We set out early from Nara headed back to Tokyo. The bullet train runs right past Mt Fuji - fortunately it was a clear day so we got to see it this time!
We dropped our bags at our hotel, near Tokyo Station this time as we were only there for one night before heading to the airport. I'd hoped to get to Tokyo in time to go back to the fish market for lunch but the guy at the hotel said it was closed already. I'm not completely sure he understood the question but it seemed like a long way to walk if we weren't sure.
Someone in my company's Tokyo office had emailed me the day before asking to FedEx me a document for signature. I told him I was in Japan and would just pop in and get it. He wrote back,
"Dear Molly-san,
Surprising!"
The office was around 20 minutes walk. We stopped for curry noodles on the way.
Look! I have FedExed so many things to this place.
This turned out to be a lot of fun. I knew the Asia CEO already and was anxious to meet his assistant, since I talk to her all the time. They were also excited to meet Ben, so we all sat in a conference room and talked about our trip and they told us things about Japan's history and how they celebrate Halloween and all sorts of other stuff.
After this, we dropped the documents at the hotel and walked over to the Imperial Palace, but it was closed. We really should do a better job of checking this stuff out before walking halfway across Tokyo.
Oh, did you want to see some more details about the toilets!? This is the standard setup. Only the very most basic places didn't have at least these options.
We hadn't yet been over to Shibuya, a busy entertainment and shopping area and "a center for youth culture," as the guidebooks say.
We didn't have much of a plan so we walked around aimlessly for a while, trying to find some good Japanese sneakers to buy (nevermind that the absolute last thing either of us need is more sneakers), when I remembered about cat cafes. There was one only a few blocks away! On the way to the cat cafe, we passed the "love hotel" district, where you can rent hotels by the hour during the day.
The cat cafe was much classier than I expected. Almost all the cats were long-haired, with gorgeously cared for coats. You could tell they spend a lot of time taking care of these guys.
The cats were neither friendly or unfriendly. They did not care about us.
That's why the cafe sells you treats to feed them. When they realized we had chicken lollipops, they all wanted to be our friends.
Look at this little weirdo's ears!
So much fluff.
The cafe was on the 8th & 9th floor.
This was a really interesting experience not in the least because it made us realize our cats do, in fact, love us. Or at least like us. These cats completely ignored all the patrons, but when this girl came upstairs to clip claws and groom, this fluffy guy jumped right into her lap.
After she left he completely ignored us. He's pretty though.
Shibuya is great. This was like the neighborhood in Osaka times twenty.
Lee is a quite popular brand in Japan.
Shibuya Crossing is a famous Tokyo intersection where thousands of people cross at once. There were many tourists taking video - my coworker Endo-san had said to us earlier in the day regarding Shibuya, "We see the people taking pictures and don't know what they're looking at." It's truly amazing, though, all those thousands of people crossing at once in perfect order. In New York this would be insane chaos.
For dinner - our last dinner in Japan - we went to another conveyor belt sushi place. At this one you don't even have to talk to anyone. You can take from the conveyor belt or order from a tablet and have your items delivered to you via bullet train.
Goodbye, sushi!
Japan exceeded all expectations. I've never wanted to go home less than I did at the end of this trip. Despite its fundamental foreignness, it was easier to get around and felt safer than anyplace I've ever been. Across the board, the people were so nice and helpful while also being polite and reserved. Nobody was ever annoying! And all the food is amazing. Everyone should go to Japan!
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