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So, got up on DAY THREE. Ate breakfast. Then I realized.

Today.
Is.
Our.
VERY LAST DAY IN TOKYO.

Sob.

We first went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Center, which is basically where the mayor works. However, there are several other people who work there... I'm just not sure... who. We went up to the 45th floor, which basically lets you see all of Tokyo. Unfortunately, the 45th floor is so high up that my ears popped on the way up. Ouch. They also have a souvenir... booth thing... on that floor. At the time we were there, there was a display of art (presumably from school students) about keeping your teeth healthy. One picture was of this blue-haired kid with a giant toothpaste tube and toothbrush battling cavities. I took lots of pictures.

We also ate lunch in this building, which I forgot about until just now for some odd reason.

So then we left the building. And on the way to our next destination, I somehow managed to erase all 267 pictures I had taken in the last 2 days.

I hate me. ><

Anyway, I got over it once we got to Asakusa Temple, which is in the (take a wild guess) Asakusa District of Tokyo. It's really huge and awesome. They have a lot of shops on a street in front of the temple that sell traditional Japanese stuff.

And THEN we went to Akihabara.

Unles you're a pervert or you really like pachinko, I strongly suggest that you don't go into about half of the shops there. The other half are fine. They don't call it "Electric Town Akihabara" for nothing. There are tons of technology shops, like LAOX.

Going back to the other half of Akihabara, my two groupmates walked into a shop (while I, with my amazing powers of good judgment, stood outside) and came back really, really, freaked out. You can probably guess what kind of shop it was.

Yeah, I was really glad to leave Akihabara. Anyway, moving on.

So for dinner, we went to this small back-alley building with a very old and creaky elevator. Judging the condition of the elevator and the building itself, I strongly expected the restaurant to be shabby, but was rather surprised when it turned out to be a really nice restaurant. (Remember, Japanese people have to save space. The restaurant was on the 4th or 5th floor of the building.) And dinner was... shabushabu!

Now, shabushabu is basically this:
1. You get a plate of meat (thinly sliced, raw) and some veggies (raw), noodles(uncooked), and possibly tofu (???). You also get a pot of broth on a burner at your table.
2. The servers turn on the burner and let the pot begin to boil.
3. Once it boils, they (or you) dump in the veggies and meat.
4. Once the food cooks, it's nummy time.

It was probably the dinner I most enjoyed (excluding the last night's dinner and the dinners at the homestay). It was really good heart

Now because we still had the coach, I assumed we wouldn't have to tramp up that damn hill again. Of course, we got dropped off at Shinagawa station again. We were going to be flying tomorrow, so Maiko wanted to give us a chance to buy snacks or whatever. Thank God for the train station supermarket! I bought two bags of gummies.

And then we walked back up that damn hill to get to the hotel. Thankfully, this is the last time...

Or is it... biggrin