Day 9, Ginza walk, Godzilla, more Starbucks, and Karaoke!

Our Professor sent us to Ginza today for a school assignment. I started off by stopping at Starbucks and picking up a loyalty card (Update: they don’t actually have loyalty cards in Japan yet, but at least I can track the stores I went to and keep it as a souvenir).

Next we went to a cute sweets shop called Fujiya. There were so many things to choose from, so it was hard to decide. My daughter would’ve really liked it here. I gather that it is really popular in Japan as they had a huge sign on the skyscraper building and it was just a small shop on the bottom.

I still needed to find more store types for my assignment, so I decided to keep exploring. Google is fantastic, but it is still limited when you are trying to search within Google Maps for Japan locations in English. Sometimes you have to Google the store name (ex. Starbucks) or store type (ex. supermarket) and get the address and then use google maps. Also, it just doesn’t always work or can be somewhat frustrating, so I go with the old stroll ‘til you find method.

I end up strolling along and find some pretty cool things. Like this little tunnel filled with vintage posters.

I can also tell that I’m coming up on the upscale district as I pass by a Tiffany’s.

I also keep seeing flag signs for a museum with an Impressionism exhibit. I eventually make it to the Mitsubishi Museum of Art and decide to see if its in my Grutto pass (museum coupon book). It is not, but I’m such a sucker for Impressionist art that I go ahead. It was a small exhibit, but definitely worth it. And I was able to stroll at my own pace.

Upon exiting, I realized I wasn’t sure how far I had walked, so took a train back one to get back into the more concentrated area and maybe find a supermarket for the assignment. Instead I came across Godzilla and another Starbucks marked by a really cool display of Les Miserables.

By now, I’m very tired of walking and realize that I have to make it back to the hostel for Sumo wrestling tonight. I get back and get ready for Sumo and the second meet up with my Japanese buddies from Chuo University. Sumo wrestling gets cancelled, so I head off to meet my friends.

They end up taking me to a yummy Korean Restaurant and then we go to karaoke!

This one is the cheapest so far! It was only like $30 hr for all of us and that included unlimited drinks (soda/juice/coffee). It was a lot of fun. They sang ‘Let It Go’ in Japanese which was cool to hear and then we all sang it together in English. This ended my day. I was so exhausted that I just went straight to bed when I got to the hostel.