Fun in Tokyo

Random picture of the cute garbage trucks they have here.

Well, first we had to find a coin laundry to do some wash, which we found successfully using an old map from Google - thanks people who draw maps of stuff like that!

Next, we met a relative for lunch, and she gave me some tips on fabric shopping, which will happen this afternoon in Kamata. But I did find Marunan, which is widely known by bloggers and is very close to our hotel in Shibuya. The stuff I really liked was about $50 a meter (100 yen is about a dollar, so you just throw a decimal in there and it's like dollars), so I found some cheaper stuff that I might make a skirt or sleeveless top from. It was $5.80 to $7.80 per meter, and is the typical Japanese print in cotton. I'm not really big into cutesy prints, though...

Next we went to the Tokyo Dome, where I saw my old friend, Ultraman. Siblings, you remember watching this when we were little? Apparently made of metal, but strangely flexible (as if really made of silver foam) when bending his arms and shooting lasers from his hands!

And since the giant Ferris Wheel with no center support was closed, we bowled before the baseball game. Ours were the only names in Roman letters - funny. I believe that the inventor of bowling must've taken it around the world, because the lanes are exactly the same, but apparently Japan wants no funny business, so the beer in the vending machine is alcohol free, and there's no food.

Dean throws some Geijin technique at the Nihonjin. The teenagers near us bowled about like we did, but the older couple behind us carefully wiped the ball down before EACH turn, and were very meditative...it was their personal rock garden.

Then the big event - Tokyo Giants vs Hokkaido Fighters (I think)! And what do you eat at a Japanese baseball game? Well, you can have a burger outside the stadium...uh, I think that's a burger joint. Can you make heads or tails from the sign?

I had edamame with my beer...those are soybeans.

And the hawkers here are all cute girls in pastel outfits who just wave their hands and smile - no yelling. And they like their bowling alcohol free, but you can get sake or whiskey at the baseball game.

These businessmen had a bento box for their dinner. Lots of men came to the game in their suits with their briefcases...very interesting.

I tried to get all the different beer girl outfits because they were so cute.

And here's a sample of a Japanese baseball crowd...the men and women take turns chanting - those aren't kids' voices!