Today me and Yu went to Odaiba. We walked around Palette Town and Fuji TV Studios, visited a pet store, saw many strange looking buildings, walked through some parks, chatted by the sea, played some games, and explored Shinbashi. Odaiba is a very pretty place. Fun day.

There was a museum inside Fuji TV Studios. One thing they had was a large diamond with a sign claiming it was the largest diamond in the world. I think that might be wrong. And it sure didn't have much security around it. Maybe none. I could have just picked it up and ran. There was also an extremely realistic looking robot model face-thing that was apparently used in the Terminator movies. It looked almost exactly like a human face.

Oh, and Yu taught me a new way to tie my shoes. I'm going to tie them like this from now on :).

I'm going to spend tomorrow in Yoyogi park with Shino. It feels like I've been just about everywhere in Tokyo, so I decided to go to Yoyogi park again. Yoyogi park is probably my favorite hangout place here. I've been there many times.

Hi~
Long time no update.

My two week vacation to the rest of Japan went great.
I visited Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Kokura, Fukuoka, Beppu, Nikko, Hachinohe, Aomori, Hakodate, and Sapporo. 12 different cities in 14 days. I could have seen more, but I got tired and lazy.
I'm sleepy and there's too much to write about, so details on them later!

I've gone back to my routine of hanging out with friends around Tokyo again. For my last week in Japan I plan on seeing the fish market in Tsukiji, Tokyo tower, and Odaiba.

Yesterday I hung out with my roommates all day. We sat around our room and chatted, went to a soba shop, and probably some other things I'm forgetting. Nothing too special.

Today me and Chihiro went to a Starbucks in Shinjuku to hang out and study Japanese/English. I was a little nervous the whole time, don't know why. Maybe she didn't notice. We took some purikura pictures afterwards.

Oh, I don't think I've explained what purikura is. It's Japan's version of a photobooth. Much more high-tech than the ones in the states. The insides of them are like.. um.. miniature studios. Everything is bright white and there are lots of different lights that go off when the picture is taken. Somehow I guess it enhances the look of your eyes. Looks great for asians, but other people end up with bug-eyes. After the pictures are taken, you can then doodle on them and send copies to your cellphone. Oh the cellphones here are pretty awesome too, but that's a story for another time.

Check my Facebook page to see my bug-eyes.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to Odaiba with Yu. Odaiba is known for being a romantic place where couples go. But it's also famous for high-tech things, unusual buildings, games, rides, and shopping.


I think my English is getting worse..

It's 5am Friday here now. The weather outside is quite nice. I just got back from a quick run to Matsuya. I woke up and was hungry.

Yesterday I was planning on hanging out with Toshi, doing some studying, and getting my hair cut, but Toshi ended up having to work too late. Didn't do anything of any significance.

Today, when Mana gets off work, we're going to go see the Imperial Palace and Hibiya park. She worked late last night and is working again now on very little sleep, so I'm wondering if maybe we should cancel instead.

Tomorrow I'm going to see Toshi again somewhere. I'll try to get my hair cut too. I'd probably be fine, but I'm nervous about going to get my first haircut here by myself.

I'm planning on starting my two week trip around Japan on Sunday. First stop: Osaka.

Things are still going great here.

On Saturday I met up with Miho and Ran (friends from Florida) in Shinjuku. We went to Shinjuku Gyoen, a very pretty park. Please check out all the awesome photos I took on Facebook! :D

After Shinjuku Gyoen, we met up with Sawako, another person from Florida (never met 'er before). We decided on which restaurant to go to and then went to eat. After we got done eating some employees who work there brought out a cake and everybody sang Happy Birthday. I was very surprised. Oh yeah and there was sakura-flavored ice cream! Sorry, didn't save any for you. It turns out that Ran had made a reservation there early that morning (Sneaky Ran! I'll get you back for that!).

After that Ran went home and me and Miho headed to Yokohama together. Another person from Florida was getting married in Yokohama. Miho went to the wedding, I went to China Town to meet Jason (My professional gaming team manager, really admiral guy, lives in Yokohama). We explored China Town, had drinks and ate a sakura-flavored cupcake at Starbucks (he payed for it), then went to Minato Mirai to meet back up with Miho and a few other people from the wedding. We chatted and ate dinner. The pretty girl next to me was acting quite suspiciously. I think she was trying to steal my food. But I successfully fended her off \o/! Jason payed for everybody.

