I had a productive day. I found an ATM where I could withdraw directly on my Korean bank account (thus avoiding paying double foreign exchange premiums by having to use my American-based credit cards: won-to-dollar then dollar-to-yen). I finally found a hotel more to my liking (both cheaper and more akin to my sensibilities – still not a ryokan as I'd originally planned, but no longer a faceless business hotel either). And I bought tickets for my train travel around Japan, thus making commitments to where I will visit and for how long. I'm mostly going to focus on the southwest (Hiroshima and Kyushu) since my intention is to return to Korea by ferry. Maybe on my next visit to Japan I can do Kansai and northern Honshu, and even Hokkaido someday!
Then I went exploring, some more. I saw the Imperial Palace and walked around Akihabara, the capital of the otaku ascendancy (otaku is a Japanese word meaning something like "geek" or "nerd," although not exactly).
I think I've finally figured out why I've been having periodic headaches since coming to Tokyo — it's nothing so alarming or banal as air pollution or allergies — it's caffeine withdrawal, of all things! I shoulda guessed. I had a pretty reliable 3-4 cups a day (always before late afternoon so as to not interfere with sleep habits) while living / working in Ilsan. And since coming to Japan I wasn't following that routine. But today I had two cans of canned cold coffee around lunch time, and behold, no lingering headache. Hmm.. I remember when Michelle used to have caffeine withdrawal headaches, too. I guess it's a relatively harmless habit, as bad habits go.