Top Ten: Favorite Days in Japan

Aww, since I'm back in Philly, I'm getting nostalgic over here... But I have to proceed...

10. Ikebukuro wackiness: The wackiness was interminable at Ikebukuro on a really rainy day. First we headed out the exit and saw a Cafe Du Monde, the famous beignet and chicory coffee shop from New Orleans, went to one of my favorite stores in Tokyo for more wonderful Japanese pens, and of course, at Namco Namja Town, we saw the scariest toilet in the world, ate ice cream at Ice Cream City (complete with the insane array of flavors in the museum!) and free dumplings at Gyoza Stadium. The craziness refused to stop. You know I love that.

9. Anime festival: This would be higher if there were more freaky otaku and costumed manga crazies, but alas, no. But the sheer magnitude of this ode to anime was worth it, along with the cheap cels, the free useless swag, the awesome mini-concerts and readings, and the costumed babes that looked like they'd rather be working at Lawson's. The night was topped out with some conveyor belt sushi, and who can argue with that?

8. Clubbing, bar-hopping haze: I know there was one particular day when we went to no fewer than six bars in a haze of Japanese debauchery, but don't ask me to give you the details both for my own honor's sake and for my bedraggled memory's sake. I will say that I sang the Celine Dion song from Titanic karaoke-style for a round of drinks and waited in the freezing cold and snow for the best sushi on earth. The rest of the blanks have to remain blank.

7. Kanamara matsuri: Rum and cokes at 10 a.m. in front of guys carving penises out of daikon radish, sausage vendors, and the lollipops. Seriously, this fertility festival was a serious affair for some, but for most it was an excuse to bring out your inner phalliciousness. Afterwards we wandered around Yokohama's Chinatown and while the Chinese food was nothing to write to China about, it was still a fun way to cap off the day. Oh wait, I basically capped it off by incessant giggling . . . "I just went to A PENIS FESTIVAL." Good times.

6. Meeting with Justice Hamada: Second Supreme Court justice I have met, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg at Brown '02 Commencement. It was wonderful to tour the Supreme Court of Japan and meet an amazingly humble man like Justice Hamada.

5. Harajuku, Shibuya, & Meiji jingu (first week in Tokyo): Jet-lagged and bereft of any knowledge of Japanese (but having memorized the subway system already), it was a beyond gorgeous day in January (maybe about 58 degrees) and I headed off to Harajuku on a Sunday. I remember walking, walking, and walking, armed with my Time Out guide and my Tokyo City Atlas and still incredulous that I was in Japan. I befriended some students from Waseda University, and they took me to a little underground café after I agreed to speak with them about America so they could practice their English. We ate the sickly sweet crepes that they sell along Takeshita Dori, the shopping street for Gothloli gear and then we bid farewell, leaving me to peruse Kiddyland, Snoopyland, LaForet, and to trek over to Meiji jingu, where I sat on a bench and people watched for awhile until I walked over to Shibuya just in time to watch the neon illuminate Hachiko at the JR Station. One of my first days, but still goes down in my memory as one of my favorites.

4. Nikko (Day One): Strolling around the UNESCO temples, meeting the friendliest Japanese boy imaginable (who drew my portrait) at a lunchtime restaurant, gorging ourselves on shabu shabu for dinner and drinking Belgian beer after Belgian beer. (No offense to Asahi Super Dry, but you just cannot beat a Belgian white beer after a long day of walking!) Follow that with a comfy ryokan and drunken Scrabble, and you have the perfect weekend getaway.

3. Setsubun: I would guess that I was one of the few non-Japanese people at TUJ who actually knew what the heck Setsubun was, but having celebrated Setsubun every single year at college (Emi brought mame and the essential oni mask home from Japan every year after winter break), I needed to have the real Setsubun experience. I was a bit obsessive about this, as Jeremy might tell you, but it all worked out for the best as it was amazing! We wrestled our way through the crowd to grab crappy free stuff, I almost got maimed by a mochi flying at extremely high velocity, and I learned that Japanese senior citizens are just as passionate about their free swag as American seniors are. Ah, gotta love that WWII generation! Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! After some tasty CoCo curry, the cute guy at the Peacock Daimaru florist stand gave me my own oni mask. Nice!

2. Hanami day: Jeremy and I caught the train to Kamakura, saw a not-so-large bell but made up for it with delicious amazake, hiked a trail over to Zeniarai Benten, the money washing shrine, got kicked out of a curry place (prompting me to yell like an idiot telling customers not to go in there in my broken Japanese) but made up for it with sweet potato ice cream. After which I met Rachel, Joe, and other classmates at Ueno Park for a hanami; I sat under the sakura, drank a lot of wine and Sapporo and liqueur (but not enough to incur a hangover), met some interestingly smashed Japanese women with a penchant for Jim Beam and some American, Canadian, and British English teachers. A quick trip over to Akihabara afterwards was worth it if only to see this guy and get the full-on otaku experience. I think if there is a quintessential day in Tokyo, this is it.

1. Kyoto: I guess this isn't just one day, but it feels like one long dreamy day and it's hard to pick one of the three days that Yvonne and I were there. Some examples: seeing geisha dashing to their appointments in Gion and a huge lit sakura ki in the park, the gorgeous Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji, walking the back trails to temples and practicing my Japanese, matcha ice cream floats and grilled dango and anmitsu and takoyaki, and finding cute little trinkets that I thought I would find in Tokyo, but could not. I'll go on: the spectacular view at Kiyomizu-dera and drinking the water that will hopefully help me to live to be 100, drifting down the sakura-laden Philosopher's Path in awe, the friendliness of the Kyoto people, bamboo forests and lush countryside, and Japanese brides and beautiful old women in heirloom kimono, and... Yes, I need to go back to Kyoto before I turn 30.

[Namjatown, Shibuya, and Roppongi trees taken by Rachel!]