TOKYO!

Our latest adventure was a trip to Tokyo for Anthony's birthday at the end of March. (yeah, I was lazy getting this entry in). We stayed at the New Sanno Hotel; it has a guard cat!

I say that as a joke. The cat is pretty friendly and he lives outside the hotel. He even has his own bed under a heat lamp for when its cold outside. I noticed that many of buildings had pink inverted triangles on some of the windows. I asked and found out that they are so the fire department knows which windows they can break in case of an emergency.

Getting around on the metro was easy. We rode subways, trams, and the monorail. The only thing we haven't tried yet is the Shinkansen, but its $300 one way from Amori to Tokyo. Our first night we went to Roppungi and visited Abbey Road, a Beatles Tribute bar.

The entrance fee was almost $35 per person with the conversion rate. The food was a little expensive, too. But we had a great time listening to the band play and it was a relaxed atmosphere. The next morning we went to a local park to walk around. Its amazing how even in the middle of a metropolitan area there are large parks that put you back in touch with nature.

We took the train to Shibuya first. Had breakfast at McDonald's which was delicious. The McDonald's in Japan really feel like restaurants. In Shibuya we saw the Hachiko statue and went into the 7-floor Tower Records store. Anthony was pretty excited about that. Then I found a shopping alley! I didn't get much, but I was really pleased with the prices. Also, the variety was better than where we live.

Later we took the train to Akhihabara, the Tokyo mecca for geeks.We spent two hours in one little area and Anthony said we had to leave or he would spend all his money, haha. He got action figures and Yu-Gi-Oh!cards. Then we went to a Maid Cafe called Heaven's Gate. When most people hear about a Maid Cafe they think of something slightly more titillating that what we saw. The waitresses were adorable, no, they didn't call anyone "master". The decor was cute, like walking into a kid's playroom; there were lighted shapes like stars and moons, a little stage, and the walls were painted sky blue. I ordered the meatball curry. The meat was soft and the curry wasn't even slightly spicy. The waitress taught us a "magic spell" to make the food taste better. Then she drew an elaborate face on it with ketchup. That was special. The food was alright, but really expensive. I enjoyed our time there, anyway. My suggestion would be to order a special. I bet those are better.

The next day we went to Odiba on the monorail. It takes you along Tokyo's famous Rainbow Bridge. We saw one of the biggest malls ever! It was really nice because the mall near Misawa is pretty small. Then we ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp. We had to wait 2 hours with out a reservation, but it was SO DELICIOUS! Even the "American" food in Misawa isn't exactly like the American food back home, but Bubba Gump's was just like a little slice of home. We had such a good time and I hope we can go back soon!

The bonus about the trip was during the bus ride there and back I found all sorts of flavored Kit-Kats. Soybean flavor, orange flavor and honey flavor.