Holiday road!

A week ago it was spring. Now it's summer.

The blossoming is all but over, but the warmth seems to be staying put. The last few days I've been doing an absurd amount of walking.

I have one of those machines that count your every step, and since coming to Tokyo I've walked 134 040 393 steps, which is the equivalent of six laps around the earth. 

Okay, so none of the facts stated above are true. But fuck me, have I been walking! 

On Wednesday, I went to Ueno. This was actually my first time there, and I'm impressed. Aside from the famous park and it's many pretty trees, there's a market between Okachimachi and Ueno where gullable tourists can buy cheap backpacks and skewered fruit. I'll be going back there before long. Me and Robin walked there from school, which wasn't too bad. Even though Geos is quite a bit away from Shinjuku and Shibuya, I think it's at a good location. 

Thursday, I went south towards the Imperial Gardens to eat my lunch under a tree. Aside from an abundance of ants, it was nice. The sun is really intense here, and sunscreen didn't seem all that necessary when I packed my bags in early January.

I continued down towards Ginza, hung out at the Apple store for a while to borrow their smokin' hot wi-fi, and walked back to Jimbōchō. I plan on bringing a book the next time.

On Friday, me and Robin took the advice of our teacher to go and see sumo wrestling at Yasukuni shrine, near Kudanshita. Supposedly it was free, but we couldn't really find an entrance and there were too many people there already anyway (where do all these people come from, don't they have jobs to go to?) so we went off to find a better spot.

We did, actually, find a school just behind the shrine. Trying to look like we belonged, we went inside and up to the roof, which gave us a great view of the entire arena. Not that sumo wrestling is very exciting to watch, but it was cool none the less.

From there we followed the Kandagawa river to Ochanomizu, bought some records, and went home.

And yesterday, I finished off this week's leg-abuse with a trip to Odaiba, with Phillippe. I've been there once before, with my parents. This time our main destination was the Miraikan science museum, and their current Terminator-exhibition. 

Featuring mostly scale models and some brief facts about the creation of the movies, it wasn't quite what it could have been. But I was satisfied, not least by the few items they had on display from the upcoming Terminator Salvation. I hope that one doesn't suck, by the way.

The rest of the museum was much more engaging. We saw an animated short film called The Space Elevator (oh yes) on one of those gigantic screens, as well as several robots. The biggest crowd-pleaser was Asimo, a humanoid robot whose balance is better than most organic people after they've had two drinks. 

A second robot seemed at first to be designed for cleaning, like a really advanced vaccum cleaner. But that's because me and Phillippe confused the words sōji (cleaning) and sōjū (controlling). Stupid foreigners. 

There was also a "hands-on model of the internet" (oh yes!) and a robotic seal with a pascifier.

When we finally decided that the future is awesome, and the museum had given us it's all, we headed towards the beach to find some food. In keeping with the theme, we settled for a "hawaiian" burger place called Kua'Aina. My mahi mahi burger with fries and ginger ale might be the best lunch I've had in weeks.

And then we took a walk. 

It's weird, but Odaiba really is a great change of scenery. Walking alongside palm trees with the ocean in front of you, it's hard to believe you're still in Tokyo. And it's funny how a sea breeze can render me completely sappy, and content. Like I said, it's a great change of scenery.

We saw the sun set behind the Rainbow bridge, and walked back towards the city. 

Even though my legs were hurting, I was too awake to go home. So I strolled through Ginza, watching all the stores close (at nine on a Saturday. I like Tokyo.)

This week I've felt like I'm on vacation. It's the weather, and perhaps an increase of tourists. I want to do something fun every day, but I can't really afford to go traveling around the country now. And as Melody pointed out, I'm not really here on vacation. I live here. 

The city looks different in bright sunlight, I think. I'm very prone to moodswings depending on the weather, so it's a bit easier to smile now.

I have places to visit and revisit, people and things I want to see. But in less than two weeks, I'm going home.

This made my day. Diet Dr Pepper for 84 yen.

Shrine in Ueno.

Sumo at Yasukuni shrine.

Phillippe-san and meself, enjoying English dubs at Miraikan.

A different side of Tokyo.

Sunset on Odaiba.