May 20th, 2005 15:55 hours Tokyo Time
Currently listening to: "Cherry Blossom Girl" by Air
Feeling: tired! the time change is hard to get used to.

This was such a fun trip. They just get better and better. Despite having no sleep whatsoever on the plane, I felt pretty good when I got off the plane. Well, of course I felt good. I got to see my girlfriend and I was also finally out of that terrible middle seat on the starboard side of the plane. Something I noticed as soon as I got past customs.... the smell. Japan has a certain smell to it that was so nice to get back to. It's hard to explain. But I was smiling while I was at the baggage claim.

We dropped off my bags at her apartment, said Hi to Chobi and then went to a local grocery for breakfast stuff. We got some dinner at a really neat place close to Yono station. They were nice enough to store our groceries in the fridge. How cool is that? I immediately rekindled my love of Japanese food. We had a variety of things, the most notable was uni, which is sea urchin. Honestly, I wasn't crazy about the taste, but I was amazed that this even exists as a food item. I've seen countless sea urchin while scuba diving, but I'd never imagined that someone would eat it. It's a ball of long needles for crying out loud. Uni is served cold and looks kind of like a peanut that is melting. After a beer and a bottle of sake, I was letting the jet lag take over and it was high time to pass out.

Saturday we took the trains down to Tokyo station and then boarded the Shinkansen for Shizuoka, Yuka's home town. I liked this place a lot. It's very quiet and peaceful. We got there a bit early, so we walked to Yuka's elementary school. She was so excited. She hadn't been to Shizuoka in 5 years. We stopped at a shrine close to her school. The air smelled like Honeysuckle and I was reminded of a feeling of summer camp. I could easily picture a little Yuka running around with her classmates. We walked through the courtyards of her old school and she told me little stories. You know, like, falling into the pond, etc. :P The playground area was huge. I forgot to ask her how old the students are before they leave this school. They had a few areas for raising birds and rabbits.

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We walked past Yuka's old house, which, sadly, is now a car park. After about 5 minutes we heard shouting and it was Yuka's mom, up the street at the grocery store. She spotted us and was waiving frantically. This woman has crazy amounts of energy. She was so adorable! she was wearing a track jacket that used to belong to Yuka in high school. ^_^ She walked her bike along side us and asked several questions through Yuka, since she and her husband don't speak English. They live on top of their little sushi restaurant. Her father made sushi for us for what seemed like forever. The three of them talked and talked. Yuka kept describing her mother as a Muppet, because she ran all over the place. So much sushi! I ate like a pig. Hahaha it was soooo good. Even tried nigiri with ham and also beef. Really good idea.

One piece was an uncooked shrimp that I had never had before. The tail had a rainbow quality. I noticed the tail, because, when I bit the rest off and put the tail back down......it moved. Hahahah now THAT'S fresh sushi! I guess this thing had been alive just moments before it was served. Every once in a while, I would glance at the tail and it would twitch. Not severely, but in a very subtle way. There was still some electricity flowing through it. Wow. Yuka's mom went (ran) upstairs and came down with armfuls of photo albums. I got to see pictures of Yuka when she was little and well as her parents' wedding pictures. The outfits they wore were impressive. I had such a good time. I just wish I knew enough Japanese to be conversational. Hopefully next time I'll be able to talk with them.

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We took the train back up to Tokyo and went to Shibuya. We stopped at HMV and I bought all 4 soundtracks for Samurai Champloo and also a few others. CD's are so expensive there. 3,000 Yen each, which is about $30. We went to a movie theater to watch the new Michael Winterbottom film, "9 Songs". Honestly, it was pretty disappointing to both us. We were still so stuffed from our late lunch in Shizuoka that we could barely stay awake. Also had to throw away the take-home box that Yuka's father made for us. :( We simply had too much to eat already.

Sunday didn't quite go as planned. Since Yuka's Dell PC had died, she had her heart set on getting a Mac Mini. We went down to the Apple Store, stopping for some fantastic tempura and noodles for lunch. She wanted to customize hers a bit, but the Apple Store only sells the stock versions, so she couldn't get one with upgraded ram and such. we spent about an hour in there, trying to order hers online, but the website was very screwed up and we kept having to force the web browser to display the correct languages. Pain in the ass.

We went to meet with Yuka's friend, Chie. I had only talked with her through Myspace a few times, so it was nice to finally meet her. She took us to a record store in Kouenji. This place was fabulous. AND they had all of the airiel Winks & Kisses CD's, including the box set. I took them up to the counter to thank the owner for selling them. He didn't really understand me until he saw my buttons and he said "airiel member?". I happened to have an extra shirt with me, so I gave it to him. They had tons of Clairecords releases there so obviously our distributor stocks this place.

