I didn't sleep very much last night. Perhaps it was all the coffee n my veins, perhaps nerves, perhaps something else. I can't be sure. But when I woke up for the day, looking at the clock I realized that I had only slept for about three hours. Despite so little sleep or stability for my trip, I seemed to be in a good mood. Perhaps the worst was behind me. There was a surge of energy that told me to get dressed, eat something, and go for a walk.
Since there was a 7-11 just outside the lobby of my hotel, I figured that would serve very well for my first meal of the day. Coming from America, one might suppose that convenience store food is at just about the bottom of the food scale. Indeed, in America I would not bother to eat anything from a convenience store that was not in a bag with the Doritos or Frito-Lay label. However, in Japan there are many prepared meals with each of the four food groups that come in nice containers. I am very trusting of these meals, and I expect to subsist on mainly these sorts of things throughout my trip.
With so many choices to start the day, what would I eat? My own biases and prejudices tell me that I can't (pay for and) eat similar meals for breakfast that might just as well be served as lunch or dinner. Those were a lot of the plates that were out. I decided to go with a big carton of orange juice and a rice ball. I realize that rice wrapped in seaweed paper probably does not have much in terms of nutrition, but with the orange juice it was quite filling.
From the 7-11, I started out for a walk. I knew that I had to check out by 11, and it being 7 o'clock, that meant that I had a good 5 hours before I had to pack everything up and head south. (Among the few things that I did plan was seeing an old friend in Osaka, and this was scheduled for today and/ or tomorrow, so that's where I was heading next.) I had no idea where I might want to go, so I just started walking. I thought going to the Imperial Palace grounds might be nice again. After walking for about 30 minutes, I realized that I made the same mistake that I had made the previous day; having left from the opposite side of the train station, I was walking away from the Imperial Palace. So I turned around. Really, it is all the same to me, being in a new, foreign place, I find simply walking around aimlessly to be very enjoyable.
Of course, this early in the morning, many people looked like they were getting ready for work, men dressed in dark slaks and short-sleeved white shirts; as in America, it seems women have more freedom and choices in professional clothes, some wearing skirts, some wearing pant-suits.
Getting to the Imperial Palace, I was dissappointed that I didn't see anyone running around. I figured that for as many people I saw jogging the previous night, I would see at least a few who preferred to get their exercise in during the pre-work morning hours. Not so. Oh well. I considered returning to Yasakuni Shrine again, just to see the difference between the evening and morning hours, but I realized how far it might be, and decided against it. Maybe I should just return to my hotel, pick up my things, and head to Osaka.
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