Today was our last day in Tokyo. We had planned to tour the Studio Ghibli (like Disney in Japan) Museum, so we checked out and asked the hotel to hold our luggage. It rained and we tried our best not to let it dampen our spirits on the walk to the train station. When we got to our stop, we took a bus that dropped us off right at the museum. Charles had helped me prepare for the museum tour before our trip by guiding me through some of the bigger Ghibli movies that made it to the U.S., so the tour was pretty enjoyable. The museum had some really great exhibits where you got to see how the animation was done, but all in Japanese and made for Japanese people (especially children), which meant that we were kneeling and stooping a lot to fit through all of the small spaces. I hope it was as entertaining for Charles to watch me as it was for me to watch him. After the tour, we took the bus back to the station and grabbed some more Japanese fast food for lunch (the same chain as last time, just a different location). We took the train to Shibuya to sightsee, but it was raining pretty steadily so we didn’t stay very long. There was mostly one thing we wanted to see, which was fortunately just outside the station. It was a statue of a dog that came to the station every day for 10 years after his master died, waiting for his master to come home (I thought it was a moving story and wanted to see the dog). Charles took a few pictures of the statue and one of the more notable buildings outside the station (some sort of meeting place with a giant television on the outside of the building), as well as the political vans that happened to roll through, making loud announcements from the megaphones in Japanese. We had read about these vans and had expected to see more of them, but these were our first. After Shibuya, we took the train to Harajuku, which is reputed for a park full of oddly dressed teenagers. The rain was coming down even more heavily when we arrived, so we walked down one outdoor market street in search of the park before turning around and heading back to the station. My shoes were soaked through (and therefore, so were my socks) and Charles kept getting water dumped on him from other peoples’ umbrellas (sorry about that…), so it didn’t take long for us to get chilled. Nevertheless, this outdoor market was interesting, as it was filled with many trendy urban clothing stores, most of which blared American hip hop and pop music out into the street. After we were nice and soggy, we took the train to Akihabara (the erectronic district) so that Charles could pick up the rice cooker that he had been eyeing earlier in the week. we quickly got that accomplished and headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. We decided to take the Tokyo subway to get from the train station to our hotel, since there is a subway stop right under the hotel and we wanted to give ourselves a chance to dry off. We grabbed our luggage and decided to go back to the train station via subway, again to avoid some of the rain. Unfortunately, to navigate through the subway station, you have to go up and down many steps (down to the passage into the station from the hotel, then up into the station, then up a little more to the turnstyles, then down to platform… you get the idea). Usually there are escalators and elevators, but unfortunately, not in this location. We noticed this on the way to the hotel to get our luggage, but we DEFINITELY noticed on the way back to the train station from the hotel WITH our luggage. We finally made it to the Tokyo train station (after coming dangerously close to a meltdown on my part… just one more set of stairs) where we boarded our train to Narita for our last night in Japan. Once in Narita (after stopping at the airport to turn in our rented cell phone), we walked to our hotel (in the rain), checked into our room, and found great solace in the idea that we could eat in the restauarant in the basement and NOT have to go into the rain again until tomorrow. We each had soba noodles in broth, which hit the spot after a long rainy day, and decided to use the pool in the hotel’s fitness center. Charles needed to ask some questions at the desk, so we agreed to meet at the pool. I got there first and decided that I would give Japan’s massage chairs another chance. This one was far less scary than my last encounter, as it didn’t have any arm restraints so I felt more confident that I could escape a little more easily, should the need arise. I’m proud to say that I stayed in the chair for quite a while and thoroughly enjoyed the massage experience. The lounge with the massage chairs overlooked the pool, so I had been keeping an eye out for Charles while enjoying my massage and still hadn’t seen him come in. I thought this was strange, but didn’t want to go back to the room, since we were supposed to meet at the pool and I didn’t bring a room key with me. The pool was divided into lanes and each lane was in use, except for the walking lane. So I got in the walking lane to walk while I waited for Charles. I walked… and I walked… and I walked… and Charles didn’t come. I finally decided to try my luck and head back to the room in case he had gone back. When I got to the room and knocked on the door, there he was! Apparently, the fitness center attendant had told him that he must pay $1000 yen (about $10) to use the pool and fitness center, even though she had happily welcomed me into the fitness center without ever mentioning a charge. Apparently it’s ladies’ night at the hotel fitness center. We are now turning in for our last night in Japan and will be boarding our flight tomorrow afternoon after just another half day of sight seeing.