Well it did shine for a very little while actually. But today is generally one of those "rainy season" days. But it's not like pouring rain, but instead it was very Asian - very shy rain. In the exact same 1 square meter area, there is only one drop every minute. So technically you don't need an umbrella.
I was in Tokyo when the sun first shone today. I went to the church in Meguro to attend the 12 noon mass. A one way trip from my apartment to Meguro takes an hour and 50 minutes. Before going home, I went around the Shinjuku area and took pictures of the two most prominent buildings there: the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, and the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower. I also went to Bic Camera, the electronics store, and was able to try the new iPhone 4 and iPad.
One of the things I did today was withdraw from the bank, via the ATM. Guess what. There's an "overtime charge," apparently because it's Sunday today. Overtime charge???? Who's doing overtime????? Well, I guess Japan is still very much Asian. Any opportunities to earn money, they will grab. I mean, of course, that's a good thing to do, from a business-owner perspective. Like in renting apartments, aside from paying the rent and a 2-months deposit, you usually would have to pay a non-refundable 2-months' worth of "gratitude payment" (or what they call "key money") to the landlord and when you leave, you may need to pay a fee to have your apartment "cleaned" and ready for occupancy by the next tenant. I mean, in other countries, the rent (as well as the deposit) is supposed to cover all that already.
Another thing I did today was... to finally try eating at Denny's here. As I mentioned before, there are two Denny's branches here in Atsugi alone. Pretty surprising. The Denny's closer to the Hon-Atsugi station is on the 2nd floor of a 3-storey building; a.k.a. a building with no elevators or escalators. Anyways, from what I can understand from the sign, this Denny's store is open 24 hours! So I come in, and as expected, the interiors are very Western, much like the Denny's stores I've visited in California. Then I sit down, look at the menu and... It's a Japanese menu! Of course the text is in Japanese, this is Japan anyway. But the items on the menu are all Japanese (or Japanese-style) food! I was really craving for some Amerika-no tabemono (American food), though I wasn't sure yet what exactly. Anyways, I ordered the suteiku (steak, Japanese-style), but it was "sold out," the waitress said in English. So I asked what's a similar dish, and so she pointed to another kind of suteiku, but this time instead of one big slab of meat, it's pre-sliced already. Anyways, fyi, Japanese-style steak usually comes on a sizzling plate and with onions and "sauce." The price, is expensive, though for the ambiance, it wasn't so bad. I've eaten at a hole-in-the-wall Japanese steak place before, and their prices are my reference point.
And that's about it for my day. Hi, mom! Don't worry, I'm fine. :-)
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