Japan Day 5

Another late start, but that was a-ok. We started our day in Ueno, where at the station there was a Hard Rock Cafe. I got my collective toothpick holder, but we didn't actually eat there in an effort to culture me. Ueno is a little like Asakusa in that it's tons of shopping. It was just streets and streets filled with various vendors. There was the same shoe store on every street. It was packed with food, fish, clothes - everything. The owners of each stand would yell out to advertise their products and prices. There was one stand that sold fresh fruit on a stick. I enjoyed some chicken and potatoes for lunch - I justified my food choice in that it was in fact purchased on the street, not at a worldwide American chain. They had a gaming center where one floor was just claw machines - in one of them you could win a fish. Crazyness.

After Ueno we headed to Akihabara which had an 8 floor electronics store. They had everythign from ipods to dishwashers. It was like Best Buy but 10 times bigger. We then headed to Shinjuku to meet up with Hiroki, Siggy and a few of her friends. Hiroki was Mike and Siggy's "buddy" meaning he helped them get used to Japan and the school when they first arrived.

We had dinner at Tiki Tiki, a Polynesian restaurant. We all got pretty drinks that fit the atmosphere perfectly. Then the dancers came out and beckoned Hiroki to join them. He did a fine job. As he was dancing, I turned to Mike and said "next time, I'll dance." Mike says "Maria wants to dance!" and Hiroki took the opportunity to end his public dance show. He tied the hula skirt around my waist and handed me the pom poms. I figured I'm in Japan, what the hell? So I gave it all I got haha. I got a free pretty drink for it too!

The food was fantastic and I really bonded with everyone there. Mike said Siggy and I would have been best friends if I hadstudied abroad there. As a group, we ordered the ginormous parfait and pretty much killed it. It was an excellent night.