Tokyo: Round 1

We`re off to Kyushuu today with a brief stop in Hiroshima to see the Atomic Bomb Museum. It should be pretty intense.

Tokyo has been great. We stayed with Ken`s friend Ryo, a real-life Buddhist monk. Yesterday we woke up early to go see a ceremony that he was taking part in. His temple is one of the biggest in Tokyo and it was cool to get to check it out. He`s a hard partier but he sticks to his faith when it`s important. He`s 19th in his family line, one of the oldest consecutive lineages in all of Japan.

After the ceremony we went to Shibuya and hooked up with Scott for lunch. It was great seeing him and catching up. He really digs the program he`s doing and is seriously considering re-signing for another year. After lunch, Kenny and Nabe went back for a nap so Scott and I went to Electric City, an overhyped district of Tokyo with a buttload of electronics. The bargain shopper in me was pretty disappointed because everythign was still really expensive and the tourist in me was a little annoyed because it all seemed so pointless. Sure there were a lot of electronics stores but they all sold the same stuff and they all looked and felt the exact same. Meh.

Scott had to head home so we took a picture in front of the electric monstrosity and parted ways. I got back to Ryo`s apartment around 4 PM and we all got ready to go out. Around 5:30 we headed to a very nice restaurant near the Tokyo Dome. Ken`s brother Matthew met us there along with 2 other friends for a party of 7. We ate a lot of really good food and drank a lot of good alcohol then went out to some other bars. We had a good time and didn`t get home until around midnight. I hit the wall around 9 but I couldn`t drag the party down by wussing out early so of course I kept it real. As soon as my head hit the pillow at Ryo`s I was out like a light. Ken said that all the Japanese guys thought I was dead this morning because I wouldn`t wake up no matter what they did.

It`s been a long few days and I`m looking forward to relaxing in Kyushuu. As I type this, Ken informs me that his uncle wants to take us out drinking tonight with a bunch of his friends. Joy.