Monday
On Monday I went to meet my friend Mitsuki at Machida (a town about 36km from here, 1hr by train). She is actually my very first Japanese friend and we’ve been in contact since January 2006. Unfortunately the first time I came to Japan she was in the US on an exchange programme and the second time I was here we never got the chance to meet, but finally we were able to get together and she’s just like I imagined. She mightn’t like me telling this anecdote but it’s just too cute to keep to myself: when I arrived I couldn’t see her so I rang and we arranged an exact meeting place. I went there and waited, and then saw her come out of the crowd. She spotted me as I saw and gave me a big wave, and her hand went straight into some old guy’s face. She turned and made sure he was ok, apologising, before making her way over to me. Two and a half years, and we finally meet and that’s definitely an impression I won’t be forgetting 
Anyway, we had a great couple of a hours and she helped me grab some souvenirs that were requested by people back in San Francisco before she had to go back to her dorm.
On the train on the way to Machida I really felt surrounded by Japanese people… (probably because they were). One guy was playing a DS and texting at the same time, the lady behind him was watching TV on her phone, a guy in his 50s, with reading glasses propped on the end of his nose, played Monster Hunter on his white PSP all the way there, and an guy in his 60s was reading some dirty magazine in front of everyone as he waited for his stop.
It’s all those little things I missed while I was away from here. Things like the Japanese toilets, the vending machines on every corner, the clean little streets, the taxis waiting for customers cruising around, one passing every 30 seconds or so… and the little sign in the small tunnel nearby asking you to not make noise when in the tunnel please.