Tokyo...Fridgid...Ocean

Tokyo Sea...meh, more like Tokyo frigid ocean, swirling with winds and young Japanese girls.  Before we get to that though, lets step it back to yesterday.

For some odd reason I was getting a 505 error and was unable to access the blogger sight, so I decided to skip the fight and move onto sleeping.

That morning we woke up to allow Randi and Melissa to return to Harajuku to complete the tour of shops along with visiting the four story "Forever 21" store.  Here is my bit of advice to you all - if you're a woman, make sure you don't miss it - if you're a man, make sure to do anything you can to avoid it.  It's basically one giant ball of lace, bows, and straw hats (they are popular over here these days).

Once we were able to pull the ladies away from the clothing stores we made our way to far less traveled place for the common tourist; Nakano Broadway.  Put simply, I'm not sure I've ever been to a cooler place in my entire life.  Jam-packed into the four floors of the broadway are a plethora of shops to suit your every wish.



Collect old magazines from the 40's?  They've got 'em.  Want to purchase a $700 ball-joint doll?  They've got 'em.  Fancy some original anime cells?  Yep, they've got those too.  Josh put it best when he said, "this could be a very dangerous place."  No - there aren't any Yakuza laying in weight - rather it's the fact that it's a collectors dream, even if you don't currently collect anything - because with a single stop you can't help but want to buy a stores worth of memorabilia.

While there Josh and I ate at a great hole-in-the-wall ramen place where we enjoyed bacon/pork broth with some rather good noodles.  All of the food was prepared in the basement and sent up via a service elevator.  Sure, it seemed a little sketchy but it was prolly just as sanitary as most places back home.

Well, enough about yesterday and on to today.

The group woke up early as we set out for DisneySea, a high point from our last trip.  Following the trail of children adorning mouse ears we made our way through the five underground levels of the Tokyo station to the Musashino line bound for Maihama.  As with our last trip it was very easy to spot which train was headed to Disney; the children really are marketed well here.

After approximately an hour the train rolled into the Maihama station, where we were then to transfer onto the Disney mono-rail which would eventually lead us into DisneySea.  Pulling up to the station the lines were already as long as football field each, packed with children of all sizes, many of which were unaccompanied by any adults.

Finally through the gates we raced to the full sized volcano which housed the, "Journey to the Center of the Earth," ride.  Early on into the gates a group of young girls decided to cut in front of us as they shouted out in Japanese, "Thank you."  In a polite manner I uttered the stupidest words of the day as I replied in Japanese, "Your Welcome."

Instantly I was mobbed.  Here is a rough transcript of Japanese conversation that I was quickly forced into:

Girls: Wow!  You understand Japanese?
Me: I can understand a little, but I'm not very good.
Girls: Wow! You speak Japanese.
Me: No, not really.
Girls: Do you like (insert squiggly hand motion)?
Me: I don't understand
Girls: (more squiggly hand motion, followed by words that sound like "Camera")
Me: Kamera? (I pull out iPhone to show camera)
Girls: iPhone!  Cool!  Cool!  Can we take a picture?
Me: Ummo...okay.

We then proceeded to pose with them for a few pictures, while Melissa, Randi and Josh stand in confusion.

Girls: Are you guys friends?
Me: This is my wife.  This is my sister and her friend (I don't know how to say boyfriend)
Girls: Wife?  Cool!  Cool!  Kiss her hand.  Kiss her cheek.  A ring! Cool! Cool!
Me: No kiss.
Girls: Do you like Sushi?
Me: Yes, it is tasty.
Girls: He says Sushi is tasty. *laugh*  This girl studies.
Me: That girl studies English?
Girls: Yes
Me: Cool!

Then it went off into stuff I couldn't understand.  Normally this would have been okay, but for some odd reason they managed to follow us around the entire trip, giggling and trying to tickle my back.  It was really weird, in a bad kinda way.

Outside of the girls it seemed like things might have been okay.  Our first ride had a short line and it was sunny out when we left, but sadly things wouldn't stay nice for long.  The wind started to kick up and the temperature dropped to the point where you could start to see your breath.  With only three rides under our belts it was too cold to continue as rain was starting to come on the horizon.

So, with two maple churros in hand we headed back to Tokyo to head out for the claw machines.  Speaking of claw machines, remind me to talk to you about them and Randi's addiction.  The entire subject could be multiple posts on their own.

For the last two days pictures - click here.