Where in the World is Marta Senn-Diego? Part the First

Title no longer pending, my adventure has already begun!

Yesterday (wow, was it really only yesterday??) I unloaded the last of my junk on a new teacher in Kitakami (incidentally, named Marty...go figure), shelled out a few thousand yen to cover my water, gas, and electric bills (the water guy came on Friday, but said he'd leave it on for another day so I could clean...guess who camped out in her apartment under a towel that night?) and I was on my way!

Day 1, Tokyo. I was waffling about what I'd do for the night. It's still not warm enough to sleep outside comfortably, despite all the layers I had on: for the record, silk tights, a silk undershirt, jeans, 2 pairs of socks, a sweater, a jacket and my coat. And I didn't want to spend money on a hostel or hotel. I just figured I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.

I got to Tokyo at a pretty reasonable hour, around 3pm. It was a little overcast when I arrived, but at least it wasn't 4th circle-of-Hell-hot like it was the first time I went! By the time I dropped my bags off in a locker and made my way up to Asakusa, the weather had cleared. It was still cool, but the clouds were dissipating nicely (I use words like that so I sound like I can still speak English without making informative gestures). My first stop was the restaurant supply store district. Yes, there are stores that sell woks and pots big enough to bathe in. There are knives that can peel a cranberry or cut the head off a gigantic tuna. But there are also the glorious and beautiful sample foods.

What a tease!

I treated myself to a couple magnets: a shrimp tempura and a matcha taiyaki. But they sold everything from phone charms to lifesize samples worth up to a hundred dollars or more. But looking at the quality and the craftsmanship, you understand the price. When a glass of beer looks like it's dripping frosty ice or that grilled fish might as well be begging for it's life, $80 doesn't seem that unreasonable.

You've granted your last wish, Nemo

When I arrived at Senso-ji, I was happy to see that summer time isn't their only busy season. The rickshaw drivers were sprinting through traffic like always and vendors were calling people to their stands as loud as ever.

If I could give a tip to anyone planning on taking a trip somewhere very popular, I'd say don't stop where everyone else is taking pictures. Chances are, you're going to get a few shots with a lot of people's selfie sticks and iPhones in the lower part of your picture. Instead, go around. Find an angle nobody else appreciates and make it your own.

The avenue leading from Kaminarimon to Senso-ji temple was just as lively as it is in the summer! Walking up and down the streets, you take in the bright lights, the high voices shouting the stalls' specialties, the water smell of cut flowers, the salty tang of senbei wrapped in roasted nori.

All around, there were men and women dressed in yukata and kimono for no other reason other than it's spring, school's out and the sakura are starting their nationwide bloom.

Hope is a universal language

I walked to the eastern part of the park grounds where a small children's kabuki stage was being dismantled. Across the gravel courtyard from all this action was a small temple and inside I noticed there was a wedding being performed! Not the Westernized version: I could see the girl wearing the white kimono and large headdress! I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and watched. I guess as I stood there, I attracted some attention because before long, more and more people were coming over and looking into the temple too.

Eventually, some taxis arrived and parked to escort the wedding party to the formal dinner. I wanted to stick around and get some photos of the bride and groom but after 15 minutes, I decided I wanted to keep moving. Who knows how long it would have been. I did get a picture of the bride's shoes. Does that count?

So by this time, the sun was going down. Time to explore Akihabara! I considered going back to Shinjuku again to relive my pancake epiphany, but Shinjuku was far...I didn't want to make the extra trip back to Tokyo Station in the morning, blah blah blah. Akiba and it's neon lights it was!

The last time I was there, I was there almost begrudgingly because I was dragged exclusively into game shops and UFO machine centers. I love exploring UFO centers (the prizes are always outrageous or super cute), but I wanted to see the seedier side of Japan, too. This was my opportunity.

Without much of a game plan, I decided to start at one end, work my way up the street, cross the road and go back down. The first place I stumbled into? An "adult store." Six floors of DVDs, books, costumes, whips, gags, lotions, potions, dolls and dildos, many of which were accompanied by large and graphic instructional posters hanging behind them on the walls. Six. Floors.

After that bit of entertainment, I hit the bricks again. For a few hours, I just trolled the street, popping into stores, looking at merchandise, stopped at a cafe for a bite and to charge my phone (bless this country and it's glut of sockets), and basically killed time while I decided where I was going to sleep. As I mentioned, it was too cold to stay outside and I know my grandpa would absolutely lose his mind if I slept on a park bench.

I was running on 5 hours of restless towel-blanket sleep and train dozing, so the pounding headache and slight nausea at 11:30 convinced me to find an Internet Cafe and sleep there. I haven't actually been in one before, but I had heard they were like halfway houses for men with nowhere else to go. I find that hard to believe because they're kind of pricey. Not terrible enough to keep me away, but unreasonable enough to call it a shelter for the destitute.

Bed, Sweet Bed

This place was nice. You don't pay until after you check out because it's a by-the-hour establishment. And everything is included in that price! Drinks, food, internet, massage chairs, the lounge, the bank of gaming computers where a small army of wide-eyed WoWers or whatever the kids are into these days, sat with steely-eyed determination. There are also magazines and manga if that's your thing. My thing was getting a cubicle and crashing for about 6 hours. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it was a reclining chair, four walls, and legitimate blanket. I was happy to cocoon like that until dawn.

In the morning, I paid my fee and made my way back to Tokyo Station to collect my bags and head for Kyoto!