~* TOKYO PART 3....finally *~ Monday (Getsuyoubi) - WUMF= Wine, Udon, Maids & Flyin' Fish

Konnichiwa Minna~san,

So I know it's been awhile since I have posted last, but I've been uber busy with school and stuff.  Here is the last part of my Tokyo trip that was absolutely amazing- enjoy.

Getsuyoubi - The Final Day~

After "sleeping in" a little bit and stuffing my face with shuu kuri-mu Asuka, Mara and I met up with Nanae at a place called Tokyo Mid-Town.  Tokyo Mid-Town looks more like a westernized city than any other part of Tokyo I had been priveleged to see.  We went walking through some type of mall that used both traditional Japanese interior design as well as modern, "green" designs which were pretty cool.  We stopped by some shops and looking at the prices of the goods that were being sold, I decided we had gone to the ritzy part of Tokyo. 

You want to know how ritzy?  Just as we were nearing the end of the mall there in the glorious distance was a Pieroth Wine of Nippon stand.  Not just any Pieroth wine stand.  One that was offering free wine tasting.  FREE.  You know you are in a special place when there is a free wine tasting.  You know Pieroth right?  This is a big SHOUT OUT TO MOM because i remember the blue bottle.  It was that stuff.  I saw the blue bottle and was like, oh!  that wine is like my mother's favorite.  All of us stood there for a little bit trying to mull the fact over in our minds about a free wine tasting and we all ended up looking at each other and being like "heck yes! why not try some free wine?  Can't hurt us..."

So....we all end up sitting down and I'm like pretty happy because, heck, I have never had a wine tasting before...and to top it all off I get to see what was so good about that stuff in the blue bottle.  A suave looking salesman comes up to us with a cooler case full of bottles and starts pouring us our first tastes of Pieroth.  We all sip a bit and then we are like oooOOOOOOOOoooo....that was good!  hahah  We end up trying a total of 5 wines and there was one that was just over the top fantastic. It was a dessert wine and man it took the cake.  We all at first started sipping dantily and then once it hit our lips, well to heck with the dantiness we sucked that stuff down like it was the only drink left on earth.  It was only a little ity bit but.....it was so good that the salesman almost got two of us to buy a case.  I frantically wrote the name down so I can buy it in the future. 

We were all blown away by our wine tasting, because we didn't really think much of it.  And when I say "we" I really do mean all of us - we couldn't get it out of our minds!  The taste was like heaven.  It was so good that the beautiful view we saw after exiting the mall didn't even matter!  Thank you, Pieroth.

After this we traveled to a place that is famous for their oudon or Japanese noodles.  This place had bowls that were more like buckets full of scrumptious udon.  It was so good....I had the tempura udon and ate it all up.                    

As soon as our lunch-feast ended we were off to Akihabara - the otaku (geek) captial of the world.  So geeky that we passed by people of all ages at like some type of Nintendo DS tournament thing where you could see even old women playing on their DS's.  It was too funny and lo-and-behold, Mara pulled her DS out and I was just confused....hahah

Akihabara was full of geeks, electronics, arcades, girls dressed up as maids, Maid Cafes, and all that makes the world seem right to a man.  We set out on a journey to find semi-sane Maid Cafe to go to for dessert.  We end up seeing one called MaiDreamin (hahah- get it?  Maid Dreamin? oh those clever Japanese and their word puns...) and decide to venture to the top of a building where it is located. 

We all smash into a small elevator and my back is to the door as I am talking to the group and then I thought I entered into a cute warzone.  The first thing I hear (since I cannot see anything behind me) is an overly kawaii wind chime sound mixed in with high-pitched squeal/shouts coming from Japanese girls.  Can anyone say blown eardrums?  Mara said she wishes she had a camera to take a video of me as this was happening.  Apparently my face was priceless and hence would have won millions on America's Funniest Home Videos.  I'm not going to lie, I did almost crap my pants. 

