Hot food, hot days, and タイムサービス

The two most physically miserable days in Tokyo occurred when it was hot outside and had also prepared myself appropriately. One of them was a few days ago when we had the bright idea to get ramen, and yesterday of course we went for Takoyaki. I learned the hard way several years ago that Takoyaki is piping hot inside and this time, although I didn't burn my mouth, a measly five balls raised my internal body temperature enough to burn me from the inside out. From now on, only cold food on deathly hot days.

Got up early yesterday to call the bank and work out wire transfers. Two hours later all my bills had been paid. Q: What kind of bank actually doesn't allow you to deposit cash? A: A goddamn Japanese bank. Signing for our apartment got pushed from 1 to 3 pm. We picked up a combination of a sandwich, bread, and onigiri on the way. Onigiri has been surprisingly disappointing in Japan. I love onigiri, but so far all the ones I had at 7-11 in Taiwan have been much better.

Oda Musubi is an onigiri-only shop inside Shinjuku station, but the chicken and salmon onigiris I picked up were only good not great. Unfortunately, I'm already starting to get a little sick of Japanese food. It's been ages since V and I had a real serving of veggies; well I guess we did have a salad and a sandwich yesterday. However, a lot of the food we've been eating is pretty heavy. I miss Jimmy Johns.

Yesterday was also the second day in a row I rode on the women-only car. I'm not worried; I blend right in I think.

Today though, I got to sleep in...and I did. We left the hotel in time to catch lunch at 寿司清 - Sushi Sei (not sure about that pronunciation). Sushi Sei is a small chain that even has a location at the Tsukiji Fish Market. The quality of the fish here was more similar to what we were used to in the US. The chirashi we both ordered was only 1200 Yen and very good; it just wasn't quite at the ungodly level of Sushi Dai. Awesome sushi is so far one of my favorite things about Japan.

We finished lunch just in time to meet up with Tsubasa, our real estate agent. We hit the Metro to Roppongi where we got to pick up our keys. Afterwards, we were excited but food comaing, so we sat down at Starbucks in Roppongi Hills to refuel and check out some paperwork. Roppongi Hills is a community like complex that includes residences, the Grand Hyatt, a business tower, and a smattering of shopping. There were some interesting stores, but the layout reminded me of drunken Jenga. We might be back to check it out again when sale season arrives.

Other than that, we weren't really sure what else to do in Roppongi so we headed back to Shinjuku for some shopping. I'm looking into buying another chair for our desk as well as potentially a small table. We basically flew back and forth between Franc Franc, Tokyu Hands, and Muji (another home-goods store) checking prices and items; eventually, we finally did end up buying a single towel from Tokyu Hands for a whopping 1525 Yen. The price of towels in Asia is one thing I will never understand. This is not unique to Japan. People have asked us to buy and bring them towels when we visit.

Tomorrow, we will head to Daiso, the best version of a dollar store ever. There isn't actually too much we need to buy since the place is totally furnished, but I anticipate that we'll be totally busy tomorrow outfitting our apartment and moving in.

We did figure out how we are going to eat in Tokyo. In the Shinjuku area, most department stores have food courts and close around 8:00 or 8:30 pm. However, half an hour to an hour before they close, the crazy rush known as タイムサービス - "time service" begins. Things go on sale up to 50% off as stalls empty out the day's inventory. We were unfortunate to miss the department store craziness today, but we did catch time service at Hokuo on the way back.

I know I've been saying I'm carbed out, but we did manage to find some sandwiches. And when things are 20% - 40% off, you just can't help yourself. We totally got suckered in. I guess we won't starve.


Oh yeah. We also bought some gifts for our Tsubasa and Fujimoto-san, who's been helping me out a lot at school. Doesn't it look delicious? I tell you, it is beautiful in your mouth.