Japan - Days 127-137

Again, sorry for the lack of updates, but hopefully I can remember most of what's been going on this time
On Friday (New Year's Eve), I got up early with the intention of going to Tokyo before meeting up with my friend Waka. I agreed with Jen that I'd bring the heater to the bus stop with me, and she'd pick it up from me there. She did so, without a word of thanks, and then got off the bus to go back to Ichinoya. That kinda put a damper on my morning -_- Anyway, I got to Tsukuba Centre, bought my ticket to Tokyo, then got on the train, playing Pokémon and listening to my iPod. I reached Akihabara at about 8.45am, then noticed the snag in my plan - everything opened at 10am, with the exception of Yodobashi Camera, a big electronics department store, which opened at 9.30am. So, I walked aimlessly around Akihabara for about half an hour, then waited outside Yodobashi Camera until it opened, watching the big LCD screen above the door to pass the time. Anyway, finally the shop opened, and I went straight up to the 6th floor - video game and anime goods. I found the most AMAZING art book for the Tales Of series, but it cost something like Y3,000, so I decided I probably shouldn't splash out on something quite that expensive, at least until I can find it second-hand :-D After browsing their selection of soft Pokémon toys, I went down to Book Off, in hopes of finding one of the next Pokémon Special manga I need, but as I've got most of the really old ones now, it's gonna be hard to find them from hereon out. Next, I went to the Sega arcade next to the station... to use a toilet. Yes, that's right. On the top floor, they have a urinal that has an arcade game connected to it. I didn't use it on this occasion, but I managed to get a photo (there was no-one else in there). I then spent the next few hours browsing the stores in an attempt to find the Core Drill necklace I've been looking for, but the only one I could find was, again, one that cost about £100. No thank you! After I'd finished looking around and killed as much time as possible, I went to the Pokémon Centre a few stations down the line. I downloaded myself a Pokémon. However, it wasn't what I was expecting; I thought I was going to get a Tabunne, but it turns out they're only for your birthday. Instead, I got a Darkrai, holding the rare Enigma Berry! I do already have a Darkrai, but still, win :-D I looked around a bit, and couldn't decide what to buy, though I couldn't really call myself a Pokémon fan if I didn't buy something :-p So, I went down to the convenience store below and had some lunch while thinking what I'd buy. Eventually, I decided that, as they had no necklaces, I'd go for the next best thing - a wristband. And, as luck would have it, they had a great one of Giratina, which was the last one of them they had left. Happy with my purchase, which I put on as soon as I got out of the door, I checked the time and realised I still had a lot of time left to kil before I was due to meet Waka. So, as the station we were meeting at was only one station away, I decided I'd try walking between the two stations instead of riding the train, thereby saving a bit of money and using up the time I'd have to otherwise spend waiting around. I could see Tokyo Tower, and as I remembered walking from Keio to Tokyo Tower during the homestay, I thought this would be a true test of my memory. Plus, I made a mental note of where the previous station was so that I could make my way back if I got lost. So, I set off in the direction of the Tower, passing through the ground of a temple at its base which I'd also been to on the homestay, though it was more crowded as they were setting up for New Year celebrations. I kept walking in the direction of the Tower, and then found myself in a place I didn't remember. So, I headed in the general direction that I was sure the station was in, eventually coming to a crossroads I remembered, and after another 10 minutes of walking, I found myself in an area I definitely remembered. Though, I still had a while to wait, so I walked around the area by the station, grabbing some lunch from a convenience store, before meeting my friend. At first I didn't recognise him because he no longer wears glasses, but he seemed to recognise me in spite of my glasses and long hair, which I didn't have last time. After buying the tickets to Yokohama, we got on the train. Once we got to the station (which had changed a lot since the last time I was there), he bought me a Pasmo card (you put credit on it and use it instead of tickets, like an Oyster card) which he wouldn't let me pay for, and then we walked around for a bit. He then bought me a drink at a café, again which he wouldn't let me pay for even when I insisted. Anyway, as his mum and sister were still busy, we got the bus back to his house, where I was greeted very warmly, and got to meet his grandmother for the first time. I put my stuff in the traditional room, then went into the kitchen for an early dinner, called 'toshikoshi soba', the last soba noodles of the year, a Japanese tradition. Over dinner, we talked about a bunch of things. Apparently Waka's dad was away on business in Dubai over New Year, which was a shame. Then I tried to explain about my science experiments to them, which would be hard enough to explain in layman's terms in English, let alone in Japanese ^^' Still, I kind of managed it, and apparently it got my friend's sister a little interested in something sciencey going on at her school. After dinner, we sat down to watch a New Years musical variety show which apparently my friend's mum watches every year. I'd kinda been hoping to go to a temple for New Years, but still, this was warm XD I was almost falling asleep during it because I'd not slept too much the night before, resulting in my being poked back awake at one point ^^' After we saw the temple bells being rung on the TV and saying 'akemashite omedetou', we decided it was time for bed. They showed me the shower and told me how to work the heater in there so I could shower in the morning, then we went to sleep.
