Got together with some of the old EBT/Morgan Stanley gang. The JustZed has finally transferred out from NY, and Norichan is moving TO NY and The Stedt, Spike, and Toddychan continue to brag about their daughters.
I didn't even show up until after 9pm as I now have to work for my money, but the old gang is still in full effect, and by the time we left folks was right and properly drunj.
Nice weather so I popped over to Shibuya to see Yamazaki-sensei and pick up some order-made tsuba. He lives in the back streets of Awashima, where time stopped 50 years ago.
Kids were fishing for crawdaddies in the river as parents hung out sipping beer and enjoying the blossoms. Bits of Tokyo like this make the city so cool. And then five minutes on the bus and I was in the throngs of Hachiko, packed with Sunday shoppers, high school kids, hawkers and gawkers and general typical Shibuya mayhem.
The Eng came by in his brand new 430 Spider, so P jumped in for some hi-quality photo ops.
Then we tested the limits of Sunday Tokyo driving by hauling seriously quicktime to Akiba for some much needed geek shopping.
The Eng was immediately in his element as we browsed from hi to low; otaku heaven full of anime figures, high-end home stereo equipment, giant-screen plasma TVs, DVDs, and a coffee break in "Fairie Garden", a maid cafe on the roof of a building housing a role playing bookstore and a PC repair shop.
Finished the day with a tour of the massive Yodobashi Camera and sped through the rain home, the 'rari's small trunk full of goodies.
Flowers and Nancy and booze in Shinjuku Gyoen on a perfect Saturday afternoon.
A couple more photos.
Being sick all weekend, I missed Nancy's farewell party, but Hiroko managed to get some quality shots.
The seventh period of seven days after death is when the spirit finally achieves total enlightenment and ascends permanently to heaven. Thus, the celebration of shijuku (literally "49") is supposed to be a happy time; the time to truly say good-bye to the dead and a reminder of the joy that is with the living.
Just this morning I was whining to Hiroko that I needed decent, normal watch, capable of both telling the time and not making me look like a moron when dressed up for work.
After we went to the local temple, grandma gave me a bunch of granpa's stuff, including a couple of awesome haori and grandpa's antique silver King Seiko 45-7001 Hi-Beat watch. Extreme coolness.
We rallied the troops and went to a local family restaurant, were we proceeded to pigout on all kind of scrumptous foods including fried eel backbone crunchy chips, spicy raw squid parts, crab pasta, ramen and grandma's breaded, deep-fried giant shrimp.
