So much has happened since i last updated … where to begin? I guess i’ll start at the beginning.

Our second day in tokyo started off pretty early, since we are both still jet lagged. We started off by trying to buy sumo tickets. We left the hostel without a proper map (i thought Deena brought hers, and she thought I had mine) so we decided to go on an adventure in tokyo without a map. After almost getting lost we managed to find the sumo stadium, and had stumbled across a very lovely temple dedicated to war heroes along the way. The early sumo matches were amateur wrestlers only, so we decided to go to Shinjuku until the pro tournament started.
Shinjuku was really nice, and not at all what I had expected. The streets were long and wide with huge department stores all along the way. T’was a very fancy shopping area much like yorkville in toronto… only in japanese. We hit up a few record shops in Shinjuku that had a very bad ass selection of records that I never came across in toronto, and at really cheap prices too. Sadly I diddn’t want to cary a stack of records along for my trip so I opted to just browse instead. What really surprised me the most is that there were alot of posters and promos for The Shaggs, who were (or still is) a 60’s rock trio consisting of … (3) girls that don’t really know how to play their instruments very well. I don’t think they were very popular in North America, but are apparently hot shit in Tokyo. We also stopped into a pachinko parlour along the way and were mesmerized by the flashing lights and exciting sounds around us. I think we were doing pretty good for our first time playing, but really, we had no idea what was going on. nevertheless it was a great time. However, I would have to say the biggest and best surprise in Shinjuku was when we got off the subway. There was a Japanese guy walking towards us, and I noticed his shirt from a distance. I thought to myself “that guy looks like hes wearing a leftover crack shirt”. I continue to walk down the street towards him, and to my surprise, he was actually wearing a leftover crack shirt. Even the Japanese (or at least that one guy) can’t seem to get enough of that crack rock steady beat!
From Shinjuku we went to the sumo tournament which was very exciting. I thought I knew what sumo was like, from watching it on TV, but I never realized how much goes into the tournaments. Each match would start off with a clensing of the ring by throwing salt onto the floor. Then the wrestlers would stomp out (at least to my knowledge) all the bad spirits within the ring. They did this many times before the actual fight took place. The process would take about 5-8 min, and the actual fight would only last a few short seconds. After one of the wrestlers won, some guy would come out and sing a few short notes, and the whole thing would start all over again.
As we were walking back to the hostel for the night, we saw some kids playing catch (with a ball of course) across the street. One kid misses the ball and it bounces across a busy 4 lane street, Which I then caught with my ninja (ferret) like reflexes. I then threw the ball back to the kid, but I seem to have been out of practice, because the ball slipped from my hands, landed short in front of the kid, and then it bounced right into his gonads. He let out a litte yelp and cupped his naughty bits. I felt pretty bad about it afterwards, but it was a good laugh at first.
I also bought some Black Black chewing gum (highly caffeinated gum) and rose gum (supposed to make you sweat out a sweet rosy scent). I think the rose gum actually worked, but I bet Deena would say otherwise.

As for day 3, we started off by waking up at 5 am to check out the fish market madness. After taking a very long and out of the way walk, we finally arrive at our destination. The Fish Market. There were lots of fish. Afterwards we went for breakfast sushi, which isn’t always the best idea, but I just had to try some fresh sushi straight from the market. It was pretty damn good, but I still felt a little ill, as did Deena. The sushi we had was much much bigger than back at home, and I was not expecting them to be so big (surprisingly enough, im not much of a fish eater).
After the fish market we headed to my old home, around roppongi. This was to be the most exciting part of my whole japanese trip. We get to Hiro-o station, and we find my old local grocery store, National Azubu market. It was just how I remembered it looking, not much had seemed to change. Across the street was a really nice park that we walked. It diddnt look familiar, but im sure I played in there. Next up was my old home. I was very excited to visit it, and the streets seemed somewhat familiar to me. As I walked towards the side of the house, I notice there is no driveway. Then as I get closer, I notice there is a big white barrier across the front. Shortly afterwards I am standing right in front of the house, only to realize it had recently been demolished…. sacré bleu! It was quite the letdown and very anticlimactic. We then walked very slowly down my street towards the peacock grocery store and eventually find the Wendeys restuurant I used to frequent as a youngster. We ate a greasy burger that made me feel like poop, and headed off shortly after.
From there we hit up Akibhara, the electronics district of Tokyo. There were lots of neon lights and the largest electronics department stores I had ever seen. They had some really nice TVs set up too, and properly hooked up to HD sources for the best possible picture. Unlike future shop and best buy, who look like they connect their HD TVs to VCRs for display. We saw lots of really cheap and elaborate cell phones and itty bitty laptop computers that caught my eye. We even came across a store that sold nothing but robots (for mucho dinero)
From Akibhara we headed back home via a few trains in rush hour. That was loads of fun. Now I’m about ready to hit they hay, after this long day. I hope I’m not forgetting anything. I feel that this entry may not be long enough. maybe next time I can elaborate more.

Evi L. Salem