Perfect weather for Helly Kitty

Ok, so actually it was way too hot to do anything today. We woke up late and headed out just in time to catch the midday heat. Very possibly the hottest day we've had so far. Tokyo so far has involved a lot of walking around outside. Taipei in comparison was a lot of walking around inside. So while it may be a tad bit hotter in Taipei, our overall exposure to the sun and various elements was probably a lot less. That being said, nothing can successfully get in between V and Hello Kitty.

We started the day by meeting up with Diana for brunch. Beacon is a very American chop house located around Aoyama. Not cheap by any means but very good. I went for the basil caesar salad with crab, V had the BLT + A (A stands for "Avocado" here) - A (I ate all the avocado), and D (is it time to give Diana her own initial? Hi D!) took on the classic looking Beacon Burger. Forgot to take any pictures here, but luckily we collectively had the brainchild to find some gelato close by.

We headed down Omotesando (we seem to be here a lot) to Grom, the Italian gelato chain. While the company is based in Italy, they also have stores in Tokyo, New York, Paris and Moscow. D took us there today, but we later realized that we had passed a giant line for it in 0101 the day before. Crema di Grom, Pistacchio, Vaniglia, Gianduja, Nocciola, it was all good. I've never been great at reading Italian menus, but that has a chance to change here. There's also a good chance we may spend a decent amount of time around Harajuku because we've already found so many random things to go to.

Well I guess the same thing goes for Shinjuku San-chome, which is where we went next. The San-chome station is pretty much on the way back to Nishi-Shinjuku, but we took a little detour to hit up the Sanrio Gift Gate, home of the largest living Hello Kitty (2.5m tall).

V's desire for Hello Kitty was en fuego today as Kiddy Land, a multi-story every cute character store on Omotesando was closed for moving and remodeling. After some hyping from D and the subsequent disappointment of Kiddy Land, V was locked into Hello Kitty mode. The Sanrio Gift Gate was not actually as large as I had expected. I think that since Sanrio products turn over so quickly, you never need that large of a space for them.

Supposedly Sanrio World Ginza has a bit more to offer and there's no way we won't make our way there eventually. Regardless, I'm fairly certain the Shinjuku Gift Gate successfully satisfied V's Kitty desires. That sounds kinda dirty for some reason. Anyway...

V and I finally got around to visiting our friendly neighborhood Yoshinoya. Well actually I just went and ordered to go. Which is not insignificant as its the first time I successfully ordered takeout. When I asked our lobby host, how to say "takeout" in Japanese, he informed that it was indeed "takeout" in Japanese as well. Unfortunately I don't know the kana for "takeout," but sooner or later I'll figure it out. This 牛丼- gyudon chain is right next to our hotel, but we've just had too many other things to eat to check it out. Not really too much to check out as we've been to it before in the US, but quite honestly it's popular everywhere just because it's affordable and still delivers the goods.

I'm not sure why I never realized that yakiniku and gyudon are actually Japanizations of Korean food. You could actually say that I've eaten a decent amount of Korean food since coming to Japan, but I don't think it counts and I certainly continue to have an insatiate desire for Korean food. After some research, I've found out that Sonamu in Ebisu is visited by Korean actors and actresses. Sounds promising; gotta check it out.

I've been pretty unsuccessful in meeting up with any of my fellow MBA students. Everyone is kind of out doing their own thing, and the Business School orientation isn't until Thursday. A lot of the students don't really seem to wander outside of Waseda too much. Once classes start and I meet all of them, I'm sure I'll see a lot more of them, but of course, official business comes first. Tomorrow, we make all our payments for Prospect Axe and then sign all the papers. Tuesday is the first day we can potentially move in. While it would be great to move in on Tuesday, it's more likely that we have to move in on Wednesday, but we'll surely find out tomorrow. Wish us luck.