mother gorilla
The awesome band we came across
dad?
June 12, Day 10:
Waking up I realized it was the bittersweet of Sunday: the day of sleep and family along with the realization of the upcoming work week. But, forcing ourselves out of bed we knew we had things to explore today. Our plan? To go get a prepaid phone, go to the Ueno Zoo, visit the parks and shrines around Ueno park area, and walk to Akihabara (the king of electronic appliances and distractions). At breakfast Bean and I took out our peanut butter and bananas for the third time in a row only to get stared at quizzically. Apparently Japanese culture has no idea about this American phenomenon! Next we were off to purchase a phone to communicate with Koji about traveling to Osaka tomorrow and future trips. Soft Bank was the phone company close to the hotel and most trusted for selling phones (looked legit). The inside reminded me of any AT&T, but of course it had an amazing collection of Japanese technology. Sadly we got turned away because there were no more prepaid phones in the store and instead got lead to Don Quixote (the discount store we have so become accustomed to). Unknown to us, Don Quixote had something around 9 floors of everything you ever wanted in life! At the 4th floor we found electronic heaven and soon, with little ability to understand the Japanese, we were attempting to purchase a phone. Sadly the phone only lasts 30 minutes, which seemed like a slight rip off but we realized we wouldn’t be able to find a much better deal. I now have a Japanese phone J. “I think I’m turning Japanese”…song ha. To purchase the phone I felt like I was giving away my identity to random Don Quixote. First was my passport, hotel name, address and phone number. I felt really uncomfortable giving away all that information so Bean a work address and number she knew. In the end we were laughing hysterically about all the information needed for a prepaid phone and decided if he asked for a SSN we were going to leave asap. Ha. In the 40 minutes we had to wait for the phone to be processed Bean and I walked up floors of Don Quixote, looking at everything of course. We finally reached the watch and sunglass floor. I haven’t had a watch in so long so I figured it was worth looking on the floor. The floor consisted of veryyy expensive watches but I found the cheap wall! Ok, so I don’t normally feel compelled to buy things suddenly, but I ended up with 2 watches. How it happened..I have no idea! Ha. But, have no fear because they are awesome: A multi-colored watch and a funny, cheap pocket chain that was silver with an engraved eagle on the outside. HAH. I will have so much fun whipping out that pocket chain in good ole Athens.
After finding our way on the subway and eating a delicious lunch of PB&J (like usual), we found ourselves in Ueno. We had to ask various people on the street about the Zoo because there was no sign anywhere minus the few zoo animal figures on the street drains…like that was a clue or something? Anyway, after many attempts to talk to people we finally found ourselves on the Panda Bridge headed towards the Zoo. Due to our great eyesight we missed the Zoo at first and headed down into the park area. While there we came across this jazz/swing band consisting of a baritone sax, trumpet, clarinet, trombone, banjo, and bass. The best part of the band was the drum set made of cans and wood, and the instrument that was a wooden block with metal spoons attached to pluck. They sounded great and drew a large crowd. We stayed and listened for several minutes and songs until we decided it was time to go towards the Zoo we finally located on the Park map. Reaching the entrance there was a rush of children coming out of the zoo with wideeee smiles, and we quickly rushed in so we could see the zoo in their last few open hours. Running around to various exhibits we saw red pandas, polar bears, monkeys, tigers, lions, gorillas, penguins (jackass penguins to be exact), and various birds. The Zoo was beautiful, the animals were fun, and the monkeys, which were full of human emotion and the babies, were especially cute. This particular day at the Zoo I saw more babies and more animals close to the glass than I have seen at any other Zoo. Soon we knew it was time to move towards the exit because Japan plays very calming music when it is either time to leave the area, time to get off or on the subway trains, or time to walk across the street. I will truly miss such nice, inviting music in my ear. In all the Zoo experience was a wonderful day filler and full of funny, exciting photos to soon share with the world. For dinner we headed towards First Kitchen, a place we passed on the way to the Zoo that had the main attraction of bubble tea. Ordering a fairly normal dinner of French fries, a small small chicken wrap and bubble tea, we were soon off to Akihabara. First we got directions from an English speaker who overheard our translating problems, but mainly he pointed us in the right direction and thought we were crazy to be walking. In a short 30 minute walk we walked to Akihabara station and soon realized the electronic superstore was one large building with 9 floors of bright lighted various electronic goodness. We walked on each floor, exploring every inch before heading to the next. Only one floor we stayed extra long playing musical instruments. After splitting an order of Nan, we hopped on the train towards Roppongi. Tired and having to wake up extra early to travel to Osaka the next day, we were soon sound asleep. Goodbye weekend!
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