Tokyo Time and Off with the Ankles!

Well, we finally got what we wanted, right? Warm, spring days? Okay, maybe more like hot summer days. I go to Tokyo and this is what I get and return to? Yikes! I'm sweating up a storm here! Okay time for the recap!

Friday night's night bus endeavor was well a continuation of my sleep deprivation from the prior week. It was an experience, one that I would like not to repeat! After getting to Tokyo station later than scheduled and with less sleep than expected, we (Nate and I) wandered around trying to meet up with the others to drop our stuff off at the hostel and then meet up with Danielle, Cass, and Lauren for Akihabara. <- the Den Den Town of Tokyo... I think I like our (Osaka's) Den Den Town better. Less arcades and ufo catchers... I don't even bother since I know I won't win those. We did that literally all day and still didn't cover everything we wanted because the line for the Gundam Cafe was a 3 hour wait and we were exhausted and didn't want to hunt down the Gee! Store either. So we went back and crashed.
That was Saturday.

Sunday, we went to the Tokyo National Museum and got chocolate covered bananas! Yay Fruit! My body was jumping for joy! Then we(Iain, Nate, Jackie, and I) went to meet my friend Sunny (Yay, I found Sunny!) in Harujuku for lunch. We got Shakey's Pizza tabehodai... that basically means all you can eat pizza with no time limit. It was interesting trying all the Japan's pizza styles... corn on reg cheese, corn on cheese with mayo (bleck), banana-chocolate-cornflakes, they are into their desserts... we had to wait in a long (45 mins?) line for getting in but it was fun getting to talk to her and see how she was handling all the Californians at her school. We then wandered around Harujuku seeing the sites: a condomania (I couldn't enter-- it was too awkward for me -_-*), lots of little tourist shops with clothes and shoes, a body line (where I bought a pretty outfit that cost a pretty penny)... we pretty much wandered around trying to find the Square Enix store too. That didn't work out so well. Eventually, Sunny had to head home and we left for Tokyo tower to meet up with the others. By the time we got to Tokyo tower it was too dark for many good pictures! Curses! But we did finally meet up with Cass and Lauren who bought fedoras... and I wanted one but when we found the store they were gone... T_T*
We grabbed cheap dinner at the McD's of Japan-- not a real McD's but the Japanese equivalent- fast, cheap, and everywhere... It has a black and orange sign but I never remember the name. It starts with Yo... After that we went back to the hostel, looked at our purchases, and started to plan the next day. Once that was taken care of Nate and I took Danielle back to her hostel and we searched for the arcade nearby. Well, we found it eventually but it was not letting people in at that point... Oh well, we also found a love hotel when Danielle was still with us and Nate got a picture of it. I have now definitely seen one. It was ridiculous... neon lights every which way and lots of different colors. I had to laugh. Prices for Rest or Stay...
Oh Japan, you're such a hypocrite. "We're super conservative and very polite!" *>.>
Yeah, anyway that was Sunday. I also found out some SUPER good news about a friend and am SUPER excited about it! ^_^

Monday was the dojinshi con for half of the group so the others (Jackie, Nate, & Iain) and I had to explore on our own. Iain actually went on his own to the Square Enix store because we were planning to go to the Gundam Cafe, well that didn't happen since I saw a temple with lots of cute tourist stalls and convinced them to let us stop there. I think it was successful and people enjoyed that, although the street was so packed it felt like you were swimming. I bought lots of cool stuff for people (yay almost finished!) and then we realized the Gundam Cafe thing wasn't going to work out... the lines would be murder at lunch time. Instead, we hunted down the Blind Samurai studio for Nate, and attempted the Imperial Gardens for Jackie. Both were let down as the studio just showed previews of the movies and didn't have anything blind samurai in it while we never actually got into the gardens due to poor positioning of maps and signs. We just crossed a desert of rocks and disappointment. We managed to crack up and be ridiculous though, so I had fun even though I got appointed spokesperson for everyone even those who weren't with us and had to make the plans and negotiate with the other group... wth? So eventually we met up at the Square Enix store--not where we thought it was and so I had to ask for directions from a Koban (police station) twice. It was funny because both times the older officer wasn't sure what I was talking about but the younger one in back was well informed of it. haha, it was funny seeing it twice. So we got there and man, that place was awesome! Sooo cool a bit pricey but that's to be expected. I did manage to get a souvenir or 2. ^_^ As we sat out front at the tables to relax for a bit and rest our feet that are constantly in a state of utter and extreme pain at this point (wish I had my real gym shoes), Nate and I witnessed a motorcycle-car accident.
... yeah, that was terrifying. We both thought the guys head was run over. He managed to get up and moving and someone called the police. His motorcycle managed to get under part of the taxi next to him... it was the yellow cars' fault, it clipped him and sent him flying under. Yellow car, red motorcycle, green taxi. I didn't even realize what happened at first before the sounds but those colors were imprinted already. I hope he's okay. I'm sure he is, he was moving and walking and talking. Yeah, that was a bit unnerving seeing that... the others were getting hungry so we left and got Subway for dinner and then got back to the dorm and proceeded to be silly with taking pictures. At least the night ended on a good note, stupid yellow car driver. He didn't even stop. That was my Monday.

