Day 21: Return Home (December 1st)

I woke up around 7 am. Using my airline's website, I confirmed my check-in, plus the new suitcase. I decided to go and grab breakfast at McDonald's. After breakfast, I returned to the apartment and took a shower and then appropriately got dressed for the long flight. A little later, Matt returned to the apartment, he had been out all night at the Karaoke parlor with his friends. Instead of going straight to bed, he began getting ready for his cultural class that afternoon. I checked in on the Clemson/Carolina game, and at 9 am kick-off finally happened. The previous evening, Ian and I had humored the idea of watching it; unfortunately doing so would've caused us to miss our planes. 

Seriously, why can't we have good things?

After Matt was ready and I had packed away my netbook, we took the train to Shinjuku. For the next hour, we hung out at the platform for the Narita Express. When the train arrived, we said our goodbyes (of course it involved pictures). On the train to the airport, I got a few final glimpses of Tokyo.

I'm certain that he'll miss his awesome house guests

Skytree

My lunch that day

The Narita Express

When I got off the express, I found a vending machine that would take suica cards, so I proceeded to use my remaining balance on my card. After drinking a lot of calpis, I awkwardly maneuvered my luggage around the airport looking for the kiosk that I rented my phone from. After returning my rental phone, I made my way to my airline's counter. At the counter, I printed out my ticket and checked my luggage. Finally after all the security and procedures, I made to the waiting area for my plane. I had arrived early, so I bummed the airport's wifi. I managed to see some trash talking on facebook, and I was able to piece together the not-so-subtle-clues that USC had won. Shortly afterwards, I boarded my plane and we took off at 3:39 pm (December 1st). 12 hours later, we landed in Atlanta at 1:35 pm (December 1st).

Densha Otoko reference

Final thoughts: My trip to Japan was certainly enlightening, many parts of it exceeded my expectations and several parts of it fell short. For my next stint, I think that it would be at most a week. Climbing Mt. Fuji, visiting a authentic Onsen, and trying kobe beef are all on my bucket list. For now, I'll continue practicing my Japanese.

Day 20: Shinjuku + Shibuya + Ebisu (November 30th)

It was Troy's last day, so at his request we went to Mister Donut for breakfast. Unfortunately, Mister Donut only had donuts for breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the apartment so that he could finish packing his bag and accomplish other final stuff before he left. I began packing my two suit cases and carry-on. While I was packing, I got an email from my friend Ian, we made plans to meet up that evening. After we finished packing, Matt treated us to lunch at an Indian/Nepalase restaurant.

My coffee didn't need sugar

I repacked my suitcase several times over

Naan Bread

Chicken Saag

After lunch, I helped Troy with his luggage from Chofu to Shinjuku station. He bought his ticket for the Narita Express, I waited with him until his train arrived. I bid him a farewell and went for stroll around Shinjuku station for a final lay of the land.

Apparently "The pride of America"

After traversing what I suspect was the entire station, I went and purchased my Narita Express ticket for the following day. I managed to find a wifi spot near the ticket office and I got in touch with Ian. We decided to meet up in Ebisu and grab a few drinks. He and I started with some plum sake and eventually found ourselves in a bar where we bought some imported beers. I had not seen Ian since we were freshmen at USC, he transferred to Clemson sophomore year. We caught up on about 6 years of life. Eventually we had to go our separate ways, ironically we parted at the Hachiko statue. 

Monty Python

Christmas Ale

From Shibuya station, I took the Yamanote line back to Shinjuku. From Shinjuku, I jumped on the new Keio line back to Chofu. On the way back to the apartment, I stopped in the local Coco Curry Ichibanya for one final meal of curry. After dinner, I thanked the shop owner with "Gochisousama deshita" and purchased some instant curry before finally heading back to the apartment. At the apartment, I packed and repacked my suitcases several times before finally getting to bed.

Best Curry ever

Day 19: Sumida + Asakusa (November 29th)

Troy and I decided to go our own ways for the day; he went to Akihabara, while I went to Sumida and back to Asakusa. In Sumida, I went to the Skytree to get another aerial view of Tokyo. The line to the top of the tower took 2 hours, but it was well worth it.

 

Finally a picture of Mt. Fuji

Shinjuku with Mt. Fuji in the background

Tokyo Tower

Skytree's shadow

Odaiba

Some star decals on the window

The skytree doubles as a sundial

Asakusa

Kaminarimon

Finally after several hours, I left the Skytree and took the local subway to Asakusa. In Asakusa, I returned to the Kaminarimon, to cast away my bad fortune and buy some last minute souvenirs. On the way out I grabbed some Taiyaki, before meeting up with Troy.

I found the Omikuji area

And I cast away my bad fortune from the previous visit

I drew another fortune

It wasn't so good either

So I decided to cast it away as well

Chocolate Banana Taiyaki

Chestnuts Taiyaki

After being satisfied with my purchases and visit to the Asakusa, I left to go meet up with Troy in Akihabara. My train didn't take me to Akiba, so I walked and took some pictures along the way. When I met up with Troy, I made the comment this was probably our last time in Akihabara, so we took one last stroll around taking pictures.

We called Matt and decided to meet him in Shinjuku to grab dinner and to do Karaoke afterwards. For dinner we had shabu-shabu. I really enjoyed the shabu-shabu, it had plenty of vegetables and it was "all you can eat." Japan's "all you can eat," is a bit different as you pay per allotted time. At 90 minutes, it was about $35 per person. After dinner, we went to Matt's preferred Karaoke parlor and made complete fools of ourselves. Our timing was badly off, the English lyrics were often wrong, and I couldn't read the Japanese lyrics fast enough. That being said, karaoke was a lot of fun.

Miso based shabu-shabu

Regular shabu-shabu

Thinly sliced raw meat

Everything cooked fast when we twirled it around in the boiling broth

Maracas and Tambourine, how could this possibly go wrong?

Awesome display for lyrics

A really mediocre sound system

And of course the microphones...