Today, the weather is a delightful 28°C, clear with occasional sun showers. I meet Andy at breakfast for a cup of coffee before we bid our final farewells. I then decide to walk to Ueno. It’s really quiet here so I keep walking and arrive in Akihabara. Here I go to the top of Akihabara UDX, a huge building full of restaurants. I go to the 4th floor to check out the Tokyo Anime Centre but the sign on the door says, “Today has become a closed day.” After a wasted journey I get the feeling that today will be somewhat uneventful.

Back at Ueno I stumble across Ameya-Yokocho, translated to Candy Shop Alley; it is an outdoor market of about 200 shops next to Ueno Station. Here I see loads of shoes and clothes shops mixed with pachinko parlours and restaurants. I see a section of the market closed off and about ten firefighters standing around looking very bored, presumably there was a fire here. Every store seems to have employed a person to stand outside to shout at passers-by, trying to encourage them to check out their wares. I wander the market aimlessly for about an hour, before getting bored and grabbing a coffee and a sandwich from Family Mart. For no obvious reason the sandwich doesn’t have a crust.

Back at the hostel all but one person in my room has gone. Six beds are empty. I can’t really be bothered to head back out into the humid streets just yet, so I decide to do a little job hunting. I sign up for a student teacher matching website. I set my fee at an overpriced ¥5000 per hour for coffee shop conversational lessons. I ask Daisuke why my sandwich had no crust, and he just laughs and says something about how biting into crust is bad and that soft is better.

Back at my room I meet the one person who is still here. A Brazilian named Marcos. We chat for a while about Japan and traveling in general and he tells me that he is a published author. He shows me his travel book, it looks very professional. Unfortunately for me, I can’t read Portuguese.

I head out for my third visit to my new favourite restaurant, Mizuguchi. As I take my seat I am given a small bowl of octopus sashimi in seaweed as an appetiser. I then order deep fried breaded salmon; it is served with a salad garnish and homemade potato salad, fresh Wasabi, and a selection of pickles. I also order a bowl of rice and a beer. It’s a lot of food but a long day of walking around has made me very hungry. The total cost is a bargain ¥1350.

Back at the hostel I bump into Gomez, the manager. He tells me about a television event happening on Thursday morning. I enthusiastically sign up, not wanting to miss an opportunity. I am not to say anything else on the subject for now.

My earlier instinct of an uneventful day was correct. I finish the night with a couple of beers in the English bar, bid farewell to Matt and Kaes who leave tomorrow, and head back to the hostel to take a much needed early night. I am also now convinced there is a ghost in the elevator.