So, Mie invited me to write in this during the first week of our visit and I completely forgot about it.

I think we've all been so busy running around that we haven't really taken the time to stop and write anything. It's understandable since we want to keep our energy up to do yet more cool stuff, but also kind of sad since I know it's a lot easier to retain good memories when you actually take the time to write them down.

Let's hit the past few days in a quick summary.

Wednesday, September 23rd - Odaiba
Mie and I went to Odaiba, an artificial island turned massive shopping district. I became a bit ill in the food court of the Diver City shopping mall, but I got over it, and we wandered around, took in the sights, took some pictures, checked out the massive Gundam replica, then rode the giant ferris wheel after nightfall.

Thursday, September 24th - Shinjuku & Harajuku
We tried to go back to the costume museum in Shinjuku, but it was closed again for some unknown reason even though Silver Week was over. Frustrated, we decided to visit Harajuku again since we didn't really get to explore it adequately on our first visit. John found an incredibly cool leather jacket in a second hand fashion store, I found a pair of comfy shorts, and we capped the day off by having the best pancakes of our entire lives at Mee's Pancakes.

Friday, September 25th - Ueno
With our mini trip-within-a-trip approaching, we decided to visit Ameyoko St. in Ueno to try to find a backpack. It was rainy, but we found an indoor shopping area (kind of like a flea market but a little nicer) filled with lots of mom & pop type small shops, many of which sold luggage. We bought a bright red backpack for Mie (completely utilitarian -- all the cooler looking stuff was pricey) then decided on a whim to go visit the Tokyo National Museum. Mie was bored, but John and I enjoyed it.

John and Mie found a painting that reminded them of the ending of The Tale of Princess Kaguya and were made immediately upset. You'd have to see the movie to get why.

Saturday, September 26th - Sumida
The day wherein we did nothing. Knowing that we'd be walking a whole lot over the next few days, we opted to just take it easy. I can't really remember what we did this day, but I'm pretty sure it involved watching a lot of Steven Universe.

Sunday, September 27th - Karuizawa & Nagano
We stuffed our backpacks and set out on our mini-trip. We took the Ginza line from Asakusa to Ueno, then rode the Shinkansen to Karuizawa. Or that was the plan, anyway. Mie was feeling very unwell this day, so she fell asleep on the train, and John and I both had headphones in, so we ended up going three or four stops too far north. We managed to get on the Shinkansen heading south, though, and arrived in Karuizawa as planned.

Once there, we ate at an odd little chicken and pizza restaurant, then walked down some beautiful, empty country roads through the forest, by various large, nice homes. Some of them looked abandoned, but most were well maintained. The area had a damp climate -- it looked like people were intentionally keeping moss instead of grass lawns, and mushrooms were growing all over the place.

We eventually came upon Kumoba Pond, the largest pond in Japan. (We had a lot of discussion about what decides the difference between a large pond and a small lake. Apparently, at least for the purpose of this particular context, a pond is a body of water shallow enough for plants to grow from the bottom at any point.)

It was fascinating -- clustered all along the pond's shore and all over the small plank bridge were artists with their easels and palettes, painting away. I'm not sure if this was some sort of special day or if it's just always like this, but there had to have been at least twenty or more artists in total, and from what I saw, they were all great. Granted, I tried not to go snooping over all their shoulders as we passed by, but it was hard not to take a peek.

After visiting the pond, we walked back to station and took the Shinkansen to Nagano (this time with no mishaps) and had our second faux Italian meal of the day at a bustling restaurant just down the street from the Smile Hotel. I wish I could remember the name of it -- it was unexpectedly good, with free beverage refills (unheard of in Japan), good food, and reasonably priced desserts. John and I each had two desserts because why not.

As a minor note, the restaurant had a grape soda called Qoo. It was strangely flavorful but also had disconcerting undertones of toothpaste and bubblegum. I'm not sure if I would drink it again. I probably would, but then I would ask myself why I was drinking it. It's just that kind of drink.

After our meal, we turned in for the night in our tiny rooms at the Smile Hotel. Funny note: You have to insert your key in a slot in the wall to turn on the electricity to the room while you're inside. It took us a while to figure this out.

I'll write more about the following days soon, and later, I'll go back and try to edit in some relevant photos, too.