(Sunday)
Took Dan, Shirley and Rena to Meiji Jinju shrine. When we arrived to the shrine entrance, Rena complained about a foot pain. Returned to the hotel with her. Then took only Dan and Shirley to the Meiji Jinju shrine. Only the entrance gate to the shrine was impressive. The rest of the shrine was not very special. From the shrine we went to Harajuku for people watching. I wanted to see the famous cos-play girls. We saw only few of those, but we saw many other young people with fashionable cloths. Went back to the subway station in the narrow streets lined with clothing stores. Shirley fell bad because of the heat, so we entered a 7-eleven store to stay cool.
From the Shibuya station we went to the Vegan Healing Cafe. It is a very small restaurant with a single waiter, who is also the cook and the cashier. The food was good. Shirley fell so bad when we left that I called a taxi to take us back to the hotel (about 20 minutes of walk time).
Later Dan and I visited a few music stores (HMV), a manga store, and tower records book store.
In the evening we had a typical "lost in translation" situation in the 7-Eleven convenience store in the hotel. Rena wanted me to buy her a big fan which did not have a price tag. The store manger refused to ring it, and he started explaining in broken while waving his hands. I could not understand the problem. He then said in perfect English: "Do you speak Japanese?". I said no, and he continued in fluent Japanese. Fortunately, Dan somehow understood his intent. It appeared that the fan is the prize for a raffle for Pokemon products, and you cannot buy it. Since I bought one Pokemon product, I was allowed to participate in the raffle. I did not win this raffle, but then I was asked to pick cards for a different raffle (for buying at 7-Eleven). I won two bottles of bear and one bottle of vodka for buying a few trinkets for Rena.
In the evening we had a typical "lost in translation" situation in the 7-Eleven convenience store in the hotel. Rena wanted me to buy her a big fan which did not have a price tag. The store manger refused to ring it, and he started explaining in broken while waving his hands. I could not understand the problem. He then said in perfect English: "Do you speak Japanese?". I said no, and he continued in fluent Japanese. Fortunately, Dan somehow understood his intent. It appeared that the fan is the prize for a raffle for Pokemon products, and you cannot buy it. Since I bought one Pokemon product, I was allowed to participate in the raffle. I did not win this raffle, but then I was asked to pick cards for a different raffle (for buying at 7-Eleven). I won two bottles of bear and one bottle of vodka for buying a few trinkets for Rena.
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