While it is known to be healthier, eating smaller portions has started to catch up with me, and I almost always feel what I would call hunger in America. Occasionally I feel dizzy and my limbs fall asleep faster than I would expect. In an effort to combat this, I had some fun food recently. Left: Undoubtedly the best sushi I've ever had- the seasonal special at a small family run shop in my neighborhood. The dish includes "medium-tier" tuna (unlike any tuna I've had before; way better), squid, flounder, and sea urchin, among others. Middle: Souffle pancakes, a common breakfast here- basically just tastes like fluffy French toast. Right: Probably the highest calorie meal I've had here, after a long day. I upgraded to the 1/2lb patty with cheddar and bacon. Compared to America, they really skimped on the fries. Tasted great though. I was still hungry.
We had a three day weekend, so we took the opportunity to stay out all night again on Friday. We started in Shibuya- the first picture is the descent into the center of the district, just one of many ways to enter the area from the train station. The second picture was an interesting club, designed to look like a church. The only seating was in pews facing the front, where a DJ mixed in place of a pastor. All the workers were dressed as nuns, but they refused to take a picture with us. The next two pictures show the walk through the district to another club, which was fine. We were here early, so got into these for free but they weren't very full yet. We then took one of the last trains to Kabukicho, and ended up not actually going inside anywhere else the rest of the night, besides Coco for late-night curry. In reality, there's already enough to see out on the street.
On Monday, our day off, Matthew and I took a day trip to Enoshima Island, a small peninsula south of Tokyo. Ian and Kaiden were away on a ski trip. We had quite the time getting there; an entire train line which we were supposed to take got shut down right when we tried to take it, for some sort of accident. The trip was already normally 2 hours long, and this setback took off something like another 3 hours in total. We were able to find an alternate route eventually, and it was alright because the real reason we wanted to go was to see the nighttime lights. The peninsula has a light-up event going on for the season, and there are beautiful lights decorating an ascending staircase which leads to a garden of lights at the top. The first picture shows the bridge you have to walk across to get to the island. Charming, but it was very windy and rainy this day (of course) and my umbrella kept breaking. So, not the funnest walk on this particular day.
Here are the final selects from my second photography project. Actually, this class is structured differently than ones I've taken in the past, and this wasn't for a specific objective. It is called my Work In Progress (WIP) #1, and we will have a new WIP every 2 weeks. Theoretically, I could continue doing night photography all semester, and just explore different facets of it. It's nice that the class is so open-ended. First picture: almost as ubiquitous as Family Mart are shrines and temples, which have been maintained very well and are a window into the rich history of Tokyo, or Edo, as it was known during its creation. This is one of about 4 right near me.