June 21

I wake up around 930 and get ready. me, naoko, and toon left the dorm at 1030a to go to the station. We get to hamamatsucho and see kana. Then mari comes. And then toon wants to get on the phone. But we aren’t really going to use hamamatsucho. The phone is inside the gate. So toon starts to use it while leaning over the gate. They are asking where Brandon is. It’s not even 11am yet. Brandon gets there and I tell toon that he’s here. She didn’t make her call yet. They wanted to take us to a bookstore to find a guide book to Kyoto, but I said that we could find everything on the internet. So we head back into daimon and go to asakusa.

We ate lunch at a soba restaurant where we had to take off our shoes. I like mine hot. It was ok. Nothing fancy.

We get to asakusa and there are so many people. There are so many shops. I go into a kimono shop to see how much the collar would be for under the kimono. It takes a while but I decide to get just the plain collar. Then the lady said that I could not get the color without this other cloth to go over it. There was this man that spoke English but he had a greasy feel. Like a car salesman. So then I’m like ok, I’ll get the top. Then she said that the top needed a bottom slip. Then we found a set for 5000 yen. I got it in purple, two ties, and the obi board to keep the shape. Cool!

Then I wanted to look around for a purse, fan, and getta. But that didn’t happen. The getta I wanted are for a yukata. There are different shoes you wear with a kimono and socks. And the getta I wanted weren’t in my size. And the purse I wanted was for a yukata and matched my kimono too much. Naoko wasn’t much help because she can’t seem to talk to me. She doesn’t know any of the words that will help. I should have gotten the shoes and socks there, but it is so difficult to talk to naoko. And kana left early because she needed to go to work. And the fans that I like were really expensive.

I got some gifts for peoples and we ate this really tasty fried bun with anko inside. Yum. Then we headed for the temple. Sensoji? Temple and shrine. Naoko got her booked stamped by the priests. We saw a man and his baboon? Doing tricks. I video taped some of it. We went back down thru the street. We left and went to ueno to eat sweets. Called anmitsu. I got macha with anko and red beans and mochi. There was this agar nastiness. Gelatinous gross! Then we started walking down the street and saw the shopping street. Toon really wanted to go. we played this game like guitar hero but with 3 buttons to push. While they were playing toon tried to find a phone. Always trying to find a phone. We found a place to take our picture in a booth and then we found a shoe store. It took forever. Then Brandon found a tea shop and bought a macha set. He was very excited. There wasn’t’ much time left and we went to go eat dinner. We went to torizou. It was yakitori style. It was all really delicious. It was 2000 yen each. We shared certain things like salad, the omelet..

Then we came home and I tried to put on my kimono and It looked really bad. I think I’m too big. Naoko said she would help me but that hasn’t happened yet. Oh well. I’m tired.