June 24th - Thursday

Betsy and I are earlier risers than Nick and Ginger, so we have time to stretch and check our mail before it's time to hit the trail! Today we're going to explore the vast metropolis of Tokyo! And vast it is! The JR line (read that - free for us!) runs all around the city and we've decided to start by checking out the Akihabara area, famous for manga, anime and electronics. The Taito building has five floors of video games, all of different flavors. The top floor seems to be all first-person shooter games, the next is games that are more like the old Pac Man; another has music games, drums, dance, dance revolution, guitar man; the bottom floor is completely dominated by the games where you drop down the grabber and hope to come up with a toy.

There are anime stores selling DVDs by the zillions and the one we explore also has figures and
some manga. It is completely filled with teenage boys and the aisles between the floor-to-ceiling displays are barely wide enough to pass another person. They twist and turn in order to take advantage of all the available floor space!

Once outside we happen upon a tiny shoe store where Betsy finally gets a pair of shoes in her size! They are comfortable, stylish and not expensive! The perfect souvenir! More oohing and
gaping and we venture into a store with electronics and souvenirs. There goes another hour!
They have a pointer for an iPod or iPhone in case your fingers are too big and a crunching dog
that plugs into your USB port to go to town! What fun! There is also an entire Hello Kitty floor! And I don't buy a thing!

Starvation is setting in and we find a Dean and Delucca's which has delicious quiches on
display. Tummies full we are off again. We are pretty close to the Imperial Palace and people
will surely ask us if we went there! Along the way we find the Wadakura Fountain Park with
dancing waters! The park is lovely and we enjoy sitting in the shade and watching the changing
patterns. There is a boy in a red t-shirt who is fascinated, too, and is sitting right by the
edge of one of the two main display areas. Eventually his mother comes to get him.

We make a stab at the palace and see only grass and trees, so we come back to our park to
regroup. Lonely Planet says we missed something so we try again, walking in the other direction.
We find more gardens, a small art museum and more grass and trees. There are three of the
original guard houses still standing and they are photogenic! I guess you have to be someone
pretty important to actually get any further. We see three limos pass the gates and a group of
Japanese visitors with a guide and police escort! As we're leaving we see several men clinging
to the side of one of the ancient walls, cleaning off the weeds that are attempting to take over! More labor intensive work!

Now it's time to see the Ginza. After all, you wouldn't visit Paris without seeing the Champs
Elysees! Sure enough, all the brand names are there! Prada, Hermes, Rolex, Swarovski Crystal,
Ferragamo, Jaguar, and the price tags to match. Interestingly enough, most of the people on the
street look more like tourists than actual shoppers. Nick and Ginger find a game store and go in
to investigate a portable-sized Sho-gi game, with English instructions and Betsy and I check the action on the street. There is a line of people, nearly all young men and behind the last one is a guy holding a sign that says "Tail End". When we get closer we can see that the young women at the front of the line are passing out cups of Starbucks coffee and are immediately in front of an Apple store where people are playing with iPads!

Further down there is a small crowd and a camera van. We gather it is a political campaign with the candidate decked out in a red sash and another man, perhaps his running mate?, in a white one. They are all glad-handing the crowd as the cameras roll.

Much of the architecture is outrageous! Vertical walls that curve in and out. Another with irregular holes like Swiss cheese for windows! It is getting late but not quite late enough for the lights to come on. It is also not quite late enough for dinner. It is just right, though, for a drink! As we wander, looking at all the signs hopefully, Nick spots one that announces the location of Charon Public House. It's on the third floor of an office building and when we step off the elevator, the door and sign are about three feet in front of us! I'm taking a picture of the sign so I don't get to see the amazed expression on the faces of the two young Japanese bartenders when the gaijin open the door!

It is tiny place with a polished bar, soft jazz and soft lighting and one hundred different kinds of scotch!! The manager, Taichi Sakai, is about twenty five and spent a year in Manchester, England because he loves soccer! His young assistant is only 19 and you have to be twenty to drink or smoke in Japan; but we won't tell! Besides, we only see him drink water!

Taichi is a charmer with very good English skills, which improve the longer we chat, and he takes a liking to us. We start with three beers and one black Russian (that's one drink for each of us!) and he brings out hot popcorn that has been popped in olive oil, so it's not bad for us! We chat some more and the guys crack macadamia and walnuts for us! Ginger and I move on to rusty nails and the conversation moves on to the sake tastings in Takayama. Soon Taichi gives us each a small glass of sake. It comes in a beautiful little blue bottle and when I ask if I may have the bottle he says yes and produces another one - FULL! - as a gift!

To complete the experience, when we ask for a restaurant recommendation, Taichi takes us
downstairs and walks us all the way to his favorite yakatori restaurant, Torigin! Yakatori is "stuff on a stick". We are the only tourists in the place and to make it simple we order a sampler with fourteen different choices. Everyone takes one piece from a skewer and passes it on and it is amazing how delicious everything is and how filling! We order four more of our favorites and are stuffed! Before we are able to stand up, Betsy and I make origami balls and I'm afraid we did actually toss them at one another! As we leave I say the magic "it was great" phrase and get a smile and giggle in return! Thanks, Dale, this is a blast!

Back on the streets the lights are blazing brightly and we wander a bit more and find our way
back to the JR station. Back at our stop we take a "short cut" through the basement of the Tobu
Department store where all the delectable pastries are on display. Betsy is the only virtuous
one among us! Nick gets something raspberry completely encased in chocolate and mine looks a
bit like a Viking! Ginger has gone off on her own and comes back with the winner, a chocolate
mouse an banana wonder! We all meet back in our room for tea and dessert and to relive our
day's delights.