I got up this morning in time to cram a bunch of stuff into my sister’s little orange suitcase. She bought it because it’s quite cute, and I’m sure she was fearful when she lent it to my mother. My guess is that she was especially afraid that I would end up with it somehow, alone and in need of a bathroom. I’d have to roll her cute suitcase into a nasty, smelly train station men’s room, where it would be soiled for all of eternity. I guess I won’t tell her anything.

Anyway, I had breakfast with my mom and my aunt who were being silly as always, and we parted ways at Shin-Osaka station. They went off to the west, and I headed east to Tokyo. My aunt bought me a traditional bento to eat on the train, which I picked out. It turned out to be full of mushrooms, which I don’t particularly like. I’ll eat them, but I figure they’re wasted on a guy with tastes like mine.

In fact I didn’t like much of it, but I ate the whole thing. I got to Tokyo and it was pouring, and I needed to use the bathroom but that’s probably enough of that story. I made it to my hotel, which took longer than I thought, and was soaked with sweat. I knew I had to get to Akihabara so I dumped my crap and headed out. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a map so I had to rely on memory to get there, which wasn’t so bad because it’s not had to find from Shinjuku. (Express Chuo-line to Ochanomizu, then the Sobu line one stop.) While I did forget to buy more Mac crap for myself, I did get the last item on my sister’s list: a plastic iPhone case with a hole for a Japanese strap. I even got her a dangly thing, I think, at the Glico store. Or at the Hankyu Tigers store. I can’t remember.

I rushed back to the hotel make sure my online reservations were done, and I got a call from Hiron who wanted to meet me in Akihabara. He’s an illustrator and friend of Chico’s who I end up talking for hours to about American TV shows. Chico went to high school with my sister. Anyway, I did end up meeting up with Hiron and Chico and they took me to an area of Shinjuku where they were a little afraid to go, to an Okinawan restaurant.

We had some interesting things to eat, including “sea grapes.”

On the way back I convinced them to go to Mos Burger for dessert, where Hiron had a kinpira rice burger (braised burdock root on a bun made of grilled rice formed into a round patty) and I had a Mos Burger because I love the things and I hadn’t had a chance to eat one on the trip.

So that’s about it for my last full day here. Tomorrow I head home!