Japan #2

My next adventure after exploring Osaka (?) was a trip to Tokyo. I met up with a few friends from Chicago. I was friends with a group of about 7 of us back in elementary/junior high in the Saturday Japanese school. They've all moved back to Japan since then. I've always wondered why I ended up the only person left in the states, then it dawned on me that I was the only one with a greencard!

Anyhoo, we met in Shinagawa, which is actually one of the stops for the Bullet Train on the way to Tokyo. I had seen one of them a few months ago when she came to LA on her business trip. We found each other at the station and walked over to where the other two were waiting. It as like we never separated. We all pretty much look the same. We hardly changed, except the fact that we're a few (?) years older and we all work now. The funniest thing was that two of them realized that they work for the same company, just not in the same office. Crazy!!

My friend took us around Ginza. I had really never been to Ginza, but I've always thought of it as a famous night/clubbing kind of place. It was weird being there on a Sunday afternoon. We went to a Japanese restaurant and had fabulous lunch! Yum!!! Then we walked around window shopping. I think I actually prefer Osaka. Maybe because I don't know anything about Tokyo, but I just like the atmosphere much better. It just sucks that most of my friends live in Tokyo or Yokohama.

It was weird how my friends would ask about the US as if they don't know about it. They would say, "what is xx(whatever they're asking about) like in the states?" and I'd wonder why they would ask that since they lived out here, too. Then I realized that they lived there as a kid, and our young adulthood to early adulthood have been in totally different environment. After all, it's been 10 years since I had last seen them, and a few years more since they had lived out here.

Two of my friends actually couldn't make it. I would have loved to see them. One of them lives in Yamaguchi and was unable to join us, but my next trip was to my grandmother's who lives in fairly close from her, so we made plans to see each other. I'll write about that later...