lost or what?

Imperial Palace, Guitar Street, Harajuku

Today I planned a long day of many activities.
First up, decided to go to the Imperial palace, with all the other tourists. You cant get into the actual palace, but you can check out the moat, gates and the east gardens which are pleasant enough.
Nearby is a cool science museum, its meant for children as all the exhibits are interactive, but I had fun playing with them anyway. The highlight I didnt take a photo of, but its a giant 1 tonne metal ball that you use levers and pulleys to maneuver through a long complex course.

After the museum I stopped for coffee, and something strange happened. I watched as some guys sat at a table outside and noticed it wobbled a bit. It was positioned on cobblestone sort of things so of course it was wobbling, just like every table we have all sat at ever.
Well these guys were not happy, and one of them came storming inside, and started yelling. Next thing all the staff from the coffee shop are outside trying to make the table so that it wouldnt wobble, this went on for 10 minutes and a different combination of napkins, spoons, plastic lids etc. was all used. I really do not understand what this was all about, my table wobbled a bit as well when I tried it. All this fuss at a hole in the wall $3 coffee shop where you drink out of plastic cups.

My next interesting observation was on the train. Whenever I sit down, I cross one leg over the other. It has occured to me that I am the only person doing this on the train. Everyone else sits with both feet firmly on the floor, knees together, like they are posing for a school photo.

After all of this hilarity, I arrived at the guitar shop street in Ochanomizu. Theres probably 50 or so stores, I think a lot of them are the same store spread across multiple buildings. Best were the used gear stores, I think Japanese people hate used things. As an example a Mesa Boogie Dual Rec brand new here cost about $3500, Second hand it cost $1500. And there were a few to choose from. In Australia new they are $4500 and second hand, $3500. I think the difference with guitar is much greater still which makes no sense as secondhand guitars generally work better than new ones.
The most popular brand by far is Edwards, more so than Ibanez or Fender. I like them a lot.

I then had a banana and a chocolate bar for lunch. The banana from Family Mart was huge and only cost about $1.50, so stories about fruit costing a lot might be true for individually packaged stuff for presentation from fancy department stores, but buying from the convenience stores is cheap enough.

Finally I headed back to Harajuku, which I had been to previously, but Sunday is the day when it all happens. As the pictures will show I found some of the performers but none of the much discussed gothic lolitas. I did however find a giant Jamaican festival.