TOKYO! (continued)

JAPANESE BREAKFAST PASTA SANDWICHES
In the morning Brandon and I awoke and began our adventures through Tokyo. This began with getting lost in an underground shopping network within a prominent office building, and ended with us buying pasta sandwiches for breakfast. And actually, pasta sandwiches aren't bad. They're not quite pasta burritos, but still...

Pasta sandwiches in hand, we toured the Imperial Palace, a serene area of traditional Shinto buildings amidst Japanese gardens, where the government does governmental stuff. Yeah, it's that good. In fact, Brandon told me that during the Japanese housing boom of the 90's that this area of land in central Tokyo was valued at more than the entire state of California. While I find that hard to believe, it puts things into perspective- things like how nice this place is.

Shi-BOOYA!
From here we caught the train to SHIBUYA! If the name doesn't give it away, this place is hip. Hip to the max. It's the center of everything youth. In the world. Technology, fashion, food...anything that comes out tomorrow is already out of style. The iPHONE? Please. They had that in Shibuya back in 1978. Winding through the streets there is the closest thing to being in an anime film that I've ever experienced.

HARAJUKU: GWEN STEFANI WOULD BE PROUD
From Shibuya we walked through another gigantic public park, culminating in a fantasticly detailed Shinto shrine. Then, on to Harajuku- the artsy district made famous by Gwen Stefani's obsession with the masses of suburban Japanese teenage girls who dress up in costumes all the time and just walk around. It's interesting. Harajuku was actually my favorite district, as it was more livable and walkable than the rest of the city. Many houses and small alleyways in between low-rise buildings. Although the constant masses of girls in costumes could possibly get old...

Our final stop was a walk over to the Prada store, designed by Herzog & DeMeuron. A 5-level stand-alone tower that uses diagonal bracing for the structure, as well as to hold the glass skin. I walked in looking just like what I am- a cheap, unemployed 20-something american- obviously not going to buy a $1,700 messenger bag. But I had to tour the space. And it was beautiful. And I wasn't even asked to leave.

The tour of Tokyo was over. Brandon and I trained back to his hotel, and I grabbed my stuff. By this time I was cutting it close. Little did Matt know how close...

CUTTIN' IT CLOSE IN THE LARGEST METROPOLIS ON EARTH
Brandon and I said our goodbyes and I ran to catch the train for my 6:05pm flight... which I thought was at 6:30pm. As an American, navigating through the Tokyo train/subway/metro system is like being dropped in the middle of the forest and being told to find St. Petersburg. You're lost. Basically, I had to transfer 6 times, getting on multiple different types of trains... I think at one point I was on a hovercraft. Needless to say, this whole process took WAY longer than anticipated, and when I realized that my plane left half hour earlier than expected, I started praying.

I arrived at the busiest airport in Asia, Tokyo Narita, 30 minutes before my flight to Vietnam left. Not good. I ran up 3 flights of stairs, carrying my entire life with me for the next 2 months. After what seemed like 2 hours of running, I reached the check-in desk. The lady told me "You have no time". "Tell me about it", I responded. She called for an agent to rush me through the special security check, and she ran me to the entrance gate. AND.... I MADE IT! Whoo! With time to spare! From now on I'm ALWAYS doing it this way- tour the city for maximum amount of time, and don't wait in security lines. I had my cake and ate it too. Praise the Lord.

My good friend Adam Snell once told me that "God is glorified in you Matt, because you get yourself into situations where only God can save you, and then when He does save you, God gets to display His power." I like that.