Return to Tokyo

Monday, October 27 - At the Haneda Nagasaki Airport we found a Starbucks! How do you say nonfat cafe latte in Japanese? ( you point and say "tall"). It is a two hour plane ride from Nagasaki to Tokyo. We got a short peek at Mt. Fuji on our flight in to Tokyo. We arrived 'home' in Tokyo and felt as if we were back in the states. Many westerners, signs in english, kind of like walking around Manhattan. Our first order of business (after dropping off our luggage was shopping in the Harajhuku district. (they even have a 'Gap'). We went to a thrift store called "Chicago" and bought Kimono's. Mine was only $42.00 (used). I plan on wearing it to make my presentations at my schools. At the thrift store we were amused to find Levi's for $70, old flannel shirts for $25, everything we'd already 'Goodwill-ed' - you know, "the 70's called, they want your clothes back..." Those scratchy wool blankets you can buy for $4.00 in Mexico were going for $50.00. If only I'd known... We also went to a toy store. I was especially impressed that they had an entire floor devoted to Joe Cool himself, Snoopy. Lots of Hello Kitty and Anime/Manga characters, too. We then went to Oriental Bazaar, which was disappointing - too commercial, not enough character. It was pouring down raining so instead of winding our way back to the subway, we took a taxi to Hard Rock and bought hamburgers and t-shirts. I'm embarrassed to say we paid $18 just for a hamburger (beef is very expensive because it is all imported), but we were so hungry for American food, we probably would've paid more. It was like stepping in to the states with an english menu and old 80's mtv videos streaming on the tv's. Our group has to give a presentation on Wednesday, so we worked into the evening preparing. We're staying really busy.