Tokyo! (03.11.08)

We didn’t have to meet up until 10am today, which was great. We had breakfast at the hotel before shuffling our bags into the bus which took off for the train station in Kyoto. We had a few minutes before our train left, so we got to buy some sandwiches for lunch later (learned that lesson the first day with trains in Japan - they only have raw fish). After a few hours on the train, we arrived in Tokyo. We were met by one of the many ladies with flags, who led the way out a long long way to the Ginza district (where we stayed the first night in Tokyo), and we boarded the bus after having shuffled bags again. After about 40 minutes drive through Tokyo, we arrived at the Shinjuku Washington Hotel. It is a really big hotel, with 25 floors. Me and Hanne ended up on the 16^th floor, in quite a nice room. We had about 15 minutes to leave our bags and have a much-needed toilet break before meeting up in the lobby. We grouped up and got taxis, and we drove for quite some time to a big arena. Apparently, the Beatles had played here the first time they were in Japan. This was not the reason for our visit though, we were going to watch a national martial arts championship, Kendo. We were missing 4 students whose taxi had gotten lost, but after a lot of waiting, they were found. We entered the arena and found our seats. We arrived just as the quarter finals were beginning, and it was really cool. Two people were fighting each other, wearing really cool robelike apparel, hitting each other with sticks (supposedly swords, but they just look like sticks).After having watched the finals, we went to the metro station and took the metro to Shibuya. Shibuya is kind of like Times Square in New York, a lot of people and a lot of neon lights. It was really cool. We went to Shibuya 109, the trendiest mall in entire Tokyo, and it was interesting to see. We also walked in the streets for a while, before splitting up. Tengyo took some of us to find a 7eleven, as it is the only place where they have an ATM where we Norwegians can withdraw cash. After we had acquired some money, 9 of us went for dinner at an Italian restaurant, where we could have pizza. Pizza! No raw fish for me! But the pizza took about 50 minutes from order until it was in front of me, so…. Meanies. We did some shopping nearby before we found our way back to the hotel. Using the metro in Tokyo is not that hard really, although most maps and placenames are in Japanese. I didn’t go arimas today either :)


Where Hanne's day differed from Julie's: I didn't have to wait 50 minutes for pizza! (Just had to say that). I went out for Japanese fast food instead. It's not what you would think actually, and it was probably the best food I've had in Japan... (this is with the exception of the chocolate fountain)