The day began with a really late start, and I mean late. Since we got in so late the night before, we didn't actually get up until after 10AM. I had called my host parents the day before, so we needed to be way out in Aihara (near Machida, southwest of Tokyo) by 5PM. The days plans were pretty light, however - we only really planned on going to Shinjuku and maybe Shibuya, which is a staging area to go to my parents' anyway.
We rode the subway, then JR to Shinjuku, as I don't know my way around the subway very well. We got off, and immediately began the search for lunch as it was already noon at that point. We decided the best place to get lunch would be the basement of the Odakyu depaato, which is on the south end of Shinjuku station. We passed the crepe shop next to the depaato and took the escalators down to the basement floor 2. It's hard to tell where the depaato ends and the train station begins around there. In the basement, we searched around and found a good panya where we got foccaccia and cheese bread. I bought a big pack of yakitori and got a small taste of fried soft shell crab. We also bought a pack of fruit and a persimmon, since I've never had a good one. We raced out of there, lest we spend our life savings. Also, we were getting low on cash, so we really needed to change money. We followed the signs a bit towards the Government Metropolitan Office Building (toochoo) then exited to the surface as we were trying to find the post office. We passed a car ad featuring Jennifer Lopez.
We checked the area map across from the station. The post office was just south of where we were, so we continued south past a few foreigners who smiled at us to a big arcade with an electronics store. We turned right, and at the end of the arcade was the post office. We searched around a little bit in there, but didn't immediately see where to change money (a sign on the door said foreign exchange, so we just had to find it). I finally asked a postal worker who informed me today we would be unable to do that. As I feared, Saturdays are off limits as well. Crud. I figured maybe we could find a hotel to do it for us. We walked west towards
Toochoo, a big double skyscraper easily visible in Shinjuku, and finally entered the big circular 
arena near building 2. We found a little table and one chair in the arena (two homeless men were napping in the other two we saw) and sat down to eat. It was just what I wanted; the cheese bread was great, the yakiori (meat on skewers with onions and mushrooms) were terrific, and the Pepsi perfect. Molly ate half of her bread and all of her fruit, and around that point I got down to the beef yakitori. Yuck, it was beef all right, beef liver. :P Bleah. Ah well, I had one chicken left to cover the flavor. A group of high school students on a field trip approached and began taking group pictures. We kept shuffling further and further out of the way since they kept shuffling towards us, trying to get the building in the picture.
We left the arena and headed across the street to the Century Hyatt, a really beautiful hotel with a gigantic chandelier in the foyer. There were lots of people dressed up in kimono too; there must have been a wedding. We saw the money exchange from afar, but as we approached, there was a big sign saying it was for guests only. No problem, we'll just use the ATM we agreed and left the hotel.
Molly and I walked next door to Toochoo, and took the staircase to the ground floor (the street is raised) to ride the elevators to the top. I'm not sure why anyone would go up Tokyo Tower (fun and excitement 333 meters above Tokyo!) since Toochoo is FREE and TALLER. We rode up to the 45th floor, the observation deck of the south building. The building still has about 10 stories on it, though. Molly informed me a guy on the elevator tried to stick his hand down his girlfriend's skirt. :) We walked around the observation deck, taking in the sights of the area, including
Meiji Shrine from above. Tokyo is immense; it literally stretches to the horizon. On a clear day, you could see Mt Fuji from here, but today was far from clear. In fact, the smog wasn't all that pretty. :( There were postcards on sale up here, made by children; they had pictures all over of them making the cards. Time was growing short and we needed to head to my parents'. We rode the elevator back down to the ground floor and walked over to the street behind the Washington Hotel and followed it back toward Shinjuku station (this is also the street directly out the south entrance of the JR station). On the left was our handy Citibank 24 hour ATM. We both took out money, and Molly and I had a debate about how much money was left in her account, since it was listed in yen.
We entered the south station entrance, and bought tickets on the Odakyu line ( a private railway) to Machida, the big city near my parents. We rode this for about 26 minutes, and had to stand the entire time. Fortunately, we brought Harry Potter with us, so we had something to do. We exited in Machida, then walked out of the Odakyu-sen and walked around the main city square to the JR lines where we paid for two tickets to Aihara on the Yokohamasen. A train was waiting to leave already, and there was one train approaching that would leave earlier. It was listed as being a tokkyuu, an express train, so I figured we should take that one since it would skip some of the earlier stops. As the train pulled up, most people were waiting on the other train, and I didn't know why. Once we saw it, I knew; it wasn't a local train. Crap! We dove for the other train, finding space on a car just before it left. PHEW. It was local, so it was about 7 stops. We exited the train in Aihara, which is about 5 minutes from my host parents' house. Molly had been totally nervous and worried about going out there, but I told her not to be. It had taken over an hour and a half to get there from Shinjuku.
