The day I got to Japan, I didn't really do much. Mainly because I had barely slept in the plane ride over thanks to not finding a good position. So I basically just got to my hotel and collapsed in my bed. For purposes here, I'll consider day 1 to be the first day I actually did stuff.
And the first lesson I learned was "Always carry cash with you". I tried to get coffee at a cafe, and found out they didn't accept credit. So the first thing I had to do was try to find some place that would change USD into yen. Which turned out to be my hotel because my initial wandering found no cash exchanges, but plenty of other things.
I don't know who this is (which is standard - I can't read kanji, so unless it's in hiragana or katakana I tend to have no idea what anything is) or why there's a bust of him here. While I've found other statues today, they're at least generally in an area of some historical importance. Maybe he was just the chairman of the business?
An advertisement for a live show at the Tokyo Dome. Tokyo Dome is a theme park/outdoor mall near where my hotel is, and I completely plan on going there someday. I think I just love how ridiculous-looking the girl with glasses is.
One of Tokyo Dome's attractions, with the hotel in background.
Even if I did do inverted roller coasters, the fact that this one goes through some of the architecture would absolutely terrify me.
We sure do.
Breakfast at the Veloce Caffe, which was, of course, the same restaurant that I was originally trying to eat at, although this was a different location. That's an
anpan. It's interesting. It's pretty sweet, though not overwhelmingly so, and the bean paste means you're eating something with the texture of refried beans inside. I enjoyed it. And a mocha to drink. It actually needed sugar. Judging by today's coffee, mocha means a different taste than what I'm used to out of places like Starbucks.
I was just rather interested by the fact that the gas pumps hang from the ceiling.
An ad for a live-action
sentai show.
One of the reasons I'm totally going to come back to Tokyo Dome: the Jump Shop! Statues are (from left to right) Gintoki from Gin Tama, Luffy from One Piece, and...I have no idea who the guy on the right is. He has a character from Reborn on his shoulder, so maybe he's from that?
A better shot of Gintoki. It didn't seem open at the time, but expect a buttload of pictures once I go there.
A lot of restaurants here have these displays of models of the food they serve. I guess it's kinda useful? It at least gives me an idea of what the food is going to look like, and this is where I ended up eating.
My supper was a spicy noodle soup at what I think was a Chinese restaurant (several of the items had names like "Beijing", so that's all I have to go on). It had bean sprouts, green onions, mushrooms, and what I think was pork on top. Of course, what really happens is "Oh my God this is the spiciest thing I have ever eaten I can taste no other flavors", so the ingredients don't matter too much in the long run. It was filling, though.
Story time: My initial look at the all-Japanese menu was a "What is any of this?", but fortunately the waitress got the fact that I was entirely confused and brought out an English menu, instead of me having to choose something at random from the noodle section. My main question of the restaurant, though, is that I have no idea where the food came from. I saw no kitchen, and the only indication to the waitress that food was ready was a female voice (recorded, not an actual person).
A bronze sculpture of some sort outside of a church.
Japanese board games! Another place I plan on going in sometime.
An sign for what I'm pretty sure was a pornographic DVD store. That's how it appeared from the merchandise. I was just amused by A. the fact that it's just out on the main street and B. the guy they have as their mascot.
Vending machines with...Tommy Lee Jones? If it's not, it sure looks a hell of a lot like him. Apparently he's shilling for Boss coffee, in new rainbow flavor! (no seriously)
And finally, an arcade, with a statue of Spider-Man on one side...
And dolphins on the other. Yep.
I LOVED the restaurants that had food models outside. Otherwise, on menus that weren't bilingual I was reduced to pointing at something random on the menu or at what someone else was eating and hoping for the best. To be honest, both methods worked equally well. Japanese food rocks!
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