What I Did On My Summer Vacation

My Trip To Tokyo

Saturday august 17th

Kawasaki City
Hiro's home town. Tagged along as he went about his routine business. Saw the Post office, and a department store (called depato). You can buy fireworks at a depato. Not just little firecrackers, either.

All of our traveling is on bicycles today. Haven't cycled in a while, but it's true what they say; You don't forget how. Then again, roads being as small as they are don't make it easy to share the streets with the many other bikes and pedestrians out there, much less the cars. Thankfully, I haven't encountered many SUVs, or have I mentioned that already?

At lunch-time we stopped at Hiro's favorite noodle shop. I had a bowl of pork noodles. Yeah, pork. Did I mention I was on vacation? I made the mistake of ordering the regular size instead of small. Regular size is like a pint and a half. I managed to eat all of the noodles, but Had to leave most of the soup as well as the piece of pork. I just couldn't bring myself to eat it. Even when I relax my limits, I have my limits.
Another visit to Tamagawa, but still no sign of Tama-chan. A lot more people during the day, though.
We also stopped at the local shrine to pay respects to Hiro's ancestors. Something that's normally done at around this time of year. I also laid down some incense. I took no pictures here, as that would be disrespectful.

We headed back home, and I napped for a few hours. Perhaps the last few days were catching up with me. Got up that evening, we paid another visit to Tamagawa. A lot of teenagers out now, but still no Tama-Chan. Hiro was beginning to wonder if he was dead. Or perhaps he was joking.
We road a short distance away, but still nearby, where we managed to witness a fireworks display. I attempted to take pictures of the spectacle, but the disposable camera I had was not up to the job. I ended up with pictures of some guy with a REAL camera taking pictures of the faint light in the distance.

It was time to eat, so we hit this sushi restaurant where food passed you by on a conveyor belt. You just grab what you want, and what you pay is according to the colors of the dishes left in front of you. Soon as someone comes in, the entire staff greets them in unison and when they leave they get a send off, also in unison.
I ate quite a bit, but I don't remember what exactly. It was all good. Literally. They put out some utensils (knives, forks, spoon), thinking I had no skills with the chopsticks. Ha. They don't know me well, do they?

Rode around a bit. Stopped at a video arcade, but not for long. Went to a video store where he rented "Proof Of A Man", a Japanese mystery from the seventies that centered on the murder of a black man in Tokyo. The movie featured some English dialog courtesy of veteran actors like George Kennedy who join the movie's hero in trying to unravel the puzzle that surrounds this event. Enjoyable, but way too many co-incidences in the film. And the Japanese Black guy in the beginning of the film tries way too hard to convince us that he's an American Black dude that he looks almost comical. I found myself beginning to nod off a little, during the films second half, so I had Hiro share some of his Sake. One glass seemed to do the trick (I didn't drink it all at once). After the movie I called it a night and went off to bed.