Since Meiji Jingu closed before I could finish my tour, I went back the next day to finish up. It’s a good thing I did, because it was a real treat to see the iris garden. Just like yesterday’s sights, this place was just pure photography candy. So I went a little nuts taking photos. I filtered out most of the so-so ones to keep the image count down.

After the garden I decided to see if there were any fashionable people at the Jingu Bridge. All I found there were these folks. No I didn’t hug them. If I wasn’t so sweaty I would have though. :D

Following the bridge I went on a hunt to find a good messenger bag in Shibuya. While at Tokyu Hands, I ended up losing track of time in meeting up with my friend Chris. He’s a UMass student that has been in Tokyo the past school year. Fortunately he text-ed me twenty minutes before our meet-up and I was only two stops away from Shinjuku. I arrived at the station on time, but I forgot how large Shinjuku Station was and ended up choosing the wrong exit twice. Instead of south east exit, I took new south exit, then south exit by mistake. Don’t blame me though… It’s ridiculously huge and it’s in the Guinness World Record for the busiest train station in the world.

Once I found Chris, we reunited with some old Japanese transfer students from UMass which I barely remember. I felt like a dick for not remembering all of their names, or faces for that matter, but I barely saw them and it was over two years ago. We all went out for お好み焼き (Okonomiyaki) at this small hole-in-the-wall place in a main back alley that was down in a basement like area. Okonomiyaki is one of my favorite Japanese dishes, I just wish it wasn’t so filling.

While we ate, Chris and I caught up on what we’ve been doing and discussed nerdy stuff; particularly in Sony PlayStation 3, iPhone, iPad, Computer Science, and potential computer job opportunities in Tokyo. It was a good night in all, and it was great to see Chris again after almost a year and a half of not seeing him.