Okay, some problems with the blog. This one's from the 6th:

So, I can't think of a better way to start this entry than to say that last night I ate a living, breathing, writhing thing. Props. I went out with Kohei and Mayumi, my friends who live here in Tokyo. They took me out to sushi and began ordering. All kinds of stuff. Braised fish in a broth, some kinds of salad, pudding-like tofu, barbequed octopus and snail... and then came the sushi. So much sushi and so good. Eating. As the trays full of food spread out before us, filling our table. The tiny booth. I notice one item, wrapped in seaweed, as I stufff another delicious triange of saba into my mouth, move. "Hey look," Kohei says, "this one's still alive." Saying this, he pokes it with his chopstick, and the food responds by recoiling slightly. The food responds. He next picks this thing up and eats it, and I knew I had to also. This was a test of my cultural flexibility. Lose and the Shock wins. The Shock. My current nemesis. The urge to run and hide in a deep hole. To climb in a taxi, regardless of the cost, and head to the airport and then to book a flight to the US and then to get in a car and drive until I'm home and safe and things make sense. Can't let the shock win. I take the piece and put it in my mouth. Chew hard. Swallow. And I'm swallowing this culture. And I'm swallowing my fears.

Dinner over I asked to be shown the subway and the train. We went to Shiburaka, Ropongi, and that crazy electronics district. The whole thing is out of some movie where the director has taken bits of Brazil and Blade Runner and spliced them together in no particular order, then trown in some Soylent Green for good measure.