We woke up at quarter after six and went down for breakfast. The meal was nowhere as noteworthy as dinner was. The only thing that is worth pointing out about the breakfast was it's size. It was minuscule.
After breakfast we went back to the room to chill for a while then went down to check out. The night cost us $200 each but it was worth it. You gotta splurge every now and then.
We took the hotel bus back to the ferry dock but were too early to catch the first ferry. We had to wait about 15 minutes before they let us through the gates. We sat inside the ferry this time. The ride across only takes about 5 minutes so we didn't really have time to relax. We landed and walked back to Miyajimaguchi Eki.
While the ride on the ferry takes no time at all, the ride from Miyajimaguchi Eki to Hiroshima Eki takes a long time. Especially when you are carrying a heavy pack and there is nowhere to sit. Eventually we managed to get some seats.
We got to Hiroshima Eki and had to wait for Reiko. Reiko studied English in Ottawa and attended our Japanese language group. We met up with her and she took us to get some Hiroshima style okinomiyaki. It was really good, but I noticed that in Japan they don't seem to de-vein the shrimp (or it seemed that I was always getting the ones that slipped through quality control) so they had a gritty texture.
Seeing Reiko again was a very odd experience. During her time in Ottawa the two of us became very close. Very close. Seeing her again brought back a lot of feelings that I had thought were buried for good.
After an emotionally conflicted lunch, we said goodbye to Reiko and got on the shinkansen for Tokyo. As has been mentioned before, Charles and I don't fit well into Japanese seats. This time were crammed into a seat with a Japanese guy who promptly fell asleep. We spent the 5 hour train ride trying to come up with ideas for companies that we could start that would get us coming to Japan on a regular basis. We were unable to come up with anything original.
There was a bit of a commotion at one point. At the front of the car we were in was a “multi-purpose room” that people can use for things like nursing babies, or going to is they feel sick. The door to this room was locked and the person inside was not responding to requests from the train staff to open the door. Eventually the conductor allowed them to unlock the door. There was a big crowd gathered at the door for a long time. One of the staff members rushed past carrying a towel. He was trying to hide the fact that there was blood on the towel but I saw it clearly as he walked past. We never did find out exactly what happened.
We got to Tokyo and found the hotel. The neighbourhood it was in was really scuzzy. Lots of old men wandering around aimlessly and a few very stinky homeless people.
We checked in and dropped off our stuff. We then hurried over to Yoyogi Eki. We were going to go see a Shonen Knife concert but when we got to the bar there was a sign up saying 'sold out'. Charles asked if there was any way we could get in, saying things like “But we came all the way from Canada just to see this show!” etc... The doorman told us to come back after the opening act finished and we might be able to get in then.
We wandered around Yoyogi for a while then went to McDonalds to take advantage of a sale they were having. 5 McNuggets for 100yen ($1). they guy behind the counter was a little shocked when we ordered several of them each. A lot of Japanese people were in awe/scared of our appetites.
After killing time at McDonalds we went back to Zher the ZOO (the bar where the concert was happening) and asked about getting in. The doorman said no but then a guy from the band came up and said “These are the guys from Canada? Let them in.” So we managed to get in. The place was insanely packed. It was a very small room (about the same size as my apartment) with about 200 people in it. It was hot and close.
We were the tallest people in the club so we took spots at the back of the room so as to not block everyone's sight. The show started and we noticed that Japanese people have no clue about how to act at a rock concert. They are so very polite and reserved. No screaming and shoving and acting like morons.
We got super lucky in that the bass player who recently left the band when she got married and moved to Los Angles was in town so she was playing with them. That was a treat.
After the show we got onto a very packed Yamanote line train and went back to the hotel and slept.
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