As I searched my way through the throngs of people in a giant food court I asked our camp Director Kieko (who is 47 but looks about 34) “Where are we?”. She replied with a smile saying “You know stores like Macys? I think they’re called department stores? We are in the basement of one.”
Some freaking basement!
There was anything and everything you could possibly imagine to eat – except American food. Hundreds of stalls selling pastries, chicken kabobs, huge slabs of eel, and fruit that was about five times as expensive as in the US (a small bunch of grapes for $10.00). The whole place was jam-packed full of people, as we were directly below the worlds busiest train station that the department store was built around. Something like 3 MILLION people A DAY make their way through the station we were at…it was insanity! I felt like I was in a river of moving people. We were nine of about fifteen non-Japanese people there and even got questioned by some camera-shy cops, pretty much because we were obviously foreigners.
As I was waiting for our group to use the restroom I wandered into a bookstore to check out the magazines. They open backwards, the writing goes from the top of the page to the bottom, and a few of the magazines came with gifts! I also took notice that it was very quiet inside the bookstore, pretty normal for a bookstore…but then I realized how quiet it is in ANY store or building you go into here. I learned firsthand just how loud Americans are when half the Japanese people traveling in the train with us moved to a different car. We are all working on being quieter!
Fun Fact: There are no public trashcans in Tokyo because of 9/11. The really amazing thing – there is no trash either. Everyone takes his or her trash home!
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