May 12

Today I went on a student guided tour of different places in the Tokyo area. We went to Shibuya, Harajuku, and Akihabara.
Shibuya is the scene from Lost in Translation where it shows the dinosaur walking across the big screen on the front of the building. Also that building is home to the busiest StarBucks in the world, pretty crazy.
After that we went to Akihabara which is the electronics town where a lot of the "Otoku" or dorks go to buy Anime or Computer stuff. We tried to go to a maid cafe for lunch but they were all pretty full and had a long wait. A maid cafe is a cafe where all the staff are girls that dress in maid outfits and speak in super a respectful way as if you were a king, none of us had been so we wanted to try it but just couldn't get in. We wound up going to a pretty cool restaurant near the station that had a very cool atmosphere and good food.
After that we shot over to Harajuku, which is the place that Gwen Stephnie sings about in a couple songs. There is a bridge there that we crossed and there was a group of about 5 or 6 Japanese kids all holding signs that said "Free Hugs". Naturally I asked to barrow one of the signs and received a hug. After crossing the bridge we headed to Meji Shinjuk shrine which is behind Harajuku station and apparently a place where people get married cause I saw 3 brides there.
From there we went to Nakano Meguro where we met up with all the other short term students at a Izakaya which is a cool J-style restaurant which you sit on Cushions on the floor which is typically made of Tatami matts. They served Miso soup, Yaki Soba, Karaage and some appetizers.
After that one of the teachers showed us around the Meguro area and showed us about 3 really cool places there. The first was a sweet little restaurant that was on the 6th floor and had tables like a regular restaurant as well as beds near the window that people can kinda lay down on and eat as well. I guess it's pretty popular and you must call ahead to reserve the beds but the tables you can usually get with just a short wait. Next she showed us a Okinawan style surf bar which was pretty good and what he claimed was the best pizza place in all of Japan which is also reservation only.
After that a couple friends and I went back to Shibuya to a standing bar that had pretty cheap beer and then headed home.