Exploring Tokyo

Today I learned: Kanpai is said before one consumes an alcoholic drink! Tokyo has a mascot Pipo-kun that is a sign for safety.
Today was definitely a great day. It started off by meeting the rest of the people in the UCeap program. We all had breakfast around 8:30. We had our orientation at ICU at 10 and I learned some really interesting and fun things. I learned that if you go into the house of someone "there is some implied consent" for you know what.  "The kids don't know, but we do." Random Quagmire Family Guy quote. I also learned that drinking is really socially acceptable, even required for social interactions. The people from UC Tokyo Center really emphasized this, so we thought what the heck I will drink tonight! Also, Marijuana is very unacceptable and should be not messed with. Some people I met today were really awesome, hopefully it can be a long friendship, but only time will tell. The lunch was amazing today. I felt they went all out to feed all of us and I really appreciate the effort they put in. After the orientation we head back to Musashi-sakai and buy the suica card for traveling. As a huge group we agreed to travel to shinjuku and shibuya. In shinjuku, me and eric traveled to this awesome game store and actually learned how to play slots. At Shibuya we separated in groups and went around shibuya and ate this really cheap and good meat. It only cost 280 yen, so around 3 dollars! We stay there for a good 2 hours and then meet up at the huge cross walk in shibuya. From there we travel back to the hotel.
In a group of 5 we wander the streets looking for a bar and we find one downstairs next to a kfc. We go in an order sake, but we couldnt really communicate well with the owners. Sooooo we ended up buying a shot of sake and some side dishes for 6 dollars. It was my first time trying sake and I will definitely drink it a lot more. We all said Kanpai and drink there for a bit. After, we decide to go explore the streets looking for another cheaper (yasui) bar and after 8 minutes of walking we find a nice penguin place where the lady served us some Kirin. My favorite animal name in japanese. So we drink the Kirin, order 4 bottles and just crack jokes and have an great time. It was around 9:30 so we decided to leave before ten because I have to wake up early. We leave to Osaka tomorrow! Lets see what awaits for us in Osaka.

Arriving to Mets Hotel

Today I learned: That 10,000 yen is around $100. 

The Mexico vs Italy game was going on and I didn't want to leave. But my flight was scheduled to leave at 3:45. I left at 12:15 to the flyaway. I got to the station at 12:45 and I waited around for 15 minutes for the bus to leave. It left and as we were approaching LAX the guy next to me told the bus driver that he was going to signapore airlines. I talked to him once we got to the terminal and he was actually a pretty cool guy. He helped me with my check in and the waiting in the terminal. Once in the airplane I tried to talk to the people next to me and I was sad that the people didn't know any japanese. They were UCLA grad students, but after 30 minutes I decided to watch the Big Bang Theory, Wreck It Ralph, and Django Unchained. I fell asleep. The meals in the hikoki were tasty and the service in general was amazing. After 11 hours I land on Narita and my first view of Japan was breath-taking. The fields were lushes green and the ocean sparkling clear. The plane landed at 7:15pm and I tried to make it to the train before 7:48 but customs, mailing my bagage and exchanging my money was so time consuming that I had to wait for the next Narita Expres or N'EX for short. The train came at 8:44 and I talked to an elderly american couple in the train for the whole ride. They really made the 45 minute train ride a lot easier to handle. I reach Tokyo Station and then proceed to get on the Chuo line toward Takao. There was a 50/50 change that I would get the right train, but I am always unlucky and the train wouldn't stop at my final stop. My final stop was Musashi-sakai and, but I departed the train at Matako. I then asked some man at the information booth for the next line. I then got into the right train and actually stopped at musashi-sakai. I finally arrived at the hotel, which was next to the station at 10:30. It was funny, apparently Owen (another guy from UCLA) had the exact same journey I did, so we could have traveled together. Oh well next time. 

I am so excited to be here. I found it very shocking that the toilet is just a long rectangle pit on the ground. I couldn't really get the courage to try it, so I didn't poop!