Almost a Month

Almost a month has passed. Time for a rundown: (Currently watching the sunset over Mt. Fuji)

My first week here consisted of me wandering around and getting very very lost. Tokyo does not believe in addresses as we know them. Addresses here do not involve street names...I just blew your mind. I now own a compass and amazing atlas of Tokyo so getting lost is a thing of the past, I hope.

I hope the toilets here are going to be the standard for the USA in a few years. Next to many toilets here there is a little control panel with buttons. If you are of the adventurous type you can try your luck to get the heated seat on or try to get music playing. However the bidet option is there to. I have quickly learned what buttons not to press.

I was at a club the other week. At around 2AM one of the bartenders walks through everyone with this huge cooler. He also has a sign written in 5 languages that says "If you do not have a drink in your hand or are not buying one you have to leave." He just stood there showing me this sign. After a few minutes of me shaking my head no he left.

There is a store here called Don Quijote. SENSORY OVERLOAD is an understatement in describing this store. It is something I cannot explain with words. This may be due to my lack of literary talent or maybe because the store is on crack. I will take a video of it the next time I go. They sell everything from Cell Phones, to Fried Octopus Ball Makers, to Sailer Moon Outfits.

Sumo: The school hooked us up with tickets to a Sumo Tournament. The arena was

massive, the Sumos were massive, the prices for beer were oddly cheap. Each match lasted one round. If you knock the other dude down or out of the ring match over, wait till next tournament. There were two Yokozuna's (the top dudes) who (Sumo'd?) as well. One of the Yokozuna's lost his match and the crowd went wild and they threw there cushions into the ring. It was a very entertaining day. Pic of Yokozuna and Posse.

Akihabara: Akihabara is a town in Tokyo and is often referred to as "Electric Town." Supposedly there are more electronics sold here than anywhere else in the world. While walking around here a few of us went into an arcade. First we tried to play this FPS with the most ingenious controls ever but we couldn't get a "LAN

Game" set up. So I found a Street Fighter IV arcade, took a seat and began demolishing Zangief with the best player in the game, Ken. After a few rounds of beating down the computer a message popped up on my sceeen "Here comes a New Challenger."

I peered around the machine and I saw a group of 5 Japanese guys. They glanced at me and smiled knowing that this was about to turn into an international battle. I was hoping he would choose Ryu to get the real East v. West match but he chose Gouken. I took him down in 3 rounds.

As soon as he gets up my friends said another one sat down to challenge me. My new opponent chose Ken. He destroyed me 3-1. I blame it on the joystick since I am used to SNES controls...but he was really good. Anyway after the match he bowed his head to me and it was over.

Last week a few friends and I went to Ginza. It is like the 5th Avenue of Tokyo. All high end stores. It also has something the NYC does not have. Extremely Expensive Cantaloupe. Yes, that says 12,600 Yen which equates to about 140 dollars. This is why I will be malnourished when I return.

They also had these awesome waffles with fruit and cream inside. This is why I will be fat when I return.

Last weekend I explored Harajuku and Yoyogi. Harajuku is the

SOHO fashion area of Tokyo. Google Harajuku Fashion and look at the pictures to understand how they dress. I wasn't able to snap any pics of the interesting garments. However I did find two interesting stores. One is the Illest Clothing Store Ever. The other is CONDOMANIA. What is Condomania you ask? I will tell you. It is a store with everything Condom. Keychains, pens, lollipops.

After that interesting adventure I went to Yoyogi park which has a huge buddhist temple. I do

not know if it was a holiday or if this what it is like there every weekend but a lot of people were going to the temple. Here is a pic of the cleansing area used before going into the temple.

I found a Jewish Deli and it's right next to my school. Weird.

Luckily there is a cheap conveyor belt sushi place near my box.

apartment. I eat a lot of sushi. At this place when you order Sake the glass comes in a box and they overflow the glass so the box fills up too. When you are done with the glass you drink the box.

To end this lengthy post I would like to share with you the most valuable information I have learned since I have been in Japan.

TOMMY LEE JONES IS THE BOSS!