I was in a mission today to buy presents for my family and a few friends. I ate breakfast at the Jonathan's at the hotel. Jonathan's is kind of like a Japanese IHOP. The Japanese have some weird combinations of things for breakfast.

There were two parts to my mission today: 1) Buy two wedding presents and 2) Find a katana (Japanese long sword) for my brother and myself. I must have walked up and down every street in Asakusa twice looking for gifts. I found a beautiful Japanese china tea set from Kyoto as well as a similar Sake set for the two wedding presents. After I bought these two gifts, I paid $65 to air ship them to my house. They didn't take credit cards, which was surprising (but wouldn't be the last time I was surprised by this).

Before I found these gifts, I had some sushi at a cool little place where the sushi goes around the center. The chefs are in the center and place different items on various colored plates the denote the item's cost. The most interesting thing I saw was sea urchin, which was the entire urchin turned inside out and cut open. The sushi was good, but not great and certainly expensive ($25 for this meal). Without a guidebook, it was difficult to find good places to eat. I tried to find a place that had mostly Japanese people and was on the crowded side.

The entire time that I was walking around I was looking for katanas. I started to get very frustrated because every place had absolute garbage. I eventually found one place that had one decent sword, but I was looking for two and they had no selection. Just as I was about to give up for the day, I stumbled upon a little shop that had a relatively huge selection. I talked to the salesperson for an hour about the differences between the swords. The conversation probably would have taken half the time if I spoke Japanese. I couldn't decide between several swords, so I'm coming back tomorrow.

While walking all around Asakusa, I took many pictures of Senso-ji, the Buddist temple, and the five-storied pagoda (first built in 942 - See the picture below). I also prayed at the temple in the traditional manner (first wafting the incense smoke toward me and then tossing a coin into a wood box, clapping my hands twice and then keeping them together for prayer). I prayed for my friend from Boston for her to get through a recent tragedy.



It was around dinner time now, so I took the subway to Ueno Station (just west of Asakusa) and found a place to eat. I was specifically looking for a restaurant that served Tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet with a special sauce) that my co-worker, Yuko, recommended (see picture above). The sauce is what makes this dish different and interesting. It was served in this little bowl with a wooden serving utensil that looked like a little wooden pipe.

After dinner, I wanted to try to make it to Tokyo Tower in Central Tokyo before it closed. It's kind of like Tokyo's version of the Eiffel Tower (see pic below). Unfortunately, when I got there it was almost ready for closing (9:40pm, closes at 10pm). The very top "special observatory" was already closed at 9:30. I went up to the first level (250m high and the upper deck is 100m higher) and had about 15 minutes to look around the city. That was really about all I needed anyway and I'm glad I didn't pay the extra money to go to the top. Tokyo is a fun city to see at night (see one example below). In the distance, there was a group of buildings that all had numerous flashing aircraft lights. They were all flashing asynchronously in a hypnotic ballet of flashing lights.



They kicked me out of Tokyo tower at 10pm and then I left for Roppongi. This place is similar to Bangkok's Pot-Pong, but a little less aggressive and much more flashy lights. There are many non-Japanese guys in this place who are all trying their best to get you to go to their clubs. Their pitch is usually, "All you can drink for 2 hours" or something similar.

I didn't spend that long in Roppongi, but no one told me that Tokyo's trains stop just before 1am. I took the last train as far as it would go (only two stops) and then I asked someone about a taxi. The taxi would have been about $60, which I refused to pay. I started walking back toward Asakusa for about and hour and half. After that, I was pretty tired and the area I was in started to look a little sketchy (not to mention it was off of my map). I took a taxi to my hotel and it was only $20. The taxis in Tokyo (along with just about everything in the city) are very expensive; I would always recommend the trains or subways. I would have thought that a huge city like Tokyo would have 24 hour train service. I guess I should stop bitching about Boston's subway closing around the same time.

I got back to my hotel around 3am and crashed.

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