Japan day 2 - Shinjuku and a walk into Tokyo Downtown

Wow! Jet lag plays havoc with your body clock. Either way, managed to get up at a reasonable hour and were on our way into Central Tokyo by 830. We opted for the walk in order to see more than the underground permits. It is a fair old distance, especially given the laps of Shinjuku we did. Part of one lap was to relocate bookstore we purchased the Lonely Planet Guide from (as the original book was found in an unsuspecting side pouch). Oddly, a refund was not on the cards so we had to choose a book to exchange with. I thought the 1600 page hardback teach yourself Japanese would be a good follow up to the three phrases we'd learned the night before, Rin thought a guide book to Korea, the next destination on the itinerary would be a more pragmatic choice. Despite the alarmingly similar prices between the books to be exchanged it still took a good 30 minutes and several telephone conversations to get the exchange through. I guess people in Japan never take books back. The looks we received amounted to the same, a kind of, if you didn't want it, why did you buy it?

After that we tried again to get an internet connection, and as you can tell by the delay in posting this, we once again failed. This time we opted for a long spell in Starbucks, where the usual rip off was observed with astonishing aplomb. $25 for two small sandwiches and a pair of Grande Americano's. I was speechless, just as well as I couldn't fathom how to say "are you on crack" in Japanese. The internet proved even worse. No connection, and not through lack of trying. The worst part was the need to watch a video before we could get online. Of course. the video was very anti Apple, needing a flash player to view....no beans there then. I've also found out that under no circumstances can you get a prepaid SIM in Japan, only contracts. Very odd I have to say, so that being said, I find myself in the most technologically evolved country in the world, completely unable to get an internet connection using something as ubiquitous as an ipad. Someone somewhere is surely seeing a business opportunity here.