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We met with Taka at Kichijozi station. He was coming straight there from band practice and had a guitar in a gig bag and his pedal board in a case on a little cart thing. Despite all of the guitar talk we did, I didn't get to see his pedal setup. The 4 of us went to dinner at a Chinese place and it seemed like everyone commented at the same time that I'm some sort of eating machine. I can't help it! I love the food there! I guess it's because I normally talk a lot, but since my Japanese isn't at a conversational level, I just shut up and eat and look around. Yukari showed up and handed me this huge bag full of Hartfield press kits. Now I can start booking the tour. Craziness. One of the dishes we ordered had these hard boiled eggs, called Pidan, that were black. No kidding. They looked positively rotten, but tasted just like normal hard boiled eggs.

We went to a little club nearby for a Brit-pop night. It wasn't strictly Brit-pop, per se. They mixed in a lot of American stuff as well, vis-à-vis The Rapture. The club was nice, albeit rather small. We paid about $20 (2,000 yen) to get in, which would be a very high door charge for a club like this in Chicago, but they do give you two free drink tickets. That kind of makes up for it. Most bartenders there are very strict when it comes to making mixed drinks. They measure their shots very carefully, which of course I don't care for. :P Chicago is the free-poor capital of the world, I think. Anyway, the DJ's were having a seriously good time. So much so that they would forget to start the next track on time or they would jump around so much that the records would skip. Can't fault them for their enthusiasm. Got up and danced a few times. Watched the mixed lesbian couple make out on the dance floor, etc etc.

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The trains in Tokyo shut down after midnight, so places close around 11 to ensure that everyone can make it home. We left the club when they turned the house lights on a 11:00 and I kind of giggled at the fact that we'd just be getting things started if we were in Chicago. Another thing I love about the Japanese public is that from what I've seen, drunk people are not violent. They're just completely shit faced and passed out on the floor of the train station. Seriously. It almost looks like you're walking through a drunk tank. This one girl was repeatedly slapping her boyfriend in the fact to wake him up. I'll gladly take that in comparison to all the "WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" bullshit that you get from the meat heads "exiting quietly" from nearly any bar in Chicago while they try to hail a cab.

Monday was absolutely gorgeous. Perfect weather. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. We were really excited for this because we'd been talking about taking a picnic in Harajuku for months and now we got to do it. We visited this same shrine during my first trip to Tokyo, but that day was very overcast and rainy. It felt great to walk these paths with the trees and the sounds of the crows. They were everywhere. I keep thinking of Resident Evil whenever I see these giant things. We stopped at this large open field and put down our blanket that we bought from a convince store. Once again, Yuka made an excellent meal. Various sandwiches and side dishes. We laid in the sun for about an hour and just soaked in the weather. Perfect day.

We walked over to the Getty office that recently moved to this area. The place was nice. Like the previous office, it's pretty much one big room. Not may people have actual cubicles. It's hard to describe. If I worked there..... god that would rule. Harajuku is one of my favorite areas and being so close to that shrine......wow.

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We did a some toy shopping and then went over to Shinjuku. We searched for the giant music store that I found back in December and only found it while on our way back to the station to meet Taka. We went back there and looked at guitars for a while. Yuka kept telling me to close my mouth. :P We eventually ended up at an Italian place and had some very good food. Seeing as how we hadn't really ordered dessert yet during this whole trip, we went to a place that sells parfaits. These things are enormous. I don't know how they Japanese stay so thin. There are stores EVERYWHERE that sell desserts, candies and various sweet things. Walk through any train station and you'll be swimming through candy shops. Granted, a lot of Japanese sweets are different from ours. We ate a dessert at Yuka's parents that was pretty much just sweet potatoes and sugar. Simple and effective.

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Tuesday was the only day that Yuka had to go to work while I was there. I had a late morning and then took the train down to Shibuya. I was a bit low on cash, but luckily Honorary didn't have any scooter stuff that I needed (wanted). :P At 1:00 I arrived at Gotanda station and waited for Yuka and her two coworker friends Yumie and Maya. They were both incredibly nice, even though Maya didn't speak any English. Gahhhhh I need to get better at Japanese!!! Yuka took us to a typical Japanese restaurant for lunch. We sat at a very large table. An interesting cultural item to note is that you grab whatever seat is available when you eat meals. Most Americans don't like to sit next to other strangers when they eat (or in general). Some of the people at our table were in small groups or just individuals. But everyone sat next to each other. I had a yummy chicken dish. Yuka let me try some of hers and it was even better than what I had chosen. We talked about random things like cats and the things I've seen during my visits.

