I'm leaving on a jet plane...

So tomorrow morning up and out of here at 8 AM to catch a train to Haneda and then fly down to Izumo, yadda yadda.

It was a good finish to the workshop today. Interesting stuff throughout and my talk went...ok. Not the best I've given, but people were interested in what I had to say, so I'm happy.

After the session, a colleague and I went to Akihabara, which is the electronic center of Tokyo--it's where people go to get computer parts, new electronics, and apparently lots of manga and anime (comics and cartoons). It was....interesting. Can't say I saw anything there that I wanted, but it gave you that "Tokyo feel," that is the one where you are one of a hundred thousand people moving among a mob of people with completely different agendas than the one you have. It was interesting, but we could only take so much.

We walked back to Ueno, stopping at a sushi joint along the way. Now, I like sushi. I like it a lot. But I tend to limit myself to things like salmon, tuna, crab, shrimp, and things I eat normally. The sushi joint we went to had no english menu, just a waitress who spoke a bit of english. Andy and I decided just to get the "fixed plates" where they give you a variety of sushi and you don't have to worry about what your saying or anything. Mine came with tuna, salmon, tuna roll, and others. The others were the things I normally don't order....however, not wanting to look like a wimp, I ate it all: salmon roe and lots of fish I could not identify.

And you know what? I was fairly disgusted by it. Actually, it wasn't too bad, though I'll pass on the salmon roe next time--the texture just wasn't right for me. I drank beer--just a mug--but it washed down the mystery fish while I savored the known tuna and salmon pieces.

After dinner, we had sake, which was amazingly smooth. It was a bit like lightly flavored water, but was very nice. We then headed back to the hotel.

I went out again to find the Hard Rock Cafe so I could get the old roommate the shirt he asked me to pick up. (I'll have you know, Terry, I got made fun of quite a bit when I asked at the workshop if someone could tell me where the Hard Rock Cafe was. You owe me.) I'm now back in the hotel room.

I know I could stay up a bit if I so choose, but I'm not sure I will choose so. My options are to watch tv in a language I don't understand, work, or read. None sounds appealing to me right now. Lying down does. So I'll likely call it a night soon and see if I can sleep beyond 5 AM tomorrow. That'd be nice. Then it'll be breakfast in the morning, then off to Matsue.

Oh and by the way, the humidity here is horrible. I stink, my clothes stink, and I don't know how to get through all this week with my limited wardrobe. We'll see.