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Day 4 November 19th
Today we woke up and it was grey and rainy. Up until now we have had great weather in the high 60s and sunny part of the day. Well today was wet and dreary. We got kind of a late start and we did not have any big plans other than to roam around. We took the metro first to Ueno and then out to Roppongi Hills. In Ueno we walked around their very large park which is full of museums, basball fields, a zoo and much more. Here, we saw the Western Art Museum designed by Corbu. We were also able to catch a little Japanese baseball. Next we stopped off in Roppongi Hills, which is an enormous mixed use development where people eat, shop, work and play. The Mori museum here is supposed to have good contemporary exhibits but of course when we get there it has some works from Cleveland that our by no means contemporary; so we skipped that. There is also a viewing station here where you can get some good view of the city but due to the weather we skipped that as well. We window shopped for a little and tried the high tech toilets (which have seat warmers and background noise as you go and then when your done a few different washing options as well a dryer). Sorry, if that is disturbing but you have to try! At this point it is pouring outside and we do not have an umbrella, just our rain coats (thanks to Cal) and we decide to venture out of the mega structure to find an internet cafe. After walking way out of our way and completely soaking our feet we finally find it and we posted up for a couple hours. The internet cafes are nice here, it is all you can drink for free and they have reclining chairs and you can order food that is also very cheap. Not much is affordable in Japan so when you are offered a basket of fries and chicken strips for three bucks you have to take it. These cafes are open 24hr so if you cannot find a hotel or hostel you can post up here, which we have yet to have to do. After surfing the web for sometime we decided to check out Shinjuku which is the skyscraper district as well as another shopping district. We roamed around here for a little while but it was pouring out and everything was beginning to close so we heading back to the hostel. It is also worth noting how incredibly big and complicated this station is as well as a few others. So many trains and people go through here that you can get lost trying to find the right train in the maze of shopping that fills the station. It seems that you constantly go up and down stairs trying to find your train and all you find is another department store!
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