Free Huggers

Yesterday Cherish and I went out to Shibuya to hang out for a little while. No, actually, we're not that cool. (We made a few too many exclamations about how cool it was that we were hanging out in Shibuya together, though.) We were really there to do a silly little recording job together, and then we went out to eat. Anyone who has wandered around Shibuya eki looking for someplace to eat has got to know what I mean when I say that there really was no where to eat. Unless you wanted to eat at a Royal Host (egh) or Yoshinoya (ugh) or a seedy soba restaurant. So we finally found a Lotteria (igh) to sit in. It's so hilarious that, no matter what Lotterias look like in every other part of Japan, the Lotteria in Tokyo is going to be different. It's going to be about five square feet and twelve stories high, with absolutely none of those tables where people face each other, just a bunch of stools for lonely people grabbing cheese-less cheeseburgers to eat on the way home from work. Sigh.
And then, on our way back to the eki, Cherish gets all excited pointing at a group of people standing around Hachiko. Turns out, Hachiko was raided by free huggers. OMG!!! Me, being the less "naturally and endlessly inebriated-ish" one of us two, held back for about 2 seconds longer than Cherish, who dove into the crowd with fervor. I could try to say that I lingered for a moment considering the possibilities of catching a disease, but I really just lingered because, in typical systemite fashion, I did not want to be seen joyously hugging strangers in the middle of Shibuya. BUT! I rebuked the Enemy and I gave big wholehearted hugs to all the free huggers, and clapped for them as they sang happy birthday for Cherish (I don't know why, they just wanted to). And then we laughed and talked like rude gaijins as we rode the train home.