The rest of my vacation. Well, arriving Saturday afternoon I was quickly whisked away on the next train back into the heart of Tokyo to the river. Takae, her sister Yuko, and I battled onto the crowded trains on our way to the largest fireworks festival of the summer. Girls everywhere were dressed up in traditional yukata clothes and some guys wore jimbes. Everyone had a fan and people were giving them out on the streets. We met some friends at the last train station and got in line behind 200 people to board a bus to the event. We waited for a long time. Getting off the bus we went to a convenience store to get some drinks and then joined the masses walking down streets and alleys to the riverside. Parking and traffic cops were directing the hordes of people. We found more friends who had staked out a spot on flat ground and marked it with a blue tarp. Thousands of other people had done the same thing, making the ground look like a massive extension of blue river. The sun was just starting to send out orange and yellow rays into the clouds so we quickly opened our containers of homemade fried chicken to join the spread of other yummy foods people had brought.
 |  |
We sat and ate for the next two hours, enjoying the fireworks and commenting to each other. Up river we could see the distant Chiba fireworks lighting up the sky, and down river there were huge Mickey Mouse ears exploding into sparks in the space above Disneyland. It was a remarkably clear and pleasant evening scene, not too hot or too cold. There was barely a breeze making it difficult to see the fireworks at times because the smoke didn’t clear in time for the next set. We rode back the same way we came, again pushing through the masses of people on the train all the way home.
After Fuji, well, we pretty much just sat around for two days and did nothing but eat and sift through 547 pictures of the trip. I whittled them down to almost 200 and posted them on Facebook. You’re welcome.
We rented the Pirates of the Caribbean and The Soloist, neither of which they'd seen before. We also watched the footage Otoosan shot of us climbing the mountain. We laughed at our goofy selves.
One day Takae and I went into town to meet her friend Daniel and we went to a rabbit café. If you’ve never heard it's kind of a Tokyo thing. I think they started as “Cat cafés” where people could come and sip a drink while petting or snuggling a cat. Some places let you bring your own cat. Then rabbit cafés popped up and offered the same service. I’ve heard there are dog cafés too. We went in and asked for an hour. After being seated and ordering a drink we got up and started chasing the bunnies wandering around the room. There were about 5 different bunnies in a glass room on the side of the building. We went in and sat on one of the once white leather couches, the bottoms clearly chewed and rubbed-on by little paws and teeth. They gave us crocs to wear as soon as we went in which saved us from worrying about stepping in rabbit pellets. Some rabbits were in cages, the males, we were told. The females were out and about, not allowed to mix with their opposite-gendered friends. They weren’t as happy to be picked up as I imagined, and I had to chase a few to get one to snuggle. They were cute, but I would rather just have a puppy.
After Fuji, well, we pretty much just sat around for two days and did nothing but eat and sift through 547 pictures of the trip. I whittled them down to almost 200 and posted them on Facebook. You’re welcome.
We rented the Pirates of the Caribbean and The Soloist, neither of which they'd seen before. We also watched the footage Otoosan shot of us climbing the mountain. We laughed at our goofy selves.
One day Takae and I went into town to meet her friend Daniel and we went to a rabbit café. If you’ve never heard it's kind of a Tokyo thing. I think they started as “Cat cafés” where people could come and sip a drink while petting or snuggling a cat. Some places let you bring your own cat. Then rabbit cafés popped up and offered the same service. I’ve heard there are dog cafés too. We went in and asked for an hour. After being seated and ordering a drink we got up and started chasing the bunnies wandering around the room. There were about 5 different bunnies in a glass room on the side of the building. We went in and sat on one of the once white leather couches, the bottoms clearly chewed and rubbed-on by little paws and teeth. They gave us crocs to wear as soon as we went in which saved us from worrying about stepping in rabbit pellets. Some rabbits were in cages, the males, we were told. The females were out and about, not allowed to mix with their opposite-gendered friends. They weren’t as happy to be picked up as I imagined, and I had to chase a few to get one to snuggle. They were cute, but I would rather just have a puppy.
 I get excited about things like food. |  Dried fruit is so good. |
Beer supply wagon
We wandered the streets of that district and I picked up some dried bananas from Taiwan and dried papaya from the Philippines. The gelato vendor made it an easy decision to stop there too. I found a cute skirt for 800 yen.
We peaced out and said goodbye to Daniel in a few hours in order to make it home in time with our dinner date with our neighbor, a widowed grandpa in need of some company. More on that in the next blog.
We peaced out and said goodbye to Daniel in a few hours in order to make it home in time with our dinner date with our neighbor, a widowed grandpa in need of some company. More on that in the next blog.
RSS Feed