Lately, we've been alternating between doing a lot and not doing much of anything at all. The weather's been cold and rainy and miserable, which is more conducive to staying in and curling up under the covers than going out to see the city--especially when the latter requires a lot of walking in the cold.
In any case, let's start with what I did Saturday! I'll keep it relatively short, since you probably won't understand the appeal of it anyway. Apparently I like things most people would find downright weird and confusing.
Saturday morning, I left our place at 10:30am to meet Courtney at Higashi Shinjuku station (which is near her apartment and about a 20 minute walk from where we're staying). We were headed to Kachidoki station to board a yagatabune, or covered boat for a pretty mysterious actor event. (That actor would be Tsuchiya Yuuichi--or Tuti--who is one of the members of *pnish*). Up until we got on the boat, this is all we knew about the event:
- It was on a boat
- Lunch would be "whitish food"
- Tuti was in charge once the boat left the dock
- Be prepared
A few steps out our door, I noticed it was kind of drizzling, so I headed back upstairs to grab an umbrella. And halfway to the station, I realized that not only was it raining, there were also snowflakes falling from the sky! That was the first time I had seen snow, in person, since I was 5! But it was cold, and melting as soon as it hit the ground, so I didn't really get to appreciate it.
We ended up being the 2nd and 3rd people to arrive at the dock, and we had to wait out in the cold and the rain-snow for nearly half an hour before we finally got to board the boat. It was much smaller than either of us had expected, with tatami (woven bamboo mat) floors, so you had to take your shoes off before getting on. This website has pictures of basically the exact type of boat we were on. Down at the bottom of that page, just above the picture of the bus, you can see what the inside of our boat looked like. Except there were long rows of tables on both sides (enough to accommodate about 100 people), and beneath the tables was a sunken area where you could put your feet down without being cramped.
As you can see here in this picture of Courtney, there were a lot of tables in what seemed like not a lot of space. And as for this mysterious "whitish" food, well...
There was plenty of it! On the left, in the little paper "pot" was tounyuu nabe which is basically a bunch of meat, seafood and vegetables boiled in a little pot with a soymilk broth (there's a closeup next). In the middle is a salad--complete with kidney beans. Oh how I love salads with kidney beans (this is sarcasm, by the way). To the right of that is a little green bowl with a cube of very soft, very creamy cheese. At first, I thought it was tofu. In fact, I had eaten half of it and still thought it was tofu until the girl next to me corrected me. It was topped with two little shrimp pieces, but I pushed those to the side. Yuck. Above the salad in the plastic wrap-covered bowl were two different kinds of sashimi (raw fish slices). Behind that was a dish of pickled foods. I didn't eat them, though. And lastly, that empty rectangular tray on the right held tempura (batter-dipped and fried fish and vegetables) later on.
Here's what was inside the nabe pot -- a mix of mushrooms, meat, shrimp, tofu, and several things I don't recognize. I ate some of it, but not a lot. I actually ate quite a bit of things I had never tried before or wouldn't usually eat. I was proud of myself. I ate half the sashimi, tried some tempura, and even drank a glass of beer! This was a belated birthday party event, after all!
Lastly, here's a two-shot of me and Courtney on the boat. This was before the event really started, when everyone was still getting on the boat. We were close to the doors and it was cold, so I hadn't taken off my jacket or scarf yet. But you can see some of my cute new hat (and this is important)! Unfortunately, you can't see the cutest parts.
Taking pictures during the event was a definite no-no, so those are the only pictures I have, but both Courtney and I had a great time and were glad we braved the crappy weather to take part in the event.
The next day, Cinnamon and I went out in search of an umbrella. Since the weather has been almost entirely cloudy or rainy since we got here, we figured we'd need one sooner or later. But last time we were here, we just bought cheap 100 yen umbrellas, which didn't exactly hold up for very long. We had seen a little place near the McDonald's we had eaten at in Aoyama a few days before that had some cute umbrellas. However, by the time we finished eating, it had closed. So we decided to go back there to try again!
Back to Harajuku we went, and walked through Omotesando and down to Aoyama, and...
The place was closed again!
So we decided to give up on it for now and started walking in the direction of Shibuya, as we didn't really have any other plans, and Shibuya is a good place for whiling away the hours.
Here's Cinnamon looking around Aoyama. She's wearing the face mask because she's still sick and doesn't want to spread her germs. Also, it serves a dual purpose of keeping her face warm in the cold air.
And it was Valentine's Day, so I snapped this shot in the window of the swanky Pierre Herme store, which was understandably busy. Upstairs, they have a chocolate bar! I assume that means a cafe-type place where you can order all manner of chocolate confections. Here's a sample of some macaroons and chocolates. Don't they look tasty?
On our way to Shibuya, we stopped by a little jewelry store that I think we'll have to visit again before we leave, got some more cash, and killed some time in an H&M (which we were very unimpressed by). We invited Courtney out to dinner with us, which was T.G.I.Friday's! (Don't worry, we're slowly branching out from the American fare this time around). But on the way there, we discovered something very sad!
Remember this place from our last trip? It was just a few doors down from Friday's, and now it's gone! And we never got to eat there! This is a very sad thing indeed. Their ice cream looked so cute and tasty, too. At least I took a picture of it. Despite that, the night was a lot of fun!
Up next--Ueno Park, then and now!
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