天気：雨天
The fact that I’m writing this now on a local train means that yes, I’m still in Japan; I missed my flight!!! I think this would have to be the biggest, most costly mistake I’ve made in my entire life; I feel terrible. At least I have Carly; she’s been a rock, and a shoulder to cry on. So now, we’re going to go back to the hostel, and try to book another flight for as soon as possible. I’m so exhausted; lugging my luggage here only to find I’d missed the flight was heartbreaking, and backbreaking. The airport was already really empty when we got there, and there were only a more flights. These really nice ladies stayed around and tried their best to help, but they had to leave eventually. I bought a phone card, and eventually figured out how to use it; my mind just wasn’t working by that point. The phone started ringing, and mum answered and I was soon reduced to tears; breaking the bad news wasn’t easy on either of us. I really feel like I’ve let everybody down, most of all myself. I had the wrong time stuck in my head; I should have checked the time again. Well, hopefully this has taught me a lesson; something for everyone to be wary of. Anyway, the rest of my day was quite pleasant, and we got a lot done…
In the morning, we got ready and packed and checked out at about 10. Check out consisted of putting our linen in the basket and leaving our key on the bed; too easy. We went over to the main building and Carly booked another night with them; it was the cheapest and easiest option. They were also nice enough to hold our luggage. After we returned with Carly’s luggage, we made our way to Sensouji for one last look around. I bought a heap of souvenirs and found a really great bargain on a carry-on bag; it was a perfect size too. The best thing was, it was free; I fin
ally used the gift cards I had won from singing at INFES. After Sensouji, we went in search of the cat café nearby (I saw the ad in Asakusa Smile), and eventually found it. For 800円, we got to spend an hour in a room full of cats and kittens, playing with them and petting them as much as we like; it was so much fun! The woman who ran it was really nice, and I was able to talk with her a lot in Japanese; she appreciated my Osaka dialect. Most of the cats were pretty placid, but all the kittens were super energetic; they were jumping and running about all over the place. They did tire out eventually though, and they looked so cute sleeping. We left there at about 2, and then made our way to 九段下 (Kudanshita) Station, in hopes of looking around the imperial palace… Well, this is the last stop; we didn’t make it back to Asakusa. Now we’ll have to find somewhere to sit and wait; maybe a Denny’s?
12:54am マック
天気：雨天
We’re here in 津田沼 (Tsudanuma), a place that I otherwise would have never had visited, were it not for my stupid mistake; how lucky I am. Well, we didn’t find a Denny’s, but a 24 hour Makkas is right outside the station, and that’s where we are now; thank God for 24 hour restaurants.
I just enjoyed a midnight meal (double cheeseburger set), and got a blue coke glass, in commemoration of the FIFA world cup; another thing fate has delivered me. It’s actually really cool, and I’m sure it’ll be a collector’s item someday. Carly’s curled up in a ball, sleeping; I wish I could get to sleep that easy. Oh well, I may as well write about the rest of my yesterday… Getting off at Kudanshita turned out to be really successful; I noticed a sign for 靖国神社 (Yasakuni Shrine), shortly after exiting the station. I had forgotten about wanting to go there, so I jumped at the opportunity.
It was a beautiful, but solemn place, filled with the spirits of the war dead; man and animal alike. I was really glad I got to see it. From there, we walked through 北の丸公園 (Kita no Maru Park), walking past the 日本武道館 (The Budokan), and through some wonderful gardens. Since the Imperial Palace grounds were in fact closed, and it was starting to rain, we made our way to the nearest station (竹橋駅 – Takebashi), and took the subway to Shibuya; the 東西線 (Tozai line), and then the Ginza line.
In Shibuya, we searched around a little while for a good, reasonably priced place to eat; I wanted my “last” meal in Japan to be Japanese cuisine. We found this nice, little vending machine operating place and I ordered the katsudon set, which came with udon noodles and trsukemono; simple and delicious. After dinner, we went in search of purikura machines, and ended up finding a bit more than we had hoped. Searching diligently for a purikura place, Carly spotted a Krispy Kreme restaurant; of course we had to go in!!! I was thoroughly impressed. While we were making our orders, we were given a free donut; the original glazed. Since I was going to order that (since it is undoubtedly the best tasting donut ever), I could now order two different things; 
I got one with strawberry filling, and the other with raspberry. I only ate the glazed one at that point, saving the others for the train ride. We kept on searching for purikura, and eventually found a room full of them. Not too fussed about the style we could have, we just got into the first vacant one we could find; this one made our eyes look intensely blue. By the time we exited it was 7 o’clock (the time at which I should have already been at the airport), and I took a few more photos of Shibuya, and videotaped the crazyness of the crossing.
Trying to find the Ginza line to take back to Asakusa was not fun at all; this was the start of the downfall of the night. We ended up going up and down and around in a great big circle before realising that it was actually on the third floor; why a subway line would be there I have no idea. Since we were going from one end of the line to the other, it ended up taking about 30 minutes to get to Asakusa. I enjoyed my strawberry filled donut, getting jam and icing sugar all over my vest; it was wonderful. It was when I was just about to step into the hostel at almost 8, when it finally clicked that the flight was actually at 9:25, not 11:25. I immediately went into overdrive, packing my carryon bag at lightning speed, and then rushing over to the station to find the Toei Asakusa line to Narita Airport; there were lots of stairs involved. Things fell apart when we realised we were on the wrong train, and we had to switch twice to right it. Waiting around in the train was the worst experience ever, because I knew that everything was out of my hands; meanwhile the clocks were steadily ticking. I hoped against hope that I might just make it, forgetting the dismal implausibility of it.
We were still on the train by the time the plane took off, and ended up being only 10 minutes late, well really, I would have had to have gotten there at least 30 minutes before departure time to make it to the terminal. So that was that; my “last” 269th day in Japan. Hopefully I can book a flight for tomorrow, and it’ll be all good; lucky I have the money for it. I guess now I’ll just write some general pointers about Tokyo, to sum up my holiday here… Asakusa Hostel is a wonderfully cheap place to stay if you just want somewhere to sleep and don’t have much luggage; having as much stuff as we did is absurd. I think the train system is pretty easy to navigate once you get used to it, and if you make mistakes (like we did) it’s not too hard to right them. Yes, there are over 20 lines operating both above and below ground, but that just means that everywhere is really accessible; the prices are decent too. There are lots of places in Tokyo that don’t smell too pleasant; just putting that one out there. We would just be walking down some street, and then suddenly our noses would come across a most unappealing stink. In general, it seems that residents of Tokyo automatically assume that foreigner = tourist = zero Japanese ability; and that’s what makes it different to Osaka. There wasn’t as much English signage, nor as many foreigners in Tokyo as I thought there would be. Of course, the touristy areas were more catered towards foreigners but still, not as much as I expected; not like Kyoto. And I think that’s about it; for now. We’ve still got a few hours before the trains start up again, so I might try to get some sleep, just like the two old guys either side of me and Carly in front of me…
