After a tough day in Kamakura, I was happy to just remain in my hotel room and get some rest. I got undressed and just napped for an hour or two. A little while later though, I got an email from a friend asking whether I was free to hang out. If so, I was to give him a call since he was going out for a walk. I thought I might as well take advantage of the chance, so I called him up. Turned out, when I called him he was right in front of my hotel. So, I hurried and put on my least stinky shirt (which were in abundance) and went down to meet him.

It was really interesting walking around town with him. He had been reading a famous Japanese novel about the area we were at, so he decided that we should walk around and follow the same path that the guy in the novel did. So, we walked around going stop to stop. One of those stops was at Sensō-ji, which I’d already been to twice. In front of the temple, we were stopped by on old Japanese guy. At first, it looked like another one of those guys that wanted to practice their English. However, it soon became clear that there were other intentions afoot. You see, my friend is clearly Jewish (or at least Mid-Eastern looking). That played a role in the questions that this guy was asking. He asked us (him) to look up at the temple and asked what we thought. I don’t think we were too clear on exactly what he had us look at. He clarified it for us by asking what we (he) thought of the swastika on the big lantern at the front of the temple. Just for clarification, the swastika is a symbol used is Asia and in particular Buddhist temples long before the symbol picked up a different connotation. Anyway, my friend replied that he thought nothing of it. However, the old guy seemed to persist and say “Oh…so you know everything, yes?” “Yes, I do know everything,” is what he replied. We decided to walk away because the guy was obviously a nutcase. As we walking away, he exclaimed “You look poor!”

Oh the hilarity. See what I mean about fashion? Bah. My friend has been in Japan for so long that we really doesn’t give a shit about it anymore. Anywho, from the temple, we went through the Nakamise and out to the main road. We hiked to the Sumida river, which he explained was the lifeblood of old Edo. It’s a beautiful place to be. He led me around town. Soon enough, we were in Akihabara. Now, in my mind I was so used to Akihabara being only accessible by train. To be honest, I was shocked to see Yodobashi-Akiba. We ended up eating at a curry place around the place. It was pretty awesome–at least, in comparison to the crappy curry I ate at Kamakura that same day.

From there, we had to decide what to do next. Originally, we had a movie in mind. He kind of wanted to see the movie Cars, but he came up with another idea. I think he wanted to make sure I did mostly quintessentially Japanese stuff. So, he suggested heading to an Ōedo Onsen Monogatari. For the unfamiliar, onsens are Japanese public baths. I dunno. People back here were suggesting I go as well. I wouldn’t get any other chance, really. However, a public bath…involves getting naked…in public. I was so conflicted. Part of me wanted to, but I had so many physical issues that wasn’t sure I was ready to deal with, for example, pudginess, scars, etc. It was a tough tough call, but in the end, we ended up going. The place was in Odaiba, so we had to take a train, then a monorail to get there. Well, the place is like an amusement park. Inside, they tried to maintain the feel of old Edo Tokyo. It’s very cool looking. They give you yukatas to wear inside the resort. When you walk in, you kind of feel like you just went into a time warp of sorts. I mean, everyone is dressed in their yukatas and the scenery is very old. When you get to the change rooms, your inhibitions kind of have to drop or else you’re going to go batty. I mean, the moment you walk in it’s like, BAM! Everyone’s fucking naked (Err…I mean, “fucking” in the purely expletive sense–it’s not a big orgy). So, despite some pudginess, battle scars and all, I joined in. They give you two towels: a big one and a small one. You can use the small one to kind of cover up, but really, once you’re there you almost don’t care. Besides, it’s not like I can wrap that shit around my waist comfortably. There were eight or nine different spring you could try out. Each had its own feature. Like, there were hot ones, colder ones, mineralized ones, outdoor ones, etc. Going outside, it was such an odd thing to be sitting naked in the cool breeze–it felt good though. Hahah. I think, the best part of the experience was just hanging out (ha!) with my friend. I was glad that he recommended going to the onsen. It’s a life experience that I can be proud of.

Interestingly, after feeling refreshed, we had to change back into our smelly clothes in order to go home. Boo!

Anyway, that was Tuesday. Thinking about it makes me feel exhausted. Even so, it was all fully worth it.