After lunch, I went to Ueno station to meet my friend Mio. She came through Chicago a few months ago on a videography project for her brothers company. We went to the 8 story tall toy store that I went to during my last visit. I found stuffed Pikmin toys that I couldn't resist. We then took the subway to Asakusa, which is a very tourist-heavy area. The shrine here is really amazing. And I have to admit, a bit funny to me because of the statues out front. The scene in Samurai Champloo with the Dutch tourist made me laugh when I saw these guys. We met with Mirie and Ryoko, two of Mio's friends that had just arrived from Canada, where they work and go to school. Mirie is a gymnastics instructor and Ryoko is studying to be a nurse. We walked around the shrine for a while and sampled different food items in the booths leading up to the shrine.

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There's an architectural.......icon....near Asakusa that is usually found in any Japanese tour book. People call it the "golden poo" because, well, that's kinda what it looks like. You be the judge. We took a 30 minute subway ride back to Shibuya and visited a Canadian gaijin bar. Mirie works here from time to time. This place was right next to the theater where Yuka and I say "Jerry" during my first visit. They ordered this freaky appetizer that pretty much consists of french fries drenched in brown gravy. Jesus. They've been in Canada too long.

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After a few more rounds, we met with Yuka at Shibuya station. She had to stop by her other job to pick up video camera equipment. We took a bus to Roppongi, I think, and went to a yakitori restaurant. Yakitori is grilled chicken on sticks, Kind of like shish kabobs. This place is owned and operated by one man, who they referred to as "Master". He takes all of the orders, cooks all of the food and even entertains the guests by hanging out with them or operating the cursed karaoke machine. More on that later.

Again, I fell in love with the food. Japanese use much more of the chicken than we do, so don't be surprised when you find yourself chewing on a big piece of chicken cartilage. It's really good, though. We had some grilled liver, which I think might have been a first for me. The girls were all impressed that I ate everything so willingly. Mom would be proud. Yuka left to use the bathroom at one point and the three girls immediately assaulted me with compliments about her. They thought she was totally nice and that we were an adorable couple. ^_^ During the entire dinner, the movie Jackass was playing on the little TV on the tables. I was the only one in the whole restaurant who had seen it so I tried to do my best at covering the screen whenever somebody puked or shat on themselves. Hahahaha. There was another party of people in the restaurant besides us and I was honestly wondering why on earth the master had decided on this movie while we were eating, even though it is a hilarious movie when it's not being totally gross.

We drank a lot. I honestly got dizzy a few times and had to take a walk outside. There was a pet store next door that had several aquariums filled with various reptiles. Turtles, mostly. I came back inside and, oh shit, they were breaking out the karaoke song books. Now, I swore up and down to myself that I would never do this, but..... I was really drunk. People, I actually sang a karaoke rendition of Junior Senior's "Move Your Feet". I have no honor. Yuka's constitution remained stronger than mine and she stayed clear of this event. Mirie sang Brittany Spears' immortal classic "Baby One More Time" while Ryoko sand some song about Barbie dolls or something. The guy standing on the bench at the far end of the joint started the whole thing. I have no idea what song it was but he was VERY into his performance. We said our goodbyes to Mio and the rest of us got on a very crowded train. Mirie actually lives near Yuka, as it turns out. I think I was actually falling asleep during the walk home. Heheh.

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As per our usual tradition, we spent Wednesday relaxing at home. We were out of food, so we took a quick walk to the grocery, stopping by a Chinese place for lunch. mmmmmmmmm ramen. It rained a bit on the way home, which was neat as this was out last full day together and we were gonna spend it indoors anyway. I showed Yuka how to change the strings on her acoustic and also how to tune it. ^_^ That was fun. We got lucky with the DVD's she has of "how do you like wednesdays?" because they worked on my portable DVD player. The episodes we watched were a series about being the longest cooking show in history. One of the guys, who has been accused of being a horrible cook, was going to have to cook a full course meal for two of the other guys. Trick was.....they all had to grow the vegetables FIRST. :P. We also speant plenty of time teasing Chobi with the laser pointer.

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*sigh* Time to go home. We took our time in the morning. We used a different train line this time instead of the Narita Express. I can't tell you if the route was significantly different, but I think it was. We normally have to get to Tokyo station first, but we started from a different station this time. We had lunch at the airport and I got some things for my trip home. Then sat in a waiting area and cried a lot. Leaving her gets harder and harder each time. United Airlines has a GPS map system on their monitors. Shizuoka was one of the cities listed. *sigh*