Japan Entry 11

Aka: The Last Day.

I spent the remainder of that night exploring Nakano looking for the legendary TRF arcade but couldn't find it, and after that watched some Gaki no Tuskai before passing out. In the morning I awoke to breakfast and skyped with my girlfriend until it was checkout time.

I made the trip to Shinjuku to check into my official, nice hotel for my final day here in Japan. It's a physically attractive building, and has an upscale Italian restaurant on the ground floor. The staff speak excellent English and the girl who took my luggage recognized my soccer jersey and complimented me on it. So, while thinking that this new place was about to be damn good, I left my luggage behind the desk and set out for Shibuya determined to not only get more of a feel for the area but maybe spend some money on something other than lodging/food/arcades. I saw a flannel in a store called Uniqlo (which I'm assuming is a Japanese chain) that I absolutely had to have, so I grabbed the shirt in an XL and ventured into the changing room. Turns out that an XL at this store was like a small in the states and, though my forearms went into the armholes, my biceps threatened to burst the sleeve, so I took it off as best I could while taking care not to tear it too much. I apologized to the homie working the desk since I couldn't fold the shirt back the way it was (had a lot of pins and cardboard pieces).

I then visited the Avirex store, where a clerk greeted me as I walked in, asking what I was looking for. I pointed at the flannel and said, "Furanneru desu" in my best Japanese accent and he got what I meant. He already assumed that I'd need a bigger size and brought one out in a blue color that I liked pretty well, and I tried that sucker on. While checking it out in the mirror, we talked a bit in Japanese about how long I was staying in Japan, my difficulties in finding clothing that fit etc, and he turned out to be a pretty chill dude. I bought the shirt, though it may have been more than I'd originally wanted to spend on an article of clothing, I figured it'd be my one purchase. Here in Japan, the emphasis of style seems more to emulate American clothing (or Euro, of course), so I didn't end up making many purchases because a lot of the stuff in stores I knew I could get back home for a lot cheaper. But I wanted this one thing, dammit.

Finishing Shibuya having not found any gifts, I returned to Nakano now knowing exactly where the TRF arcade was to get in on some Street Fighter action. It turns out that the floor the arcade was on was full of vintage toy, vinyl toy, and other such novelty stores that I really enjoyed perusing, although without making any purchases. I had initially thought that my friends might enjoy some of these as gifts, but the coolest were easily $50+ so I deemed it too expensive and headed to the arcade. What TRF turned out to be is a row of Head-to-head fighting game machines nested away in a corner of the shopping center, tiny and unattractive. However, the machines were set to freeplay as part of a tournament thing they were holding later, and I had a good little chat with one of the players, so it was alright. I got my ass handed to me over and over again, but whatever. IT WAS FREE, so screw it. I played for 3 hours, capitalizing on the freeness of it all, and took a short walk over to the Namco building to get down on a final Border Break session and left Nakano. 

Returning to Shinjuku, I got lost in the massive train station, and spent around 45 minutes searching the streets and station for the place where I'd found the my hotel route earlier. Finally, I located the Sunroute and slowly walked over extremely relieved to have finally found it. I'm not sure about you, but being lost in a foreign place stresses me out, and I'm sure my discontent showed on my face as I could see some people walking by giving me strange glances. But whatever. I got bumped into a few times, but I didn't feel like always being the person to move out of the way, so I'd like to extend an apology to those who had the misfortune of walking into me. Checking in, I went up to the 12th floor in an elevator that only works if you use your room keycard, which you touch to the panel where you select the floors. The same goes for the room entrance (you dont slide it in, merely place it on the door above the handle), and the way to turn on the lights (this one you do place in a small card holder). So high tech! And it's quiet! I dropped my things off, and after getting various electronic devices plugged in to charge for the plane ride the next day, I was hungry for dinner.

I stopped at the Go Go Curry cafe (I took a picture of it a long time ago, the logo is a Gorilla) and ordered the 850 yen dish that seemed like it would taste really good. I put in a 1000 yen bill and, having 150 yen left over, tried to get my change. Except I pushed the button that was the emergency stop for the machine (used to order your dish) and so not only did I not get my change, but I also messed up the ordering process for the two guys behind me. Why would they put that on the front where a confused, tired foreigner would be stupid enough to press it?! I called one of the workers and he gave me my change and fixed what I'd messed up. I settled down along the bar-esque eatery in between two rather large fellows who bumped me all throughout their and my meal. They both had ordered what probably should be called the SUPREME CURRY dish, which I noticed came with a hardboiled egg, a mound of rice smothered in curry, Chicken Katsu on top and some sausage on the side. Mine was the rice+curry+chicken Katsu that was absolutely dwarfed by their dishes, but I was extremely glad to not have ordered what they had. That's like... death on a plate. But I got to eat with a fork! They didn't even have chopsticks at this spot, so it was pretty fun to use a utensil I'm more accustomed to.

After dinner I walked around Shinjuku looking for gifts, but was completely unsuccessful except for a couple t-shirts I will give to friends, but... I'm going to have to practice my apology-face for letting my friends down easy. Nothing cool here is very cheap, and I don't have the kind of money to spend a lot on gifts, not to mention limited luggage space. I'll just have them over and pay for dinner or something.

