Last night we went with five other people to the same karaoke place Tim and I went to the other night. Much more fun this time. Our Japanese friends were great singers and a lot of fun. One of them is a Guns and Roses fan so we had a blast with those songs. Being in our own room allowed us all to sing several songs so it was a good idea after all. I think Providence and Boston need one of those, hmmmmm.
I'll upload pics when I get home.
Yesterday I decided I needed to do some (more) shopping. I had read about a store near Tokyo station that had no-brand items at reasonable prices so I thought I'd check it out. I exited the station, took one look around and realized I would not find it on my own...how lost did I want to get?! So I stopped at a shoe store and asked directions using the few Japanese words that I know. By the way, please and thank you will get you far. The person there happened to have a map and tried to tell me it was around the corner. I asked if it was across the street and he said no, it was downstairs. So I went outside and found some stairs for the subway and went down. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? The biggest mall I have ever seen! Take the Emerald Square Mall, put it all on one level, and multiply it by three! Did I get lost trying to find this store? Oh yes I did! I stopped at least five times to ask directions, and after an hour, the last person I asked actually brought me to the front of it. Of course!! It was the only store in the place that didn't have a phonetic spelling of the name. It was in Japanese kanji so I couldn't read it. Bought a couple of things and spent another hour or so exploring the rest of the mall. I would say that this was serentripitous because I would never have known this massive place was undergound or existed at all if I wasn't trying to save money and find the cheap store. By the way, when I was down there, there was a 6.9 earthquake in Japan. I didn't feel anything but Tim felt it on the ninth floor of an office building. Scary.
Today I went to the Meiji shrine for a couple of hours. It's a Shinto shrine and I really liked visiting this place because the values of the Shinto religion embody harmony with nature and a sincere heart. It was created in honor of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken to commemorate their virtues. It's mostly forest and is an actual working shrine, not just a tourist attraction. There is a ritual to wash your hands and mouth before entering the shrine in order to be more 'Pure' before praying. Of course I gave it a whirl...just in case I should be pointed out as the not pure one. There was a place where you could write down yours prayers on a piece of paper, place it in an envelope with a small offering and submit it to be placed on the altar by the priests and they would pray over them. Did that too, covering the bases. The coolest thing for me was coming to a place where a guard collected the ticket that I was given at the entrance (I wondered what it was for). I then proceeded to stand in a single file line though I had no idea what for. But when in Rome and all that. The line went down a small hill so I couldn't see what was going on there. I came upon a sign that talked about a well that flowed constantly with the purest water. So once I got down to the well, the guard was allowing people to stand on stone slabs around the well, the top of which was level with the ground so you looked down at it. People were praying and then taking pictures with their phones. So thats what I did and now the well picture is my phone wallpaper :) The treasure museum on the grounds was closed so I sauntered back to the subway station. There were a couple of stores across the street that I decided to check out. I walked dwown the block and around the corner and found the most crowded, crazy shopping area ever! It seemed like the punk rock area and there were the most colorful and imaginitive clothes in the stores...and on the people. If I lived here this is where you would have found me back in the day. I can tell you this, the style for Tokyo this season is small flower prints and long flowing tops, and the nautical look. But here, as far as fashion, anything goes...and I mean that.
Two more observations:
Cleanest city I have ever seen.
Most polite and helpful people.
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