Anyway, after learning how to navigate and take the metro (by both having it explained to me, trial, and error) I was finally able to explore further than my feet could take me.
I decided to go to a part of Tokyo called Ueno as there were many things I wanted to see in that part of town. However, that "not having a GPS" really got me again. I guess I went the wrong way when exiting the train station and I ended up at a very large wall expanding who-knows-how-long in two directions. Thankfully, you can load a map on the iPhone and it will usually work without service or WiFi. Also, another fun little trick I learned was, even without cellular data, the GPS on my phone will show a rough current location. You, my friend, are welcome for that little piece of information.
Still, even with this knowledge, I still got lost... This is, however, besides the point. With all the intuition I could muster, I chose to walk left. I soon realized that this was a mistake, but it was a little late at this point to turn back. So I just kept walking, with a large cement wall to my left and a residential area to my right. I assumed my destination, the Ueno zoo, was behind this large mass of rock, but I still needed to find an actual entrance. After a while, the sidewalk I was on began to drift away from the wall, and soon disappeared altogether. I still kept walking, just on the road, not that anyone in Tokyo strolls on the "sidewalks," anyway. I soon stumbled upon a beautiful little temple and shrine, devoted to health, beauty, and happiness. And, hey! I actually took pictures. The photos do not, in any way, capture the feeling or grandeur of the real thing, but they give a little glimpse.
Thankfully there was no one there, so I had free reign to explore as I like (nothing disrespectful or destructive, I promise). I just liked being able to look at things and walk around without feeling watched or judged. I walked along the outside of the temple, looking at the garden and streams.
I left and began walking the direction I was going before, and eventually ended up in a little town and park area. There was apparently a pretty big event going on, there were many speakers set up under some trees in the park and there was a little church service going on. There were about four people up-front singing worship songs. I stood pretty far back to watch and hum along, but there soon came a volunteer who handed me a piece of paper. I'm guessing it had song lyrics on it, but I guess I'll never know. The worship ended and some sort of minister came up to preach. From the volunteers shirts, which had a little blurb of English, I guessed it was a Christian ministry. There was an impressive mass of people who came to watch, many of which were sitting on the ground with old cardboard and newspaper. After a good while of sitting and watching the preacher, I mustered enough courage to hand the paper back to the volunteers and began to walk further in the park. It was quite beautiful. I soon stumbled onto some bathrooms (thank the Lord) which ended up having no toilet paper, but when you got to go, you got to go. Upon exiting the toilet, I scanned the park and spotted the entrance to the zoo! I went up the automatic kiosk for the tickets (because I am a whimp and don't want to deal with the language barrier) and entered. If I had just waited a few more minutes, the toilets at the zoo had toilet paper.
I realize now how sad it is to go to a zoo by yourself. It is much more fun with a companion. I did make friends with a lemur and some bats, so that was good.
Whether it be sad or lame, I spend an excessive amount of time with the lemur. It was in a rather secluded part of the zoo and it didn't look it got many visitors. The thing I though was the most interesting it that it would refuse to look me in the eye. It's gaze would follow me wherever I went in the room, yet when I got up close, it would keep glancing down to ground and then up to my face. It's actions were just vaguely human. It was probably just cause it was a caged, trapped, nervous animal, but I would like think that we had a connection, you know.
I love the differences between the sorts of animals in this zoo than the zoos back in America (and trust me, I've been to a lot of zoos). Its rare I get to see large animals I haven't heard of (cause I'm a major nerd) and I loved seeing the few there.
One example is this guy. Look at how cool he is:
Pretty chill, right?
I'll admit I have heard of the Japanese Salamander many times before, but I have never had the chance to see one in real life, so I enjoyed catching up with this guy (there is my umbrella for reference):
Not only was this zoo full of interesting and beautiful animals, but it also had impeccable landscaping. There was a boardwalk going over a giant pond full of foliage leading to more enclosures.
As you can see in the last picture, the day was rather gloomy (hence the umbrella). I arrived in the middle of rainy season and a typhoon. Reminds me of home (well, not the typhoon part).
After I made sure I saw every animal in that zoo, I estimated where the University of Tokyo was and started to walk that way (in other words, more intuition!). After not knowing where I was and walking the direction that I guessed was best, I arrived at, guess what!
Another wall! I assumed this nicer, brick wall was enclosing the university, so I walked alongside it for a while until I came to and entrance. It was guarded, which made me a little nervous (I know I have no reason to be, but I can't help but think I might do something wrong). I still walked in, with no hitches. I know what your thinking, "um, Valerie? You don't know Japanese, why do you want to go to university in Tokyo?"
I assure you, I have no plans to go to university in Japan and was not "touring" it in any way, I just have heard a lot about it and I was in the part of town, so why not? I sat down under this tree on campus. I wish I would have taken a picture. It was in the middle of courtyard, standing proud and tall. Its roots had broken through the ground, cracking the cement benches in two. I just think its rather poetic how a tree can brake free of the bounds put on it by humans. After getting up and walking around for a bit, plus listening to a group of Japanese guys make fun of Americans in English, I chose to try and find the train station. And yes, this would be yet another challenge of my internal compass. But I prevailed! After yet another situation of looking at vague street maps and hoping I was walking the right way, I ended up at the correct train station. I got home and "freshened up," meaning I applied a lot of deodorant and did my best to mask my stench, and went to meet James and Masami for dinner.
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