[Original post by Elliot Mogerman – Transferred from yahoogroups.com]
Three of the french friends we met hung out with us for the day. Although we got a late start, we decided to tour around the imperial palace and gardens. Unfortunately, the gardens were nice, but it was too late to see the palace. When we returned to the hostel, Mike, myself, and stan (an older traveler from the states) had a several hour discussion regarding religion, and politics, etc. Never got heated, but was very fun.
Yesterday, Mike and I stayed in most of the day but decided to go out to Shinjuku. Here there is Kabukicho, an entertainment town with hundreds of restaurants, theaters, and arcades. Kind of reminded me of Times Square. Mike was taking a picture of the well lighted streets and dropped his camera. Now it is broke and this is the second camera that has been damaged on the trip. We were walking around and I guess there is a red light district there because every two steps we were stopped by nigerians and fellow african friends to go in every “club” on the street. Kind of annoying because we couldn’t go more than two steps without the next one trying to hustle us. And they probably heard us saying no to the last guy a few feet from them. Funny though, there are pictures of the girls that work inside on the front door. I’m sure the actual girls that work inside look nothing like the pictures.
Today is recovery day and just sleeping, eating, and watching tv. I finished my book last night and loved it. Now I found a few more at the hostel I will start reading soon.