Then everyone left for some boat ride and me and Jason headed for Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. Fantastic view. Probably much cooler than that boat ride.

After that Jason introduced me to one of his favorite restaurants in Shibuya. We ate some kind of spicy nabe (like fondue). Tasty, but spicy! Didn't save any for you. Also, it was an expensive restaurant. Our meal was about $100. Jason payed again. I wonder if he's broke now...

Today Toshi and I studied English and Japanese at a McDonalds, walked around Roppongi, and ate at a Yoshinoya. Toshi went home at 9. Then I went to see Mana in Ueno to study English and Japanese some more.

Tomorrow me and Mana are going to spend the day in Yoyogi park admiring Sakura and stuff. At 7, I'll be meeting Kyoko in Shinjuku to hang out and study more.

It was raining today, so we didn't go to Yoyogi park. Instead we went to Akihabara to walk around and eat. I ate spinach and cream spaghetti, some pizza (the pizzas here are more like quesadillas), and a scoop of gelatin (They called it gelatin, but I think it was actually some kind of ice cream).

After that we climbed Tochou to see Shinjuku at night. Nice view.

Then we went to a fast food place to eat and study. I forgot the name of the place, but it's similar to McDonalds. I had a hamburger, fries, and melon soda. Melon soda is made from Japanese melons and is green. It has a unique taste. I like it more than other sodas (except root beer, which there is none of here.) But water is still my favorite drink.

I find Coke and Pepsi here and there, but it's not too common.

I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. Maybe I'll start planning my trip for next month.

This week I met many new friends and explored many new places. Yoyogi park, Shibuya (a few times), Harajuku (a few times), A museum in Ueno, and probably some other places that I can't remember.

Today I went with a new friend to a cafe down a new road in Shinjuku. Nice person, nice cafe. I had a good time. We talked and studied English and Japanese. I ate a piece of toast that had egg and cheese on top and a steamed chocolate cake.

That reminds me, earlier last week I also ate some fried cheese. That was delicious.

My new Osakan roommate returned to Osaka a few days ago, but he's coming back around April 1st. Really cool guy and very talented musician/singer. Here's his myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/ankichocolatefactory
I like the ivory song at the bottom the most.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I'm going to spend the day with a friend in Yoyogi park. We were going to go to Shinjuku gyoen park, one of the best parks in Tokyo so I've heard, but they close at 4:00 and my friend won't be free until 3, so we'll do that next time. I hope the sakura are blooming. I'll take pictures :)

I've done almost everything I wanted to do in Tokyo. There's just a few more things I want to see/do:
-Shinjuku gyoen park
-Fish market
-Odaiba
-Go to the top of Yokohama's landmark tower.

I'm not so interested in Karaoke, Maid Cafes, or Pachinko, but I want to see those too before I leave.

Around the beginning of April I plan on leaving Tokyo to go see some other areas of Japan: Hokkaido, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kyushu.

Sorry for the boring blog. I really should be updating this more often.

I've been meeting a new person almost every day for the past two weeks. We usually do things like talk, eat, study, and sometimes do some sightseeing. It's been a lot of fun :). Every day I learn and experience many new things.

Today (March 14th) was a holiday in Japan called White Day. On Valentine's day here girls give guys gifts. On White Day, guys give girls gift.

Today I met a new friend named Megumi in Shinjuku (No relation to White Day). We walked around a bit and found a tonkatsu restaurant to eat at. It was my first time eating tonkatsu (a kind of deep fried pork). I ate it with some kind of special sauce that I forgot the name of (not tonkatsu sauce). It was very tasty :). We chatted and studied there for a few hours.

Another new food I discovered today is a salad dressing made from sesame seeds. My new favorite salad dressing :)

By the way, don't eat Karashi (A kind of mustard). That stuff is super super spicy! ><

Some other new things I ate earlier this week:
-Fried bones (delicious)
-Coffee flavored Cheetohs (not so delicious)

After that we went to Tochou, a very tall government building nearby. We went up near the top to the 46th floor and admired the scenery. I took a video which I'll upload later.

Fun day :)

Tomorrow me and one of my roommates (from Osaka) are going to go to a Japanese class nearby.