The worst part of the trip was yet to come though. I had thought it was a bit exhausting that the trains had been full all the way so that I had to sit on my suitcase when I didn´t stand up. But I still had room to breath and turn around a little. When changing to the subway in Tokyo I had the bad luck to arrive when everybody goes home from work. If you have ridden a subway in Tokyo at rush hour you know what I´m talking about. If not, try to imagine all regular workers in Tokyo (with a population larger than the entire country of Sweden) trying to get on the first train home. They pack themselves on the train until it is impossible to fit another person on the train. If you have been in front at a really crowded concert you know how it feels. And there I was with my suitcase, my large backpack and my two other bags. I thought I was going to faint. I had to struggle to stay in touch with my suitcase on the floor and to get some air to breathe. And at each station there were some people in the middle of this mess who wanted out. To my big surprise I actually managed to press myself out of the wagon on my station. After breathing out for a while I couldn´t do anything but laugh for myself. The thing is that I had the same rotten luck last year but then it was even worse. That time I came at the hottest time of the year, wearing warm clothes since I came directly from the conciderably cooler Sapporo. And I had to find a guest house I had no idea where it was except for the train station. Of course it worked out fine in the end but I have never been so worn out before. It is a long story but it involves misreading a map I got from some policemen and with the last of my powers slowly pushing the suitcase in front of me up a street leaning in the wrong direction (3 meters, rest, another 3 meters, rest, another 3 meters...). Anyway, if you are going to Tokyo remember to stay away from the trains when people go to and come home from work, and also the last trains around midnight. But it might be interesting to experience it once... 

Anyway, when I arrived at my predestined station I called my friend Kikuyo, who I was to stay with this week, and she came and picked me up at the station. It was such a relief to load off all the luggage when we got to the apartment.

This year the weather in Tokyo is warmer than last year. I remember how we froze and that the sakura trees didn´t come to full bloom before we left for Sapporo one of the first days of April. This time the sakura trees were already in full bloom when I came here the 28th. It is so beautiful. But the next day was grey and rainy so I stayed inside writing the Travel Log and watching Japanese music channels. i was a bit worried that the rain had washed the flowers away but the next day was warm and sunny and they were mostly unharmed. The next day, however, the temperature fell drastically to 8 degrees Celsius at most (according to the morning paper) and there was snow! Unbelievable. Since the sakura leaves had begun to fall it looked as if the snowflakes were sakura leaves. But since it was so mild the snow melted as soon as it it the ground (or on the clothes, soaking them...). In the evening I went to Shibuya to look at cds. Japanese cds are very expensive at 2500 to 3000 yen (about 200 to 250 Swedish kronor) for a full price album but on the other hand you can find real cheap second hand cds. I bought 10 cds for 3202 yen. 

One evening we went out to eat tonkatsu but first we picked up a friend of Kikuyo´s at his apartment. The apartment was real old and had an extremely small bathtub. And it was in a house located behind a fishing shop. Well I don´t know what to call it but you apparently went in there to fish in small watertanks. Anyway, when we got to the restaurant we had to wait at a bench until there were some available seats. This is very common in Japanese restaurants but I´ve never seen it in Sweden. Well when you have more people than in the entire country of Sweden I guess you have to use some kind of cue system. I had some tonkatsu again and it was delicious as always.

The day before I left for Sapporo we went for a stroll in an area close to where Kikuyo lives where there are a lot of temples. It was beautiful with the sakura trees in full bloom. Some temples had fairly large gardens actually and one had a beautiful pond in which ducks and carps competed for the food a family was throwing to them. It was quite interesting to see the carps swimming just underneath a duck and seemingly nibbleing it´s feet since it jumped aside sometimes. As I said before the sakura trees were dashingly beautiful but there were a lot of other beautiful flowers too. I don´t know the names of the most of them but the camelias and what I think are ume blossoms are among the most beautiful. In the evening we went to a fancy place next to the restaurant we went to for tonkatsu before. This place was more exclusive and the tonkatsu was incredibly good. The meat was tender and the fried thing around it was wonderfully crisp.