(Continued from: Journal 2011: Day 2, Stranded in Tokyo)

We slept in the next morning.  The jet lag was still affecting us, and combined with the excitement of last night….  it was required.  We woke up, and started gathering more information.  Trains not running, sights not open.  We were reading news reports and watching the TV coverage via the internet.

The wife and kids decided to go out and about and see what they could see.  I opted to stay behind, take a shower, and gather as much information as I could.  The situation wasn’t improving.  So, basically we futzed around the apt. for most of the day, surfing the internet for more information and watching the TV feed.

We decided to head over to the Mark City Mall adjacent to Shibuya station for dinner, since we’d previously recon’d some of the places therein.  The west pedestrian entrance is a pretty impressive display of chrome and bright blue transparent plastic….  Our choice for the evening:  Ginza Lion.  Since we really weren’t in the mood for trying to search for anything else, let alone anything that was open.

We arrived around 5pm.  Normally things would be busy at this time, but not today.  We were also warned that they would be closing early, since rumor had it that there would be a blackout tonight at 6pm.  WHAT?  This was news to us.  Great.  Awesome.  We’d made it just before “last order” time.  Our server was a student from someplace besides Japan, and spoke English with what sounded like a French accent.

We ordered up some of the grub.  Some grilled squid, mussels, fried octopus, some western-ish fare for the kids (of course), and a big mug of beer.  The service was surprisingly quick.  Maybe they were trying to get us in and out fast, I don’t know.  The food was pretty good, but we ate quickly so we could get back, make a stop at the store, and prepare ourselves for the blackout….

…which never came.  That figured.  By this point everyone had started closing up shop, and the trains still weren’t running, so the load on the grid was low enough that the blackout wasn’t required.

So, we washed some clothes, did some more information searching, and retired early, since we were (hopefully) headed out to Mt. Takao for a little hike up the hill and to see at least part of the Hiwatari (Fire Walking) Festival that was to be held.

Next: Day 4: Mt. Takao and the Hiwatari Festival.

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