Chillin’ with the young folk

The Nissan Leaf. In an air-conditioned showroom!

After breakfast in Tsukiji, the boyz and I waddled our way through the Ginza, where we took a brief respite from the mugginess in the air conditioning of a Nissan showroom where we pretended to take interest in a prototype electric three-seater that was on display. We jumped on the Yamanote line north to Ueno and explored the Ameyoko market area between the Ueno and Okachimachi stations. This was at one point the district where American black market items were sold (hence the name, which means “America town”), but now it’s the place to buy kitchy shit and youth-culture accoutrements at cheaper prices than elsewhere in Tokyo. It’s also a popular spot with gamers and pachinko addicts, and I hear there are lots of drunken salarymen whooping it up in the after-work hours (which in Japan may start anywhere between 5 pm and midnight–workaholism here is highly encouraged).

statue of the Akita dog that returned to Shibuya station every day for years to wait for his (dead) master to return from work

We took the Yamanote back in the clockwise direction (it’s a loop) to Shibuya, where we visited Hachiko’s statue and the Apple store, because I wanted to find out why my iPad was picking up a wifi server called “free public access” on trains, but I still was not being allowed to connect to the Internet. Apparently, its not a problem with my pad or my settings but rather it’s just that there really is no free public wifi in trains.

The street's name is really "Takeshita," not "Take Shit"

After the boyz and I checked email and updated our facebook statuses, we got back on the Yamanote to Harajuku, the scene (and every other kind of weird) kid mecca of Japan. The boyz found a place that sells the coolest T-shirts on the planet. We got in line for an Internet cafe-type place (Wired 360) for a chilled beverage and freespot access but bailed when we figured out that the whole place was “smoking,” opting instead for a chilled beverage purchased from a vending machine on the famous Takeshita street (which my classy sons refer to as “take shit” street).