dazed and amused
I woke up at 3:45am this morning, couldn’t get myself back to sleep. Eventually did another bath and then started walking. There is a shrine right behind the hotel:
After a delicious matcha latte, I walked over to an antique fair that was in the neighborhood:
And then I made my way to Kichijoji. I didn’t really take photos. I was mostly browsing all the shops and a giant food court in the mall next to the station and fading fast. The amount of sweets here is overwhelming, even for a sugar addict like me. I was offered so many samples I didn’t even have it in me to buy much, although I did have a rice and tuna soup/stew and then a frozen yogurt, now that I think of it 😆.
And then this happened:
But this is Japan, full of polite people and so I found it again.
Lastly went to Shimokitazawa. A great neighborhood with a ton of restaurants, bars and lots and lots of thrift/secondhand stores but I was soooo tired by this time. Plus most of the vintage clothes come from the US! It is so much more green here than I expected though.
I had one of those almost-meltdown moments by the evening, when you know you have to eat but are tired and overwhelmed. I settled on a vegetable curry after realizing I couldn’t do fried or meaty:
And now it’s back to the baths and in bed early. Now that I’ve ridden the subway and an express train I’m not as nervous about finding my way to Hakone tomorrow.