29 May 2009

I woke-up at 8:15am this morning and got ready to visit Kengo Kuma’s office. I met up with Shae around 9:20am, and we walked to the Yoyogi-koen Station together in order to catch the 9:39am train. Our appointment at Kengo Kuma’s office was at 10am, and of course, it was raining. The office was very close the station that we got off at, but the tour itself turned out to be very unorganized. People don’t even show up to the office until at least 10am, so not many people were there when we walked through. A lady just took us to each floor, but she didn’t tell us much about the firm. One project manager showed us an orchestra hall that had won a competition recently, but that was the only project we were shown. Supposedly many of their projects are confidential, but not seeing or hearing anything about the office made for a dry tour that didn’t last very long.
After the office visit, we were on our own. Since the tour was at 10am, it was nice to be done before 11am. Derrick, Norio, and I headed to Shibuya to get some lunch and relax. Since Norio planned to take Derrick and I home with him to Tochigi, I tried to buy something to take to his house for his parents, but Norio got mad. He said I could take something if it was American, but otherwise, his parents buy whatever they want. That ended that discussion, so I decided I would just mail them something later. We got lunch at Saizeriya, and I ordered a mozzarella cheese pizza for 399 yen, plus unlimited drinks at the drink bar for 180 yen. I was really thirsty, so I ended up drinking a glass of melon soda, pepsi, oolong tea, milk tea, cappuccino, and jasmine tea. Considering that one soda at a restaurant usually cost upwards of 400 yen, the 180 yen price was a great deal. We walked through a few stores, then walked back to the NOMYC in the rain. Once back at the NOMYC, we packed and waited for Norio’s dad to call him.
Norio’s dad eventually picked us up at the NOMYC around 6pm. There was an accident on the expressway, so he was delayed about an hour. Traffic was heavy on our drive to Tochigi as well, so it ended up taking us over an hour to get there. When we got to Norio’s house, I was surprised at the small town feel of his city. His house was in a nice neighborhood situated between small alley-like streets. His house was two stories, with a living room, family room, kitchen, tatami room, three bathrooms, a bath room, and two bedrooms. Norio’s room is really large, and it even has a loft in it. There was definitely plenty of space for us to sleep and leave our stuff. For dinner, Norio’s parents had already made reservations at one of their friend’s restaurant. We swung by a dessert bakery and grocery store before going to eat since our reservations weren’t until 9pm. At the dessert shop, we each had to pick out two desserts. Everything looked amazing, but I finally decided on two things I had never tried before: a chestnut cake with frosting and a chocolate-covered banana thing. We dropped off the desserts and groceries at the house, then headed to the restaurant. We met one of their good friends there, and they took care of all the ordering. It was yakiniku, which is Japanese-style BBQ. We got kimchi, pickled greens, beef tongue, thin-sliced kalbi beef, kalbi steak, spicy soup, rice, and lychee for dessert. To drink, they ordered me a melon ice cream float. Everything was extremely good, and I think the kalbi beef was the best meat I have ever eaten in my life. I know the meal wasn’t cheap either since there was eight of us total, but Norio’s parents paid for it with no problem. I asked Norio later how much the kalbi beef costed approximately, and when he asked his mom, she had no idea since she didn’t even look at the total price before she paid. That surprised me a lot, but it proved how well-off they must be financially.
Following our huge dinner, we went to Norio’s mom’s best friend’s house. It was literally behind their house on the next block over. I could tell by their house that they were really well-off too. We hung out and talked a bit, then called it a night. Once back at Norio’s house, we ate the desserts we have gotten earlier, took showers and bathes, and went to sleep. My dessert was a chestnut cake thing, and it was really tasty. Norio’s mom prepared a bubble bath for me, so after showering, I relaxed in the tub for a while. I remembered that you aren’t supposed to drain the tub after a shower, but at Norio’s house, it is different. Since money doesn’t seem to be a problem, everyone got their own bath water with their own scent of bubble bath. It was really funny. This will definitely turn out to be a really interesting weekend.