...and we're live

Well, hello, Tokyo!

Yesterday I arrived in Shinagawa (big Tokyo transportation hub) for our final farewell party. Despite almost stealing someone else's host parents and drinking about a gallon of margaritas in the entrance of TGI Fridays (it's amazing how low you'll be willing to stoop after only two months), it was a pretty good party/farewell experience. Today I moved to my hotel.

Ok, hotel is a complete lie. I'm staying in a hostel, for 2,000 yen per night. Here's the only difference, as far as I can tell:

It's just one little s, right?

This wouldn't be such a big deal except for the fact that last night was spent in Le Pacific Maridien, a beautiful and overpriced sort of place, courtesy of JSPS. For the first time in my life, I took advantage of the many services they offer and had a box of books shipped home (my only effort was supplying the books and an address - the rest they did for me) and having my still too large suitcase sent to the airport. It'll be there at the aiport for me when I leave in a week. All of this for the modest price of less than 10,000 yen in all!

I'm not sure if it's a testament to my pathetic packing abilities, or to my poor planning skills, or to the ridiculosity of the Japanese economy, but these sesrvices were totally and completely worth every single yen. Taking the subway to the hostel was difficult enough with only a bag, backpack, and purse.

The rest of the day was typical Sitchel. After spending part of a lovely afternoon with a couple other people from the Summer Program, I had had enough and needed to be antisocial. So I got some 500 yen coffee from Starbucks and went a 100 yen shop. The alarm clock, two batteries, handtowel, lunchbox utensils, bento bag, snacks, and several adorable little dishes cost about two grande iced lattes.

After deliberately retracing my steps to two separate bookstores that I'd seen on the way and failing to find anything in English, I got fed up, tried to get back to the Metro station, got lost, and almost ran into an international bookstore that had a whole floor of books in English. As soon as I finish this, I'm going to curl up with my new purchase, since I have to read it before I go because there is approximately 2 square millimeters of spare space in my luggage. (Incidentally, said luggage is currently locked up until 11 am tomorrow morning. This means that I have to wear a subset of pajamas and today's clothing for my meeting with Dr. Hwang tomorrow morning. Fantastic.)

In an attempt to at least see something touristy and pseudo-Japanese during the day, I headed to Akihabara, the electric town district. I carefully selected a gourmet meal at Yoshinori's (Japanese McDonald's) and wandered, moth-like, towards the brightest lights that I could see. I succeeded in discovering that Final Fantasy III is coming out tomorrow, that good J-pop does exist but costs at least 25 bucks per CD, and that I can get a duty-free electronic dictionary for about 120,000 yen from the nice Uzbeki salesgirl, but only if I come back on Friday after 2pm.

This is not what the guidebook led me to expect. I thought it'd be a ton of clubs, bars, video game parlors, pachinko, etc. In reality, it is nerd paradise.

So, in conclusion: I'm at a super-safe, super cheap hostel, minus most of my luggage as well as clean clothing for tomorrow, and spent my first day in one of the metropolitan centers of the world in coffee shops and bookstores. Go team Sitchel!