsunami warning. We felt safe with all the trees around, though. Some of them were tall so could probably hold onto them and not drown. And nothing would fall on us so I felt relatively safe. Of course, nothing happened.

After the park, we went to another park. That one was my idea. It had an archery range and it reminded of Woodley Park Archer Range that have Japanese Gardens adjacent to it. But this one didn't seem tourist friendly. Firstly, they were shooting from long-bows, dressed in traditional Japanese outfits and none of the signs were in English. That park, however had a pond with lots of Koi fish. So many Koi! And they were all coming up and opening their mouths at us. It was like they thought we were going to feed them. So weird.

I want to write about the observation deck, a temple and dudesville with all the anime characters, maid cafes etc. I need to rant about how terrible it is drinking with coworkers and I'm mad at Bria. Hint: it's because she thinks trash talking about someone in front of them is acceptable. But, I am feeling the benadryl kicking in and need to just lie down and close my eyes for a little.a

---[ A few hours later ]---

So after the park we went looking for an observation deck. Luckily there was one about a block away at the World Trade Center. Going there was exciting. For once I was happy signs were in English. The staff there extended to us the same courtesy everyone has been but this time in English. I must admit that people getting up from behind their desks to call the elevator for you feels so-so good. The cost was only about $6 and the deck was located on the 41st floor. The view was amazing. What was even more amazing was that there was like nobody there. Maybe another 4 people on the whole floor. Well, at the half of it that we were allowed to hang out on. The other half had a wedding ceremony. Beautiful ceremony!

We took many-many photos. Some were looking out. Some were looking down at the parks where we just were. Some were of us lounging around. The music was incredibly well fitting. I felt like a kind of the world. Quite a happy place. We moved chairs toward the windows and sat there looking out at the sunny Tokyo. Out of one of the windows I noticed a temple. That's where we headed text. It was only a few blocks away. We went to the holy site. Took a photo of the holy things and headed out.

Alan wanted to go to a place with Anime, Tech and Arcades ... and we did! It was so cool. Well, at least until I realized it strongly reminded me of college. The gender ratio was like 50-1. That being said it was cool on so many levels. Everything was multi-story! There were so many electronics shops. It reminded me of this low-level electronics store called Phils(?) on University Ave, but x1000. I wanted to seriously look into everything there but no where to put the loot. :(

After walking through 6 stories of arcades we found L4D2 (Left for dead 2) and Alan got a computer with credits in it! I insisted he played. I sat next to him and played as well. I don't know what treasure chest he uncovered but he got 2000 time points. In the mean time I paid $1 for every 250 life points. We were having a good time. Then someone nearby started smoking and Alan didn't feel so good anymore.

We walked around a little and then went in to see "Maidream" (maid-dream). We got a little spooked because there was like nothing in English outside about it. So instead we went one floor up to the porn shop. And oh-my-god was it full of things I've never seen before. Perhaps I shouldn't call it a shop because all of the DVDs were rent-only. You find what you want to watch, put it in a basket, lock yourself in a room for up to 2 hours then return DVDs when done. And their collection was enormous. I mean... it kinds of puts internet to shame. Just saying. I found it very interesting that there was a rack with films like San Andreas and Point Break right next to a rack with hardcore rape fantasies. 0.o Japan.

So two hours later... j/k. Inspired by the porn viewing service we went to the Maid Dreaming where we were greeted by little girls (think 4'10" or shorter) in school uniforms who put silly ears on us and explained the menu to us. I rejected the idea of getting a combo  with gifts or deluxe combo where you get your own maid outfit. So we just had food and took photos with the girls. No touching. Apparently.

After that we went to another 8-storie shop thing with figurines and posters. I wanted to get a silk thing for my door, but they were like $70-$140. I mean I like posters but I wasn't ready to spend that much on it and then struggle to carry it fro the next few days. Instead I got some figurines. Picking them was difficult. I'm extremely unfamiliar with anime now. There were some things I did know like Naruto and One Piece, but whatever I got had to fit in with my fairy collection so I got some skinny girl statues. I needed to rank up enough for $30 to use the credit card, so I walked away with four (4) of them! :P

Alan took the elevator down and I took the stairs. I ended up on the basement level in a long line for a Japanese cultural show. Ooh. I wanted to go but Alan wanted to go back. I guess.

Long story short, we got back to the hotel, told the girls we were going out drinking and they joined us. We had a hard time finding a good place to drink. Annmarie owed me drinks so I had 4 shots of Zubrowka (Polish vodka) at a British Pub. The we went onto a new place. Same thing as before: lonely Japanese bartender who charged us WAY TOO MUCH for our drinks. Before we left we noticed a sign on the door that $20 are added to the bill per person. 0.o I didn't notice until I had already offered to pay. My treat. After that I said I wasn't paying anymore and someone else should get the next round.

Bria had the next around but only if we had gone to a Texas Steakhouse. I went. Got salmon, too because I needed something to absorb the alcohol. There and just before going there Bria kept talking shit about everything, but mostly about me. Kept saying I make more than them so I should play for drinks, and that my manager at work doesn't like me, or after she got the bill how she was picking snacks but not my food. And of course it was all back-handed, in third-person, talking to the rest of the group. And this is while I was sitting right next to her. 0.o I gave her $20 for the salmon (which is more than the cost) and after we left we went our separate ways.

They went home. I went to another bar. Man I hate drinking in bad company. So tired of people going home and leaving me drunk behind, too. But that's a conversation for another time. After the other bar, when it was only 00:38 there weren't anyone on the streets anymore. Was pretty empty. GPS kept giving me faulty directions home. So that was fun. At least I got to see how people live a little from the outside. And after I got home.. I undressed and crashed. You know the rest.

One thing I'd like to point out is that in the morning Bria kept making snarky comments like "I told you there will be nobody there. You should have gone to Red Lights district" when I wasn't even talking to her. I didn't want to cause drama so I just didn't talk to anymore that morning.

Since then we had more shitty food. I had good dessert and now we're on a train to Kyoto.