New Years Day. I got up before my alarm went off, and decided to get an early shower. Then I went to breakfast, which consisted of a bunch of traditional Japanese foods, and some soup with mochi in it, which was an interesting mix. I don't know why they were so impressed by my ability to eat all of the Japanese foods, it's all so tasty ^^ After breakfast, we headed out to the local shrine for 'hatsumode' - the first visit of the year. The queue was immense, but after about 30 minutes we got to the shrine and threw some coins into the offering thing, made our prayers, then bought some charms (they bought me one, despite me saying I'd buy it myself). We had a little look at the smaller fox shrine to the side, then had a cup of hot, non-alcoholic 'amazake' (sweet sake), which tasted nice, though a lot like the bean paste drink we'd had the day before at the station. Once we'd had our drinks, we drove back in the general direction of their house, intending to stop at a supermarket on the way to get ingredients for okonomiyaki. We placed an order at a yakitori place for some lunch, then while they were cooking it, we went to a supermarket I'd spotted a minute back along the road. You'll never guess what it was. A Tesco! A frigging Tesco, in Japan! The world is truly coming to an end XD Anyway, we found all the necessary ingredients, then went back and ate our yakitori (chicken skewers), which were very tasty. We then stopped at a little local shrine on the way back, walking the rest of the way home while Waka's mum took the groceries home in the car. Back at the house, we played Wii for a little while, first Mario Kart and then Wii Sports. They said I was too strong because I kept winning ^^' I hope they weren't letting me win... Anyway, at dinner we made okonomiyaki on a hot plate in the middle of the table, which was fun and tasted great. At one point the side of my finger touched the edge of the hot plate and, although it was more of a reflex rather than from pain and burning, Waka's mum was there right away with a little ice pack ^^' After dinner, we watched a bit of TV, then decided to get an early night as we had to get up at about 6.45am the next morning.
On Sunday, I packed all my stuff into my bag, then we (me, Waka and his mum; his sister was still asleep ^^') headed out by taxi to the nearest train station, and headed to Kamakura. The guys in my lab had been telling me about it for months, apparently it was a more local version of Kyoto. Once we got there, we went first of all to the Daibutsu (big Buddha), which was very impressive. We even got to go inside it (it's hollow inside), which was pretty cool. Next, we walked along to a temple of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. After looking around, and getting an awesome view of the ocean and surrounding scenery (everyone's camera batteries died at the same time though, so there aren't too many pictures there -_-) we went for some lunch in a small restaurant, where I tried some Japanese curry. It's very different to Indian curry, but tastes really good. Next, after buying new batteries, we got a local train back to the Hachiman shrine, where we waited in a sea of people for a good 45 minutes before we got to the shrine itself. On the way back afterwards, we stopped and played at a shooting gallery, where you had to knock prizes off with a cork gun. Despite the fact that you were allowed to lean so close that the barrel touched the prizes, the DS games were impossible to knock off, so I settled for two little pots of sweets and two plastic piggy banks, one shaped like Doraemon and another shaped like Hello Kitty. Then, it was back to the station, where they escorted me to the station in Tokyo before we parted ways. On the way back, I stopped at the Pokémon Centre again and, although I didn't buy anything for myself, I picked up a little something for a friend whose birthday it is soon. Then, in Akihabara, I decided to buy myself a few random packs of Magic: The Gathering cards and some land cards for 500 yen. Seriously, I have hundreds of cards for a little under £5, including English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese cards! Biggest bargain ever! I then went back to Tsukuba and headed home. I texted Jen, who still had my heater, asking her when she'd give it back, but apparently she didn't check her phone; she never replied. I messaged Derek, who'd got back from Narita that day, and we went out for some dinner, followed by 4 hours at Cybex, before I headed to my room and got some sleep.
The next day, I spent most of my time trying to keep warm, as I had no heater and the central heating was off because most Japanese students had gone home for New Year. Jen only woke up at midday, then insisted on performing her morning routine and doing some drawing before coming to give me my heater. Priorities, eh? It took me most of the rest of the day just to regain feeling in my feet, for fuck's sake! Anyway, I went out for some Chinese with Derek and a few other people, before me and Derek went for a blast at Cybex (no-one else wanted to come, unfortunately). I then went back and slept in my nice, now warm, room.
Tuesday, my last day of holiday before going back to the lab. After going for gyoza to celebrate the first day of it being open in the New Year, me and Derek went back to my room to watch a Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series marathon. As we'd seen the first 10 episodes at Kat's at Thanksgiving, we started from episode 11, and got up to #30, before calling it a night.
