This morning began with the best human interaction of the whole trip so far. I got on the Subway in Roppongi and in my car were to brothers, probably about 5 years old siting down with their mom and dad. One wearing a red Yankees hat, the other wearing a Mets hat. I was also wearing my Mets hat and when the one boy noticed it, he took off his hat, kept looking back and forth between his NY logo and mine and you could tell he didn't know what to think. He probably has no idea what the hat is for (or maybe he does and was psyched to see another Mets fan) or maybe even thought it was just a blue hat with randomly conjoined letters on the front. But seeing this tiny little mini Japanese kid so excited that someone so big and different from him had this hat also and to see him keep looking at me and smiling with embarrassed excitement made my day. It is tough to give the interaction proper explanation, but it was great.
After that ride, I spent the day in the eastern part of the city, beginning with the gardens surrounding the imperial palace. From there I made my way to the ginza area which is essentially 5th avenue Tokyo. All the high end designer shops in crazy architectural buildings. Today was supposedly the busiest holday day of the year so most areas were closed off to traffic and the streets were full of people.
After wandering Ginza and just taking in the people shopping I had lunch at a random restaurant where I ended up with a spicy udon noodle meal. I'm still figuring out the proper way to eat the foods since they give you different tools than I'm used to (not chopsticks... weird big spoons, etc.).
From there I headed to 'Electronic Town' in Akihabara which was a total zoo. More people in one place that you can imagine with noise everywhere with the stores all planting salesmen on the street yelling over microphones to get people to come in. I didn't see anything new or crazy technology wise, unfortunately. If anyone wants a Wii though, they are only $250 and in stock everywhere...
After the day on the streets I headed back to the hotel to go for a swim before dinner. Fortunately/Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera with me to the pool since with no bathing suit (ripped at the beach in LA) I had to borrow one from the spa and I didn't realize until opening the package that Japan is a speedo culture... so I sported that for laps, which was a first. The view from the pool hopefully distracted the few people there from seeing my pasty thighs - it overlooks the whole city and is incredible.
It struck me once again today just how amazing the people are here. I cannot say enough about the way the people go out of their way to do anything and everything for you. They always have a huge smile and treat you like honored company. I had one guy at the gym follow me to the elevator just to make sure nothing came up on my way there and then as I got in he waited across the way and bowed at me until the doors fully shut. They also constantly thank you for allowing them to help you, which seems backwards but gives you an idea of the culture. Looking for a casual meal in Aoyama tonight to counter last night's extravagance.
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