Final Day All to Myself
So today was pretty much the final day in Japan for me to actually do what I want. It just doesn't seem real to me right now. It seems that right when I finally have realized that I actually am physically in the country of Japan, I have to leave. It kind of makes that dream only seem like it was just a dream and nothing more. I really great long dream that turned out to just be too short.
We watched a movie today in my first class called "Eve no jikan" (The Time of Eve). It was a really good movie. It was an anime. Very dificult to understand the ending. I think there is a sequal but I am not so sure.
School couln't end fast enough today. I was meeting my Japanese friend today so that we could go shopping in Shibuya. I haven't actually had time to really enjoy that city. So when we met up. She took me to Genki Sushi to eat lunch because she was hungry and the campus has officially closed for the summer so there was no food. As a side note, I wish they would have told us that before hand. We all were prepared to get something to eat during our break at the convini and it was closed. So we went hungry. I eat breakfast at 715 and didn't get to eat again until almost 130. So I was really hungry at that point.
Anyway, my friend said that Genki Sushi is her favorite place for sushi. I love sushi!! It tastes so much better here. It's also different. Where in the US, we have a lot of rolled sushi where as in Japan, it's just a neat pile of rice with raw fish on top of it. It normally comes with wasabi and a lot of it, so you usually have to ask for it to be removed.
After having awesome lunch, we went to 109 (a department store) so go shopping. She took me to the place in 109 that sold good quality Yukatas for really cheap. (Yukata is the less formal form of a kimono). We get inside the store and it looks like just a store full of stockings and sock but behind a wall there were a bunch of yukatas on sale. Japan really likes sales here for some reason. Every place I have been to has had a sale. The store worker saw that we were browsing the different yukatas and started explaining the quality of them and how to wear them and was telling us how much they were with the discount. I realized when she was done talking that she was speaking only to my friend because she was Japanese and they don't expect me to be able to speak Japanese. So I told the worker that I understood Japanese and she was really surprised and we spoke for a while talking about where I am from and why I'm in Japan and how I like it. I was glad that my friend was there because a couple of times she asked me something, and I had no idea what she asked. My friend would tell me what the word was in English and it just so happend to be a word I had never learned. After talking for a good 5 minutes I picked out the yukata that I liked and purchased it. It's red and has butterflies and flowers on it. All the yukatas had flowers on them, but very very few had butterflies on them. After buying the yukata we walked all through 109. It's quite a huge place. It's almost like a mall but much taller. I took a few pictures of really funny sayings on clothing and I ended up buying one of the bad English shirts to wear in the US. I find it really funny! It has really small font so I won't actually make a fool of myself in America while wearing it unless you are walking close to me.or standing right in front of me.
I also bought a poofy skirt. I have been wanting one of them for a while now and I am so happy that I have one now! After we went through 109, she took me to a brand new department store that had just opened for tourists. It looked very big and fancy inside. And it was super expensive. We saw a really cute wallet and I looked to see how much it was and it was almost $200. I couldn't believe it! So I very softly put it back and we moved on. I was able to find some hair decorations for me to wear with my yukata for a decent price and I bought them. I also found sented soap that looked like a popcicle. They weren't that expensive so I bought one of them as a gift for someone back home.
It was starting to get late so we headed back. I gave her a dollar bill from the US and she was very excited. She had never seen one before and had always wanted to see it. She told me that she would treasure it forever. She gave me her address so that I could send her some coins from the US also. She was very excited to be getting something in the mail from me.
We parted ways and I went back to my hotel. I went to my friend's room because she asked me to head over when I came back from shopping so that we can both go to a cafe. But this is not just any cafe. This is a cafe that I have been wanting to go to since coming to Japan. It was literally, that last thing on my list of things to do in Japan, and that is go to a neko cafe. Neko means cat in Japanese. She knew that there was one near our hotel so we headed out with our umbrellas because, like I have said before, it spontaniously starts raining for no reason here. And that is exactly what happend as soon as we got outside. We walked around where she remembered seeing but couldn't find it. So we went into a convini and asked the workers there if they knew where a neko cafe was and they said that they remembered seeing one, but they could not remember where exactly it was. He told us the general direction and what it was called and my friend and I headed out in the direction he told us. My friend wanted to ask another person so that we wouldn't have to spend so much time in the rain. The guy was really nice and took us directly there. It was just around the corner. It was very small, so I can see why it would be difficult to remember where exactly it was in the sea of shops. We head up to the 4th floor and walk into the cafe.
We were given instructions in English, on how to behave in the cafe area with the cats. She told us not to pick any of them up and only pet the cats that were out and not in boxes or cat houses. We had to put on special slippers and wash our hands and put our belongings in a locker, but we were aloud to take photos. They gave us a list of all the cat names with pictures so that we could call them to us. There were about 20 cats in this room. And surprisingly, they all knew their names. It was really cool. Af first they don't like you, but then after you sit there for a while, they realize that you are there to pet them and play with them and feed them. It's pretty much cat heaven. They can do whatever they want in that room. They were all extermemly friendly cats. Some of them were really scared because of the rain storm outside. It was thundering pretty loud. A few of them went into the cat homes they had to hide. When you get inside the cafe, there is a book shelf with books about cats, and popular mangas and magazines. There were people in there reading mangas, using the internet, of course playing with the cats, and drinking coffee. We ordered something because we were in a cafe, it only seemed natural to get something to drink.
We stayed for an hour becuase we didn't want to have to pay for more time there. You are charged by the hour up to 3 hours. After 3 hours you just pay for the day pass. They also have memberships. It was fun! They were all so soft too. They had brushes and toys and treats. But they regulated the treats so that the cats won't get fat. These cats just did not shed and that's probably because they get brushed all the time.
Anyway, after the cafe we both went back to our rooms and I started packing everything. I think I barely have enough room for everything. I sure hope so. Goodnight all!
