Japan Day 2 (Part 1)

Well usually I don't have much to write about here, but since I'm in Japan, I figured this would be as good of a time as any. Also, don't worry about missing "Japan Day 1" as it was just us sleeping to shake off the jet lag. "Us" is referring to my older sister and I, for reference. So it wasn't until I was on the shuttle to our hotel that I realized I'd made the ringtones requested but hadn't actually sent them out before I left... So my bad on that, I'll get to them ASAP when I'm home. Moving on to actual events, we started about 7:30am today, redeemed a breakfast voucher or a Japanese style meal (keio plaza is way ritzier than I thought it'd be) which was really good. Did I know what everything on the plates were? No. Was it delicious? Oh yea! Except we only got green tea to drink, which isn't bad (if you don't imagine you're drinking liquid grass) but I don't typically drink anything hot with my meals. Even coffee is a before or after beverage for me. After breakfast we meandered around the hotel convenience store which, regarding souvenirs, was no better than comicon prices for similar items. Grabbed something to cold to drink, budgeted out our money for the day, and hit the streets. First stop was a walk through Shinkuku Chuo Park. Even got to see the Shinjuku "Niagra Falls" which were not quite as outstanding as their namesake. The Juniso-Kumano-jinja shrine was nice, at least from the distance we were at. Didn't go in since it didn't look like it was open quite yet or at all for the public. Next was our trek to and through Shinjuku City (keep in mind this is all still in Tokyo) which became very dense with very interesting shops, restaurants and convenience stores. Of course we had to stop and check a few out since we'd heard everything had considerable differences to their stateside counterparts. So far, no 7-11s had any FFXIV drinks but I'm keeping my eyes open just in case (unless it's ended without my knowing). They did have a place to sit and eat, though, as well as an assortment of exotic snacks and, of course, a manga stand. I plan on picking up at least a couple to practice reading by the end of our trip. Our official tour doesn't start till tomorrow so we're spending today just exploring the area around the hotel in Shinjuku. We even explored the underground malls which were very extensive. Some parts were more like hallways while others were a bit more open. Both were interesting to peruse through. My sister is just excited that someone other than herself enjoys stopping in interesting shops just to browse. It surprised me that was rare for her considering I thought that was the whole point of a vacation. Who are these unadventurous people and why are they traveling?? Business trips are one thing, but cmon! Anyway, moving right along. We spent about 5 hours walking around (no metro cuz we ain't casul) before our feet began to give and we retreated to the hotel to rest up before hitting the town again (which is when I'm writing this). Once we get hungry we'll head out again to check out the differences in commonly known American food chains and attempt to communicate our way through a Japanese restaurant to grab something to actually eat. We did see a poster for Burger King with an item called "Monster Baby"... Dunno if that's in the states as well but I got a few looks from laughing so hard regardless. While we were out I was fooled into going in a gambling arcade since they had a Zinogre poster out front. I was sorely disappointed. Afterward we found a real arcade with mostly claw machines and we had fun seeing what they had to pick from. I haven't attempted any yet since I'm trying to be conservative with my funds for the time being. Later, though. They also had a teiko drum game which we hadn't seen since PlayStation 2 went outa style. We nailed our first song (it was a theme to FMA brotherhood) on normal before I got cocky and picked hard mode which we utterly failed, denoted by the dejected and worn out looks we got from our on-screen teiko avatars. Still, 2 songs for ¥400 ($4) for the both of us. It was fun. And very very loud. I'm guessing it was turned up for a larger crowd. We were the only ones there aside from the staff. Walking around has been interesting. I've found that if you're paying enough attention and walk confidently you don't have to worry about running into people. Everyone is very 'on it' and my own stutter-stepping while getting used to it clearly ruined the flow for everyone else a couple times. I did almost get hit by a bike, but it was my own fault. You really gotta watch your back when you step out because bikes are everywhere in this area. The skill of drivers is also astounding. I thought we'd see wrecks all over with how close our bus driver came to hitting people or rear-ending another car, but it was all very controlled and seems to be the norm from our experience today. No panic, no injuries, just everything has a flow, and if you adopt it you're just fine. That doesn't mean be careless, just don't freak out. So far it's been easy to get around as non-Japanese speakers (I know some words and phrases but I can't converse yet) since, in spite of the "where are the subtitles" jokes, most signs have English or Korean translations similar to the US. We're still in a big city, though, so it's to be expected. We'll see how it is moving further out. There's very little conversation needed to buy anything too. The POS systems tell you how much you're being charged and most people working know at least some English (or a lot) to help you out. The look of relief and even some smiles you get when offering a Japanese response where you can, however, is rewarding. Everyone is very polite too. We get passed over for tissue handouts, though. We guessed it's because they assume (correctly) that we wouldn't understand the ads on them. Fair enough, but I want free stuff too! Anyway, that's it for now. It's 2pm and we'll probably make our next attempt in a few minutes. More updates when we get back'