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An Australian in Japan

This story starts, as some stories are wont to, slightly after the beginning, but well before the end.
I am sitting in an apartment in Tokyo, across from me sits at gentlemen from Sierra Leone and last night I came home after midnight after spending the evening with my host and 4 ladies from Singapore, and then with 3 Japanese University Professors.
The apartment I am sitting in belongs to my Father's cousin, Blair Thomson, who is a marriage celebrant on the weekends and a University Professor during the week. Yesterday I had gone out to explore the area surrounding his apartment, and found an amazing Japanese style garden, but this is a different story. On the way back from this garden it rained, and I arrived back at the apartment not drenched (thanks to an umbrella I borrowed before I left) but decidedly wet and cold. After a warm shower and warm clothes, I was ready to sit down for a while, at which point Sachi, Blair's wife, received a call and passed it on to me. It was Blair, requesting I get dressed and meet him in Shibuya to have tea with some friends.
These were the ladies from Singapore, one of whom had stayed in one of his apartments for a while, we met and went to a hotel to have tea. One had peppermint tea, the next had white peach, the next had a cappuccino, I had white peach tea also (I am mentally following the orders around the table), the next lady, Jean, who had stayed in Blair's apartment ordered camomile tea, and Blair had blueberry. It was all wonderful, new and interesting, even though Jean's camomile tea turned out to be vanilla. We talked, laughed and shared stories, a situation I couldn't have possibly imagined myself in merely a week earlier sitting in front of my computer on the Gold Coast in Australia.
As time marched on, Blair receieved a phone call from some University Professors he worked under, requesting his presence at their meal, so we finished our tea, said our farewells and forged ahead to the closest subway station, to make our way to the rendezvous with these Professors. After 14 minutes on the subway, and a miniscule taxi ride, we met and talked for a while in this resteraunt. After a while it was decided to move to a more comfortable venue, and so all 5 of us first started to get into 1 taxi, and then decided to divide and take 2. We drove for a while across Tokyo, past the first accident I had ever seen in Japan, and made it to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel.
My taxi arrived first, so I waited with two... venerable University Professors for the second taxi containing Blair, my host, and our 3rd Professor compatriot. After their arrival we took the elevator to the top floor, the 39th, and made our way into a more secluded area of the bar there, the north side. The whole floor had amazing ceiling to floor windows and a stunning view of all of Tokyo, especially our seats which had a clear view of Tokyo tower and the rest of central Tokyo city.
We talked, laughed and ate some wedges and a small pizza. There was gin and tonic for some, red wine for otheres and a ginger ale for me. Many times throughout the evening I stopped and thought to myself that this was a situation I never thought I would find myself in. Earlier that evening Blair had ran into an old friend, an American, who had informed me that the evening I was about to enjoy, I would find, is not so rare as one might think.
After broaching more subjects than I could possibly remember, we said our farewells, ogled the view once more, and made our way back to ground level. After saying goodbye once more, we parted ways and Blair and I walked back to his apartment, a mode of transportation I was much more familiar with, less than 10 minutes away.
As we walked I exclaimed how unusual this situation was from my perspective, especially considering where I was less than a week previous. "Cousin," he said, "welcome to Japan."

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