Day 15

Tokyo, Japan

John and the girls in the Ueno district, near the zoo.	Plastic desserts are the best!	Some of the lights in the Ginza district.

Saturday, and we try another restaurant featuring plastic food models in the window. This time, it's a Japanese steak house. Still no English menus! We do a little more shopping and subway hopping, and then venture out to the Ueno district to Ueno Park, which has a temple and pagoda. It's full of locals out enjoying the day. Very few tourists.

As we head for home, the wind whips up and just as we clear the subway station near our hotel, the rain begins to pour, thoroughly drenching us by the time we get to the hotel. The wind practically pushes us down the street. It's typhoon #8, Peter, and it's brushing past Tokyo. On Tokyo Bay, the dinner cruise ships are essentially out of business.

John finds an open McDonald's at the mini-mall in the building next to our hotel, and we all have a gourmet dinner there and stock up on snack foods. We rest a while in the hotel, watching the rain out of our window, and after another hour and a half, it's clear outside, though still windy.

It's early evening and Kate wants to see the night lights at Ginza and other areas, so the two of us head out with cameras. We find a Pachinko parlor and go in to play, having a great time for the first 15 minutes or so. Then John wins a giant jackpot, about 2200 balls, and bells are ringing and security people keep coming by to watch the jackpot fill his tray. We think, hey, we'll be here all night with this amount of working capital. But no! The security man says, "Game over," takes John's tray, empties it into the counter, and gives him a coupon good for some 2200 prize points, which we then cash in for some perfume and various snack items, still wondering why we have been booted out when lots of locals have bigger stashes of balls and are still playing... Well, the lights outside are very nice so we take some more photos, eat a fancy dessert and head home.