Day 21: So Much Food. So Much Fun.

Today was our last full day and our last opportunity to really see Tokyo. We travelled to Shinjuku for our first task. Along the way we saw a couple of politicians out campaigning, due to the election next week. It was interesting to see the politicians themselves standing on the top of minivans using speakers to yell out campaign messages to the crowds of people. One of the people working for one of the politicians (the one who wasn't trying to improve smoker's rights) was a frog. They were very friendly. It was a busy day in Shinjuku as it is a Sunday, so most people are not at work and are instead enjoying a day off.

The Friendly Politically Motivated Frog

Our first appointment was bowling. And for no real reason I had a completely terrible game. Clearly I need to practice a little bit more because I was one of the worst in the group. On the plus side, I did manage to win a free game voucher (which I gave to Roy from the MPEs due to obvious locational difficulties utilising the voucher) by knocking over all but the single pink pin in the first bowl - completely accidentally. So that was nice. Bowling is quite popular in Japan, so unsurprisingly most of the MPEs were reasonable at it and had a good grasp of technique and theory. Most things in the alley were self-serve. The shoes had a vending machine which was very cool and the signs on sizing were super helpful. By some miracle I had the correct size shoe the first time!

Bowling Alleys - unsurprisingly the same as Australia

After bowling we caught the train to Shibuya for lunch where we had Shabu Shabu again. This place was really cool, for 90 minutes we had all you can eat. The thing is with Japanese food is that whilst individual food items are small, they bring out many plates. The MPEs kept ordering more meat and with unlimited vegetables and ice cream we were all incredibly full afterwards. However, during our free time, Shoichi (my MPE partner) took me to an amazing little cafe to watch the Shibuya Scramble Crossing and we did have to buy something, so I enjoyed a little sundae there as well which was very nice. 

The crossing itself is amazing. There were very few cars on the road, although I imagine this is quite typical as you would struggle to get through promptly, pedestrians seem to spend more time crossing than the cars get to drive. Hundreds of people gather at the sidewalk and the moment the light goes green it is like a dam wall opens and they spill out in every direction. Being amongst it is just as crazy. It feels fine for half the trip as everyone is walking in the same direction as you, but when you hit the centre all of the four streams combine and it becomes chaos as you fight to reach the other side, particularly if you are walking with a friend and don't want to lose them. 

Waiting to Cross

Go!

From Above...

Chaos!

 

Right in amongst it

We had a walk around Shibuya for the rest of our free time and sadly, failed to find any DDR places (Dance Dance Revolution.) Instead, we found a Disney store and it was AMAZING. This had three floors and was built like a mini-castle. There was heaps of merchandise and we burnt at least an hour just looking around the place. I was a bit disappointed they had nothing from 101 Dalmatians, which also surprised me given the sheer size of the place. Obviously my favourite Disney isn't anyone in Japan's favourite Disney. The time went by so quickly and we soon had to be back on the train to Shinjuku for dinner.

It took us a little to find dinner, there was another store by the same name that we went to first, but it turned out to be just around the corner from the Robot Restaurant. No one ate much, but we had a fantastic time singing Karoke. Unfortunately I couldn't do much,  despite not feeling sick any more, my voice isn't better yet. We heard the MPEs give us their own renditions of some of their favourite J-pop songs and taught them a few of our favourite songs as well. It was a really fun evening. At the end we exchanged presents - they had made us some amazing photos albums that captured the weekend beautifully - and then said a few sad goodbyes as not all of our MPE friends could come back to the hotel with us. 

All in all, this weekend has definitely been a highlight of the three weeks. The MPEs know their food and their fun exceptionally well. I hope they can all one day come to Australia so we can work as a team to repay them the favour. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I wish them every success and happiness in the future.

Sadly, tomorrow,at 7:35pm, we fly out. These past three weeks have absolutely flown by. I have learnt to eat with chopsticks  (I no longer get handcramps!), eaten raw fish, explored temples and shrines, climbed three towers, seen robots build cars, deliver scientiffic presentations and perform at a restaurant and most importantly, spent some great weekends in the company of wonderful people - be it my Homestay family or the MPEs. There have been so many money-can't-buy experiences and I am so grateful to have had these opportunities.

There will be no blog post tomorrow, as I do not land until 7:20am Sydney time. It's going to be hard to adjust to Australia, normal life and hot weather.