Day 5: part 3 - back to Tokyo to meet a friend

I enjoyed talking with my new dance friends in Yokohama, but I had an appointment to keep with a friend that I was supposed to meet tonight. I felt like I was already late, and I wish that I had the opportunity to call him to tell him I was running late. I certainly was unsure if I would be able to make it to Asakusa in Tokyo within the hour and a half that it was until six o'clock, the time I told him I would meet him. In fact, I didn't even really know how to get to where I was supposed to be.

I just got on the train to Yokohama, and decided that I would try to take the local train as far as I could, and figure it out as I go. I soon realized that if I stayed on this one train, I would basically get to where I needed to go. So the question was whether or not this train would be fast enough to get me there by six. Although I had my friend's phone number, I couldn't find any payphones anywhere, and instead of searching for one, I decided to just go it, and hope for the best.

I had no idea where my hotel was, and Japanese addresses leave a lot to be desired when you are trying to find any place. I got out of the subway station exactly at six o'clock, and I knew that the hotel was nearby, I just didn't know where. If I were by myself, I might try to hunt it down myself, but since I knew someone was waiting for me, I decided to jump in a taxi. A taxi driver should know about the neighborhood well enough to get me where I need to be, right? No. I showed him the address, and he had no idea. He punched it into what seemed like a gps (global positioning system), and nothing came up. Then he pulled out his map, and tried to figure it out. It seemed like we were getting nowhere. Then he looked around, and saw the hotel across the street! He never even drove me anywhere, but I asked him how much I owed him anyway. I figured he deserved a tip, at least. He wouldn't have it, and that was that.

I ran into the hotel five minutes late, and my friend was waiting for me in the lobby. I apologized, but he did not seem too disturbed, and offered me all the time I needed to get settled in. I ran upstairs to my room, dropped off my stuff without really cleaning up, and went back down to meet him.

I didn't really care what we did, or where we ate since everything would be novel to me. He suggested that we check out the new Tokyo Sky Tree. We went to the observatory at the top, and we could see all around Tokyo under the darkness of night. The city below was illuminated, and was quite beautiful. Inside this observatory, however, it was very crowded, and there were people everywhere. I suppose this should have been expected. After making our way around the observatory a few times, we descended, and went for shrimp tempura dinner. I was grateful for the great conversation, and his wonderful hospitality. We parted ways, and I was ready to go to sleep.