Landed.

The electrolit mecca. It’s a strange thing to find yourself in a place that you maybe only talked about visiting for years among friends. I imagined Tokyo as this awesome city frequented by either the really cool or the really dorky. Depending on how you feel about big cities and the abundance of electronic toys and cutesy graphic designs on posters, packaging, and just about anything with a surface. Kitsch or die! The moment I finally stepped out onto the streets of Shinjuku to explore, the crowds of people and the urban excess were instantaneous, and I remember my first thought was precisely… yeah, this feels pretty fucking cool right now.

Picto-recap of some things I saw. The sampling’s perhaps not the most exemplary, and are mostly street scenes… but check it out.

Alley way.

Crossing the street.

Already behaving like the natives.

The ever busy Shinjuku eki.

Oh yeah, my toilet! Not something I saw in the streets, but in the Keio Plaza Hotel. Bidet and ass-jet functions all inclusive.

Other discoveries included lots of Pachinko parlors, lots of neon signs that appear out of nowhere at night, and lots of free tissue paper handouts. Numerous shopping opportunities to shed newly acquired yen, which I did on a belt and an ice blue Nintendo DS + dictionary/translator cartridge. Yet there are also enough small alleys and side streets free of Engrish invasion to make you feel that, while it was high-end Asia, you’re still definitely in Asia now (and not planet Mars or something equally hyperbolic). My all-time-favorite Tokyo find that I now sorely miss: Hokkaido Milk Steam Cake at a corner AmPm. Oh man, the perfect combo of milky sweetness, angel food cakey thick but fluffy texture where the pastry pulls apart with almost snap-like softness… Shimane prefecture’s konbinis have yet to show me an equivalent confectionary. I should probably look for it directly in Hokkaido. More on Shimane later…

Next two days in Tokyo, I went on outings with new JET friends Zahra, Jane, and Ryan via subway train to check out different parts of the city.

I stopped by Harajuku. Yes, that one area hyped up by the likes of Gwen Stefani.

It was perhaps a little too early in the morning to get the full affect of the high fashion scene, but there were a few wandering Gothic Lolitas here and there to help create the proper atmosphere. Zahra and I also stopped by a large Shinto shrine, in time to catch a ceremony, and later a procession of exiting priests.

One thing I’ve learned about Japan is that no matter how remotely stationed you might be, there is no shortage of well managed shrines to ring up and collect your blessings from the gods or to pay homage to the deceased.

Last day in Tokyo, before departure to the airport to head to my hometown, with Ryan and Jane I ventured one train stop past Akihabara to Asakusabashi. There we found another large temple and an attractive stretch of outdoor market. At one of the shops, I had my first sampling of rose ice cream. The first few licks feel like eating potpourri, but after a while, it actually starts to taste pretty damn good. While wandering back to the train, we also came upon a Bandai HQ. Figurines abounded both inside and outside the building, so plenty of opportunity for touristy photo ops… which I don’t currently have… give me some time to steal some from the other two.

Ah, but just as quickly as we were whisked into Tokyo, the next day we were soon enough escorted away again to the airport to fly us out to Shimane-ken and, for five other ALTs and myself, to Hamada-shi.

Next: Settlin’ in.