Elvis in the Snow

Woke up to our last full day to snow that was heavy enough to stick. I was enchanted by it, especially since I rarely am in a place where it snows. But my delight was brought down a peg when my friend who we have visited in Yokohama called to warn me that Tokyo gets paralyzed in the snow— no trains run, planes don’t take off, etc. That it would be good to try to book an extra night in a hotel somewhere to prepare. 

I took it all in a stride, with a certain Zen equanimity— “Let’s see what happens.” However, I was determined to see the Elvis impersonators in Yoyogi Park I had heard about and it was hard to pry my traveling companion out of our cozy apartment into 30 degree temperatures. Nevertheless, I persisted and when the snow actually stopped around 1:30 pm, so after a brief lunch at a neighborhood café, off we went to brave the elements. About a 30-minute Metro ride to Shibuya (the trains were running!) and out into the river of people as dense as in nearby Shinjuku. I followed my intuition as to where the park was and miraculously, found it! But I had read that the Elvis gathering begins around 2:30 and now it was nearing 4:00. We entered the park and the gods were with us— there were three Elvis’s twitching their hips to rockabilly music recorded by some Japanese band.  Score!

Zadie was cold and pleased to go home, but I pressed forward to find Harajuku where we had been the first day and again, intuition proved more reliable than Apple Maps, especially since the latter needed Wi-Fi and after getting it easily out on the streets the first few days, it suddenly stopped working for me. We returned to Marion’s Crepes for a treat, found a gift shop to get a present for a third friend of Zadie’s, passed the Piglet Café and I couldn’t hold out any longer against Zadie’s pleas to get home to our warm place and a final dinner from our special neighborhood market. 

 

I had been feeling a bit stir-crazy staying inside all morning, but having once gone out into the cold, I felt a renewed welcome from its warm presence. A few Rummy 500 games ahead and tomorrow we wake up to a last day with a lot to figure out. Where to store our luggage, how to watch the Super Bowl if we can get an extension on our check-out, what to do all day if it’s cold and our plane not leaving until 10:30 at night. It has been a welcome challenge to learn how to navigate around a new city— I’m a Metro expert!— a bit more stressful challenge to come up with things that will engage and entertain my 14-year-old granddaughter with strong opinions about what’s worth her attention, an ongoing task to figure out food and money exchange and QR codes and GPS directions and I’m proud to say I’ve done pretty well with it all. 

 

But I’m most definitely ready to return to my home turf, with my familiar stores and friends and routines and not responsible to anyone else for a while except my three good friends—me, myself and I. Meanwhile, we shall see what tomorrow brings.