Tuesday, 9/23/08 7:22 PM, Ikebukuro
Today was pretty much the perfect day. I met up with Naoko this morning, a girl I met during my last visit to Japan and we ate at a nearby conveyor belt style sushi bar. It was no Sukiyabashi Jiro, but then again it didn’t cost ¥20,000 per person either. In fact, Naoko picked up the tab before I even had a chance to get to the register. We then stopped by a pachinko/slot parlor because I spotted a Neon Geneses Evangelion poster out front. I spent ¥1,000 for the both of us to play the NGE slot machines for a while. The tokens quickly disappeared and we made our way to Shibuya where we immediately went to the famous statue of Hachiko – a dog who always waited at the same spot to greet his owner and when the owner died, the dog still went and stood there waiting. It is now the most famous meeting spot in Japan. Shibuya is also known for being in “Lost in Translation,” “The Fast and the Furious,” a Mariah Carey video and several other movies and TV shows. We saw the Shibuya 109, a building filled with clothing shops and had iced macha lattes at the Starbucks overlooking Shibuya crossing.
After Shibuya, we tromped through the Roppongi Hills for a great view of Tokyo Tower. There was a really cool spider statue that caught my eye and the whole park area was enclosed by a cascading waterfall, at times spraying a fine mist out onto the hot pedestrians below. 
Next up was my favorite part of the trip so far – Nakamise Dori, Kinamarion Gate and Senshoji Temple. Right outside Kinamarion Gate was a Hayao Miyazaki shop where I bought a few cat-bus souvenirs for friends.
The shops that line Nakamise Dori are mostly for tourists, so naturally I bought a few more souvenirs. Naoko bought us some of those red bean filled pastries. Honestly, I could’ve gone without them but I appreciated the thought and ate mine up just the same.
At Senshoji Temple, the first thing I did was get my fortune. This is how it goes: deposit ¥100, pick up a hexagonal, metallic container and shake it until a stick with a Japanese number written on it comes out of the small hole at the top, match up the number on the stick with one of the numbered drawers, open it up and pull out your fortune. Mine?
“The cloudy sky will get more and more clear and the moon will appear. The linen robe turns into a green one. What you’ve been troubled for a long time will soon begin to fade away. Your virtue and happiness will reveal themselves. Your wishes will be realized. A sick person will recover. The lost article will be found. The person you are waiting for will come. Building a new house and removal are good. Making a trip is good. Marriage and employment are all good.”
Well hot damn!
After the fortune, I wafted some smoke from a sacred flame onto myself for even more good luck and then stopped by the sacred water to cleanse myself, even drinking a bit of it as I had watched others do. At the entrance of the actual temple, I gave an offering and said a prayer before entering. The inside of the temple was beautiful, with several intricate carvings and shrines. 
Just off of Nakamise Dori was the okonomiyaki restaurant that I ate at four years ago. We sat at a table with a built-in grill and Naoko ordered for us. Once the waitress brought out the bowl of ingredients, Naoko told me to mix them up as she oiled the grill. I mixed the contents (batter, shrimp, squid and vegetables) well and poured it onto the hot grill, forming a near perfect circle.
We chatted for a while and I realized that the okonomiyaki hadn’t been tended to. So I took the two spatulas that we were provided with and flipped it over only to find a beautiful, golden brown okonomiyaki smiling back at me. I added a little oil to the table and flipped it a few more times before topping it with mayonnaise, bonito and nori. The thin bonito fish flakes danced beautifully in the heat. A dash of the brown okonomiyaki sauce and it was time to eat. 
It was with the first bite of the okonomiyaki that I decided to cancel the Osaka leg of my trip. If I could get okonomiyaki this good in Tokyo, why the Hell would I travel over two hours to get something that could only hope to be this good? Seriously, there were only three things that I really wanted out of Osaka – okonomiyaki, takoyaki (octopus balls) and Kani Doraku (a famous crab restaurant).
As we were leaving, walking back through the crowded street of Nakamise Dori, Naoko leaned into me, with her head on my shoulder and quietly said, “I think…I think I like you.”
Crap. Honestly, the first thought that flashed through my mind was, “I brought along all the baggage that I need on this trip already.”
Naoko escorted me back to the ryokan and we made plans to meet up again tomorrow after she gets off work. Over dinner, I told her that Takeshi Kitano is one of my heroes and she mentioned that he has a new movie in theaters now so we’re going to Ginza to see it.
Lesson learned: I’m going to have good luck!