The start of a new adventure

So today I went somewhere I had never expected to go. A fish market! The fish marke: Tsukiji. But to be honest, I didn't find it that entertaining. The market itself wasn't that special. The food though.. I had sushi for breakfast and it was really good. One of the sushis was a shrimp! And there was crab soup. And the tea was served in a cup shaped like an octopus. Oh and I had another sweet omelette here! They were selling it as a snack on the streets! Om nom nom.

And then.. my true adventure started. I was on my own!
I went to my first hostel, which I had only just booked, as I originally thought my group trip would end on the 9th. So when I got there, it was too early to check in, but I could leave my backpack there for the time being. He asked me where I was from and when I said "The Netherlands", he started speaking Dutch! Not sentences though, just a few words. Then he asked me where I would go next. I thought I'd go back to Tokyo station and exchange my JR pass voucher. That's a pass to use the Japanese trains freely for a set amount of time. A real bargain if you're planning on using the Shinkansen a lot. But he recommended I'd go see this geisha parade around the corner. It was an annual event. So I was really really lucky! Geishas! The rare creatures that roamed that one alley in Kyoto. Ofcourse I wanna see that. At this time, a Canadian woman started talking to me and asked me to join her and some others as they were going to this parade as well. And of course, I said yes.
So we were five people in total. A French girl, with whom we got separated fairly quickly. Two Canadian women, and a Japanese guy: Yuki. Funny story, these Canadians had already met him before, and it wasn't in Japan. Sadly I cannot remember what country it was, but I could ask them later.
We went to this parade and found a nice spot. Sadly it was not the start of the parade. They were not performing at that time, so we got to another spot, where they were! It was great! Yuki told me, most of the girls in this parade were not geishas, more like prostitutes.
I sent some pictures of this parade over to the app group we made with the tour group earlier, knowing for sure they'd be jealous. But they weren't! They were only happy for me, and thanked me for sharing these photos with them. I guess that's even better, right?

After this, I joined the three of them to the imperial palace, though sadly, we were not allowed in at the time. During lunch, they asked me if I wanted to join them for dinner as well. They had an appointment with this guy, who wrote a bit for Lonely Planet Japan. Now how could I turn that down. So I did. He led us to this restaurant in a place I cannot remember the name of. On our way to this restaurant, we stopped at some special places and I learned a bit about the Shinto religion. At the restaurant itself, he recommended I'd take the pad tai, or something like that. It's a very popular dish in Thailand. Full of seafood. And I liked it. Except for the squid, I tried one piece, and unlike the octopus, it did go to my stomach. But I did not particularly like it. During this meal, we talked a lot. Tim, the writer, told us a lot about Japan, and where one should guy. He specializes in the Shinkansen, so I asked him where I should go. And he named a lot of places. Almost all of them, places I had been during my group trip. Which got me thinking.. Do I really want to use my JR pass? I also asked him about swords, where to look for one, or just look at some. He told me about the sword museum. So. I thought I'd go there tomorrow!
After dinner I had to use the washroom. That's toilet, in Canadian. And it was this really fancy one. So fancy even, that I had to ask someone how to flush the damn thing. At this point, Yuki lost it. Took him a while to recover from my question, but I needed him! Because by now, I remembered I hadn't checked in to the hostel yet. Lucky for me, he knew the manager. So that was alright :)
Then we went to Nakameguro. It was like a canal, full of cherry blossom trees. There were a lot of people just drinking sake and partying. In the Netherlands, a party like this, would have the streets covered in trash. Plastic cups up till your knees, but here? Nothing of the sort. I carried my plastic cup of warm cherry blossom sake all the way to I think even the hostel, because I could not find a trashcan. Weird, huh?
This place was truly beautiful. Thing is, my phone's not that great at taking pictures at night. So excuse my photos, please.

Back at the hostel, way past the original time for checking in, Yuki and I drank a few beers and were accompanied by a girl from Chili. Who traveled to Japan, solely for this one band: L'Arc-en-Ciel. I think I know a few people who'd do the same.