The Rabenstranger

Today is my second day of class. So far it’s gone much the same as yesterday, except for the fact that I’m stuck at school from 9-5:15. Classes still seem alright and I’m still waiting to see which classes I end up in tomorrow.

Today I started classes for my last semester of undergraduate study. All of my classes seem to be alright so far. My schedule isn’t nailed down yet, I’ll be adding a couple more courses on Wednesday be here’s what I’ve got so far:

- Political Philosophy

- Economic History of the United States

- Economic Writing Seminar

- International Monetary Economics

- Chinese History

 Not a terrible line up in my opinion. However one of the courses I may have to add is Women in Literature, which I’m not crazy about. We’ll see how things pan out.

After school, Justin, Jon Jo and I rode out to Odaiba. We walked around some of the artificial beaches and walked out to one of the harbor forts. We capped the day by coming home and playing some Worms Worldparty. Not too bad for the first day of school.

Yesterday, Justin and I went to church. We attended the same church I have been going to for the last two semesters, Jesus Life House. This Sunday was the Church’s 5th anniversary and so me met at a larger venue near the Canadian Embassy rather than the usual location near the United States Embasssy. Why do we always meet near embassies? I have no idea.

We rode to church on our bikes and picked up another RWG (Riding while Gaijin) on the way. We would have made it to service on time but the police took a long time in deciding that we weren’t criminals and we ended up walking in about five minutes late.

Despite our tardiness, we enjoyed the service. Afterwards, I got to introduce Justin to a handful of my friends, including my former room mate Josh.

On our way home we stopped at a large cemetery and Justin took pictures of some of the impressive headstones.

Late in the afternoon, a friend of my friend’s mother’s friend, picked us up and we went to Asakusa. Afterwards we went to all-you-can-eat sukiyaki. As at shabu shabu we tried to get the best deal by eating as much as possible. We succeeded in eating a truly enormous quantity of beef, tofu, mushrooms and assorted vegetables. Our new friend also offered to take us to Mount Fuji next Saturday.

Today we went riding with Jon Jo, the British tenant next door. A few blocks from the apartment we were stopped by a couple police officers. This was my third RWG (Riding While Gaijin). Fortunately, we all had our proper papers and the stop was no more than an inconvenience.

We contined towards our first objective, Akihabara. After a wrong turn or two we found it and spent an hour or two browsing the electronics stores, anime retailers and game shops. As on previous visits, I found the fabled cheap prices to be mythical. I could find much better prices on electronics and games at home or online.

From there we rode down to Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately there was construction obstruction good shots of the station and the palace gardens were closed. We still rode around the perimeter a bit and got some shots of the moat and guard houses but all in all it wasn’t the best.

After that we headed for the Tokyo Tower. We stopped at a nice little shrine on the way, one of those really cool places that would be missed if we took the train. Finally, we made it to the Tower and a short time later we headed back home.

Justin and I just completed an enjoyable day exploring Tokyo. After getting our bikes registered in the morning, we rode down Gaien-Higashi Dori to the bank where I sorted out some minor difficulties with my tuition payment. We then went to school where to check email before riding up Meiji Dori to Shibuya, we rode around a bit, seeing the Shibuya 109 building, Hachiko, the busiest pedestrian intersection and the busiest Starbucks in the world. From there we rode up to Harajuku where we shopped on Takeshita Dori where we bough Engrish t-shirts, a chess set and the game of go. From there we rode through the crowds on the Omotesando and Aoyama Dori to Gaien-nishi Dori up to Yasu-Kuni Dori which we followed home. *

It was one of the longest bike trips I’ve ever taken in Tokyo. It’s even longer when all the time and distance during which we were lost is accounted for. That’s not to say we minded being lost. Our little side trips added a lot to the journey. Not only did we see the parts of the city we meant to but also a whole bunch of new and interesting territory we hadn’t intended to visit.

*I know there’s a ton of street names in the above description and hopefully they don’t bore anyone to tears. With a decent map of Tokyo it should be pretty easy to trace our route and see the distance covered.

A little ditty about how I feel.

At 95 degrees and 82% humidity, Tokyo gets two thumbs down for climate tolerability.