Tokyo and Iwate trip December 28 to January 4 - Part 4

When I returned from Kitakami, it was early evening. I got back to JR's apartment just as he was headed out to meet a friend. So, while he went to meet his frirend, I relaxed for a while, uploading pictures and such, and then headed out for a walk around Roppongi. After a time, I got a call from JR saying he and his friend were going to go to play darts in Shinjuku, and did I want to join them. I said sure, and hopped on the train.

After some miscommunication, I found JR and shortly thereafter joined in a game of darts with him and his friend, plus his friend's friend. They were all good company, and then after we were tired of darts, we decided to go play pool. The friend's friend, Y, and I didn't think we'd be so good at pool, so we hung back and watched for a while. I have to say, darts and pool weren't how I expected to spend the first day of 2017, but it was fun! I even shot one ball in pool, haha. By the end of several games, it was past 2 in the morning, so JR and I headed back home. It had been a great start to the year.

The next day, I woke up somewhat early (early considering how late I had gotten to bed the night before) to meet with some Couchsurfing folks to see the Japanese imperial family at the imperial palace. There were two Turkish people, three Spaniards, me, and a Japanese guy who was organizing the event. We walked from Otemachi station to the imperial palace grounds, where we had to wait in long lines to pass through bag checks and so on. After waiting a long while in the pre-waiting line (!), the Spaniards decided to leave. So did one of the Turkish people, so it was me, P (from Turkey) and H (Japanese). We waited a while longer and got to the main waiting area, but were told that it would be another hour before the family came out to greet everyone! We were tired and hungry from waiting, so we snapped a commemorative photo in front of the palace and left. I was a little bummed, but where we went next made up for it.

We took a medium-length walk to something like a convention hall, where a cultural festival was being held. There were tons of Japanese cultural events, such as sake tasting, various Japanese games, exhibits of Japanese wares, a stage for performances, and the main event - the mochi pounding staging area! We watched skilled pounders form the mochi (enough for only 100 people) faster and faster with traditional mallets, giving turns to young and old volunteers alike. Finally, it was ready to be cut. By this time, P had gone to meet a friend, so only H and I got to taste the mochi. It was really tasty! Ours was topped with kinako (roasted soybean flour) and anko (red bean).

After the mochi event, we sat to watch a shamisen performance. It was quite interesting, but I was getting antsy so I decided to get a snack and head to Harajuku to walk around. I decided upon arriving there that I don't really like Harajuku or the super crowded parts of Tokyo. That's one thing I can count on in Nakatsu - no crowds! But in any case, I wandered around and found Kiddy Land, a shop with lots of cute character merchandise and got a gift for a friend, plus a little something for myself (which I always tend to do when shopping for others).

Then, I headed back to meet with JR, and then I went to get ingredients for gyuudon, my recent Japanese culinary specialty. Then I cooked, we ate and it was great! After dinner we watched an old-timey movie called Sayonara with Marlon Brando in it. It was pretty good, but JR said it was too much of a fairy tale. What can I say, I like fairy tales!