Tuesday was our last day in Tokyo. We woke up early, fully packed, and took off for Akihabara to reach the Gundam Cafe and Gee! Store. We got lost at first because we didn't know which exit to use from the station so my Japanese powers were used and we found the area we needed! We got to the cafe and it was only 9:30 and a 3 hour wait... so we settled for the gift shop and taiyaki section of it with only a 30min to an hour wait. It was really cool but I was a bit disappointed as it didn't have a large variety of stuff besides food in the gift shop and it was all specific to maybe 2 different Gundam series... there are a lot and I was expecting more options. A bit of a let down but I still was happy to be in it and see it and get pictures! The cafe only opened like 2 weeks ago so the lines would be super long still. Then we hunted down the Gee! store which didn't open for another 10 minutes. We hung around and then gashapon heaven hit! So many gashapon! I walked out with a Vivi (to the envy of everyone else), a Vash, a Alucard, a Kaede and Kohaku! Huge success (or almost anyway)!
Then to Tokyo station to drop off our stuff in a locker before hitting up the gardens... this is where Lindsey separated from us as her bag wouldn't fit in the lockers/there were no more and she wouldn't let anyone help her take it around but wouldn't take it around herself. I didn't find a locker for my stuff either so I went all Gundam/transformers on it and made it into a backpack. It helped but I was grateful to dump it eventually in a locker thanks to Jackie! We wandered the garden and it was more like a park. We weren't too impressed although it was still pretty. I think we were a bit too tired and sore and stressed. Oh well, pictures and videos. ^.^ After dropping off the stuff, we went to Shibuya for the huge crosswalk... we got there at a quiet time apparently, it wasn't too crowded. I got some pictures as it got worse though. We then got lunch (hehe, yeah first meal of the day besides snacking on bread while walking at 3pm) and went to Ikebukuro for meeting up with everyone and seeing the Sunshine 60 building. It was impressive and kind of sad. There was soo much smog above the city at floor 59. It costs money to get to 60... We hung out there for a bit waiting on the others to come find us or what not... there were so many moments of directions and communication fails, it was not even funny...
We got delicious crepes with ice cream and stuff. Mine was strawberry, banana, whip cream, chocolate sauce, and cookies n cream ice cream. Yum!! After that wandering, we went to an arcade to burn time since our bus didn't leave until near midnight... I now have the experience of playing in a Gundam fyi! It was soo fun! I'm bad at it but that's cause I can't do first person shooters! We then visited the book off across the street and I walked out with a cd (21 songs) and a 2 book full series for 650 yen, yay! Ikebukuro was pretty sweet, that's the place to go for just being entertained all day! There's a new Trigun movie, along with the new Detective Conan movie! Sounds cool! Well, after that we returned to Tokyo station- after playing on the trains a bit ^_^ --collected our stuff, and found our bus stop. We beat the others! There were 5 of us and I thought we were going to be sitting 5 across the back of the bus but the driver made Nate and I move in front of them... wth? Then 2 other Japanese guys sat there... >.> <.< yeah, that wasn't nice of them.
After thinking we were going to die or crash multiple times through the bus ride, we finally fell asleep and made it there early enough that the trains weren't running yet. Ugh. I led everyone the cheaper-slightly longer trip home. We parted at Hirkatashi where I jumped on my bus and took off home. I saw everyone at the house this morning when I got in around 7:30-7:50am and then said goodnight!

I only slept until 3pm and have been organizing and calculating and sorting since then. I've got a big test tomorrow so I'd better start looking that stuff over too. Evil Japanese class... I will be grateful to be rid of this thing soon! I can't wait to shower, although I frankly think I have lost the ability to walk temporarily. The pain... >.<

PS: Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

PPS: Gene's been INJURED! Someone call a Seamstress!!! T_T