  So,  today was a terrible day. nbsp;  We ended up not going to Disney Sea. nbsp;  I'll save that story for later and elaborate on last night's adventures instead.
nbsp;  Geez,  at this rate,  I will always have some stories in my stack. nbsp;  Hehehe.
 & nbsp;  Anyway,  so after our little nap last night,  my gf and I went to Shinjuku to meet up with a large congregation dying to meet me because I'm so popular. nbsp;
 The appointed time was& nbsp; 8 p. m.  but I knew well enough that not everyone would make it at& nbsp;
8 p. m. nbsp;  First to arrive was Ai,  a Japanese friend of mine who graduated from UIUC last year and now working in Shibuya. nbsp;
 She's from Yamaguchi prefecture,  and you can call her& nbsp; an inaka girl,  from the rural area. nbsp;
 She doesn't like being called that,  but I haven't told her this site,  so I'm safe for now. nbsp;  Our rendezvous point was Shinjuku east exit in front of the kouban,  Japanese for a police box where you can get directions and what not.
nbsp;  Pretty useful if you are lost. nbsp;  Although this particular place is really convenient,  hundreds of other people think the same,  so it gets crowded at night,
 especially on a Saturday. nbsp;  My gf isn't particularly fond of smoke,  so I had Ai take her inside the station and talk with her. nbsp;  I waited a bit more outside until Scott and Dylan showed up.
nbsp;  Scott is a fellow IJST participant from last year,  and Dylan is this year's participant. nbsp;  Both are from Rose- Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana.
nbsp;  At this point, nbsp; my cell& nbsp; was being bombarded with mails and phone calls because I told everyone to call me if anything's up.
nbsp;  Kanto,  a Japanese guy from KIT,  and his crew just arrived in Ikebukuro and were heading towards Shinjuku. nbsp;  Muk,
 a Thai girl from UIUC and another IJST participant this year,  called me from a nearby Sakuraya,  an electronics store. nbsp;  So,  I told Scott and Dylan to stay put and ran towards Sakuraya to get Muk.
nbsp;  I tried to surprise her from behind,  but I guess my running sandals gave me away as she turned to greet me. nbsp;  We went back to the east exit without much how- do-
you- dos,  and on the way back,  I got a call from Mina,  a Chinese girl who's been living in Japan for about 10 years,  who just had arrived by the police box and was looking for me.
nbsp;  I told her to stay put because I was gonna arrive in like 20 seconds. nbsp;  So,  let's do a head count here. nbsp;
 My gf,  Ai,  Scott,  Dylan,  Muk,  Mina,
 and me. nbsp;  That's 7. nbsp;  Since most people were meeting each other for the first time,  I told them to talk and be jolly good.
nbsp;  At this point,  I get a phone call from Tony,  another Rose- Hulman IJST from last year,  who was at the south exit even though I specifically mentioned east exit in my previous e-
mails. nbsp;  Scott wanted to go get him,  but he said he's at the place where the dancing monkey was,  and only I knew what Tony meant,  so&
nbsp; I started running again towards the south exit. nbsp;  When I got there,  I couldn't find Tony,  so I went all the way to the bus terminal and back.
nbsp;  I was gonna go back or call Scott when I spotted Tony looking lost,  and Ray was next to him. nbsp;  Ray is another Rose- Hulman IJST from last year.
nbsp;  We exchanged quick hellos and walked briskly back toward the east exit. nbsp;  Yay,  so we had 9 people in all. nbsp;
 Only Kanto and his crew were left. nbsp;  They should have arrived in Shinjuku by then because Ikebukuro is only about 10 minutes by train. nbsp;  We decided to wait for them,  talking and trying to decide where we could go for dinner.
nbsp;  We were gonna have 12 people in all,  and finding a place for 12 on a Saturday night in Shinjuku is very difficult. nbsp;  About 10 minutes passed and still no contact from Kanto. nbsp;
 I said to all,  let's just go! nbsp;  And off we went toward the more popular area. nbsp;  I thought we could find a place first because everyone seemed hungry and tired of waiting.
nbsp;  It was about 8: 45 p. m.  45 minutes past the meeting time.  &
nbsp;  On our way toward the main fun district of Shinjuku,  Kabukicho,  the red- light district,  which happens to have not just prostitutes and massage parlors but also some good restaurants and karaoke boxes,
 I got a call from Kanto. nbsp;  He and 2 other IJST members from this year were at the west exit. nbsp;  So,  I told everyone to go without me,
 and I started running towards the west exit. nbsp;  Wow,  I covered 3 exits of Shinjuku station! nbsp;  By the way,
 I think there are 4 main exits at the station. nbsp;  There is an exit called the& nbsp; new south exit. nbsp;
 Anyway,  I had some trouble locating Kanto and the crew because Shinjuku station is kind of big. nbsp;  When I last found them,  they had some luggage with them,  so we went to the nearest coin lockers and put those beasties away for the night.
nbsp;  Kanto is a Japanese guy,  but he's from Yamagata prefecture,  which is about& nbsp; 4 hours north of Tokyo,
 so he doesn't know Tokyo very well. nbsp;  I think it's safe to say that I know Tokyo the best out of the 12 of us,  excluding Mina of course. nbsp;  Greg,
 from Rose- Hulman ( maybe.  and Kim,  a Korean girl from Rochester Institute of Techonology,  were with Kanto.
 & nbsp;  Wow,  I wrote so much about the rendezvous that I still didn't get to the dinner part yet. nbsp;  The bad part comes at the dinner and afterwards.
nbsp;  So,  stay tuned for more adventures of MK! nbsp;  I gotta sleep because I'm going to Hakone with my gf when I wake up. nbsp;
 Hakone is a popular tourist place with lots of cool onsens,  Japanese for hot springs. nbsp;  Thanks for reading!
