Today was the first day that I’ve been exploring all on my own. End result? It was kind of a failure. It wasn’t because I couldn’t get around. It wasn’t because there was nothing interesting to view. No, it was all because of a few factors. Like I mentioned before, I’ve been horribly wiped out from the abnormally large amount of walking that we did in the first few days. This is certainly not the relaxing sort of vacation. Taking that into consideration, I wanted to head to someplace close to the hotel. Around here, there’s the Senso-ji temple, and Ueno Park which is a large park in the middle of the city. Since I’d already gone to Senso-ji twice, I figured it would be a good time to visit the park. It’s only one stop away on the subway. Once I got there, I walked around without any big aims, but I eventually ran into the Ueno Park Zoo, which is Japan’s most well-known zoo. It’s been a while since I’ve seen animals in a zoo, so I paid admission and went in. Well, it’s everything you’d expect a zoo to be.

On the grounds, there’s even a monorail. I thought that thing was going to circle the park, so I paid the ¥150 admission and got on. To my chagrin, the only people that got on were adults with their kids. The parents were all “tanoshii yo ne?!!!” to their kids, which basically means “this is totally fun, isn’t it?” The kids were into it. Soon the thing started up and as it moved I pulled out the video cam. Soon after I started filming, the things stopped. I looked around and asked myself, “this can’t be it, can it?” However, all the passengers filed out. I felt like such a tool. The thing just crossed the zoo to the west portion, which was entirely walkable. What a waste!

I tried to make the trip as relaxing as possible. At one point I just sat on a park bench and I took off my shoes, trying to give my feet some well needed rest. That was fine by me. By the time I left the zoo, it was about 1 p.m. The moment I left, that’s when the rain came. Now, for this trip, I feel we had been wholly blessed. I mean, Yosenex told me that for the entire month of May the rains were relentless. The fact that rain didn’t come during the tour was incredible. So, I didn’t really mind that the rain was happening at that moment outside of the zoo.

I ducked under a tree for a little while, but then I figured that I should buy a temp umbrella or else I’d be stuck there for a long time. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a booth that had just pulled out its supply of umbrellas. Sure, they cost ¥500, but at least I could move. Well, the winds blew hard and despite me having cover, I still got moist. I was just tired and miserable. So, I headed back for the hotel early. The hotel was explaining in Japanese that they still weren’t done cleaning the room. They asked “something something…modoritai?” which I gathered to mean, “do you want to go back to your room?” I mustered a tired “hai.” I dunno, I think I must have looked like I was going to either drop dead or start bawling. The clerk called around and returned saying “go fun“, meaning “five minutes.” Fine enough by me. I’ve been napping ever since I returned to my room. I think the smell of animal poop is haunting my mind.

That brings me to another point as to why today was a failure. When you go alone, there’s no one to act as an incentive to continue pushing forward. Oh hell no. There’s no one there to push and no one that relies on you, so if you’re tired, you are free to damn well return if you want. I took that option. Someone suggested that despite being here for a week now, I may have just hit jet lag now. It’s very possible.

The last point I can think of is an absolute saturation of the need to absorb a culture. As I look at a map of the big Tokyo subway system, I think I’ve been to and seen the sights of most of the major ones. Ikebukuro? Been there; won UFO dolls at an arcade. Shibuya? Done that; took a pic with Hachiko; ate teppenyaki there. Shinjuku? I ate at the red light district. Akihabara? Walked around endlessly; ate at a maid cafe; found many goods. Ueno? Done the park. Ginza? Walked around, went up Mitsukoshi and saw the ridiculous prices for all the goods. Asakusa? Been to Senso-ji twice; wandered around the Nakamise shopping streets; had a Buddhist monk wonder if I’m native American.

Let’s just say, I’m tired. I don’t know what else to have a look at. I think tomorrow though, I’m going to build up enough energy to walk around Harajuku. Yeah, it’s that fashion place that Gwen is all ga-ga over. It’s advertised as a Teenagers’ paradise. So, I’m going to head there and bring the video camera along. Should be interesting. Hopefully I’ll get footage of some weirdo gothic lolita types. If I need to kill time, I may make a stop over at Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara first. I mean, I don’t think I’ll end up buying anything, but it’s fun to look at 8 to 9 floors of electronic goods. That place is huge! If I do though, it’ll tack on about ¥120 to the travel costs. Did I mention that water money flows like water here? It seriouesly does. It’s kind of ridiculous.

That’s all for now I guess. Talk to y’all soon. Looking forward to going home.