As I turned around I was thrown into an overly pink, ice cream mountains, pretty abyss of high pitched screams emitting from the throats of maid-clad Japanese females.  It was a bit scary.  I unfortunately have no pictures of the place that are my own since we were not allowed to take pictures there.  I think for primarily two reasons:  1) to protect the identity of their customers (because these places can be full of creeps) and 2) protect the maids' identities.  How would you like to have "Maid for MaiDreamin - Akihabara" on your resume?  That's what I thought.

So a couple things about this MaiDreamin place.  There was this guy there that had an ice cream mountain that was literally a foot tall.  I was tempted to get it until I saw that it was 3,800 yen (about $40).  It would have been magical, however the sundae I did purchase and stuff down my face was quite suteki(na) (fantastic).  From now on Ashlee will eat her ice cream with corn flakes.  Yes, corn flakes.  You all should try it sometime.  Good job Japan for (I think) pioneering this technique.  Along with my lovely sundae comes an introduction of magical deliciousness by the maid that was serving us.  We were all obliged to join her in her cute and magical hand motions and as Mara said "attack of deliciousness".  Indeed it was "magically delicious".  Oh and one more thing....when we were seated we had a fake candle placed on the table that was supposed to transport us to a magical fairy land - according to Asuka's translation.  Asuka's face was priceless throughout this whole process. hahahah  Half way through our 'magical adventure' Mara and Nanae felt that they just wanted to slap someone silly because of the loudness.  I could say something here, but it would be very inappropriate.  ^_^  Good ole MaiDreamin  was an experience I'll never forget....and once was enough!  Thank you, MaiDreamin...

Finally exiting the maid cafe, we entered an arcade because you cannot NOT go to one when you are in Akihabara.  Duh.  Asuka wanted to face me in a Taiko Drumming game (Japanese drumming game) and before we got on the machine there was this kid that brought his own sticks and was beating the crap out of the drums.  Like in a good way.  He was dripping with sweat after his action on the taiko.  Asuka and I did no where near the level he did, but still we had fun.  I proved to be champion at Taiko and won us extra songs.  Woo taiko domination.  I have always wanted to be a drummer. 

Also, we indulged in something called purikura or pictures where you can look super cute and then electronically draw on them.  Those machines have like the best lighting ever.... I looked and I'm like dang!  we look GOOOOD.  hahah  Thank you, purikura.  Mara and I spotted something pretty weird and disgusting though....a middle aged man with a young girl dressed up as a maid coming out of a purikura machine.  I think you actually can rent an escort like this in Akihabara....it was creepy and disettling though.  Sometimes, actually a lot of times things like this in Japan get breezed over.  No thank you, Japan.

Asuka asked where we wanted to go for dinner and we decided to end our meals in Tokyo with good old fashioned sushi.  SHOUT OUT TO KIM  This time I HAD NO SHAME!!!!  I stacked 'em high - i think i had 11 sushi plates and 3 dessert plates.  Only about $35.  Score.  The place that we went was a bit different than any sushi place I had been.  Until the hour hit, I didn't see the huge fish tank right there in the restaurant.  I was in for a nice little surprise.  Not only did these sushi chefs amuse me with their random deep shouts of "arigatouuuuu gozaimasuuuuu" but they served up fresh red snapper.  And by fresh I mean literally fresh.  Every hour they offered a special from diving into the actual fish tank and in a few short minutes serving it up....  I was too full to brave fresh red snapper....hahah  Asuka and Nanae had some though!
below:  Fish being prepared to meet it's doom:

Our trip concluded with trying to find the bus terminal in The Beast aka Shinjuku Station.  We found it, said our farewells, and boarded the bus back to Kyoto.  It was such a fun and great trip.  I will never forget it and am so in debt to Asuka and Nanae for showing us Tokyo and spending as much time with us as they did.  THANK YOU!!!!!!~ 

And that's Tokyo in 3 days.  Woo!  I will be updating my blog more since I have a couple things to catch up on but for the most part...yeah!  I'm glad I'm done with updating you all on Tokyo!