Japan Day 2: Gotokuji Temple, Meiji Jingu, Imperial Palace, Nezu Shrine, Shinjuku Golden Gai, Omoide Yokocho

Another early day for us. We head off to see Gotokuji Temple. The area with the little lucky cat statues are off to the side. We learned from a shopkeeper at Nakamise-dori that a lucky cat with its left paw up is waving for money, and right paw up is for happiness. Unfortunately, the lucky cats didn't give us much luck, as we ended up being devoured by mosquitoes. The area surrounding Gotokuji Temple is quiet and residential, like the backdrop of anime we watch. As we walked along the streets, we bowed to the people sweeping the front of their house.

We visited Meiji Jingu, and walked through the large forest landscape that envelops it. The long walk, and unforgiving terrain made me cranky (curse you, Adidas Superstars), and I asked Moose if we could switch shoes, and eventually purchase ones that I could walk in. After me and my feet stopped complaining, we visited Otome Inari and Nezu Shrine for a mini version of Fushimi Inari's torii gates. I found myself a Detective Conan drink from a vending machine. It was disgusting.

We went back to the hotel for a nap, and some konbini bento for dinner (passing by a part of the subway where you can get your nose hair plucked real quick on the way home). Japan's konbinis are amazing, but not without flaw. It lacks a section for medical supplies beyond first-aid. We enjoyed eating half the items in the store, and possibly all the onigiri. We waited for night-time and once dark enough, we journed to Shinjuku, unforunately matching up with going-home rush hour. It was cramped but people are nice enough to be understanding when I fall into them because of the train movement.

At Shinjuku, we went straight for Golden Gai, where we picked a bar and drank some sake (Japanese whisky and soda, beer, two kinds of plum wine, and nihonshu). Our bartender was very good about explaining the kinds of drinks they had. In this bar, we made friends. We talked to Engin and Hiro-san about travel, and school, and our experiences so far. Engin is German, but goes to school in Hong Kong. Hiro-san is his friend. Hiro-san is an electrical engineer. Hiro-san complimented my very limited Japanese.

After a few drinks, I asked Hiro-san if he knew where a certain place was. I paint a lot, and I had used a photo from the internet as reference for one of my drawings and I wanted to know where this place was. Hiro-san took one look and was like, "I know where that is! We can take you there after drinks.", which was so kind, and so lovely of them. We talked more on the way there. The photo is from Omoide Yokocho, and once I saw the location, all my dreams came together, and it felt really good seeing the actual location from a photo I'd admired for so long. (Attached is the location, and my painting). We separated after connecting on social media, and after a couple of hugs.