We got a little bit of a late start today because of “Sleepy Head”.

Once up, we grabbed onigiri from the Family Mart. I like tuna and mayo. Owen got green veggie and seaweed. He liked his. I had a better brand the other day.

Onigiri

We had some shopping to do today. The goal was to get rain gear at Mont-Bell for our upcoming hikes.

Rain Gear

We started the search at the beautiful store In Ginza.

Ginza

They didn’t have my size so I headed to Akihabara to try.

Akihabara 

Owen was more interested in hanging around Ginza and drawing in his notebook. We parted ways and planned on meeting back at the hotel.

The Mont-Bell near Akihabara was in a very hip area. There were trendy little shops all over and there were few tourists around.

Not only did I get the rain gear, I picked up some capris that Owen said I needed. I’m so glad he did. I love them.

After shopping, I stopped by a cool bar for a sake (nihonshu).

Sake (Nihonshu)

After my break, I walked to Akihabara proper.

It was better than I remember it.

The sun came out and it was so hot. I also missed Owen so I headed home.

Dinner with Nakagawa-sensei

Tonight we are meeting my old friend Hisashi for dinner. I can’t wait to see him.

Hisashi-sensei met us at the Meguro train station because he had a place he wanted to take us for dinner.

It was so great to see him. We were immediately comfortable as always. We even hugged at the train station.

He took us to a place that only makes one dish: tonkatsu. Tonkatsu is a breaded and fried pork cutlet. I thought he had said that we were going to a tonkotsu ramen place. I was pleased because I love tonkatsu.

Regardless, the place was amazing. They only make the one dish. It comes with cabbage salad, miso soup and rice. There was a line out the door which gave us a chance to catch up.

After dinner, we went for a drink. Hisashi brought photos of college days. We learned some of what he was up to. Hisashi got to know Owen a bit. We talked about the amazing plan for our upcoming trip to the “holiest city in the entire world,” Ise.

Hisashi learned that Owen studied some Japanese and began teaching and quizzing him. He has been Nakagawa-sensei since I met him.

We are going to have an amazing time in Ise. We will get a chance to meet Hisashi’s family Including his mother, brother, sister and their children. We will also meet Hisashi and some of his friends when we come back to Tokyo.

Harajuku

I was wide awake early this morning. Owen rallied shortly after. We decided to hit the city for some shopping.

After a breakfast of rice balls from the “convenience” (I had spam), we got on the subway.

It’s very warm and muggy today. We headed over to Harajuku

Harajuku

Owen has been excited that the Japanese kids wear baggy clothing. He was champing at the bit to get some clothes that are more his style.

Thankfully, Harajuku wasn’t crowded. We got to enjoy the seeing kids all dressed up without much hassle and shopping was easy.

He found a really cool outfit right away.

By the time we walked over to Cat Street, Owen was beat. It was hot.

He decided to head back to the hotel and I headed toward Shinjuku on a mission to buy a camera.

Disappointed

I have been researching the perfect camera to purchase while in Japan.

Camera

Sadly, FujiFilm can not keep up with demand for this camera. I figured we would have a shot in the camera neighborhood of Tokyo.

The attendant used Google Translate to explain the he does not believe that the camera can be purchased in that neighborhood any more.

I was fairly certain that was a polite japanese way to say “no chance” but I tried another camera super store. Again, the attendant very patiently used Google translate to explain that there was production problems at Fuji.

I was super bummed but now finishing my beer with curry and pork katsu, I’m getting over it.

[As a follow up, I was able to order the camera on Amazon.jp and have it delivered to our hotel in Kawaguchico. It was far less “romantic” and somewhat more expensive than I was hoping. I am very pleased with it though and we are going to enjoy using it throughout this trip and beyond.

I noticed today, as I uploaded more money, how easy it is to use the Suica Card.

Suica Card

Going High

Owen loves city skylines. He constantly looks around noticing this or that building. This evening we went out to find some views and then some food.

On his suggestion, we went over to the Metropolitan Government Office near Shinjuku. It was also his suggestion that we head over to

OMOIDE YOKOCHO – “Piss Alley”

The smokey and crowded streets were so colorful and interesting. Every place was packed. When we found a spot for two, we were informed (via Translate) that everyone had to be 20 or over.

Owen fortunately found a food stall with a counter for eight people that was turning over customers at a rapid clip. They only served one meal: Soba ramen. They didn’t even serve drinks.

We found ourselves at the counter surprisingly and fortunately quickly because we were starving.

After dinner we were both thirsty. Again, Owen found the perfect spot. Well he found someone to lead us to the perfect spot. He ran into a street “barker” who led us to a tiny elevator and up five stories, down a tiny hallway, through a crowd to our own little room. I was afraid we were getting suckered but it was actually perfect.

We were brought some meatballs and taught how to use a table iPad type screen to order and then we left in peace. Nether of us were hungry but we appreciated the quiet and coolness of the a/c.

We did have peace a quiet until the wait staff kept coming to the room asking us what we would like. We explained that we were fine. Then another waiter would come. Again we explained to the confused waitress that we didn’t need anything else.

I didn’t think we were being rude for not ordering more. We had not been there long.

When the waitress came again, she explained that the “device” that we assumed was a fortune telling toy actually has a call button on the top of it.

Owen said he had pressed the buttons at least 20 times trying to figure out how it works. Oops…