Day 2 - Surviving Jetlag in Tokyo

"I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. "

We are still jetlagged but don’t know it yet. Breakfast and then wandering around Shibuya. The train takes forever, then we get lost underground in the metro. We finally make it out only to get lost above ground. It’s weird here! Shopping at 109 Shibuya building we cannot keep our jaws off the floor. I feel like a hillybilly on my first trip to the big city.

We spend all day wandering and just looking! Its like our eyes can’t take it all in fast enough. So much to see. Absolute joy for the eyeballs, but total overload for the brain. There is no time to even judge what you’re seeing just so much joy & color. So much color and giggling girls. Tokyo fashion makes us feel old.

The sun feels good here. The weather is perfect. For lunch we pick a random restaurant. More pointing & nodding at the menu for the waiter. Food not as good as yesterday, but we don’t care. Too tired to care. The two guys sitting across from us are slurping their noodles very loudly. French Boy refuses to slurp his noodles even though I tell him it is considered polite. We are exhausted.

Where the hell are all the foreigners? Everywhere we go we are the only non-Japanese. Or at least it feels that way. Finally we see more Black guys selling hip hop attire. One guy walks past French Boy and says “Hey what’s up.” I didn’t hear it though. There are so many people! Everywhere! All the time! Where do they all sleep at night? They must sleep in shifts.

We are so tired & jetlagged. On the way back to the hotel French Boy sleeps on the train like a drunken Japanese salary-man. He falls asleep again at the hotel. I wish I could sleep! Instead I obsess over dinner plans & realize that we spent too much time in Shibuya. Must budget time better.

French Boy wakes up---time for dinner. He says he needs meat. We search for beef.

A guy outside restaurant tells us they have an English menu and hands us a coupon so we go in. Menu arrives. The photos on the menu look good. English menu arrives. Oops--- I almost ordered a raw horsemeat salad. Also from the menu you can order "pig rectum" and "pig rectum with salt". That is just wrong. Note to self: ALWAYS ask for English menu. Drunk guy at the next table speaks English and chooses out entire meal for us so we don’t end up eating assholes. He chooses really yummy stuff for us.

I love the Japan.

North Korea does a nuclear test. World freaks out.

We pay for dinner and end up going for dessert at Mr. Donut. It’s MAD DIRTY in there! By Japanese standards it’s a toilet. But donuts are good and they have no rectums, assholes, or raw horsemeat in them. Also—everything else is closed now. Ueno sucks for nightlife.

We walk home happy. Stop at 7-11. I prefer the mini-mart closer to the hotel though because the every employee screams a greeting at you when you enter and the cashiers bow more---it’s more baller!