Return to the Capital

The following takes place on Saturday, March 26th and Sunday, March 27th...

So I havnt had a chance to write my blog for a while but on this weekend, I finally went back to Tokyo for the first time since the quake. On Friday, March 25th, we had an enkai for work because it was the last day of the school year before spring break.

On Saturday, I woke up and headed out to Tokyo at around noon. I got there a little after 3 pm. Despite the quake, things seemed more or less the same. I didnt notice any noteworthy physical damage to roads or buildings. Trains seemed to still be running frequently enough if not just slightly reduced. The main difference I did notice were that in most places the lights were much dimmer and less lights were being used in order to save electricity. The other main difference I noticed was that bottled water was pretty much sold out everywhere. Every conbini I went to had zero water bottles and also just about every vending machine was sold out of water. This didnt really affect me at all since I brought a bit bottle with me from home in my backpack and otherwise I mostly just drank sports drinks and alcohol.

Of course, the first place I went when I got to Tokyo was Mikado. I was itching to play some GG since it had been several weeks since I last played. At first it was pretty much dead as hell with just 2 guys playing who looked like they were either just fucking around or didnt really know how to play well. I didnt really wanna play against them and be stuck playing the computer if they didnt rematch me so I decided to play a little SSFIVAE since there were more people playing it. I was a bit rusty at this game and got beat up by a T Hawk but then I rematched him and won. I also beat someone else but I forgot who. Eventually I lost to the T Hawk again and noticed a few GG players were watching for whatever reason. I think they wanted to play GG but no one else was playing so they were hesitant to play or something like that.

I was getting hungry so I got some Burger King. When I came back, there were a few more people playing GG so finally started playing that. Gradually as the day went on, more and more GG player showed up and in the end it got fairly packed. Kunihiro came and I talked with him and played him for a bit. Also, Ryan (Letbloodrun) is back in Japan currently and came to play 3S. There was a 3S tournament going on earlier actually when I arrived but he said he had stuff to do in the morning so he missed it. He came to play casuals though. We talked a bit. He asked where Emmet was and I told him he went back to New Zealand after the quake hit. I played a ton of GG casuals and had a lot of fun.

Towards the end when it was starting to get late, Ryan had to go soon so he couldnt come out drinking but wanted to have a beer with me so I drank with him for a bit while playing GG. He eventually left. I stayed a bit longer and played a little buzzed GG as I continued to sip on a little whiskey. Eventually it got pretty late so I decided to go hit up Current. Before going to Current I grabbed a kebab for the road.

Current was actually busier than I would have thought it would be and nothing seemed to have changed. As soon as I walked in, lots of people were glad to see me saying how they were wondering if I was ok and stuff. I assured them I was and quickly ordered a beer and sat at the bar. I talked with a few regulars and the staff. Eventually Sawa mailed me saying she wanted to meet up with Heidi and drink with us tonight. Heidi said she was at PSY so we said we would join her there later. Sawa didnt remember the way to PSY so I told her to come to Current and id go there with her later. She eventually showed up and we just kept getting beers at Current cuz we were having a good time there.

I dont remember exactly but probably sometime around 4 pm we headed to PSY. I dont remember much there honestly lol. From what I do remember it was a pretty typical night at PSY and I stayed passed 6 am. Manga kissa was the same as usual.

The next day I got a haircut and then I bought a new PS3 arcade stick at Yamada Denki in Shinjuku. The left direction cherry switch on my stick at home is broken and I dont have the tools to fix it here with me in Japan and im too lazy to bother finding new parts and tools here so I just decided to buy a new stick. Nothing fancy, just a 5000 yen Hori, but it does the job. After that, I went home a bit earlier to spend the rest of the evening with Ryoko at home.

Pretty typical weekend but it was good to finally go back to Tokyo after so long.