a first of meetings and sight-seeings

My friends and I were going to go to the Pokemon Center near the Landmark Tower (the tallest in Japan, fyi) and just hang about at about 1:00 PM. I had gotten up early to go to the library to use the internet. I found an e-mail from my Mitsui V-Net volunteer requesting a meeting today at 3:00 PM (which was too close to Pokemon time), so I unfortunately bailed on Mike, Han, and Linus.

I met up with Sakai Motohito, who at this meeting was an illustrious 80 years old. He walked with me down to Mitsuzawakami-Cho and took the train down to Yokohama Eki. From there, we walked over to the Kanagawa Volunteer Association Meeting Rooms (on 9 through 11th floors) as a possible meeting place for the future. From there, we walked around Yokohama, passing the old road from Edo to Osaka (and the Kanagawa Station), until we came to the North Exit for Yokohama Eki. We wandered around the restaurants, searching for a traditional Japanese restaurant with something he was looking for, but didn't find it. Eventually, we ate at a rather nice restaurant, where I ate a Menchi Katsu (deep fried and crusted ground beef with cheese bits; it tastes so much like a hamburger), a Yaki Onigiri (deep fried rice ball; it's like fried rice, but potentially less oily and without all the delicious egg and meats), and shared with Motohito-sama some sashimi (ika, maguro, and hamachi; all very fresh and delicious). It was a nice treat and we parted ways back at Yokohama Eki.

From there, I wanted to at least see and explore Tokyo a bit, so I took the Tokyu-Toyoko line from Yokohama out to Shibuya (the express takes about 30 minutes and only costs 280¥). From there, I jumped over to the Yamanote Line out across a few stations to Shinjuku (which is insanely crowded). The city there was bustling and hustling at an insane rate. There was just so much vibrancy to the "younger" generation in Tokyo as compared to Yokohama. However, Yokohama is amazingly clean in stark comparison to Tokyo, which while cleaner than most major cities, still has a slightly dirty air about it.

I walked around the nicer bits and explored a few shops. I bought nothing on this first endeavor, just taking it on myself to explore and see. I didn't have much of the weekend and didn't feel like spending the money or the night out from Yokohama, so I headed back on nearly the last possible trains toward Mitsuzawakami-Cho.