Das Boots!

Random encounter at the bus stop. Was asked in perfect english where I was from by a Japanese gentleman who had spent a lot of time in boston. Ended up chatting with him the entire way to Shinjuku! So surreal.

Had a full day with Dai-chan as we met up in Shinjuku and went hunting for boots! I did manage to find a pair... with heels, fur, buckley things, and a price tag that will probably make me wince months later. But they are warm, fun, and by all reports, damn sexy. Considering that my pumas probably are not going to hold up to 0 deg weather, I needed something to run... or hobble in my case, knowing me and heels, around in. Diana also found an incredible pair of knee highs... on sale.

We ended up doing Karaoke and then heading out to Ikebukuro (one of my fave areas) to get tickets for the new Christmas Carol that is out. The only one in 3D was the Japanese dub, so we ended up watching the 2D. Jim Carrey makes it worth it. I liked this rendition. It is much darker and truer to the book than most of the versions that have been made in the last 20 years or so. If it had Patrick Stuart, this woud have been the perfect movie. Be that as it may, it still will have a place saved on my shelf.

Ended up killing time waiting for the movie by chilling in a way over christmas'd Tokyu Hands and escaping to Sunshine 60 for cake and breathing room, as well as a chance to sniff around for xmas presents and the new line of socks for the season.

After much searching and a few pointed comments that were true but hurt, we finally found a kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi place, something she'd been hankering for, and had a sketchy dinner.

Was really depressed and homesick when I got home, so went to bed a little early. It did show me that I've been holing up and depressed too much recently. So I am going to try and start eating out less and making meals more. We'll see if that actually works.

The not so Kawaguchiko

So while we had planned to be up early to head out to Kawaguchiko to see mount Fujii.... we ended up getting a 10am start. This heralded an absolute Quest to get the kawaguchiko before dark. In between poor timing and sparse trains, we finally rolled into town about 2:30... an hour and a half before dark... next time I'm picking up bullet train tickets.

Being totally clueless, we finally hopped a bus and, with some help from a random, quirky Japanese couple sitting behind us, decided to hit the Fall Leaves Light Up festival being held on the lake. Mt. Fuji was gorgeous if a bit cloud covered by the time sunset hit, but we did get such delicacies as "wild boar" soup. Also found these crazy mini mt Fuji's to take back to work for "souvenirs". Wish we'd had a full day to spend there, but now I know. Was not NEARLY as cold as I expected.

I did spring for the rapid train on the way back, and we made much better time coming home.