I am a Sunset Whore

To make things even more confusing, in Tokyo the capital city there is an area called Tokyo. The Japanese named it that on purpose because they have an over developed sense of humor and find confused looking gaijin hilarious.

Even so, it's a pretty cool place. Sam's back from her romps throughout all of Japan and is now living in Kanda, which is really close to Tokyo. So, for the last few days, we have been exploring that area. We both didn't know anything about it, so we just picked a direction and went with it.

We ended up in the middle of something called the "International Forum." Tokyo (the district in Tokyo the city) is mostly filled with high rises and what seem like businesses and department stores. The "International Forum" was a collection of tall buildings with a little plaza connecting them and a big mochi rock just chilling out in the middle of it all.

Doesn't it look like a big tasty mochi? There's no red bean inside though. I checked.

Then I saw this wavy-looking building when we were walking around aimlessly and thought it was cool. It gives you a pretty good picture of what the rest of the area looked like. It was kinda San Fransisco-esque if that helps. Minus the hippies. You know, around that section of Market where all the sort of government and major cooperation buildings are? It's like that.

A few blocks down from that we found a park. I think it was called Hibiya Park, which is also the name of the nearest subway line and the only reason I remembered the name. hehe. The sun was setting behind the trees and I couldn't resist.

It was a very pretty park, but the best part was all the cats! Let's play a game: spot the cat! Ready....go!

Did you find it? It's ok, I took a close up of it. Count 'em:

There are five cats! Just chillin' out at the park.

Then I found this cool church type thing with that gorgeous sky behind it.

And then here is where I lost my senses. I really am a sunset whore. I can't help myself. It seems Guuzen-sama again randomly stumbled upon some sort of old castle grounds in the middle of this skyscraper city, and managed to hit it right as the sun was setting behind it. Therefore, please again indulge me while I spam my blog with sunset pictures.

I'm not really sure what that is behind me, but since I was in Tokyo, Tokyo and the "kyo" part of Tokyo means "capital," I'm thinking that was maybe the old capital/castle from ye olden times? I don't know. All I care about is that it had a moat! haha. Moats are cool because they reflect the sunset quite nicely. ^^

Then we ate thai food and had this lovely delicacy:

Along with this tasty goodness:

And walked back to the station because it was dark and I wanted to see Sam's new place. So, we walked through Tokyo at night, which is pretty cool, and went to Kanda. The End.

Except it's not really the end, because the next day, we went back to the same place. We wanted to check out Daimaru (which I think is a really weird name. It literally means, "big circle."). Daimaru is a 13 story department store. It was quite the experience. I was also kind of curious about the floor with plus-size clothing. I'm kinda pudgy and had resigned myself to not buying any clothes in Japan because I'm a huge American, but if there is such a thing as plus-sizes in Japan, maybe there is some hope. But the bottom floor where all the cakes and sweets were was the coolest. (haha. I like cake and sweets. That's probably why I'm pudgy, but hey, one should enjoy life and all it's offerings.) I didn't get any, but they were so cute! And a lot of them had edible gold on top!

We had decided to go to Daimaru because it was indoors and the weather report said it was going to be thunder and lightning storms all day. They lied. It was slightly cloudy, not much, and didn't even drizzle. So, in a spur of the moment decision, I convinced Sam to go back to Roppongi Hills with me so we could go to the top and see the 360 view of Tokyo! (I mean Tokyo the entire city this time) Who knew how long before it rained again? So off we went. I was very happy with myself for being able to get there without the help of google maps.

So we went up to the top. It cost 1500円 ($15) for a ticket that got you to the 52nd floor with the art museum and the 360 view of Tokyo THROUGH GLASS. That was obviously not good enough. So, Sam and I spent the extra 300円 ($3) to go to the "Sky Deck" which is a fancy name for the roof.

It was so cool being up that high! Like flying with your feet on the ground. And, of course, we went up at sunset and then stayed until it got dark and got to see Tokyo at night too. Yay! Sunset pictures! I don't have nearly enough of those!

We only left because they kicked us off. One of the really cool things about being up there is all the different people who are up there with you. I don't think any of us were from the same country. There were a few people from Japan, obviously, but then there as a couple from China, Korea, some Middle Eastern country (maybe India?), a few from different European countries, and then Sam and I from the U.S. We were quite a collection and I thought it was quite fitting that the name of the exhibit in the art museum was called "Kaleidoscope."

We finished the night off with a very tasty experience in a milk bar. Didn't know those existed, but apparently they do. They were having a "campaign" which means sale, and this crazy mango raspberry desert was 33% off.

Look at the cute little chocolate spoon with the place's name on it in gold! It broke when I tried to eat the ice cream with it though and, alas, did have to resort to the metal one.

This guy was chillin' out by the cash registar.

And this guy was enjoying the evening air at the entrance.

Then, a great tragedy befell me. My glasses completely broke. I mean, they hard-core, fell-to-pieces broke. But that's ok. I am a resourceful spy lady and Macgyvered them back together with floss. haha. My glasses look horrible! The left side is being held together with floss and the film on the lenses is pealing! But the upside with this is that I will have glasses from Japan! If I can figure out how to translate the prescription that is...