a second look at the future, and pins

Sri, Linus, Johannes, and I went back to the Minato Mirai area to scout out Yokohama's take on Oktoberfest. The crowd is as follows:



... so we decided to come back another day. We hit up World Porters to scout it out properly (note to self: come back when it's less crowded to shop), and ended up eating at Love American Story Telling (LAST) California Restaurant. It's a cute little restaurant trying its hardest to be American, while Sri and I are laughing at everything that has gone terribly wrong with it. We have a Bloomin' Onion (ala Outback) with an absurdly delicious ketchup/mayo sauce, and I have fried chicken and fries for my entree. I was expecting Japanese portions (that is to say, probably a third of standard American portions), but instead, lo and behold, a huge freaking plate of food and a crapton of chicken. Too bad there's no sauce on it. :( After filling up, we head out of World Porters and sit down for a bit.

The last two days in Yokohama's Minato Mirai have been host to a Jazz Promenade, where many bands come and just play all day all along the beautifully scenic walk across the harbor area. So we sat down outside and lay down for a bit to enjoy the music. Soon enough, we decide to head back to YOKOHAMA EKI to do some shopping and wait for the others to go bowling (at Round 1). We hit up UNIQLO on the 7th floor of YODOBASHI CAMERA, where Hannes takes bleeding forever to buy some pants and underwear. Note to self: minifridge (24,000Y), electric kettle (5,000-8,000Y), rice cooker (7,000-10,000Y). But holy crap. There are some rice cookers going for 99,000Y. AND IT'S THE SAME SMALL SIZE RICE COOKER TOO. What does it do? Make gold?

Mm. Anyhow, we meet up with Yuki and a friend of his, Yosshi, and then we wait for Han. Once Han arrives, we head off to bowl for a bit and we play two games. We're all at about the same play level, which is nice. First game score was 99, second was 100 (which is great for me, so shut up). We leave and look for some place to eat for a bit before Katsu and the rest of the RYUUGAKUSEI come to bowl some more. I ate a delicious UNAGIDON at a "fast" food restaurant, and we were back off to Round 1.

It was a really cool thing to bowl with nearly all of the RYUUGAKUSEI (minus Kimberly, Yookyung, Judy, Anneke, and Chris). And we just had a great time making faces and teaching Mike how to actually bowl. First game of this round was 110, second round score was 112... so I guess I improved tonight? Awesome. Maybe I'll actually take the bowling class at SJSU now.

Anyway, we rush and take the last train back to MITSUZAWAKAMICHO. It's pretty odd how the area around YOKOHAMA EKI shuts down but plenty of people stick around to hang out. I'm hoping I can have a nice quiet and peaceful day tomorrow (and actually do laundry).