Japan Entry 4

Well, last night ended up being a pretty late one so I wasn't to update at my normal time. Oops. In any case, here's how it all went down.

I woke up around 7 or 8, thanks again to my jetlag which thankfully is slowly getting better, and watched a little T.V. Check out time was at 10:00, so I showered and sleepily made my way out into the street in order to find some form of breakfast which ended up being some food from an AM PM convenience store. The interesting thing here is that this food is actually pretty good, and a lot of people seem to at from these places, so I don't really feel bad. It's certainly not nearly as bad as Dari Mart. That being said, the area I was in was full of strip clubs and "massage" parlors. It all felt very... dark and seedy at night.

I returned to have an awkward half japanese/half english conversation with the hostel clerk about where I could find a plug converter since my Computer and iPod had both died on me the day before. He said I should go to a large electronics store that was 2 train stops away, but I really wasn't feeling that solution. Resolving to find my own way, I packed up my belongings and boarded the JR Line train bound for Shohei's station. JR Line trains felt fancier, and certainly less crowded at 10, but you pay for it. I ended up paying probably 50 cents more per ride than I would on the Subway, which was a total drag.

I made a couple train changes and merrily sat myself down assuming that I was bound for Kichijoji station. However, while sitting on the train, we arrived at a station called Nakano where we took a bit longer than a normal stop before the train just started going the other way. The JR did the equivalent of turning around and I was forced to jump off at the next station and see about getting on a different train. Lucky for me, I noticed it after only going back 2 stops. Silly Japan.

Eventually, I made it to Kichijoji and linked up with Shohei (who is a friend from high school), and followed him back to his apartment where I was going to store my luggage until the 4 pm check in time. Seriously though, who thinks of these times? I have to be out of my hostel by 10 am, and can't go to my next one until 4. What do I do with my luggage until then? Shohei was kind enough to allow me to store it in his apartment, which was located in a residential area a little ways away from the station itself. To get there, we walked through Inokashira Park (one of the main parks in Tokyo, he said) that was really beautiful and had a large lake where couples could take out those Swan-shaped paddle boats. The water was a green color that wasn't exactly the prettiest thing I've ever seen but you could look down as you walked the bridge over it and see different sorts of fish coming up to eat things on the water's surface.

Shohei commented on how he hates having to see all these couples when walking through every day.

We chilled at his apartment for a while since Shohei had only just woken up and had to get all ready to face the day while I watched TV or played his PS3. We discussed things, how everyone was back home, our love lives... generally just got each other up to speed like normal people do, and I was glad to see that Shohei's English is still very good since my Japanese is so poor it would've made the day 10x less fun if we had only been able to communicate in J.

First order of business was to get to Harajuku for gift/clothing shopping. I'd been the night before, but I suspected that was more for hanging out while the day was when all the shoppers came out. It's true, and Harajuku was swarming with so many people it was hard to move on some of the main streets. Determined to at least find one present while here, we soldiered on after grabbing some Tempura at a small restaurant (we were originally going to go to an english-style pub for fun, but it was closed). 

Harajuku is too expensive. Like $70 used t-shirt expensive. If you ever go, don't believe the "Secondhand Clothing" stores, since there's absolutely nothing different about the price other than you're now paying the same price you would for a new shirt, only the one you're getting has been worn already. Uh... it's safe to say I didn't make any purchases and neither did the Shohei, though I did find a great price on a gift and the experience itself was really fun, so the trip was not a waste. We hopped back on the subway bound for Kichijoji again so I could pick up my luggage and take it to my new hostel (where I'm sitting now) which is actually in the same area as the first hostel I stayed in.

We were tired enough from all the walking around that a rest was in order, and we spent about an hour watching the t.v. and such before getting back onto the train system and the hour long trip to Minami-senju. Once here, we walked the considerable amount of space to the hostel, checked in, and dumped my stuff into the room (911.. oh my) and headed back into the night bound for Shinjuku. I gave Shohei a lot of crap for not talking to the girl at the desk here in the hostel. He's newly single and expressed how cute she was, and I considered physically putting him in front of her in order to jumpstart a convo, but I guess they don't do that kind of thing in Japan. Oh well, I'm going to make sure they talk if he ever comes back here.

Shinjuku at night was really cool, and it felt like I was finally in the part of Tokyo that everyone imagines when you say the name. The giant T.V. screens on the sides of buildings and bright neon advertisements were pretty tight, but the district's popularity made it fairly difficult to find a bar to eat at. After climbing a bunch of stairs and asking about wait-times (some ranged from 45 minutes to 2 hours), we found one and settled in to drinks and bar food, which is actually fantastic. Shohei was enthused, and told me to order whatever since the food was so cheap (about 350-380 Yen per dish, think 4 dollars) but I still was hesitant. Nothing is bloody cheap here in Tokyo. We ate and drank merrily, while I people watched during periods of silence, and ended having a really fun time. I'm still pissed that Shohei wouldn't let me pay for the tab, but he insisted with a, "It's JAPAN!" Convincing enough.

Back out into the night, it was time for the arcade, and we played a haunted museum shooting game where we were swarmed by hoards of toy soldiers, traditional Japanese dolls, space ships and suits of armor. We got pretty far and it was a blast. Having sampled a couple other games, Shohei was getting tired (he was up late the night before) and we made moves to get home. He had to walk me through the train changes since I'd never been to Shinjuku, and I repeated them to myself almost a hundred times. The young people were swarming the station, and this was the first time I'd experienced the sardine subway. It was uncomfortable, I'd like to avoid it in the future if possible.

Finally reaching 'home', it was time for bed and I climbed in and passed out. One disturbing dream and 8 hours of sleep later, I'm up and awake ready for the war museum and shrine, and maybe the Tokyo tower today. We'll have to see.

Until next time, true believers,

GT

At the park near Kichijoji.

Harajuku

Shinjuku nights.

I'm pretty sure that Shohei hates having pictures taken of him, so I made sure to take a few when he wasn't ready. The best.