Day Two: Exploring

Yo. As of the time of this post, it is about 4:30pm on Monday. Our first full day, and it's not quite over yet either. Today we woke up around 7:00. I didn't feel that great throughout the night and as a result didn't sleep great. We went exploring for breakfast, and ended up at this tiny little noodle place a little ways away from the hotel/station. It had enough room for maybe four people to stand in, and the kitchen on the other side of the counter was equally as small. The Houchens had kake udon and I just had a bowl of rice. For the three of us, it cost less than seven dollars. Afterward, we got some water from a konbini and set off for Shibuya. We exited via the Hachiko exit and saw the statue. We went to the Tsutaya music store and got drinks from the connected Starbucks. I had a mango passion tea frappuccino and it was delicious. Way better than the stuff at an American Starbucks, in my opinion. In the music store proper, I bought Kyary's new single so that was awesome.

Around Shinagawa, including the noodle place I mentioned above.

Shibuya Crossing

Clockwise from top left: Shibuya streets, awesome graffiti in alley, a stand-in in a nearby alley, Kyary billboard.

I noticed I'm getting better at reading kana. Or rather, when you're forced to read it all the time, you sort of have to. So we explored Shibuya for a bit longer, then hopped back onto the Yamanote loop and got to Shinjuku where we walked to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and went to the 45th floor observation deck. Without proper shoes, my feet are starting to hurt by this point. After looking at the city from up above, we went to the New York Bar that Lost in Translation was filmed at. We're going back in a few minutes with our new outfits that we got at UNIQLO. We had chicken katsu curry for lunch in Shinjuku before heading back to Shinagawa.

Clockwise: A building in Shinjuku as we approach the Metro Gov. Building, the MGB itself, the same building from atop the MGB, and the Park Hyatt that houses the NY Bar, also from the MGB.