I arrived, back from Tokyo, on the afternoon of the 31st.

It's an interesting place. I mean, I can take the entire Yamanote-sen (Yamanote Line) in under an hour, yet each district in Tokyo has its own perks. Ginza is the shopping district, Akihabara is the place I want to live, Shimbashi (sp?) links to a monorail system that goes to Odaiba (another favorite of mine now) and the Harajuku station exit looks straight through Takeshima Street, chock full of fascinatingly-dressed individuals.

I spent a long time in Akihabara. One whole day and several hours on other days. It's overkill for most but it's as if I found a part of myself there. I was unusually comfortable roaming the stores and just exploring.

Shibuya was madness, and I only spent brief moments there. I met Mike from Hunkabutta there for kaitenzushi (rotating sushi restaurant) and later a beer at a pub. Another evening I had coffee with Nanae at the 2nd floor of Starbucks, which overlooked the crossing. Hectic. Amazing.

Odaiba. If I lived in Tokyo I would go to Odaiba on weekends to relax and look out the waters. Sometimes it's a bit hazy but it's quiet. I spent an entire day there as well, walking through the island mall, taking a tour of the Fuji TV studio and then sitting at a bench just thinking about all sorts of things. A few days later I visited again with kimd as you've read.

There's a lot of energy in that city that I don't have here in Kitakyushu, which is why I absorbed a lot of it. It burned me out in the end just a little, but I would like to return to Tokyo before I go home come August. A part of me wants to live there, and Lori even asked me to try to work at a non-JET, eikaiwa school there. But as much as I love that city, I would rather find non English-teaching work. And that isn't going to be easy, unless you could contact me and prove me otherwise.

ONE WEEK IN TOKYO:

Districts visited, briefly or otherwise:
Akihabara
Ginza
Shibuya
Shinjuku
Harajuku
Roppongi

Districts remaining:
Ebisu
Asakusa

Pictures taken with digital camera:
850 files (images and video clips)

I am in love with that city. There is far too much to write unless I write about each day and backdate the entries. Perhaps I will do that later this week if I feel up to it, or maybe I'll just keep it my own. In any case, I had a great trip out there. Just so much I felt/experienced in a week. A lot of it was spent by myself just walking around and taking pictures. It was pretty awesome.