24 hours in Tokyo

It`s really hard to believe that I`ve only been here for 24 hours; I`ve seen and done and EATEN so much since I got here yesterday afternoon. I`m staying at a hostel near Asakusa, which is located about 15 minutes outside of downtown Tokyo (Ginza district). It is, however, located relatively close to the airport, which will be especially nice tomorrow morning!!
So, I got in yesterday, and decided to stretch my legs by exploring the neighborhood. As I got hungry, I began searching for restaurants that had picture menus; not bringing any sort of phrasebook or dictionary was a really, really stupid idea. But, as luck would have it, I found a place that not only had a picture menu, but pictured foods that looked appealing! I ate well; noodle and vegetable soup with a side of dumplings with some sort of meat in them (one problem with being a vegetarian for so long and then just eating beef is that I cannot distinguish very well between different kinds of meat. In any case, it taste like chicken!). The waitress was really nice (a theme I found here), though she giggled every time she looked at the way I held my chopsticks. After dinner, I had a hostel situation on my hands. For the second time (out of two), I could not find my hostel. Every map that they had given me lacked street names and also just straight up lacked streets!! So, I wandered for a while, and eventually honed in on the location (bit of bouncing ball theorem at work. Travis, you should get that.). I managed to stay awake until the late hour of 10 pm, at which point I settled into my bunk bed (six of us in a room. 30 of us sharing one bathroom. Yikes!), and slept until about 6AM this morning.
Which is perhaps why it feels like today has been an exceptionally long day! I was out and about at 7, and just got back to my hostel! The highlights of today were:
8AM: Finding a coffee shop that did not have a menu in English. I was so frustrated by all the starbucks and other clearly western places, that I almost didn:t give "Bless Coffee" a chance. But then, I thought about the name for a minute and thought, there:s no way that anyone whose native language is english would name a restaurant Bless Coffee. So I walked over, and sure enough, not one lick of English (or English characters, except for numbers) on the menu. So then, of course, I freak out about what it would be like to try to order given that I have not a clue of how to identify or say anything on the menu!! So I walk off, and then talk myself into coming back, and walk in and timidly order a cappucino. Luckily, that happens to be how you pronounce it in Japanese, so we understood each other perfectly! I sat in the cafe for about an hour watching people go to work and observing the interactions between the cafe:s employees and the customers. Everyone was just so friendly!!
10AM: I went to one of the big department stores in Ginza to watch the opening. It was pretty amazing how elaborately they unveil themselves and open, and also the crowd that gathers in anticipation of the opening. No full out sprinting in the store though, so I was a little disappointed. Other than that, I found that section of town pretty bland, in the sense that there was nothing innately japanese about it. Most of the stores were American and European, and even the advertisements were usually primarily in English. So, I hightailed out of there after watching the store opening.
11AM: Arrive at the Imperial Palace. I couldn:t really figure out how to get inside. Iwasn:t planning on going inside, but I thought it was pretty tricky that they made it so diffiuclt. I bet it fooled their enemies back in the day. The walk around the mote was really nice. Evidently it gets pretty hot here (ahhh yes, checking the weather before arriving would also have been a wise move), so it was nice to be in a green area and under the shade of many trees. Got a glance at the ministry of justice during my walk. Maybe if the US Supreme Court won:t have me, I can work there!!
1PM: Make it to Shinjuku and by a stroke of incredible luck, acquire a subway map! The Tokyo subway system is amazing, but it is vast, and there were not always maps that were accessible on the platforms or on the trains. Not to mention, my little map had pictures and directions to some common tourist sites, which alerted me to places that I should go! Shinjuku was on my list for a good reason and a bad reason. The good reason was that it was supposed to be an interesting section of town; the part I was specifically going to was called the skyscraper district (skyscrapers being my favorite form of art and architecture). The bad reason being that in my haste to find a restaurant that provided a skyline view, I had mistakenly copied down directions for the central hyatt (26 floors) rather than the peak hyatt (80-something floors), and was in totally the wrong place for the bar I was seeking. I sought solace in Shinjuku park, which is of course (because tokyo honestly does everything well) very beautiful, very green, and very clean. I sat in a bench under a tree, facing a couple stately skyscrapers and a fountain, at the bottom of which were cute little turtles sunbathing (they had black skin and a red stripe from their eyes down their necks; Stephen, can you identify that species?). My new crocs (shoes) are quite comfortable, but after wandering for over 6 hours at this point, my feet were in great appreciation of a breather. While there, I glanced over my scribbled notes, and realized that I had noted a possible altnerative restaurant with a skyline view. It truly was located in my district, and I located it with little difficulty. I dined on the 49th floor of the Sumitoko building, overlooking the city (albeit a somewhat smoggy city from that angle) in a place called mu-MU. Very nice people, great food, great price, but no English (or Kanji). So I picked at random, and ended up with more food than I could ever eat--miso soup, udon noodles, rice, crispy fried chicken and pork with some sort of filling (They told me that it was pickled plum, I am skeptical), salad, and some pickled vegetables. I was glad I had such a great view; I sat there eating (and then digesting!) for a while!
3PM: Arrive at Roppingi Hills, as suggested by my helpful little subway guide. Evidently the hills were actually a mall, but what an amazingly pretty mall it was! There were little gardens and statues outside, and it was surrounded by walkways that looked out over the city. Evidently the Hyatt I was seeking was in fact, there, but i decided that I:d had my fill of breathtaking views and food for one day.
4:30PM Get off the subway back at my home base, Asakusa, and head over to the temple that its famous for. It was pretty incredible, and the gardens that surround it were equally majestic. I had been impressed all day by the seeming lack of commericialism surrounding tourism here; for example, I had only seen once place to buy postcards, and there was no Burger King or McDonalds in the general proximity of the Imperial Palace, but at Asakusa, there was a HUGE "market" of tourist items waiting to be purchased for ridiculous prices. I was tempted by some wasabi peas, but managed to restrain myself.

Filled up my camera with pictures, and I will upload them when I have the chance. I tried to do it just now, but I keep gteting some message in Japanese that I can:t understand, and then it shuts down the window with my files. So, it may take a while!!

I:m off to find dinner. I:ve learned how to say udon noodles (udon) and miso soup (miso), so I may try to brave another restaurant that doesn:t have a picture menu. We:ll see.

PS Sorry for the misuse of punctuation. Some of the keys are in funny places here, and I try to remember, but get frustrated when it slows me down substantially.

Tomorrow, I go to Hong Kong! Tonight, I start studying Mandarin! After dinner that is. I:d hate to forget all my hard-learned Japanese. . . . . .

Sayonara, y`all!