Friends Come to Tokyo

It’s been a crazy week or so and a lot has happened. I’m going to try to remember it all.

Last weekend, Oct 6^th-9^th, friends (Kelsey and Morgan) came from Kyoto to explore the craziness of Tokyo. So even though they arrived Friday night, because of my glorious Saturday morning class, we couldn’t meet up until Saturday afternoon. (I had a test that day, too—Best Saturday Class Ever).

We meet up for lunch in Shibuya, and I was pleasantly surprised that our teacher, Sato-sensei from summer school came along with them. This was a great opportunity because I was finally going to hang out with one of my teachers, in Japan, like we all said we would. (Kelsey and Morgan we’re staying at Sato-sensei’s house, so I guess I shouldn’t have been that surprised that she came).

Anyway, I was put in charge of finding a place to eat, and I had the perfect one in mind—This awesome Katsu Don place. Katsu Don is basically fried pork and an egg in a bowl, over rice--awesomeness. But my navigation skills failed me, and as I searched up and down the winding streets of Shibuya, I realized I had no clue where it was, even though I had been there the day before. Eventually I found it and we had nice meal—I really enjoyed finally speaking only Japanese. It’s really tough in Tokyo, because everyone so readily speaks English, but Sato-sensei was great because she wouldn’t speak any English, but she could understand what we were saying if we used it. This led to a really fun, hybrid Japanese-English that I really like using because it makes me feel like I can talk really fast.

After lunch, everyone stops for a crepe, but because I was so full, I opted for just a bottle of this Japanese-style Gatorade. When I offer to take a picture of the three of them with their crepes, I put my bottle down and take a few pictures. I turn around and hand the camera back to Kelsey, and this old guy swoops in and STEALS MY HALF DRUNK BOTTLE. I even yelled after him, “HEY!!?! HEY! HEY!” but he was in and out in like two seconds. The first think that was ever stolen from me in Japan.

We went to this famous shopping mall and it all very fashionable (ie, expensive) girls’ clothes that all girls in Tokyo wear. I tag along as the three of them go from shop to shop, but eventually I just sit next to a wall because it’s too crowded in the little stores, and all the girls there are crazy—running, grabbing, trying-on things. . .

While I’m sitting on the wall, Sato-sensei points out ALL the other guys in the mall we’re also just leaning against the wall as their girlfriends/wives/daughters went nuts in this place. I guess our cultures aren’t so different—everywhere in the world guys stand around looking bored when women shop.