I was in Tokyo last week, I'm kind of sad that I left. I'm also in a zombie-like state since I haven't slept in a while.

I was looking forward to buying a Kogepan book and getting a cute messenger bag, but unfortunately I found neither. I was also really looking forward to visiting the Sanrio theme park; let's just say I get a little angry every time I see Hello Kitty's face now :|

I was surprised with how friendly everyone was, and how... I don't know, organized they were. Organized isn't the best word, but whatever it was I liked it.
I wish all cities could by like Tokyo in certain aspects. You shouldn't have to worry about getting ripped off or cheated, or about getting asked for money everywhere you go, and you should be able to walk down the street at night and feel safe, for example.
Yet, while I felt "safe" my entire time there, I was completely overwhelmed by the hugeness and complexity of the city. The sensory overload started to get to me, and that in addition to being tired from being on my feet all day and not being able to read Japanese was very exhausting.

I don't usually write this much about cities but Tokyo was so different from anything I had ever seen. I felt like I was on the outside looking in, the entire week was so surreal.

Many of the people I saw reminded me of cartoon characters, in that they were cute and had faces that showed these exaggerated, albeit unforced expressions. And deep down you could tell they were silly and carefree!
Japanese even sounds like it was made for cartoons. There are "kawai" drawings EVERYWHERE, they made me smile even when I was frustrated.

I want to go back and see more of the country. I hope to continue to study Japanese and hold conversations beyond the very basic stuff that I know right now.

Now I'm back and the societal differences are painfully obvious. Yesterday I had to walk up a huge hill with all of my luggage so I left a hardcover book and some canned cappuccino behind a bush in a parking lot intending to pick it up later. I went back less than 2 hours afterward and it was all gone :o
And today I'm at the airport, my flight was supposed to leave at 7am and it's leaving at 1pm. Yeah it's a holiday weekend, I mean, I'm not mad because in my case I don't have to be there at a certain time, but this would never happen in Japan unless there was an earthquake or something.
EDIT: I left the airport at 33O and the flight still hadn't left. What a mess. Going to Houston tomorrow, supposedly.