We opened the front door, and I yelled "tadaima!" (I'm home!) There was some shuffling from the living room (they always keep the doors closed in winter) and my host mom popped out, saying "okaeri" (welcome home). Right behind her was
Kouta, my host brother's 2 year old son. He was HUGE! We took our shoes off in the entrance and stepped inside. My host dad appeared, and laughed and smiled as he always did. Behind him was Yoshiko, my host sister. We went into the living room and my host brother, Mutsuo was sitting on the floor, working on a map of Japan kid's puzzle. We put our things down and introduced everyone to Molly, and vice versa. We produced our Texas omiyage, taffy and longhorns from Lamme's, which I hope they like. My host dad pointed out the Texas keychain I had given them years ago and compared it to the "Texas Taffy". My host mom has had quite a few people stay with them over the years, so she has lots of practice speaking to people who are just learning Japanese. She spoke with Molly for a while, who did a good job in replying and understanding what she meant. Kouta was extremely energetic and was bounding about the house. They said he's "always smiling". My host mom gave Molly a tour of her room (which is just a small tatami room off the living room), showing her a shamisen (a musical instrument like a guitar with three strings) and other Japanese items. Kouta's toys had taken up the space usually reserved for display items, she pointed out. She then showed Molly her kimono closet, which Molly thoroughly enjoyed. Mutsuo suggested she try one on, and okaasan did just that, pulling out one of Yoshiko's and began dressing her. Molly was ecstatic. She has always wanted to try a real kimono on. The process took upwards of 15 minutes. While they were dressing her, Mutsuo told me that dressing like this is rare, and even he and Yoshiko don't know how to do it, only Okaasan does. She used a very 
intricate collection of ties and obi (belts) to complete the process, tying the obi in the back in a beautiful 
bow. Molly was now fully dressed, grinning like a madwoman and checking herself out in the mirror. She looked absolutely 
beautiful. Okaasan pointed out that normally she would be wearing two more layers underneath the kimono, but it looked fine as it was. She also presented socks and sandals which are typical. They undressed Molly in about 1 minute, then spent another 10 putting the kimono back in the closet. At that point, otoosan (host dad) presented her with three real yukata and asked her to choose one. Molly teared up and was very happy. They gave her the yukata (a light, cotton kimono worn at summer festivals) and later gave her a belt to go with it. She couldn't believe how nice they were. We got the video we had shot in Texas ready for viewing, but since everyone was busy waited on it. Mutsuo gave us a tour upstairs. He showed her Yoshiko's room, his old room, which is now a study, and the tatami room I stayed in. The 
tatami room, he showed, was 6 mats (roku-jo), and even though the other two rooms had carpet in them, they would be considered 8 mat (hachi-jo) rooms. He also explained that among Japanese houses, this one was a little big, although not as big as some. Four bedroom houses are rare in Japan, and they also have a living room. By western standards, it's not very big at all; it's probably not much bigger then our 1000 square foot apartment. By Japanese standards, though, it's big.
We went back downstairs, and played with Kouta a bit while showing my host dad pictures on the computer from our trip. After a bit, Kouta announced dinner, and we went in the kitchen. Okaasan knew that Molly was a vegetarian and had done a WONDERFUL job of preparing an almost
meatless meal! The only meat were a little scallops in rice, which only the rest of us were served. She made fried tofu with vegetables encased in it, gomaae (spinach with a peanut/sesame sauce), potates with a sweet soy sauce dressing, sweet omelet, and various other tasty dishes. Molly was in heaven - there was more to eat here than any other place on our trip! We both enjoyed it thoroughly, accented by glasses of beer that Yoshiko would fill occassionally. Mutsuo's wife came home during dinner (I can NEVER remember her name) and joined us. Okaasan brought out some homemade strawberry jam that was good, but a little weird. The strawberries she made it from were also served (well not the exact ones!) and they were delicious! We both filled up fast! Finally Molly asked if she could help with the dishes, and they told her to go sit in the other room. As we began to head out, Mutsuo asked Kouta to name off the letters on our shirts (I was wearing my 1998 National Fencing Championships shirt, and Molly had on her Girlstart baby tee. Much to our amazement, Kouta FLEW through the letters on our shirts, only missing two. We were amazed. Right when he finished G-I-R-L-S-T-A-R-T, he reached out with both hands and pressed in the sides of Molly's breasts twice going, "Boun boun". We about fell over laughing. Everyone in the room either saw it or heard it, and we exploded for some time in laughter. Kouta's mom got him to say "gomen nasai" (I'm sorry) but he really didn't know why. My host dad heard all the commotion and got a secondhand relay of the story and still laughed wholeheartedly.
We eventually
all ended up in the other room, and I showed them the Texas video. They were really amazed by the size of the Houston freeways, and how spacious Texas was. This was the effect I had hoped it would have and was glad I brought the tape. They also thought Emily was totally cute. Someone said Kouta was her future husband. ;) Kouta tried several times more to Boun Boun Molly's breasts, so she tickled him like crazy. He also does the typical video thing - he kept yelling "Tonari no Totoro!" and would get out the videotape and drop it in. Just like Emily's "Cinderella!" He really REALLY likes to mess with gadgets and will try so hard to press buttons, you literally have to drag him away . He is really cute though. At the end of Totoro, there's a part where "Okaasan e" is written on corn in hiragana; Kouta got up and read those off too! And what's really amazing is that the last character is actually "he", but when used in this context is pronounced "e", which he said. So he was actually READING them, and he only turns 3 on April 10th. He's a really smart kid. We stayed around a bit more talking abotu various things. Okaasan got Molly's email address and said she would write her in Japanese so she could practice. Molly was happy about that. Finally around 8:40 we decided it was getting late and was time to go home. We said goodbye, and thanked them profusely. They said we were always welcome there, and to please keep in touch through email. We said "ittekimasu!" as we left (we're going!) and okaasan and otoosan replied, "itterashai" (come home safely, sort of). We waved and said bye, all the way down the street. Molly could not express just how much of a good time she had and how much she liked everyone there. I'm very glad, since she was so worried.
We rode the various trains back to Iriya, which ended up taking TWO HOURS. Man, what a trek! Fortunately the entire time we got seats and had Harry to listen to. We got home just in time to go to bed.