Meeting Erika

On the 17th, a friend from out of town came to visit. Erika lives not far from Tokyo, but far enough that she doesn't come here too often. On the way to Tokyo station, a found a woman taking her monkey for a walk. This is not a euphemism. I tried to take photos but it was devoutly staying in the shade. At one point it put its hand on the side of my lens and stared into the depths on my glass and silicon eye. I cursed not having screwed in a macro lens. Much as I wanted to stay and play with him, I had an appointment to keep. The woman waved me goodbye and the monkey showed me its anus.
I finished my walk, and waited by the barriers. Me and Erika had never met in person before this, but I felt sure she would recognise me. When she arrived, I found her different from the photos I had previously seen. For a start, her hair was short. Secondly, she was not wearing a wedding dress. She lacks confidence but is seemingly endlessly proud of her marriage and the wedding ceremony itself. It certainly looked like a nice affair.
We walked out and headed straight for the Marunouchi building. The sun was hot, so I figured we might as well sit in comfort. We arrived and I found us some seats before getting down to proper talk. She handed me some furikake, a clear sign that she knows at least something of me. We spent a good half an hour talking before deciding to move on. I showed her the views from the higher floors. The weather was "good", so the stationside looked incredible. The building work is still in full swing, and it reminded me of a view I had seen six months ago. The Tokyo station area is a big part of me.
We went down and headed directly for another place I like. The fountains are a great place to sit when it's hot. There's plenty of shade, and something about flowing water is relaxing during high humidity. She asked questions about English and I answered. I took photos of the fountains while doing so. She seemed happy watching me run about like a child.
At one point, some very loud Americans arrived. They came and sat next to me for some reason. I felt a little bit uncomfortable. In a really rather large area, with many free seats, they had all chosen to cram in next to me. What made me feel worse was that they seemed to think because I wasn't directly facing them, I couldn't tell when they looked at me. This problem only got worse when Erika started talking to me, and I obviously replied in Japanese.
Eventually the really very large family, here I talk of membership and not the size of each individual, left. Erika wanted to look at one of the fountains, the large spray one at the back. When positioned right, a rainbow is clearly visible. We then walked out and round to the moatside. The air was filled with dragonflies. None of them would stay still, making photography impossible. Tokyo is a dense city like no other, but it still has some surprising wildlife. In the height of summer I often see huge butterflies. The day before I had seen one with a wingspan approaching that of my palm while walking through Harajuku. There are bats at night by the water sources, and water rats. Of course there are also cockroaches and normal rats.
We went round through Tokyo station so Erika could get some lunch. Then out to the nearest shaded place to sit so she could eat. There was more talking and teaching of English.
Then we walked over to the Yurakuchou area. This was even cooler, so we sat and talked while people watching. One man with a rather astonishingly square hairline became a conversation piece. She showed me some Kanji. I felt possibly a bit too proud when she wrote down her husbands name and I knew the meaning and pronunciation. Akatsuki isn't a particularly well known kanji, but I cooly pronounced it, wrote it and then talked about its individual components.
After a lot more discussion, it was time for her to head back. I walked her to the most convenient station, and waved goodbye. It was a relaxed, but fun day.
On my way home, I stopped to look at the cityscape, found some cheap milk, and then saw a small gecko by the roadside.