ME :)

Wed 22/07/2009

In the morning it was time to leave Lake Kawaguchiko and head back into Tokyo to explore the city. I thought coming back into the city was going to take twice the amount of time because the traffic would be really congested even though the bus is driving on the elevated highway. I arrived in Tokyo at around midday and headed for the hotel in Shinjuku. Unfortunately they didn’t let me check in yet so I just dropped off my bags and decided to come back later in the evening.

I didn’t have any sort of guide books with me or have any idea what to do in Tokyo so the first stop was the Tokyo Metropolitan Office. You probably don’t walk from the underground train to the Metro Office but most likely from street level. From the underground station to the Metro Office there are a large number of homeless people sleeping around near the entrances to Metro Offices. These homeless people set up mini cardboard camps that are separated about 3 meters from each other. I am surprised that these homeless people sleep here in the confines of government/metropolitan offices.

I didn’t want to spend at the Metropolitan Office so when I got inside, I just grabbed 20 brochures and left the premises in order to meet my friend on time at Shinjuku. I got lost at the labyrinth that is of Shinjuku Station. While trying to find the Central East exit to meet my friend, I found a great food court selling some amazing food (sushi, dumplings, fried goodies) and took note of it to come back later and buy dinner or lunch.

The afternoon was spent around Electric Town aka Akihabara, checking out the Manga stores and electronic shops. We then headed to the Imperial Palace when it started to rain and by the time we got there it was about to close so we made our way back to Shinjuku for dinner.

We chose a random restaurant in Shinjuku just because it looked good from the menu. It was difficult to communicate with the waiter as he spoke little English. Then out of nowhere a Bangladeshi came out from the kitchen to our table and explained some of the dishes to us. What we ordered was mainly pork in its different sauces as well as some very odd entrée servings of raw octopus, fish guts (or cuttlefish) and picked prawns. Steer clear of the first two delicacies as they were horrible.

smiles