Meeting with friends in Ueno

Maybe I should just say I'm gonna update every week or so.  I don't seem to do enough to update daily.


As I go, I'm going to try my best to make this blog much more organized, that way it's more fun for everyone.

JAPANESE WORDS OF THE WEEK

Ikumen - Apparently something that is becoming more usual for Japan is the idea of men being able to take care of kids on their own.  It's always been a normal concept to think of women as being the person to raise the children, not the men.  Now though, this word has come out.  Perhaps it's a wave of the future??

Ogottekureru - Slang for treating someone.  The formal version would be "Gochisoushite," but when talking about friends treating you out for food, it's more normal to use ogottekureru.

On Sunday, I went and met up with Yoko.  She's someone that my parents and I met four years ago in Hawaii.  We were staying at the same hotel and when we went to Japan afterwords, we happened to also be riding the same plane to Japan.  Needless to say, we became friends.  Yoko is older than me by probably around 10 years.

Yoko is the one on the left, on the right is Miho

She took me all around Ueno and Akihabara, (not for the games) we went to three different shrines and paid some form of respect.  She also bought me the cutest charm!  A welcome to Japan gift she said.  I also met two of Yoko's friends, Reiko and Miho.  They were all older than me, but they treated me just like one of them. She and her friends made it a point to speak only in Japanese to me, even though all three knew English, so helpful!

Yoko really spoiled me that day.  She payed for my lunch at an all you can eat restaurant called Sweet Cake.  Obviously its desserts were its main attraction.  The shop also had pasta and curry.  I didn't take any pictures of this place, though.  It cost roughly 2000 yen for 70 minutes to eat as much as you can.  After eating a rice ball or two for lunch, this was way too much food for me.  I really enjoyed that shop though, and I wish I took some pictures.

We went to shrines for a large portion of the rest of the day.

The first shrine we went to was ridiculously crowded.  We managed to get all they way inside the temple where I tossed a coin from about 7 feet or so away. 

I tossed it too fast though, Yoko wanted a picture, so she made me pose with my hand in the air, like I just threw it.  As we were leaving, I spotted a Miko (shrine maiden or priestess) dancing.  We left too fast for me to take a picture unfortunately.

 I did get a picture of this cute little girl though.

I love this guy, "What're you lookin' at?" >(

This one looks like an advertiser.  "Eat my food!  Grrr."

Shrines really are beautiful, huh...

We wandered around the area for about a half an hour then waited for the "Panda" bus to come pick us up.  It looked as ridiculous as it sounds.  It was cute though.

Waitin' for the panda bus.  Is that what it looks like?

 It is.  O_o

The Panda bus is actually really handy.  It's a free shuttle to different sections of Akihabara and it rode to different shrines.  We rode it to the next shrine, a Shinto shrine which was significantly less stuffed with people.

 I thought this place was beautiful.  It was calm and relaxing.

With just enough people to make it not feel lonely.

 

 A love seat

 All in all, it was a place that had a real homey feel.

I got to ring the bell after tossing in my offering.  Then I wandered over to the sales clerk and bought myself a fortune.  I got the best luck!

It was at this Shrine that Yoko bought me the charm.

We went to "Sky Tree" a new tower being built in Ueno.  It was really high but we couldn't enter it yet because it was still in construction.  I took plenty of pictures of that beast from many different angles since it was visible from all around the city area.

From a distance.

Directly below.

 Pose.

When it started to get a bit dark, Yoko directed us back to the train station.  I couldn't believe how fast the day went.  I left the dorm at 10AM and it was already nearly 7PM!  Time really did pass by too fast.  Before we parted ways, we ate at a wonderful sushi restaurant in Ueno station.  I don't remember what it was called but all of its food was expensive.

We ended up getting their deal meal, which really was a deal meal.

It started with some nigiri sushi.  There was salmon, a salmon egg nigiri, ebi nigiri, and two other types of fish.  I ate all of the different types except for the ebi. 

The next dish was some sashimi, four pieces of really good fish.  I didn't ask what type, just ate without asking questions.  I didn't want my picky eating habits to ruin the meal, and all the fish was delicious.

The meal wasn't over yet though.  following that, there was a small bowl of rice and a bowl of miso soup along with a cup filled with some warm type of pudding soup.  After all of that, I was definitely full. 

There was another part of the meal that was still yet to come though. 

The tempura.  They deep fried some type of really refreshing leaf.  I want to say mint, but it wasn't, the leaves were too small.  When I ate it, my mouth felt cooler.  It was the most amazing tempura I have ever had.

I was definitely full after all of that food.

We parted ways after our meal and a relatively quick goodbye.  Then...I got lost trying to get home, and ended up in Ayase.  It took another hour to find my way back to the right city, and though I should have been home around 8:00PM, I got back home around 9:30-10:00PM because I spotted a Bookoff in Ayase, and looked around the store for a few hours.

After buying a few CD's for 50 yen each, I hopped back on the train and went in the opposite direction of home.  It took me two stops before I realized I was heading in the opposite direction, and I got off the train and hopped on the opposite one, finally managing to get back into Minami Kashiwa.

Then I took my long trek home, definitely ready to sleep the night away and start another day of monotony in school.