I`m writing this entry in a manga/internet cafe in Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo`s most infamous red light district. Things have not gone as planned so far for this trip. My parents` arrival in Japan has been delayed until tuesday due to bad weather in the US. They`re currently in Minneapolis, but will fly to Seattle today, then fly to Tokyo the next day. We`ll still be able to see Kyoto, Nagoya, and Morioka, and we`ll have about a day in Tokyo, but we may have to skip Nikko. And since we already paid for the Tokyo hotel through the travel agency, we may not be able to get a refund for the three person room we`re not using (I switched it to a single, since they won`t actually be staying in that hotel now.) I`m trying to make the best of things here in Tokyo, but I feel really bad for them. I doubt that my father is taking this well.

I arrived in Tokyo yesterday on the night bus and walked to the Imperial Palace, the Diet Building, and Hibiya Park from Tokyo Station. I spent the rest of the morning in Akihabara, the mecca for otaku, where I found an Azumanga Daioh arcade game. It was just a generic puzzle game with the characters grafted on, but I blew 600 yen on it. I`m weak. Next I went to a huge museum that recreates Tokyo as it was in the Edo and Meiji Periods. It`s very in-depth with a lot of really interesting displays. I found the exhibit on Edo period bookstore culture particularly fascinating. I spend a lot of time in the Edo section of the museum and unfortunately had to rush through the section that covered Tokyo from the Meiji Period onward. There was also a special exhibit on Hina Matsuri dolls going on. After that I met up with Tadao, a friend from college, for dinner. He`s studying music in Tokyo while working as a newspaper delivery boy. We went out drinking afterward, and I went off on a long rant about the current state of anime and manga and otaku culture. It turns out we both really like Twentieth Century Boys and the artist/writer who creates it. He recommended another one of his comics, the first volume of which I bought today at Mandarake in Nakano Broadway. It`s called Yawara, and it`s about a `cute and fashionable Judo girl.`

Today I slept late, but woke up when my parents called and explained about the second delay. They were originally supposed to arrive yesterday, then it was delayed to today. Now it`s delayed until tuesday. Next I went to Harajuku to see Japanese teenagers wearing weird outfits. The place is full of foreigners these days. There were even some dressed up and posing for pictures. I visited a cool art gallery that had some interesting displays, then stumbled onto a big St.Patrick`s Day parade. There were groups representing various Irish pubs in Japan, Guiness beer, various Japan-Ireland associations, and a few other organizations. At one point I saw a Japanese man with a green mohawk wearing green plaid playing the bagpipes. He is my new life hero. As I was leaving, I spotted some of those Japanese Nazi cosplayers, one of whom was wearing a swastika armband. And these people don`t believe in any Nazi ideology. They just like the fashion and style of the Third Reich. From Harajuku I made my way to Nakano Broadway Shopping Arcade which is full of small stores selling used comics, anime merchandise, and various other collectibles. You can buy pretty much anything there. There`s even a small shop in the basement selling Catholic goods. As a center of otaku culture, it feels a lot more authentic and sincere than Akihabara or Harajuku, less touched by exploitive commercialism and hype. Some of the toy stores there had figures I`d owned as a kid, but these were still in the original English packaging. It was big nostalgia trip. I bought some used manga at Mandarake, the biggest used manga and anime goods chain in Japan, and had dinner in a small restaurant where the waitresses wore maid outfits. After a stopover at the hotel, I ventured in Kabuki-cho`s seedy depths, warding off attempts by foreign workers to get me to visit shady bars. One of my friends was drugged and had his credit card stolen here in Kabuki-cho. Or maybe that was Roppongi. But if you`re smart, it`s perfectly safe. Having typed that, I`ll probably end up be knifed in an alleyway and left to die while going back to the hotel.

Tomorrow I`m making a day trip to Kamakura, then on tuesday I meet up with Katie as she comes down from Hanamaki. I guess we`ll go to airport together since she has to catch her flight home and I have to meet my parents. At least it means I can spend more time with her before she leaves, not that it`ll be enough.