Reflections in the Mist

Chapter 4: 1979 - As you see there is no one around

Chapter 4:

1979 – As you see there is no one around

9th September 2008

We awoke early this morning. Our body clocks still did not seem to know what had hit them and we awoke an hour before our alarm went off. I had slept well, eventually, that night and felt a hell of a lot better than I had the previous evening. When I spoke with Roo, he said he also felt almost human.

We didn’t want to waste any time in Tokyo, so we briskly got ourselves out of bed and went out to get breakfast. On the way out, the happy girl from reception stopped us with a beaming smile and a friendly ‘Ohayo gozaimasu’. With her massive smile not once leaving her face she asked us if we had slept well and if we were enjoying our stay. We had no complaints; the whole building had an optimistic and endearing aura to it and felt very much at home. Unsure of what to have for breakfast in Japan, we decided to go for food which we knew. Fifteen minutes of walking, and we were in McDonalds.

We ordered a breakfast egg patty ‘McMuffin’ creation, by means of pointing at a picture on a menu sheet the member of staff showed us. Once it had arrived we realised our grave mistake, this particular breakfast construction contained a large haemorrhage of maple syrup which in my opinion is rancid, even Roo with his stoic palate found it hard to defend. We were very hungry at this point so we suffered it for the sake of our stomachs. After our Mc breakfast, the two of us headed back to the hostel to get showered, packed a day bag, and head off to Shinjuku.

We found the subway easier to use now and got to Shinjuku without any major problems. “What do you want to do here?” I asked Roo.

“I was speaking with some guy back at the hostel and he said to go to the Government building. The entrance to their lift is free and you get great views of Tokyo from the observation deck, what do you reckon?”

“Dude, you said the clinching word, free!”

Once outside Shinjuku station, we consulted one of the street maps, located the building and headed off towards it.

“I tell you what; it’s fucking hot here already!” I groaned to Roo as we walked down dusty streets surrounded by high-rise buildings and skyscrapers.

“That it is bro, that it is.” Replied Andrew, wiping the first beads of sweat off his forehead.

“You really have a moistened forehead already.”

“That I do bro, that I do.”

When he needs to be, Roo is a man of many words. This was not one of them times.

When we eventually navigated our way to the Government Building, we were both really hot and feeling light-headed. “This heat is killing me!” I said while unscrewing the top of a bottle of water and taking a swig. “My body really isn’t made for weather like this.”

“Tell me about it, I’m sweating out more water than I’m drinking!” An impossible feat but Roo was giving it his utmost efforts.

We walked up to the Government Building. It was a massive skyscraper with two separate towers joined by huge foyer area at the bottom. We carried on to the entrance passing banners proclaiming Tokyo’s intentions to hold the 2016 Olympics, when inside, we walked up to the woman at the information desk.

 Roo subtly walked slightly behind me forcing me to initiate conversation. Still not quite sure what to say, I rapidly, panicked and blurted out “Doyouspeakenglish?” In what I’m sure was an aggressive tone, England really knows how to make tourists.

“Yes I do.” She replied with a smile that probably hid deep resentment at another ignorant pair of Gaijin. “How can I help you?”

Roo took over after my glorious attempt and asked how we could get to the observation floor. She pointed down the mammoth gallery to a queue by an elevator and told us to wait there and a member of staff would let us up. We thanked her and walked over. It only took a few minutes for our turn to come.