My first vending machine! They are everywhere, as you've no doubt heard, and they are the bee's knees. I think I vended several hundred bottles while I was there. Water, Pocari Sweat, hot coffee, cold coffee, flavored teas, all kinds of drinks, and really inexpensive! Japan wins.
Two trains passing by.
The graphic on the street in front of the train crossing. Japan wins, I tell you!
Eventually, I stumbled into a restaurant, managed to order some food in my pathetic approximation of "Japanese," went back to the room and collapsed.
The next day, I slept in and had the buffet breakfast at the hotel, which was enormous and superb. The goals for this first full day were to see the Senso-ji Temple, and visit Hanayashiki, Tokyo's little old-school amusement park, both in Asakusa. (A big group was headed to Tokyo DisneySea on this Monday, but I wanted to save that experience for the very end – the epic dessert of this incredible feast.)
Still pretty dazed by the jet lag, but fortified by several cups of coffee, I ventured into the subway system.
And I managed to make it to Asakusa. Just outside the subway stop was this fantastic structure, the Kaminarimon, or "Thunder Gate," the outermost gate for the Senso-ji Temple.
Right behind it is the Nakamise-Dori, a famous shopping street that leads to the second gate. I did venture down here a bit, but I wanted to get off the beaten path (and I didn't realize that this market was quite famous, centuries-old, actually), so I walked over to one of the parallel avenues.
Looking down every side street was like opening a little gift.
Just an ordinary lane. But I had a stupid smile on my face no matter where I looked. Holy Motherloving Christmas, I'm really in Japan.
|
