Day Two

This is technically Saturday but I'm writing it Sunday night.

First, I notice I am used to my well water. The chlorine in the water is burning my eyes every time I shower. My eye drops help a lot.

We got up and went to the Buffet at the hotel. It is very nice with a mixture of western and eastern breakfast foods. This means I had a nice salad and plenty of fresh fruit to eat. We hung out while everyone woke up and wandered down.

Jet lag was an issue. I'm a bit better off becuase I'm more on my work schedule. However, everyone is tired but we want to go and do stuff.

Our first task is to find the Data Center for those that are actually here to work.

We found the nearest subway stop and went down and down and down. Often we walk on the left hand side. Sometimes its the right. Also, as far as my American driving habits go, everyone is on hte wrong side of hte road. But traffic actually obeys the traffic laws. I've not seen anyone run a red light yet or even speed up for a yellow. There is almost no honking and even with the narrow lanes, people obey the traffic laws and therefor traffic flows smoothly.

Most of us decided to buy the multi-use train pass. We can reload them and not worry about getting new tickets and adjusting tickets constantly. Fortunately, the menu has an English option. I am thankful. Very thankful.

The tran station names are also listed in english and there tends to be an english map. The train lines are all represented by a roman letter and the exits are all roman letters and numbers. Its not as complex as it seems. No more then any other subway there are just more of them.

We made it to the proper exit and wandered in circles for a while. The weather is hot. Places are air conditioned and trains are but the stations are not. However, the trains force air through them at high speeds and they are not unbearable. There are vending machines everywhere but almost no trash. It is hot and humid. No worse then VA has been this summer but wandering around in it gets unpleasant. But one must endure and there is plenty of access to water.

We finally found the Data Center. The reward was my first vending machien expierence. I picked a white grape and aloe drink that was very nice and refreshing. We then decided to go to Akihabara which is known as Electric Town. There we wandered into one of hte giant electronics stores. It takes up a city block on its own and its 9 stories tall. It was crazy.

Want a hummer bicycle? Need a Bently pocket watch? Looking for a 1,000yen rice maker? Come on it, they had it all.

Each floor is a mix of things and stuff. The floor is taped off and I can barely tell where one shop starts and the next ends. There is everything from the newest laptops to massage chairs and gold equipment. We wandered level after level for about three hours. We decided we were tired and hungry so we went to the 8th floor which had the food. 20 food shops to be exact. We settled on a place where you cook your own meat.

Because there were six of us they gave us a small room with rice screens. You kinda stepped down into the table. Shoes off. So pretty. We figured out that you order by pressing the call button when you need stuff.

So we got food. Lots of pointing and smiles and thank you's go a long way. We also made sure they took cards before we went inside. The meal was lovely. Everything was tasty. The rice was delicious. No Uncle Ben's prefab fortified shit. This is quality rice as rice should be eaten.

Full and comfortable we staggered out and went up to level 9 which was the fitness floor. It was actually the golf flood. The entire thing was dedicated to golf. We wandered back down to floor 6 which was games.

This was a quarter arcade, a quarter game store, and the rest just games both electronic and non electronic. I found some gorgious puzzles there. Stunning. I'll be going back. There were modlels al over the place. Lots of Gundam robots. Lots of action figures. Lots of little anime girls in provocative poses. Soo amusing.

We also got to look at 3D TVs. They cost about 10k USD but they were very cool.

Need Cat7 cable? Not 5 or 6, but 7 in all shapes and sizes.

The place was pretty fantastic. But we were full and tired so we staggered out, wandered in a circle and decided to go back to the hotel to shower and refresh. The Husband was close to heat stroke at this time. A cup of tea, a soda and a half a glass of water was not enough moisture. The Lawson's convince store directly beside the hotel accepts credit cards. We got big bottles of water and I made him drink and drink, take a cool shower, and drink some more. Hydration is important.

That turned into a six hour nap for almost all of us. We met back up and it was around 11pm. At this point the restaurants are closed but the bars are open. We wound up going to the Denny's across the street. The food there is fantastic. This isn't the nasty, greasy, ignored by the staff Denny's Americans are used to. This is quality food in sometimes familiar ways.

I went with a Japanese course. Tasty.

We went back to the hotel and back to bed. The jet lag kicks in at odd times.

Its a lot of walking. I have some small blisters today. But I feel good. I like the feel of the city. There are a lot of foreigners so I don't feel overly odd. I expected to be a lot more uncomfortable but I don't.