"gozai masu...gozai masu... gozai masu..."

I'm in the coolest cafe ever right now, Cafe Respekt, in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, drinking a "tea float" - iced earl grey tea with the richest, most delicious (oyshi) soft-serve vanilla ice cream ever - surrounded by super-stylish people as house music plays softly in the background and a chorus of "(something something) gozai masu" echoes from the staff as customers come and go. (Customer service is amazing here!)
I've been busy sightseeing and meeting with my guides from Tokyo Free Guides this week. Last night I went with one of my guides and her friends to dinner in Ginza, followed by too much bourbon drinking at a tiny, basement country-western bar, where the bartender wore a cowboy shirt and an Alan Jackson CD played on the sound system ("Here in the Real World"...). I've been marveling at creations such as the "ice bagel" (a bagel with ice cream inside it) and figuring out how to work the remote-controlled toilets, not to mention navigate around this city with a confusing address system, so many different train lines, and maps where North is never put at the top. Usually I make at least one mistake every time I go somewhere, but I eventually correct my course and get to where I need to be.
And now I need to go meet another guide at the Hachiko statue and head to karaoke!
Will post more this weekend...