Wednesday, my first day back at the lab. Nothing really spectacular to report, aside from having to cut a few mouse tails, which I hate; one mouse made it onto the floor but luckily I was able to catch it before it got underneath a cabinet or something. After lab, me and Derek went for more gyoza, then watched up to #47 of Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged, before deciding to leave the last 3 episodes for the next night
Thursday was the first day back to Japanese class. Turns out Mike has moved into our group from the morning class, so we have a corner of 4 foreigners at the back of the classroom now XD Kanji class wasn't on, so it was just Japanese and then back to the lab. Once again, me and Derek went for gyoza followed by Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged. This is where things got weird; the creepy guy from my lab texted me, asking if he could use my iPod cable, as he'd left his back at home in Tokyo, and he needed to charge his iPhone. He then said he needed to use my laptop too, for the USB port. Thus, he spent about 3 hours in my room with me and Derek while his phone charging. Awkward! Most of the time he was looking through my manga while me and Derek talked or looked at stuff on my computer, so I'm very thankful Derek was there, or else I dunno what I'd've done with just me and the other guy there. Anyway, once he finally left, me and Derek hung out for another half hour or so before deciding to call it a night.
On Friday, I put out the word that we'd be doing karaoke on Saturday, which got a fairly decent response. Lab was horrible in the morning - I nearly went into panic attack mode with the tail cutting, but eventually I got it done. Class was alright, then after lab, me and Derek hung out some more, playing our video games and looking up funny stuff on the internet
Saturday. After going to the lab for an hour to finish something off, I made my usual trip to Iias to use their wi-fi on Pokémon, then came back and sorted through some of my Magic cards before heading to Coco to meet people before karaoke. Me and Derek finished off the vodka I had left over from the last time me and he were drinking, then I bought another bottle for Cybex. Once everyone had arrived, we cycled up to Cybex and began our 7 hour package. It was pretty good, and I had plenty of fun, although towards the end, I started getting depressed due to the combination of tiredness, alcohol comedown, and the realisation that, out of everyone there, I can't sing worth shit. I left after about 6 hours, as the people who were actually talking to me had all left
On Sunday, I went for groceries with Jen, then hung out in my room until Derek called and asked if I wanted to hang out some more, which of course, I did. Turns out, some other 'friends' were having some sort of party which I hadn't been invited to, and Derek wondered if I wanted to go because he said he probably wouldn't have much fun if I wasn't there. I didn't want to go, but told him that if he wanted to, then he really should go, but he said that he'd rather hang out with me. Anyway, just after that call, the internet cut out, and remained out for the whole evening, which screwed up our plans of watching movies online. After finishing the rest of the coke and vodka (there wasn't much left, I didn't even get buzzed, really) we cycled to the Korean restaurant for dinner, which turned out to be closed on Sundays. So, we opted for okonomiyaki instead, both going for the gyoza-flavoured one and leave very satisfied :-) When we got back, we played versus mode on Super Mario 64 DS, which was a laugh XD I showed him the pictures from karaoke, my collection of video game emulators, and Talkany, before we decided to call it a night
Today's Monday, a national holiday, so I decided to sleep in a little. When I got up, I discovered that thankfully, the internet was back on ^^ I got a call from Derek at about 11am, saying that he wanted to make our expedition to Tsukuba YouWorld at about 1pm or 1.30pm. So, right now I'm just checking my messages and updating here. I'll update again tonight to fill in the rest of today's events, so until then, farewell :-)
[Edit: Well, in the end me and Derek didn't go to Tsukuba YouWorld as, in his own words, he felt like he'd been 'hit by a train'. So I sorted through some more of my Magic cards (only a few more to go), until about 7.30pm, when Derek said he was feeling a bit better so we could go for dinner. We went for Korean, as had been the plan yesterday, which was good ^^ Then we hung out at mine for a little while, watching Youtube videos for the evening until we got tired and decided to call it a night.
Also, before I forget again, I wrote this poem a little while ago but keep forgetting to post it:

Farewell, my shadow

Trapped in a past that had no future,
Following flickering lights in the dark
Only to trip and fall in the shadow of despair,
The butterfly effect, downward spiral;
Well, I say 'no more!'
Cast out from my heart all the feelings of old
And restore to it warmth where it lately was cold;
Cleanse, not with the knife but with steadfast resolve,
This heart, and so from this weak monster evolve
Into something much better, deserving of love -
That thing over which I hold nothing above.
I am tired of this life in a heartbroken hell,
And so, to my shadow, I bid this farewell.

That's all for tonight, now I really need some sleep. Night night ^^]