19th October 2008
Day out with Kayono and friends
Day 12
Got to Shinjuku station (Tokyo) this morning still half asleep and very tired. In one of the service stations on the way here though I saw this picture in one of the toilets (see right)-
Got lost (don't ask).
Found my way to my hostel that I am going to be at for the rest of my stay in Japan. It's in Ueno and quite nice.
Remember me saying about the Japanese lady I met in a cafe in Shinjuku the night I was getting the night bus to Osaka? Well we had been emailing each other and I met up with her and her friends today! We went on the water bus down the river in Tokyo, which was cool.
Then we went for some lunch. One thing I haven't already written about is my encounter with chopsticks especially when I first got to Japan. I thought I was using them right, but people in the restaurants would always bring me over a fork or spoon when they saw me using them. Thing is you see is that I've never used chopsticks before, and, well, I didn't know you were supposed to break them. So when they come stuck together at the top what is meant to happen is the person breaks them and uses them as 2 separate chopsticks. I did not know this. The day I found out was when Eli and I went for some food and he broke his chopsticks then I had a moment of realisation. That was why they brought me over forks and spoons in the restaurants, and I thought they were staring because I stood out a bit. Turns out I stand out a hell of a lot.
I decided to tell Eli about this when I saw him break his chopsticks and he thought this was hilarious and even had me demonstrate how to (try to) eat using this method. He said I should tell this story to every Japanese person I meet.
So anyway, Kayono, her friend and I are all sitting around about to have lunch and I decide to tell them. They were in hysterics for ages. Seriously they couldn't stop laughing and even had me demonstrate my little unknown method of using chopsticks that are joined together. Even when I thought they'd stopped, they burst out in hysterics again. My cheeks hurt so much from all the laughing.
When we'd all calmed down and had lunch we went to Harajuku. One of the first things I saw when I got off the train was this-
Day out with Kayono and friends
Day 12
Got to Shinjuku station (Tokyo) this morning still half asleep and very tired. In one of the service stations on the way here though I saw this picture in one of the toilets (see right)-
Got lost (don't ask).
Found my way to my hostel that I am going to be at for the rest of my stay in Japan. It's in Ueno and quite nice.
Remember me saying about the Japanese lady I met in a cafe in Shinjuku the night I was getting the night bus to Osaka? Well we had been emailing each other and I met up with her and her friends today! We went on the water bus down the river in Tokyo, which was cool.Then we went for some lunch. One thing I haven't already written about is my encounter with chopsticks especially when I first got to Japan. I thought I was using them right, but people in the restaurants would always bring me over a fork or spoon when they saw me using them. Thing is you see is that I've never used chopsticks before, and, well, I didn't know you were supposed to break them. So when they come stuck together at the top what is meant to happen is the person breaks them and uses them as 2 separate chopsticks. I did not know this. The day I found out was when Eli and I went for some food and he broke his chopsticks then I had a moment of realisation. That was why they brought me over forks and spoons in the restaurants, and I thought they were staring because I stood out a bit. Turns out I stand out a hell of a lot.
I decided to tell Eli about this when I saw him break his chopsticks and he thought this was hilarious and even had me demonstrate how to (try to) eat using this method. He said I should tell this story to every Japanese person I meet.
So anyway, Kayono, her friend and I are all sitting around about to have lunch and I decide to tell them. They were in hysterics for ages. Seriously they couldn't stop laughing and even had me demonstrate my little unknown method of using chopsticks that are joined together. Even when I thought they'd stopped, they burst out in hysterics again. My cheeks hurt so much from all the laughing.
When we'd all calmed down and had lunch we went to Harajuku. One of the first things I saw when I got off the train was this-
See the earrings? They are real live goldfish, just swimming around. Two in each bowl. Crazy man!
Went to a shrine near by and saw a lady about to get married. She was wearing a lovely white kimono. Kayono's friend left and her other friend Yuki arrived. We went for Sushi in Shibuya and it was cool.
I ate some raw fish and it was ok, though I knew it was raw fish before I put it into my mouth (not like that octopus incident). Even had a desert (not sushi). It was so much fun in the sushi place and although I didn't go near the hard stuff (squid/fish eggs/livers) I managed quite a respectable bit.
We went to an English pub after. It charged 6 quid a pint! Kayono, Yuki and I chatted about all sorts like different countries we'd been to and all sorts. It was quite sad when we said bye. They walked me to the train station and off I went.
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