Photos with Maki

This had been arranged since the beginning. Today I was meeting Maki, and we were going to a tabehoudai photo exhibition. That was all I knew, but it combined two things I like, and one was unlimited.
I walked to Shibuya, and spent some time looking for a 711. The exchange rate is hard right now, very hard. My three thousand yen is what used to be my five thousand. Still, I keep going.
I got out a crisp ten thousand note, and headed to Hachiko. Here I waited in the crowd. It was a busy day at the scramble and I felt like I was out of place without my DS to keep me occupied.
Soon, a small yet familiar voice penetrated the crowd. Maki had arrived, wearing a dress and with a new, or at least not older than six months old, haircut. It looked like Shoko's current one. With her, was a friend I had met before. I think his name is Masa, but I'm not quite sure and this make me feel terrible as he is more than pleasant. He is humorous, kind and funny. His face is essentially fixed in a permanent smile which makes him look like he might laugh at any moment. I wonder what he would be like at a funeral.
After some helloing and bowing, Maki produced a map. We began to walk towards the area behind the station. I've been to bars and arthouses here before and after a few minutes we were standing next to somewhere I'd never been before. The two establishments either side of it were familiar to me, but not here.
We went upstairs and paid three thousand yen each, before I was introduced to the hosts. The photographer was a young woman, and the man hosting the evening was possibly her partner. He worse a multicoloured shirt, and was what one might call "heavy". He was appropriately jolly, and very sociable. Cards were exchanged, people were spoken to and photos were looked at. Then, we moved towards the ever-refreshing buffet. It wasn't Japanese food, it was instead a mish-mash of european style food, prepared by Japanese chefs who have never been to europe. This isn't a bad thing, much as English curry is a wonderful thing in its own right. I favoured the pizza rolls, while Maki was waiting for some chicken to arrive. We stood around talking to eachother in our nice little hang. We interacted with others, but always had the safety of our own group.
Drinks were free too, so I essentially tried one of each. The bar tender asked me a new question each time I ordered.
I swanned to the back of the establishment to look at the station view. Here I met some new people, I talked to them for a while before heading for more food. I would later return and talk to them for a good twenty minutes. E-mail addresses were exchanged, and one gave me a drunken hug when he left later in the evening.
Another friend of Maki's turned up. He had cycling clothes on, and was apparently into figure skating. I wasn't sure whether he just liked it, or actually did it. Either way he was nice. We talked about life in Tokyo, and phones. He used his iPhone to show her some interesting things, he's apparently big on Twitter, and at one point even went to my photoblog. This lead to a rather odd portion of conversation, where he stood flicking through photos while I explained them.
Over time, beers were drunk, people were talked to and we all took those strange photos you take at parties. At nine, the food and drink was over. People didn't leave right away, but there was an increased amount of movement towards the door. We were part of this.
The four of us walked to the station, and split up. I walked with Masa to his entrance after leaving the other two. Me and Maki had an agreement to eat lunch together "sometime" and Masa wanted to meet up sometime. The evening had been involved art, food and friends. It seemed like a good one to me.

Photos with Maki