What's happenin' friends?! After two nights of very interrupted, short sleep, I feel SO good, because I went to bed before 9 pm and slept till 4 am. Early, but much better rest than I had been getting. Oh ScarJo, how I TOTALLY know what you were going through in "Lost in Translation" ;-] hehe. I also switched rooms because before my room was right behind the elevators, so it sounded like a plane was flying by my room every time the elevator moved. So much better now! Plus, my new room is on the opposite side of the hotel, so I get to look out on a whole new part of the city now. Win, win. I cannot believe I leave tomorrow though. WHERE DID THE TIME GO?! Jeez, so much exploring I still need to do here!
Well, meeting up with Tamae was AWESOME! Felt like not a moment had gone by when we met up :] She was so nervous about her English because she hasn't been speaking it regularly since high school, but her English was great! (Sidenote: it has really been an adventure trying to get around not knowing any Japanese. People have been incredibly nice, but when there's a language barrier, there's not much you can do besides use hand gestures, draw pictures, and nod-- a LOT. The address system here is pretty hard for me to grasp, so yesterday I got lost going to a meeting and was late, but I stopped into a salon to ask for help and the two guys both helped me so much-- they both searched on their ipads for the business where I needed to be, then they found directions to get there, then one of them literally walked the whole way with me so I wouldn't get lost. I was blown away. I mean, can you really imagine someone in the US leaving their shop to walk you a 5-minute route? When I stopped by after the meeting to thank them again, they acted like it was no big deal. Human kindness never fails to impress me-- we have so much good in this world. And I know that sounds cheesy, but when you are totally dependent upon others for help, you cannot help but notice this.)
Okay, back to my day with Tamae... she was absolutely the best hostess! She bought a tour book of Tokyo JUST for my visit! She lives about a 2-hour drive from Tokyo, and although she visits every now and then, wasn't totally sure about all the districts. We first went to the fishing district, Tsukiji. This was too cool for school. Sushi restaurants everywhere, with the freshest fish possible. I even got the chance to watch a 300-kilo tuna being cut up with machetes and swords. The men doing it were so theatrical, and obviously LOVED the crowd they attracted on the street. (Uncle Mike, I just kept thinking about you here-- you would go crazy!)
All the food we ate was un-fuhreeeeaking-bellievable. Sushi, fish cakes (so weird, but mayonaise is wildly popular here. I mean they slaaaaather it on. Not my cup of tea, but I did put a little on to get the experience. It was good-- and I don't usually like mayo much-- but I couldn't use as much as they do.), waffles shaped like fish with a sweet red bean inside (one of my favorites so far), and one of my real favorites I've discovered here: sweet egg. It's basically a slightly sweet egg mixture that they put into a 1.5"-deep square pan (about 7x7") and form into a rectangle. SO YUMMY!!! Last night I tried some that was stuffed with meat, too, so it was kind of like a meat omelet in a rectangle shape. All those who know me know of my love of food, so you guys can imagine the food excitement I'm having. Even the soup I get for breakfast makes me happy =] (or the triangle-shaped sushi filled with fish/ veggies whose name I keep forgetting, no matter how many times Tamae tells me)
So after the fishing village we went to the Sky Tree, which is about 350 meters high, the highest building in Tokyo. Unfortunately the tickets were already sold out, even by 11 am, so we didn't get to go up, but we walked around nearby and saw a lot of shops. The whole city is like a gigantic Costco in terms of samples. Almost every business passes out samples of their food, so that was pretty fun in the tum.
Next we went to a beautiful area with the oldest Buddhist temple, called Sensoji. The gate to Sensoji is called Kaminarimon ("Thunder Gate"), and leading to the temple are hundreds of shops selling food, wares, clothing, chopsticks, etc. The temple was really remarkable. Right in front of it is a giant urn about 3- 4 feet tall filled with incense. You are supposed to lean over it and scoop your hands towards your face (almost like splashing your face with water) to bring the incense smoke towards you and breathe it in. Then, you bow with your hands pressed in p
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