Day 25 - Odaiba

Seeing how I didn't do anything yesterday, I wanted to go out with everyone and explore somewhere new. The weather was very cloudy, but it didn't seem like it would rain. Clinton had already decided on going to a place called Odaiba which is located about a half hour+ outside of Shinjuku city.

When we got there, we found ourselves surrounded by tall buildings, and several 'famous' malls. The first of which we walked to was called Aqua City, just beyond the Fuji Television Building. There were about 7 floors of restaurants and stores and so we decided to eat lunch there. I had what is called an Oyakodon, and for those of you who don't know what it is, it's basically chicken and eggs. It sounds simple, but boy was it delicious.

After eating, we walked around the mall a bit and decided to walk over to see the other malls. Apparently a few of the malls are somehow connected, or I am just imagining things and they're the same mall. So we were walking toward what we thought was another mall, but stopped at the sight of a performer with a balloon playing with a kid. After a few minutes, we found his act to be interesting so we decided to watch a bit more. As the act progressed, he began to mimic scenes from movies such as Snow White, Jaws, and Titanic. All of which were very funny, kids and adults alike were laughing to his somewhat lame act.

During one of the skits, he tried walking around to get one of the older crowd members to join him for something, but was refused. When he walked toward us, I had a feeling he might want me to go, but fortunately he picked Kidae - Pop Star we call him - and had him follow along. He's a shy person at heart so it took some encouragement from the crowd clapping, and the four of us watching cheering him on before he made a fool out of himself. :D It was rather funny if you ask me.

In another mall we checked out a miniature 'Hong-Kong' which was between the 6th and 7th floor of the mall. Just outside of this Chinese-rendition of a Japanese mall was the Sega game center where on the televisions displayed the various games they have awaiting inside. Perhaps the next time I come I'll be playing there for an hour or so.

Just in the mall across from this one there was a floor named "Muscle Park". Inside had a lot of people standing around waiting to play various fitness games such as balance/timing games, or a course designed to strictly use only your upper body. This too looked so much fun, but with only five of us and not knowing what to do, it might not be that much fun. Seeing how Odaiba is some place not everyone has visited yet, we hope that when we come again, we'll have a larger crowd and be able to take part in these fitness games.

The last place we went to was called MegaWeb, yet another mall but about a 20min walk from the last. It was well worth the walk because it was different than the other malls we went to. First we walked into a car showroom where both Clinton and I got to feel what it'd be like to drive sitting on the right side of the car. That is something I don't think I'd ever be able to get used to. Once we left the store we walked into a different section of this mall and it seemed to have turned into Las Vegas' Rome-looking atmosphere. The ceilings were painted like the sky and it was like walking through the streets of Europe.

On our way out, we found yet another performer, surrounded by tens if not over a hundred people. If you had to think abut it in perspective, I guess you could say it was like any time there is a performance in Ala Moana. He had all eyes and ears, and did some similar things the last performer we saw did. The final act though, involved juggling flames while on a unicycle. I'm sure it seems like one of those cliche acts that you can imagine everyone can do, but when you're no more than 15ft away from the unicycle, the act is really brought to life.

He finished up by juggling a dagger, an apple, and a flame - and eventually started eating the apple away. And just before he dropped to the ground he tossed the apple into the sky and landed it right on top the tip of the dagger. The crowd applauded and roared incredibly, and paid him just as nicely. As I walked up to give him some money for the show I just watched, I noticed plenty of 1,000yen bills. He must've made a decent amount of money for the 20~30min he performed.

On our way home we decided to take a different route, with different trains. There was supposed to be a different train that travels through the city instead of underneath it, for no higher a price than what we paid before. Although very slow, this train was worth taking because there were seats that faced each other where we were able to sit and talk/relax, while overlooking the ocean and the city heading toward Shimbashi. Once we got to Shimbashi, we took the regular trains home and called it a night.