The Maku (as they call it) closest to us actually has lunch specials and we saved a couple hundred Yen on our ebi filets. Did you know that Tokyo natives call it "Maku" while Osakans call is "Makudo?" Since it was there, I also tried this Sankaku Choco Pie:
Not as good as I imagined. Nothing wrong with Maku every now and then though. I enjoyed the fries much more this time.
My hair has gotten really long lately and this is by far the longest my hair has been in a good ten years or so. I guess that's what happens when you don't cut it for three months. I have no idea how to handle it and all the products I have don't work on hair this long. So instead I picked up this product that Kimura Takuya has been promoting in commercials with a nondescript hot girl running her hands through his hair while the background music just keeps going, "Water Waax."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PwsUJUnLSE *wikuwikuwaterwax*
I feel like maybe I'm not using it correctly. My hair doesn't look like the how it looks in the commercial...
My bike blew a flat again (for real this time...it burst), and I haven't been to our fruit stand in a while. So, V took a side trip to reload and ended up with this haul:
Six bunches of grapes for 1000 Yen. This is unheard of; I suppose it's good that the grape season hasn't quite ended yet and V can indulge herself in a million of them. Strawberry season on the other hand is starting up and I hope that they become a little bit cheaper as winter enters full swing. That's a lie. It's so amazingly warm here. I never imagined Tokyo to be this not cold.
V has her grapes. I, on the other hand, can indulge myself in mikan. We picked up a box at Donki:
Fruit costs us way more in Tokyo than in Chicago, but clearly that doesn't limit our intake.
Diana let us know that Akira (our buddy from Sapporo (who we've actually only met once before)) was in town and we had a big meet up at Nabezou in Shibuya on Saturday. It was good to see him, but he didn't really have long in Tokyo. I guess we'll have to go to Sapporo next time to see him. We met a whole bunch of new people as well including Akiko, Gordon, and what's his name. Steve? Stafe? I don't remember.
Nobody told us that it was actually Daisy's birthday too. So it ended up being a birthday party. Yayyy.
We hit up a bar nearby that the group always goes to when in Shibuya. I still don't remember the name of the place. We stayed out until the last train that night and actually rushed a little bit to catch it. Turned out that the train was delayed due to a "person accident." You hear about people throwing themselves in front of trains and you think that the Japanese stereotype is hyped up, but it's actually totally true. There are "person accidents" nearly every day.
Khai wanted evidence that even Shinjuku Station gets dead after the last train:
The next day one of my Japanese teachers was getting married at Meiji Jingu. We've seen a wedding there before but never one with people I knew. I was contemplating attending, but I had plans to play tennis at Seijogakuen-mae. So instead I headed to a buddy, Mark's place to play four hours of tennis. The next day I was sore in the weirdest places. Never have my glutes been so sore before...strange.
Apparently, the couple that walked Meiji Jingu right before my teacher was a famous baseball player and a news anchorwoman. They had a huge crowd there to watch, so my teacher's procession inevitably had a ton of people as well. Would've been cool to see. Why do Japanese baseball players always marry newswomen?
On my way to tennis, I saw this couple walking the street in full wedding dress. I kind of felt like they were too staged to be a real groom and bride and I was proven right when I saw an identical couple a few blocks later. There were two pairs of brides and grooms at the same intersection just pretending that the other didn't exist. Pretty smart advertising I have to say; the large bag is classier than giant signs on sticks.
Hit up Hokuo again this week. I know I talk about bread a lot, but honestly we haven't been there since before Thanksgiving. I swear. Hokuo is kind of in the Christmas mood and we got ourselves some Christmas bread. They were all pretty enjoyable.
Random picture of one of the stray cats they take care of outside the police box at school. I pet him.
Later that day, one of my classes had a bit of a drinking party. I met up with a group of people at Okinawa Shokudo and was treated to dinner and drinks by my professor. Hiro, as he prefers to be called, explained to us in depth how he's a strong drinker and can't remember anything after he gets drunk, then proceeded to get quite drunk. The two of us were the only ones heading to Waseda Station and we had a pretty decent conversation all the way there which I suppose he won't remember at all.
Man, look at how long my hair is. I can't wait to cut it in two weeks. I also tried my first awamori, an Okinawan rice liquor. Not sure why, but it reminded me of tequila a bit. The food was pretty good, lots of stir fried, veggie heavy dishes and a bunch of preparations of pork. We didn't have any of the really weird stuff I tried last time, but it was still quite different from the Japanese food I eat day to day.
Tonight we went for our first pizza in Japan at this place called シエスタの皿 or Plate of Siesta. Pizzas in Tokyo can be pretty expensive. Delivery from Pizza Hut costs over 2000 Yen per pie and I didn't really feel like sitting down anywhere. We targeted Siesta because they do take out and have pizzas for less than 1000 Yen.
The mixed mushroom pizza we got for 900 Yen was mediocre but good enough to fulfill our pizza cravings for the time being. Unfortunately, shortly afterward I started chatting with Eddy online and we talked about Chicago beer and pizza which ruined everything for me. Thanks Eddy. Thanks a ton.
I got my international driving permit. Watch out world, I can drive anywhere!
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