#post32

We’re on the train to Tokyo Station, which is where the girls' shinkansen is leaving from.  Tomo keeps making fun of how sad I’m getting the closer we get to the station.

Buuuuuut we’re on the Yamanote Line, which is my favorite train line in Tokyo!  Why, you ask?  Well, the Yamanote Line goes in a circle.  Therefore, it is impossible to get lost on it!  If you get on a train going the wrong way you just stay on the train until it comes back around!  If you miss your stop, you can just stay on the train until it circles back!  Last year, my hotel was in Shinjuku so I almost exclusively took the Yamanote Line while I was in Tokyo.

Also, anywhere that’s marked with the yellow handles means you can’t use cell phones or other electronic devices in that area.  Pretty neat, huh?

Chilling out on the front steps of the hotel while Tomo-san and Ken-chan take a smoke break.  I was trying to tell them about my friend who’s house-sitting for me, but couldn’t figure out the right words to use, when Tomo-san was like, “Oh, rusuban.”  The word sounded familiar to me, so I looked it up in my phone (pic 1) and the reason why I knew it is because it’s the first half of the Japanese word for answering machine, “rusuban denwa.”  “Denwa” is “phone” in Japanese.  And, after seeing the meaning for “rusuban” (I thought it was a set word rather than a combination of two), which is “care-taking, house-sitting, and/or house-watching,” it totally makes sense!  I mean, if you really think about it, an answering machine is a phone that kinda takes care of the house by answering the phone for you when you’re unable to.

I also found this salty lychee-flavored chocolate in my purse (pics 2-3), which I decided to give a try.  I wouldn’t have thought that salt and lychee would go together, but they totally do!