kids really like totoro

So i guess i lied. I forgot to buy the cable for my digital camera, so the post about the Edo Tokyo Museum will come tomorrow, hopefully. I did, however, manage to get some pictures from todays antics taken using my phone on to my computer, so some pictures are better than none, right?

Today I had a date with a girl name Nao (pronounced like 'now.') Nao is a waitress at the extremely popular burger place Freshness Burger. Freshness Burgers are everywhere in Japan, my school has at least 3 within a 10 minute walk. I met her at Freshness Burger last week when she took my order. She was wearing a New York Yankees hat and I commented that I lived in New York State. It turned out she spoke fluent english, and we talked about something that didnt matter, because I forget what it was.

Anyways, we met up at Alta at 2:00. Alta is a store which boasts the largest TV screen in Tokyo on its face, which probably makes it the largest in the world, I'm not sure. It takes up pretty much an entire building face and plays popular music videos and commercials. If you saw Lost in Translation you may remember a dinosaur walking across it in one scene (although that may have been Shibuya, its the same idea.) Alta is a popular meeting place, and is always crowded with kids meeting, or kids just hanging out under the giant TV.

After a quick lunch, I asked her to take me to a local shrine, since I had not had any time to look at any yet in depth. Lucky for me, there was one in Shinjuku just down the street. The entrance was between two huge buildings, and almost seems surreal, crammed in to the hustle and bustle of downtown Shinjuku (Tokyos busiest area.) The shrine was in the middle area created by buildings on all four sides, with the alleyways between them the only exit or entrance. On this particular day there were many festivities going on at the shrine. Dozens of merchants had set up shop in the aisles leading in to the shrine, selling everything from kimonos to antiques to old photographs. I purchased a few photographs of japanese school children and soldiers, taken in the 1940s, for my friend Paul in the States. Everyone had their goods lined up on the ground, and it had a bazaar type atmosphere. I saw one American there take an antique sai that was for sale and mock ninja moves to a girl to try and gain her fancy. I now realize whyJapanese people do not particularly like Americans.

Also occuring at the shrine that day was a children's ceremony. The children's ceremony, Nao explained to me, happened when a Japanese child turned 3, 5 or 7. They are dressed in traditional clothing and brought to the shrine to be blessed. I saw a little girl who must have been 3 and a little boy dressed in ceremonial kimonos. Both were being bombarded by relatives for pictures and appeared to do more posing for proud parents then anything else. I had Nao take the picture of one of the children for me, since I was afraid I would be taken for a pervert if I asked myself. There are many, many perverted men in Japan, ask any Japanese woman. Luckily, the mother was more than happy to allow us to take a photo, and the boy seemed ecstatic to be able to interact with a foreigner.

We exited the shrine, and as we left we looked back to see the boy and his friends waving good bye to us, grinning like chesire cats.

A short subway ride landed us in Ikebukoro at about 4:30. Ikebukoro is a popular shopping destination, and since it was Sunday was packed full of people. Sundays are the busiest day of the week in Japan, and stores are usually open later, not earlier like in the states or canada. We immediately went to Sunshine City, a huge mall complex with a 60 floor tower above it (most malls are underground in Japan.) We paid 640 yen to take a elevator to the observation deck on the 60th floor. The elevator went dark when you went up, and lights lit up inside to simulate a night sky. A panel shows how fast you go, and the top speed is about 600 meters a minute. If you are from the US, trust me, thats fast for an elevator.

The view from the top was incredible, and the deck was 360 degrees around the building. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen Gleaming the Cube. Nao and I stayed on the deck for almost 2 hours and watched night fall. Going from day time to night time was amazing, as all the lights went on in Tokyo. If you ever want a girl to get weak in the knees for you, just take her to the 60th floor of Sunshine City.

We left about 6:30 and Nao went to go meet up with a high school friend. I stopped by the Studio Ghibli store on my way home and picked up some picture books from the movies Howl's Moving Castle and My Neighbour, Totoro. They may just be kid's books, but I still get an enormous sense of self satisfaction everytime I can correctly translate a page. These movies are bigger than Disney here, so if you want to know what Japanese animation is like, rent a Studio Ghibli film (just google it for the complete list, Spirited Away is my favorite.)

It's 12:47 AM and tomorrow I have my speaking group at school, which means I have to wake up at 9 AM.

Its time to hit the small pellet filled cloth sack.
~karl