I feel like I want to carry on with my blog, even though I am so upset 😦 James would want me to live my life and not grind to a halt. So I will do an update for the last two days, but not in as much detail as usual. I can’t face writing all that.
Yesterday: Friday 16th July 2011:
The day itself was pretty typical. We had a lecture in the morning by Professor Kuroda (but a whole UTRIP lecture, not just a lab lecture). It was interesting, but was on the exact same topic as what Davis and I covered in the lecture last week. Except in slightly less detail to fit into an hour. It was useful going over it again as it meant I was able to relearn some of the more difficult concepts.
Then, in the afternoon I went for lunch with some of the UTRIP people, and headed to my Japanese class. As it was the last in the series, it was in less detail and we were not given homework. I’ve really enjoyed these sessions so I was sad to see the en
d of them.
After the lesson, I went back to the lab. I didn’t have any formal lectures or anything and so I finished quite early. I hung around campus though because I was originally planning on going to dinner with Rachel and people. I went to the campus pond with Davis and we took some photos. It was really pretty there: Infinitely nicer than the campus lake in York. I didn’t stay very long though, because there were a lot of mosquitoes.
I went to the library, and rented out a Japanese-English dictionary, and also a phrasebook. My legs had been eaten by mosquitoes though so after a while, I couldn’t bear it anymore and went to the pharmacy to buy some cream. I then realised I didn’t have enough money left for dinner, so headed home, making the whole wait a little pointless.
When I got back, I had a quick shower, and then met up with Stas, Lin and Till to go to a bar for a Friday night drink.
We looked down by the river for a while, but couldn’t find any decent bars, so went towards Suitengumae station. We found an absolute goldmine in the end, and went to a really nice Japanese sake bar. We had a couple of drinks there, before moving on. We found a Karaoke bar and tried in there. The first Karaoke bar was full and so we couldn’t go, but we found a second place with private booths and went there instead. It was a lot of fun, and was really hilarious! We spent the first 20 minutes trying to work out how to use the machine, and after that it got better and better.
We then went to a basement bar which looked worryingly like the bar in “The Shining” and even the barman was a bit of a Japanese Lloyd! The bar was extortionately expensive, and I ended up spending 1,200 yen on just one drink!
Finally we went to MacDonalds for chips. Just because.
It was a really nice night, and I enjoyed it a lot. It was nice to spend some time with the UTRIP guys, and I’m really glad we went. Hopefully we’ll do the same at least one more time before the end of the trip.
Today: Saturday 17th July 2011:
Until I heard the news this evening, today had been really nice. I now don’t know how to feel though. 😦
Because of the bars last n
ight, we decided to wake up a little later today than was originally planned. We skipped Tsukiji fish market, and instead met at 11am to begin sightseeing. The group for the day consisted of me, Till, Lin and Kyle. We first went to the Imperial Palace Gardens. This was really nice, and the landscape was beautiful. It’s surprising how serene it was in the centre of Tokyo. I took quite a lot of pictures here.
After the Imperial Palace Gardens, we headed towards the Meiji shrine. It was beautiful, and the architecture was really powerful and moving. I really liked it here. Unfortunately though, at this point my camera battery began to flash as low (and actually, typing this has only just reminded me to put it on charge now!) so I toned down the photography binge. Luckily, the guys had their professional cameras on them and have promised to let me have some copies of their photos anyway.
The shrine was in a nice wooded garden area which was great as it meant there was lots of shade. We joked 
at one point that afternoon that our day consisted of nothing more than a “hunt for shade”!
We saw what was either a wedding or a funeral at the shrine. It was very difficult to tell from the ceremony.
I said a prayer at the shrine. I wish, now, that I had known earlier what had happened and then I could have made the prayer for James’ family and friends 😦
After the Meiji shrine, we headed into Harajuku. It was pretty hard to find initially, but is definitely one of those places where “when you are there, you know it”. We were suddenly surrounded in Japanese girls wearing bizarre outfits and numerous funny shops. They even had a pokemon doughnut shop. That’s a combination I had never imagined, even in my wildest dreams! There was a shop with a plane in it, and a few goth shops dotted in amongst the girly ones. We saw a few full-on Harajuku girls but didn’t take photos as it seemed rude.
We then walked into Shibuya. The shops quickly became much more upmarket and expensive. We didn’t spend a great deal of time there, and quickly headed to the train station again to move to the next place.
Till and Kyle wanted to go to listen to some classical music in the evening, so we headed to Roppongi so they could buy their tickets. Lin left shortly as he had arrangements with his lab. While the guys were buying their tickets, I had a look at the restaurants nearby. We eventually decided on an Italian restaurant (randomly) and I had a spicey tomato pizza. The food was okay, but kinda pricey (1,450 yen) and not as good as some of the Japanese food I’ve eaten. After dinner, I said goodbye to the guys and then went back to the train station.
I briefly considered going to the government building to see the view, but I didn’t have a proper map on my, and by this point my feet hurt a lot and my shoulders were quite sunburned, so I went home instead.
When I got back, I heard the news.
And my day fell apart.
I have felt sick, and tearful, and depressed ever since. I still can’t believe it. I spoke to mum and Matt on Skype quite a lot to try to talk it out, but It was so hard being here, without having anyone to hug or cry with. I was on my own for a few hours, and didn’t know what to do. No one in Hakozaki seemed to be in: I checked Facebook to see if anyone was online (i.e. in their apartments) but no. I texted Till because I had his number and when they got back from the concert, he came round to see if I was okay which was really nice. We talked for a while, and then went for a walk down by the river because it’s not healthy to stay in my room and cry.
And now I am back here, in my room, upset again. It just doesn’t feel real at all. There are some people who you just assume will be there forever, and James was totally one of them.
Tomorrow I am still planning on going up Mt. Fuji. If I don’t, I will sit in my room and cry, and so I want to go and get out of the house. It’s now 1am, and so I’m going to get going and try to sleep. It will help.
Sorry for the crappy writing today, I know it’s even less coherent than usual, but it’s been a hard day. I will try to upload sightseeing photos tomorrow.
Good night.
pseudopsience 