January 4th, 2002. Hope.
Wow, it feels strange to type the date. "2002" is asthetically more pleasing than its predecessor, "2001" There's something to be said about symmetry, when it comes to beauty.
This picture was taken at Fran's house with the webcam that I bought for her. Damn, it's so much better than mine, I think I will buy one too when I get home.
Well, I have been back here now for a few days and things are just as I remember them. Not like I expected everything to be chaotically different, but it's nice to see that most things haven't changed. This time back is much better than my first arrival in Japan. I was afraid that i would be going through some crazy homesickness again, but it's not too bad, to be honest. That being said, I am typing this at 5am because I am thinking about my girlfriend and cannot sleep. Insomnia aside, it's cool.
I hate not having a computer here. It's driving me nuts already. Not only am I forced to do text updates only, but not having my laptop has also rendered my digicam and MP3s totally useless. I brought an old CD discman over and some CDs, but it skips constantly and I can't enjoy Billie Holiday when it sounds like Jam Master Jay has gotten a hold of "Good Morning, Heartache" and scratched the shit up. G-g-good morning, heart-heart-h-h-heartache, you old gloomy sight...
However, I just heard that used computers here are super cheap (then again, that's what I heard about lots of things and it wasn't true), and that I could probably pick one up for less than $300CAD, if I get a slower model. Woo hoo. I might be back in business soon. Just waiting on news about my laptop back home before I buy anything.
A quick update: I know it's not the same without photos, but here we go.
Went to make a withdrawl today from the bank. This doesn't sound like much of an adventure, but remember, I am in Japan. I returned to Japan to find a note from my house manager Jiro, reminding me pleasantly that I owe him rent money. There was also a bottle of wine from him in front of my door. How nice. The implication, of course is that if I don't pay up, I will be needing this wine to sip while I sleep out on the street.
So yesterday was some sort of holiday for my particular bank (Sumitomo Bank) and the branch near my house was closed. Fine. I didn't realize that it was a holiday and assumed that it was just this particular branch that wasn't open for some reason. So I headed to my old apartment where there is another Sumitomo branch. Closed. Shit. This is why it's important to learn how to read, I suppose.
Back home I went in search of a convenience store that housed an ATM. Most do, but you have to find one that has a joint venture with your bank in particular. In my case, I was desperately seeking an AM PM or Family Mart (which has access to all the banks from one machine). After an hour or so of walking, I finally found an AM PM, only to find that the ATM was on holiday too. What is with this place?
After my little adventure with the bank, I met up with a friend of mine (well, Fran's friend really, from highschool), Chris, as she was out visiting from Osaka with her friend Tom. The three of us wandered through Harajuku looking for Shakey's Pizza (Chris had a craving). I was the designated guide, so of course we were lost within 5 minutes. After another 20 minutes of walking, we gave up. Dejected, we eventually settled for some other Italian buffet joint. Not bad, but we only had a half hour to stuff ourselves. The Italian food here isn't all the great, as you might have guessed and strangely, the best dish in the place was curried rice.
In a vain attempt to find a coffee shop open past 9:30pm, we stumbled back into Shibuya. There were no coffee shops to speak of, but we did find however, a huge Shakey's Pizza that was open all night. Chris cursed and we smiled.