Window shopping and Shinkansen

After getting back to the airport and switching buses we headed to some other part of Tokyo (I would be a liar if I said I knew where I was most of the time) that was closer to the Shinkansen (bullet train) that would take us down to Kyoto.

Apparently these kids find going to school on Sunday a cool thing

Neat mural I happened to grab a picture of 

The tall tower thing between those buildings is the Tokyo Skytree. It is the tallest tower in the world (second tallest structure) and was finished in 2011. Used for broadcasting it also has a restaurant and obviously an observation place. 

After we arrived at the giant station/shopping complex/mega office building we got lost trying to find the place where you store your luggage. After asking a few people which led us in random directions we finally found one, 10 bucks later and it was time to find Starbucks to meet Naomi's friend. There was 2 Starbucks within about 50 feet of  each other, for whatever reason (I guess some things don't change), so we found her quite quickly. 

We headed off to the shopping area downstairs after which had an entire section just for kids shops. Each one was just for a specific brand (Pokemon, Peanuts, Hello Kitty etc.) and there was probably 20 or so. On the other side of this complex was all the normal adult clothing shops. Through in some restaurants and `Ramen Street` (just a pile of ramen restaurants) and you had one heck of a place, that was also absolutely swarming with people. You truly get the ant in a hive feeling, if you ever wanted that. 

Here is Charles outside the Pokemon store looking impressed. I should say the people working there were the perfect example of a stereotypical nerd. I didn't take many pictures  due to the large amount of children running around and not wanting to start an international incident. 

And again with a giant Christmas Domo-kun (sorry for the blur). He was a mascot for NHK (Japan's BBC) but took off as an internet sensation in the 2000's in the west. I will just let you Google why that is for yourself if you want. It was his 15th anniversary apparently.

And a Gundam Cafe. Gundam is a Japanese cartoon series that's been around since the 80's about guys in big robot suits that as far as I know, battle each other...or other things. There is an 18-meter tall (1:1 scale of what it would be if real) somewhere in Tokyo that moves its head and arms and lights up. I desperately want to see it. 

We said goodbye to Naomi's friend and headed off to the Bullet Train. And here it is bursting into the station:

We made sure to grab a proper lunch today (a bento again, that was not a cheapo one). I had the teriyaki chicken, which also had some beef and egg on rice, a few veggies on the side and a mini potato salad (the little white ball). Also a nice tall cold beer. Did I mention public drinking is a thing here? Truly wonderful. I don't know why we can't seem to figure this one out..

It was good.

I grabbed a few pictures on the way (it was a about 2 and a half hour ride) and Charles slept through most of it. Nothing specific just random Japan.

Didn't notice until after but look! A mini! How random. 

Also a video if you are curious on the view at 320 km/h (might help explain the blurry pictures)

For the record I missed out AGAIN on a good view of Mt. Fuji as it was on the other side of the train...here is hoping coming back works out better. 

A quiet trip and a train hop later and we arrived in Naomi's hometown. Her mom picked us up at the train station and took us home. It was dinner time when we got there and they had already prepared dinner as well. Her dad presented us with the choice of 2 giant sake bottles, the celebration sake or the cheap sake. I chose cheap sake. Might as well save the other for Christmas, or my birthday. Whichever. I think he was just happy to drink. And I was happy to help. I have to say it felt a lot more inviting than the first time here. Probably being married now and having Charles helped a tad with that one. Charles was pretty shy and nervous at first (as he always seems to be around new people and places) but warmed up after an hour or two. 

Another early night into bed for us in an icebox of a room (I think we have about 6 layers of blankets). The only heat is in the living room. Older Japanese houses are designed more for dealing with the summer heat and thus suffer in the Winter, unless you want to pay those nasty hydro bills! They don't.