Catstreet and Japanese ink

A quick post before we pack up and head to Kyoto. We're both feeling a little sad to leave Andon, and Tokyo in general. We have defintely gotten comfortable with our subway route ("Oh yeah, we change at Shibuya, like always..."), and with our neighborhood (Need a post office? We got you. Soba recommendation? Easy. 7-eleven? We can tell you how to get to two.).

Yesterday, we went back to Harajuku and what is called Catstreet, and spent time searching for Cosplay, a gathering of young Japanese dressed to the nines, usually in a combination of goth and cartoon character. We were slightly disappointed with how that turned out, but were on cloud nine by the end of the day, after having found one ex-pat, his Japanese wife, and their music-industry friend who took us in. This trustworthy trio spent an hour helping us to find a tattoo parlor so C could get the wrist designs she's been dying for, stayed with us during the tattoo, then stuck around to show us the strangest art-gallery/restaurant, where we all grilled our own pizza/omelets on the table in front of us. I mentioned yesterday that our friend who has been here for about 10 months hasn't lost her sense of Japanese wonder. Well, neither has our friend who has made his home here for 13 yearｓ。