day six in tokyo

again, a veeerrrrrryyyy sllloooowww moving day in which very little of cultural import was achieved, but meh, whatever, it's vacation.

after breakfast, we headed out to the ginza shopping district, so that i could go to itoya, which is a mega paper store that got rave reviews in the guide book. i was a bit disappointed because it seemed to be mostly office supply type stuff until we got to the fifth floor and then it was japanese art paper HEAVEN and i sat on the floor and poked through all the drawers of gorgeous hand printed rice and silk paper and drooled (but neatly, so the shop attendants wouldn't get cross). after being very restrained about _not_ buying the entire shop, just 3000 yen worth or so, we went to a matsuzakaya for lunch - one of the big department stores with a food court in the basement where they have the $150 cantaloupes etc. we did not, you will be relieved to hear, have the $150 cantaloupe for lunch, but instead went to the little pseudo italian cafe in the basement; there is apparently a long tradition of bizarre low budget italian/japanese fusion cuisine that jonathan very properly felt i should be introduced to. i had pasta with mushrooms and cheese with seaweed sprinkled on top in a little bit of broth.

after lunch, we parted ways: J. went shopping, and I went to the Imperial Palace in the hopes of wandering around the gardens, which were supposed to be very nice. Unfortunately, it was the emperor's brother-in-law's day to get his hair cut, or something, in honour of which the gardens were closed to the public, so i had to settle for a wander around Hibiya Park, where they were setting up for the annual Oktoberfest celebration (of course. Tokyo in May. Oktoberfest. duh.) and then to the Hama Rikyu gardens down next to the water, which were quite pretty. I was very tickled that at fifteen minutes before closing, they start playing a lush orchestral version of "Annie Laurie" over the loudspeakers in the park, so that everyone knows to make their way to the exits. Ooh, I forgot to say, swimming around in the moat of the Imperial Palace I saw two turtles (!), a crane, and several fatty orange koi.

Home for a snooze, and then out with Eugene and his friend Mai for what has to be one of the most delightfully weird food experiences of the trip. Eugene didn't give us much of a hint as to why he wanted to take us to the this particular place other than to say they had really good ramen (I will never, by the way, be able to eat a Top Ramen or variant ever again now that I know what proper ramen is about). So we get ourselves to a slightly seedy but absolutely hopping street with loads of cheapy shops and bars and African pimps out on the street hustling for business (a totally weird demographic distribution that I don't even begin to comprehend, but never mind) and Eugene takes us up a couple of flights of stairs of an undistinguished looking building until we find ourselves standing in front a vending machine, from which we order our basic bowl of ramen (noodles plus two slices of pork included) plus any additional extras (green onions, mushrooms, egg, fish, other mystery ingredients). The vending machine spits out little paper tickets, which you then take inside. Just inside the shop there is a display board with stall numbers lit up to show you which ones are free; you pick a number, and sit yourself down in a totally private little booth, just you. There is a bamboo curtain between you and the kitchen, and you slide your tickets under the curtain, and a a few minutes later an anonymous pair of hands delivers your custom bowl of ramen to you, which you slurp down in complete and total privacy. if you have ordered extra noodles, for example, there is a little button that you can press to let them know when you are ready for the noodles, and the anonymous hands appear again from the kitchen and deliver your noodles, all without saying a word. It's basically a perfect arrangement for complete social phobics, who want to go out to eat a really good bowl of ramen without ever having to talk to - or even look at - another human being. it was totally weird and i loved it.

after dinner we went out for karaoke wooHOO! fun. we got a private little room and our karaoke machine had all the requisite cheesy music videos, flashing lights, and a good selection of japanese pop (mai and eugene), 90's pop/rock (jonathan), 70's motown (me), and dumb musicals (everyone) to keep everyone happy. a good time. home in a taxi by midnight, at which point i went to bed crosseyed with exhosstion and the boys went out for another drink down the street, just because they could. and so, another day.