"ACCOMPLISH. It is important to say that it changes. You must change. It is important to catch it without doing criticism. It is always absorbed, and you must make that it is necessary your thing in the life." And so begins the wisdom displayed on the t-shirt I picked up in Harajuku after chortling over the various illiterate messages available for my perusal. I guess English looks as novel and exotic to them as Kanji characters look to us, regardless of what they actually say.

Today Ky, his boyfriend Tash and I went to the Senso-ji Buddhist Shrine in Asakusa and sampled some of the cheap food for sale along the way. Most of it was excellent, with the exception of these skewered gelatenous balls that felt like wads of month-old jello in my mouth. We then met up with some more of their friends and had tempura and soba for dinner. This was followed by Starbucks and donuts at Mah's (Ky's best friend) apartment, where we are now. I promised myself I'd boycott American chains while traveling, but the offer of a mocha was too good to pass up. Krispy Kreme take note: the donuts here are just not the same. Ky and his friends are so friendly have been incredibly hospitable and I feel blessed that I've been able to spend some time with people who actually live here. It's an entirely different perspective on a city that can feel so inpenetrable.

At its best, Tokyo is beautiful, charming, fascinating, and offers more to explore than can be discovered in a lifetime. At it's worst, it's crowded, smelly, loud, and homogenous to a fault. Tomorrow I am off to Hakone, one of Japan's best known hot springs resorts (onsen) about an hour outside of Tokyo for some quiet, relaxation, introspection, and maybe some thoughts on what's next.