The ABC Song

Today was "hang out with Eve and Rissy" day. We slept in pretty late, so didn't get all that much done this morning. Probably the biggest thing we're trying to solve is the problem of doing laundry in Japan. It turns out this is really difficult -- laundromats do exist, but there aren't any nearby. Taking a taxi would probably work, but of course we'd rather not (taxis are about $20 each way I'm guessing). For those of you who think I have a lot of money, I'd like to point out that part of the reason for this is that I hate spending it stupidly, and taking a taxi to the laundromat is pretty high on my stupid list.

So, Hang Out Day started off with a boat ride. Tokyo is a waterfront city with a bay to the south, and there is a company that offers "Tokyo Bay Cruises." These are not quite as luxurious as the name makes it sound--there's no tour guide, and the boat clips along at power boat speeds, and you end up somewhere different than where you started--so it's really more of a ferry with a decorative passenger compartment. There weren't very many passengers, so we were able to sit out in the open on the back of the ship, which was fun. Tokyo is a massive city, kind of like an extended version of Manhattan. The cruise must have traveled a good 10-15 miles and it was high rise buildings the whole way. The photo I've included here was taken from the boat, and shows part of a forest of particularly tall high rise apartments on the shore.

Whimsically enough, we ended up on the boat to the Asakusa shrine, which was a convenient way of checking two sites off the to-do list in one trip. Asakusa is very different from the Meiji shrine. Instead of a huge forest of trees, it's surrounded by avenues of tourist-vampire shops. The shrine itself is taller and more impressive than the Meiji shrine, and done in red, black, white, and gold. It lacks the quiet gravity of the Meiji shrine, but it's a lot more energetic. There is a nice garden off to one side, and the picture I've included is a pair of wooden miniature shrines from the garden. I actually have no idea what they are or what they're for, but they look cool. You can see part of the massive main shrine towering over the trees in the background. Honestly, the company was more fun than the actual shrine, but the shrine was good too.

After Asakusa, Eve set off on her self-selected mission to acquire ... um, I don't remember what. Possibly little rectangular brownie-like candies. We might also have been pursuing handkerchiefs. Whatever the case, our newly acquired mission led us to the nearest 100-yen shop. The shop is several stories of aisles packed with goods that all cost (you guessed it): 105 yen. I acquired some sugary snacks (Japan has better gummy candies) and some pottery. Then we went to dinner and ate food. I ate raw fish, Clarissa had a cook-at-your-table sukiyaki plate (that's meat and vegetables boiled in a nummy broth), Eve got a fried then boiled (yeah, weird) pork cutlet which she says was wonderful, and Nathan discovered that yes, they really do expect you to cut up your meatloaf with chopsticks.

At some point, Clarissa decided she needed to acquire some figurines. The stores near the hotel had closed, but Yodobashi Akiba (near the train station) was still open, so we headed that way. Yodobashi has an entire floor of action figures. Eve particularly enjoyed the entire aisle dedicated to Ultraman figures--a show so stupid that it's awesome. If you're curious about the show, you can give Youtube a browse, but be warned: Your eyes may never forgive you, if they can survive your brain oozing out of your ears. After that little nugget of entertainment, we headed back to our hotel.

The title of the post is because Eve sung us the alphabet song, which was really cute. If you've never heard Eve sing before, you should browbeat her into doing so, because it's awesome. Then the girls headed home (for some reason they have to get up in the morning) and that brings you up to now, at which point, dear reader, I have no idea what happens next. I'm probably going to go downstairs and buy a drink. Maybe I'll get one of the sodas with gummy candies in it.