World Traveler: Tokyo Day!

JT and I allowed ourselves to sleep in since we were planning on staying in town anyway. We got up, showered, grabbed some breakfast, and headed out. A note on breakfast - there are two choices. Breakfast A has toast, a small cabbage salad, a hardboiled egg, and a drink of choice (coffee, orange or grapefruit juice, hot chocolate, etc). Breakfast B featured a croissant, that same small salad, plain yogurt with a small spoon of blueberry syrup, and a drink of choice. I finally figured out I could trade my own brother. I gave him my toast and took his yogurt. I also took a small bite of croissant. We were much happier that way. I had salad, plain yogurt (that JT hated, lol), and an egg with one bite of a croissant. He had more carbs to get him going. It was perfect! In any case...

The very first and probably most exciting thing for JT is the fact that it was raining. He had been saying everyday that he hoped it rained so he could use his clear umbrella that he had purchased. He was STOKED to be out in the rain with it. ^ - ^ We started with Asakusa and saw the local shrine. One guy chatted JT up. That was, interesting to say the least. I was worried he might be trying to scam JT in some way. He'd stopped JT and when I saw JT was back there, I headed back and listened to all the questions this guy was asking. Everything little thing JT said, the guy trotted out everything he knew about that place. I answered all the questions he had in Japanese. I wanted him to know that if he had something in mind we were savvy travelers. Maybe I was paranoid, but this is my baby brother! Plus he eventually goes, "Ok, BYE!" And just abruptly turned and left. It was a very strange meeting. In any case, JT and I looked at the shops and got our omikuji (fortunes). JT got a very good one and I got "best fortune!" Great news everyone - according to my fortune this is a good time for me to get married. Any takers? ;p (Guess I should have been dating all this time! Woe is me! HAHAHAHA!)

After Asakusa, we went to Tawaramachi stop to visit Kappabashi. I accidentally overshot it (oops), but we headed back and got to see lots of cool kitchen stuff. We also saw the plastic food they make. ^ - ^ I got a sushi fridge magnet. I ALMOST got an ebi one (that nigiri I almost threw up), but decided against it last minute, lol. I want to go back to Kappabashi with lots of money and get really cool stoneware bowls and plates and Japanese dishes. Not sure how to get them home safely but... it's on the list for me.

We then headed to Ueno Koen (Park) and walked around. We saw some really amazing architecture and got to chat with some people who work at the park. ^ - ^ JT and I, I think I said this before, found out we're ideal traveling companions. We got to the park and meandered for a while and that was good enough for us. We thought about hitting up the zoo but since it was raining and we didn't feel a pressing need to do that, we skipped it. We didn't see every corner of the park and didn't go in any museums. That being said, we were happy with our time in the park. We saw some incredible things, took some pictures, and headed to Ameyoko. Ameyoko is a giant open air market. A few years back when it hit it up with Saz and my ex, it was really fun. JT and I REALLY disliked it though. So many bodies, plus humidty, plus the smell of cigarettes everywhere was making me violently ill (kept having to try not to puke), I got a massive migraine, and we just disliked the whole thing. We were looking for manga type stuff and no one would/could help us find any. We wandered around some 2 hours and I told JT I was DONE. He agreed that we should leave and we hit Mister Donut on the way out. We headed back to our hotel.

At the hotel I was able to take a pain pill and just rest. I couldn't eat my donuts until my stomach settled. (JT and I had eaten on a bus bench near Kappabashi.) After I felt better, I started researching the Daisos in Tokyo. If you have never been to Daiso, maybe stay away so you can live happily far from them. They are AWESOME. JT is already in love with them (as he should be). I found the biggest one in Tokyo and we headed over. It was really fun and in Harajuku. That was my first experience with that part of Tokyo. It had that classic Tokyo night crowd scene you see in movies. It was so amazing to share with JT. We found another little shop we checked out and just had fun being out there. It was, all in all, a wonderfully successful foray into Tokyo.