Now, I knew that I’d be upset as the end of this adventure of ours drew to a close. I did not know I would be this upset. We have two days left and I am amazed at the trip so far! I think the best thing at this point, however, is not to be sad that this trip is over but instead to look forward to getting back home to our cozy little beach house in time for summer. We have a great concert waiting for us when we get home (Opeth on the 26th) and I am just pining to get back to work. Every day that we make it on the subway, Saturday and Sunday included, I see people coming from and going to work and school and university. It is really inspiring. This entire country has integrated the work-hard-play-hard culture into the very fabric of their being. I respect that and I just strive to include that into our lives. The entire work regimen coupled with their core beliefs and even spiritual take on life has really struck a chord in me. I’m going to continue my Japanese lessons and hope to bring another language and set of values (that so closely resemble Brian and mine!) into our home to pass on to our little munchkin. We decided today that we need to make it back here. We are going to get home and plan to return in 2010. We are going to work our booties off to make that a reality. Work hard play hard. In Japan.

Today we spent the entire afternoon & evening exploring the rest of Shibuya. We found a huge manga shop called Mandrake decorated like a steampunk cave that was down eight flights of stairs in a random entrance on the side of the street. More of our – hey,-let’s-just-see-what’s-here tactic that has been part of what has made this trip so crazy & wonderful. In fact, up another one of these crazy twisty alley street we found Kirin City… a European style but fully Japanese gastro pub. We had a couple of mid-afternoon nama biru and ordered some squid, grilled in its own ink and a plate of pig’s paw. Weird and delicious. We got really lucky with the shopping too as we scored on an old-school book of a cancelled 1970’s live-action show (think: Power Rangers) based on Jiraiya and an awesome Japanese vinyl of a muscle man: Kinnuku Man. We also found a whole heap of Japanese-only t-shirts for a steal. Sweet!

And then, finally, after a week here, on our second to last full day in Tokyo, we sat down for our 1st proper sushi meal in a restaurant! We were (as always!) the sole gaijin in the place and grabbed two seats at the bar of a rotating sushi place. We ate until we couldn’t anymore! We ate tuna and eel and egg and dumpling and a few pieces that I have no idea what they were. We had hot green tea and fun, fun, fun. If you can believe it, we spent $12. Ha!!!! We’ll be going for another one of these, I think!

I can’t say it enough – but this place has just been amazing! Magical almost. And I am loving it.