T-T-T-Tokyo Time

Tokyo is an incredible place from what I can tell (which is about 2 square blocks or so). Where we were there were giant buildings of all sorts of architecture. On the way in, I noticed the apartments and housing of the outskirts which was interesting. It looked like a concrete beehive. Buildings upon buildings of square concrete apartment buildings that seemed like it belonged in Soviet Russia. I really did think of it as a beehive. They seemed rather unfriendly. 


While in Tokyo, we went to the convenience store and walked around some of the shops near the hotel. When I was here I realized just how little of the language I speak. I feel completely useless when it comes to communicating anything effectively. Additionally, I have used limited Spanish as a backup for so long that I find myself trying to default to that when I try to speak. I need to do some brain rewiring.


Let me tell you why they call this "Land of the Rising Sun." Partially because Japan's origin story has to do with some kind of sun-goddess coming down and making the people here, but that is not all. The sun rises here at like 4:20 am. I woke up the first morning thinking that I had slept until about 7 am, based on the sun on the buildings. Turns out it wasn't eve 5 am. So there is that. It makes sleeping kind of tricky. As I write, I have been up for an hour or so and it isn't even 8 am. "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! Turn and face the strange"


Tokyo was a lot of rather boring orientation. Orientation to the Orient...Didn't really help that much because I still dropped my jaw the first time I looked around a store and took 20 minutes to decide to eat a piece of cheese bread and a Coke Zero. Speaking of Coke Zero, I miss Diet Coke. The love I have for Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper is almost enough to make me want to get on a plane and come home right now. I am told that there isn't any in this country... So sad. 


In Tokyo, we met with some of the people from our prefecture (think county/state) and went out for Udon noodles and Karaoke. Karaoke is a big think in Japan, as you can see from the pictures below. You rent out a room for a period of time and just belt it out with whoever you came with. They have a wide selection of English songs as well. I sang Under Pressure, and Pianoman. The Karaoke also comes with these music videos that have absolutely nothing to do with the song that is being played. It is usually some kind of Japanese man in some kind of angst about some kind of situation, or on a Harley. In one, there was a Japanese girl who must have had some kind of disability when it came to drinking liquids because she went on a horse right and drank from her canteen which spilled all over her shirt. Naturally, she had to take her shirt off and run around the beach kicking the waves for a bit after that...come to think of it, maybe she just had problems with water.