Recovery Day

So, there have been quite a few ups and downs and emotional roller-coasters since I arrived here in Japan. Still, some homesickness aside, this has been a really fun summer! I think this the last time I had a free weekend was once in June and once in May. It's been quite fun. However, it feels nice not having anything to do this weekend but relax.
Obon break starts on Wednesday for us. (Thank you Amity, we have to show up to work on Tuesday, even though much of Japan is already on vacation.) Obon is a week-long vacation similar to Dia de los Muertos. I'll be going to my coworker's mom's house in Chiba prefecture for a few days. I believe there are plans of relaxing, going to onsen (hot springs), hot stone massages, and steak dinners. She has mentioned we can borrow her mom's car and drive around for a bit. Apart from taxis (and even then not that many) I haven't been in a car for five months. We'll come back to Tokyo in time to go out dancing Friday night. Then, Kevin and I will get on a bullet train and head south to Hiroshima for a few days. We will miss the anniversary of the bombing by about a week, but it should still be really interesting.
Like I said, today is a recovery day. Laura's friend Robert is in Japan on work, so I met with him last night to try to show him a good time. We met up with my friend Maggie and Maggie's boyfriend (who is visiting from home) for some karaoke with all you can drink. We sang a line or two and pretty soon it was time to go home. I missed my last train and Robert told me he didn't have a hotel reservation for the night. I don't really know hotels in Tokyo, since I don't stay in them much. Robert asked me to ask around for a "good hotel." People all kind of just shrugged and didn't have any recommendations. The taxi driver drove us to a small side street with a bunch of hotels (the neon signs maybe should have been a giveaway. Then again, this is Japan- everything is neon.) I asked some guys on the street for a "good hotel" (ii hoteru wa doko desu ka? wakarimasuka?) We must have asked some not good characters... they sent us to Carribean Resort. It's nice. They said. It's a resort. They said...
It's a love hotel! It was my first experience with a love hotel. It was really funny. They had a welcome drink bar with soda and stuff. Next to that is a selection of bath salts that you can take up to your room. (How sad is this... I took bath salts from the hotel to use at home by myself.) The rooms had condoms in a nice packaging next to the bed... as well as play station and karaoke. The bathroom was huge! There was even a vending machine in the room. ahem... I'll leave the vending machine up to your imagination. You select your room from a big panel with pictures and buttons and stuff. Then, you go up to your room. You pay on the way out, so they lock the door so you can't leave without paying.
We did leave, though, to get a drink. We went to a bar in Shibuya where we ran into my friend Pace and his friends. We joined their crowd and hung out for a bit before going to an izakaya to finish off the night. We left the izakaya after sunrise. (And I was hoping to make it an early night- maybe even stay in and watch a movie.) At that point, I was able to catch a train home and left Robert to have a peaceful morning sleep by himself in the Love Hotel. Ahh... and so ends (or begins?) another day in Japan.