4 May 2009

I enjoyed the complimentary breakfast again this morning, along with Norio, Jeff, Derrick, and Bianca. Today, they served tuna sandwiches, nigiris, and miso soup. They had the fruit/vegetable juice this morning, but it was all gone by the time I got down there. Since class was technically supposed to start today, everyone met with Don in the lobby at 10am. He talked only briefly about what to expect for our move tomorrow and about upcoming assignments, then he gave us the rest of the day to explore on our own. Shae already had plans to meet with family friends in Tokyo, so Norio, Jeff, Derrick, Seth, Misato, and I decided to check out Shinjuku. We took the train there, and it was very convenient having both Norio and Misato with us since they are both fluent in Japanese.
Shinjuku wasn’t too exciting during the day since the area is only well-known for its nightlife and clubs. Since I have no desire to go there at night, it was nice to visit it during the day when things were quiet and calm. We photographed a few cool buildings, but that was about it. Next, Norio suggested that we visit Akihabara. Akihabara is known as Electric Town since it is famous for its abundance in electronics and manga (anime). I didn’t find this area too appealing either since I’m not very interested in electronics. The buildings weren’t too exciting, but we ended up going to a performance by one of Misato’s friends. I don’t even know what his name was, but he made balloon animals, could do a Rubix Cube in 15 seconds, could juggle, and balance on a skateboard deck on top of crazy things. After the performance, we ate a late lunch at a noodle and rice shop. I ordered the curry don for 480 yen, and it was really good. After lunch, we ended up hanging out with Misato’s friend for about an hour before he had to catch the train. During that time, he made us each a balloon item. I got a flower bracelet, Jeff got Snoopy, Misato got Mario, Seth got Elmo, and Derrick got Spiderman. Norio didn’t want anything since Misato’s friend had already made so many things from balloons. He was seriously impressively good at making balloon characters though.
After Akihabara, we headed back to the hotel. I think the humid warm weather makes me tired, so I took a one hour nap. Later that night, we went out to Tenkaippin, a restaurant famous for its trademark Kotteri ramen. Kotteri is a thick chicken-based soup that should be tried by all ramen-lovers. It was super thick, but I actually really enjoyed it. Don had sent out an email telling everyone to try it, so we did. I just got the regular size bowl of kotteri, and it cost 700 yen. It was surprisingly more filling than the conventional ramens since the soup was so thick. The rest of the night I worked on my studio design project and Arch 420 papers. Everyone is behind due to the weeklong trip, so I finished two whole papers and supplementary readings. Tomorrow we have to checkout at 10am, but we won’t leave for the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center until 1pm. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing between 10am and 1pm, but hopefully the move won’t be too bad. I can’t believe this is the final move we will be doing for this trip, besides the second weeklong trip. Time is just flying by…