A wonderful visit

I need to finish up the story about Michael's visit. Okay, so let's start with food. While here I wanted him to try a lot of different Japanese foods, some of which he already had of course. I took him to my favorite sushi place. Now, sushi isn't his favorite, but he did enjoy himself and I think the whole idea of conveyor belt sushi just fascinated him. Here in Japan this type of sushi restaurant is quite popular. Essentially there are small conveyor belts that wind their way throughout the entire restaurant; if you see something you like, you take it off the conveyor and eat it. Most of the sushi at this place (Kappa Zushi) is actually nigiri style, there are some rolls too if you want them. At this particular place I really enjoy the touch screen menus where you can order anything you want! The next food adventure we had was okonomiyaki. This is one of my favorite Japanese foods because it is so tasty and interactive! They describe okonomiyaki as a Japanese pancake, except that it is not sweet at all and it has a ton of other ingredients. The staples in okonomiyaki are cabbage, egg, and pancake batter. Beyond that you can add anything else you want; often there is meat or seafood added. We went to this particular place on a Friday, since it is Lent I got the seafood medley and Michael got the I Love Meat (on the menu they even print a little heart in lieu of the word Love). They bring you the okonomiyaki in bowls and you have to mix it and cook it on your stove top table all by yourself. The beginning is the easy part, but the flipping is always a bit tricky. I have been practicing, so mine was pretty excellent I must say. Michael on the other hand experienced epic failure and his split in half. I, who am so far from being domestic it's not funny, saved the day and his okonomiyaki and put it back together. I think he really enjoyed this meal, but it is so filling that we just went home and napped a bit after that lunch time! haha

The perfect place to buy all kinds of Japanese souvenirs in my little town of Koga is the Hyaku-en shop (the dollar store). I have said this before, but the hyaku-en shops here are soooo much better than the dollar stores at home - Michael thought so too. We hung out there for a while and picked up all kinds of snacks and gifts for his friends. Though to be honest, I don't think I have gone through every single isle of the hyaku-en shop until Michael got here. The fascination with all the different items to buy was like watching a kid with a new toy! We also popped into the department store, Saty, to pick up some other items. At the Saty there are some really great Engrish tshirts, so we jumped on that action too. Also, the Saty department store has their own jingle that they play over the PA system at the store. Michael repeatedly asked me if there was any way to get the song on a CD - he was a big fan! It's always the little things where he finds the most joy - I like that about him - it's also good for a laugh when he starts singing the Saty song in other stores because he likes it so much.

On Thursday morning I had to go into work because I didn't want to take any more personal time, so I left Michael at home to sleep in and headed to school. I was there for the morning and then I got to sneak away unnoticed for the afternoon! That afternoon the weather was so gorgeous and we donned the tshirts to go back into Tokyo and enjoy the city some more. First we went to Asakusa - one of my favorite and most comfortable places in Tokyo. Asakusa has an incredible outdoor marketplace leading up to Senso-ji Temple. The market is always bustling with people and just a really exciting place. I think I have been to this particular market about 7 times and I really know where things are. After some shopping around for souvenirs, we walked up to the temple and saw the elaborate decorations and ceiling paintings. The ceilings of this temple are some of my favorite in all of Japan.

After our shopping trip, we went back into Akihabara because Michael had to get his geek on. There were two spots he desperately wanted to hit to, "improve his gamer cred." One was Yodobashi Camera and the other was Super Potato. Yodobashi is a huge electronics department store that is literally connected to Akihabara train station. The place has 8 floors and is completely filled to the brim with any kind of electronic anything you can think of. Michael said if he wanted to build a computer, he could go to Yodobashi and find every part he would need all in one place! We painstakingly went through nearly every floor checking out all the merchandise and now I even want to go back and buy a couple more things - like the external hard drive that is one terabyte and looks like a giant Lego block!!! Also, apparently in Japan the brand Logitech is known as Logicool!!! I just want to buy something from them to have the awesome different name! After the exhausting Yodobashi tour, we left in search of the great Super Potato. Now this is a retro game store that is three tiny floors, but stocked so densely it reminded me of an old antique shop. We looked through all the floors of this place and Michael revered it as more of a museum than anything else. It was so much fun for me to see his passion about video games come out. I know when I start talking about the Wizard of Oz - I get excited and confident about what I am saying because my knowledge is so great. His knowledge of the history of video games and different trivia and fun facts was vast and just a joy for me to listen. We even found a king's throne made completely of old video games glued together!

After a very busy and wonderfully enjoyable - albeit much too short - week, I had to bid Michael goodbye at the airport on Sunday. We ventured to the airport and got him checked in with about 2.5 hours to spare. We got some lunch (tempura!) at the airport and then just walked around together until he absolutely had to go through security and get to his gate. The time we spent together was very needed and really great for me. When I had to tell him goodbye at the security check, I did start to cry. It's funny almost, I think I have cried every time we have to be separated for any length of time since we each went off to separate colleges; after every winter break and summer vacation - I always miss the silly time we share together because it is so comfortable and not strained. Soon after that, I made my way down to the trains and headed back home a little sad, but so thankful for the week I just had.