Don't Look Down

I had to wake up at 8am this morning to get ready to go to Tokyo. Which was even harder than normal since I went to sleep at 4am. Whoops. Oh well, I managed to get up and ready on time anyway. We got to Tokyo around 11, and I forced Tori to withhold her excitement long enough for me to get coffee at Starbucks. I really needed it. This is the first time I've gotten coffee since I got here actually.

We explored Akihabara first, which is the electronics area basically. I'm pretty sure this was Tori's favorite part, she went a little nuts lol. We all go a little nuts the first time we go to Akihabara. She got a camera cause she left hers at home or something, and lots of other stuff. I bought a few things too. After about 3 hours I managed to convince her to leave and go someplace else, so we got on the subway towards the station near Tokyo Tower. Unfortunately, this also happened to be the station right by the Pokemon store in Tokyo, so I had to visit of course. Turns out they just released the new Pokemon game for DS yesterday, so I uh... bought it :) It was a very fun store.

After we headed towards Tokyo Tower. Dodging in between the shade because it was beautiful, but blazing hot. It feels like just yesterday I was going up there my first time. It was still just as awesome. There's nothing like that view anywhere else. Buildings as far as the eye can see. And in my opinion it's a beautiful city. We stayed up there till sunset too and we took lots of pictures. Tori somehow convinced me to stand on the glass floor this time, which I refused to do last time I was here. I hate heights. I didn't even look down while I was standing on it though, it just freaked me out too much. I have a picture for proof.

We left Tokyo Tower after an hour or so and decided to take a trip to Shibuya before we went home. Shibuya is the place-to-be, fashion central, huge shopping area/hang out place so to speak. I don't quite know how to describe it. Because it was Sunday night, there were a huge amount of people. We were quite overwhelmed, and we didn't even know where to begin. It looks really awesome lit up at night though, so it was worth going there to see it again. The Hachiko statue is there as well. My favorite part of Shibuya is the huge crosswalk right by the station where all the cars stop and mass amounts of people cross. You don't see such huge crowds of pedestrians gathered like that too often. We walked around a bit and got food, went to a music shop, and ended up in the Loft again. The stationery, etc store that's in Tsukuba Center. Except it was 7 floors instead of 1. Quite amazing. I bought a sketchbook. I'd like to try to get back into drawing now that I have free time.

We left around 8, cause it takes 2hrs to get home from there, counting the time on the subway to get back to Akihabara Station, where we transfer to the Tsukuba Express which takes 45 min, and then we transfer to the bus which takes 20-30min. It was quite exhausting. We got back just after 10, which is when the bathhouse closes on weekends, so I tried using the shower rooms. They were quite foul, and I won't be using those ever again. There's so small and claustrophobic, and there isn't a single sanitary place to put your towel and clothes.

I did my laundry tonight again, after my shower. These stupid washers take like an hour and 45 minutes to wash a full load. It's really annoying. And we only have 4 in the building. Most people seem content to just leave their laundry sitting in the machines too, so you have to wait or dump there stuff on top of another washer. I just finally finished and it's 3am. Any chance at good sleeping habits here have shot out the window and headed across the ocean to Ohio. I don't have class till 3 tomorrow, so I can sleep in as much as I want. I also figured out how to turn the light above my sink on. I had thought it was broken. All I have to do is turn the switch on and then whack either the sink or the light hard and it comes on... I know, ghetto. I discovered this by accident when I tripped into the sink the other day...

Pictures of course. Only a few. I took about 60 today alone, but I can't upload them all here. The rest are on facebook. Most of the ones here are of Tokyo Tower, or its view. And of course the proof of my being on the glass floor :) The one at night is of Shibuya.