Back by popular demand

Please excuse the long gap between entries, dear fan base.


My darling computer has been under the weather and I am enthusiastically NOT diving into the firey pits of technological warfare.

I'm having my techie friends do it instead.

Since I last wrote, I have ridden several buses, a Hello Kitty ferris wheel, and a plethora of trains. One particular combination of said modes of transportation brought me and several friends to Tokyo for Silver Week, which is a fairly recent addition to the Japanese national holiday roster.



We had, how do you say, a blast. We saw several temples, rode up tall skyscrapers to see the entire city (both at night and during the day), saw the Tokyo Tower- essentially a takeoff of the Eiffel Tower, and became quite adept at navigating the Tokyo metro system, considering we were there less than a week.








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Having Hello Kitty (affectionately known as "Kitty-chan" in Japan) narrate a ride on a large ferris wheel proved to be excessive stimulation.
Odaiba, in addition to boasting a large shrine to an infantile feline, is also the location of Marine World in Japan. Its funny, you see because Odaiba is actually an artificial island... that the Japanese made... because they didn't have enough islands? Ah the mystery. I will take it for what it is! And then Wikipedia it. We had a lovely time.

<--We stayed in a hostel! This was my bed! Left to right: Andrea, Maria, and me.
Asakusa was by far my favorite place. The Sensoji Temple was a MADHOUSE, but very pretty and we took LOADS of pictures. Maria left no possibility unturned and was very unapologetic about her shashin toru (that is, picture taking. Monacle, monacle.) We paid a lovely visit to the fish market, where we nearly became grease spots dodging the oil drum vehicles the workers drive to transport fish. I took a few pictures. We followed a 70-year-old fellow out of the maze of fishy peril and decided that the aquarium was a perfectly suitable place to see the fishies sans escalating blood pressures.
Pictured above is an example of how one lays down the law in the fish market.

Team Tampa Takes on Tokyo (and I tag along).

Subtitle explanation: the people I went with all go to school in Tampa, FL. I couldn't resist the alliteration. :D
Our fearless leader, Maria, is map queen and Tokyo Tower aficionada. Wali was our Japanese bauss and will dominate anyone at Kareoke. Watch out. Travis is going to live in Akihabara someday and open a legitimate American bistro, and Andrea is our mama duck and will keep everyone happy, pacified and beautiful, so help her. I contributed to the trip by getting on the wrong bus coming back from the bathroom on the way back. In my defense, it was four in the morning, and I can't read.

Group Picture in Akihabara (left to right): Maria, Andrea, Travis and Wali

There is no way anyone could ever hope to see everything Tokyo has to offer, even if you were to live there your whole life, but there is most assuredly something there for everyone! Let me know if y'all ever need maps- I've got lots!

Lots of love and picture-taking peace signs,
Margaux