Fast Paced Tokyo

There's me making my wish!
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I arrived into Tokyo from a short flight over from Seoul.  I lugged my ever-expanding backpack through three metro changes and one lost moment to my hostel in the neighborhood of Asakusa, Tokyo.  The hostel is set behind an amusement park, and being that it was a Sunday on my arrival date, the park was packed.  Very fun to walk through a surging sugar-fueled crowd with a 22 kg backpack!  Ha, ha.

The hostel is great though.  Very clean, very organized, and very nice.  I was met at the hostel by a friend of Jenny Moehn who lives in Tokyo.  Yoshi, was a foreign exchange student in high school in Wisconsin, and he was as excited to meet me as I was him.  We walked around my neighborhood to see the temples, shopping, and people.  I made a wish at the temple under Yoshi's instructions for the bargain price of 10 Yen.  Then, we inhaled some incense in front of the temple for good health.  Asakusa doesn't have tons to offer, but strolling around asking him questions about Japan and Tokyo and his life was so much fun!

Me again, in front of a super huge lantern at the gate entrance to the temple in Asakusa.
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Yoshi had made reservations at a typical, traditional Japanese restaurant for dinner.  It was a hibachi restaurant where we grilled our own food at the table/hibachi in front of us.  It was hot and entertaining!  We were able to pick different vegetables, meats, and seafoods to grill on skewers.  I tried some crazy shell fish!  We even had a giant scallop that was so delicious!  After dinner, Yoshi walked me back to my hostel with the invitation to his home next Sunday which I gladly accepted.

Yum! A giant scallop and some crazy shellfish that was pretty good!
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The following day I explored the high-pace commercialism of Tokyo.  I went to Ginza, Tokyo central, to explore and play with the new Sony toys and tech stuff.  There are some major cool things going to come out soon!  Watch out for a tv/computer all in one on a giant plasma screen!  I then went for coffee over the giant intersection in the Shibuya neighborhood.  It is the busiest intersection in the world!  Super crazy!  I crossed it twice and felt like I was almost carried!  Ha, ha.

Yoshi dishing up our delicious meal.
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After my people watching, I listened to the new releases and J-pop music at the music store.  They let you listen to the whole album!  Very nice!  The J-pop is a bit horrible, but funny to listen to.  I later met a girl from my hostel for a delicious meal in another traditional Japanese restaurant where the food is cooked in front of you.  The chefs were funny, and we dined on an assortment of mushrooms and seafood.  We retired to the hostel decently early to rest before the early morning bullet train ride to Kyoto.  Should be fun!