First Full Day In Tokyo!

So this morning we asked the hostel worker what people in Tokyo eat for breakfast. We decided to avoid beef in the morning and settled for sandwiches at a cafe. Of course, people here eat about half as much as we're used to, so we then went to a dep (for those not from Quebec, this is a convenience store) and bought other sandwiches.

We had planned to go to the Imperial Palace today, but as it was raining very hard, we made the decision to postpone it. We did decide to see the Sony building, which was a nice experience if short. We saw all of the latest things from Sony, though it appears that Apple is super cool in Japan right now. (side note: everyone we've seen in Japan has big phones, probably in order to read vertically/have enough room for the characters; this is not at all what I would have expected, I expected tiny super cool phones!)

We got massively lost today, which is kind of the goal in a city of this size. However, people here tend to take the trains and metros back and forth rather than walking. We walked for several hours trying to navigate the city, and were mostly successful, albeit with a lot of time wasted.

We decided to go to the Tokyo National Museum rather than brave the rain for the second half of our day. It is an amazing place, filled with old sculptures, swords and writings among many others. We spent about three hours there, and saw 3 of the 4 buildings, including the Main Hall and the small building off to the side which housed the treasure. We also randomly saw a shrine, thinking it was the way to the museum. It was actually very nice so we were happy that we accidentally stumbled upon it.

Did I mention we walked? Boy did we walk!

On the way to the museum we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant, where we each had soup (tan tan men). I have so far managed with my limited chopstick experience, though it can be frustrating at times. The soup was amazing, and incredibly spicy :) . A very nice waitress helped us find the museum.

It is still pouring rain, and as such we decided not to venture out tonight. Much of the hostel came to the same conclusion, and many people are milling about killing time. Meeting travelers is always interesting, as they are such a diverse population, but amazingly share many similar traits.

The sleeping arrangements are quite interesting at this hostel. They have basically set up wooden capsules. The ceiling is about 10 ft high, and there are 2 capsules stacked one on top of the other, all over the room. If a beehive were to house people, it would be a bunch of these capsules stuck together. However, they are surprisingly comfortable, and allow enough for to sleep comfortably, which is all that is required. We are staying at the Khaosan Ninja Hostel, and so far it has met our expectations.