Returning to the hotel feeling pretty guilty about not finding anything cool for my buddies, I stopped at a convenience store and took advantage of the drinking age difference in buying two tall-cans of Strong Kirin Chu-hi which is basically lemon tonic water with gin (probably). It's pretty good, and a nice farewell to being able to imbibe alcohol at my current age. It seems silly to not be able to back in the states, feels much more natural to order the occasional beer with dinner and not worry about it. Ah well, that's life I suppose. I'm now back in the hotel and writing this blog, not planning to do anything for the rest of the evening since all of the people I know in Japan are busy or too far away. I'll probably stay up for a while longer and watch something goofy youtube videos or something. Tomorrow is a travel day, but I wont have to be at the airport until 1 pm at the latest, so I'll have some time in the morning to grab food and get to Narita airport in less of a rush. Checkout is 11 am, so I'll have to find some way to occupy myself otherwise. Maybe I'll just go straight from the hotel to an early lunch and then the airport just to be over with it.

In any case, you can expect one more entry after tomorrow where I'll finish off with an account of what I do tomorrow morning and reflect on the trip itself, but after that I'm afraid it's back to the normal old boring musings and stupid film reviews. Thank you for reading this much, if you've made it the whole way with me. I have to apologize that I have no pictures to speak of since I've not really visited anywhere new. As always, this is GT signing out for now.

New jam:

Japan Entry 10

I'll have to combine a few days into this one post since it's been pretty hectic here in Nihon.

To pick up where the last post left off, I had been invited by some of the french guys to join them on the roof for beers and conversation, and when I got up there with my modest tallboy, I saw they had already been through a couple 6 packs. granted, there were about 6 people there when I arrived, so it really wasn't that much. The roof of the hostel had a round outdoor dinner table and a hodgepodge of different chairs set around it. There was a small portable a/c machine in an attempt to counteract the heat (which was on) but Kyoto turned out not to be nearly as hot as Osaka or Tokyo. We talked about our travels, sports, and just about everything else in between well into the night, and I crept into bed around 1 am only to rise at 7 to check out and catch the Shinkansen back to Tokyo so I could meet up with my friend Shohei.

Up early, I grabbed some stinky Natto for breakfast and got, with some difficulty, to the correct train stop in order to head back to Tokyo. I hopped on the train and walked through about 5 cars worth of Reserved seating areas, since the station didn't specify where there would be Non-Reserved seats (since that's what my ticket was). Finally, I found a spot as the train began to pick up speed, sitting down next to a pudgy salaryman reading quietly. I'm not sure what it is, but some bigger people seem to have absolutely no spacial awareness, and this guy was all up in my business all train ride. Like, get your elbow out of my ribs, dick. Like, go easy on the ramen, tubby. Oh well, I had the aisle so I just stuck my feet out into it and read Dies The Fire for the duration of the trip, taking a break here and then to glance out the window or rest my eyes. The trip was beautiful, but I became too engrossed with my novel to look very much.

Once there, I met Shohei at his house and together we went to Shibuya so he could interview for a position at a coffee chain while I ordered some lunch and sat down to write in the cafe itself. 30 minutes later he was finished and it was time to head to Yokohama. Once there, after getting packed into the cheapest train available to get to Yoko, Shohei's mother and grandmother greeted us at the station and drove to their home together. I exercised what Japanese I know in talking and being polite, thanking them and all that sort of thing as we drove, and took the time to observe the city. To be honest, it didn't feel much different from Tokyo or Kyoto, but the smell of the air had the distinct ocean smell to it, which was a wonderful change. We then went out for Sushi, which was freaking amazing (this was the first time I'd had proper sushi all trip, a criminal act, I know), and afterwards went so I could experience my very first Onsen which was absolutely phenomenal. I don't know the last time I'd felt so relaxed all trip, and it was a great way to let the stress and anger of travel complications fall away as Shohei and I shot the shit while getting into each different bath. There were the jacuzzi-style bubbly ones, a electrified seat bath that I couldn't sit on for very long, the more natural spring water, and similar one-person baths outside as well. We tried the sauna but it was way too hot in there. The nudity factor wasn't something I'm used to back home, but I quickly grew accustomed and comfortable around everyone else.

The next morning Shohei's mother prepared an absolute feast for breafast and I was so full I didn't eat until dinner. Having a steady diet of tiny little pastries from convenience stores, my stomach wasn't used to getting a decent meal that early, but I was glad to have it. Shohei's father drove the whole gang back to Tokyo, and from there I set off for my hostel and afterwards to Final Roundbat (a street fighter tournament).

--

However, the relaxing night before was nothing at all like the one I was about to have. I made my way into Kichijoji station (near Shohei's apartment) and got onto the train that said it was headed in the direction I was going. Except it didn't. It took me 1 stop to notice that it was going the opposite direction, and I hopped out and got back on another train. Except this one was a Rapid Exp. which skips a lot of stops in order to reach larger destination faster, and it was going to skip the one I needed to get to, so I had to get off again and change trains a 3rd time before really getting anywhere. Considering I was on a pretty tight schedule if I was going to get to the tourny on time, this got me sweating a bit. I hustled out of Minami-senju station almost an hour later, dragging my suitcase behind me. Once I finally arrived at the hostel, it turned out that the website I used to book the 2 nights had a technical error, and the place was full that evening. They had emailed me about this, but of course I'd been riding trains/in the car all day. With nowhere to sleep for the night, I decided to just bring my luggage to the tournament and worry about it later.

An hour and a half later, I rode the elevator up to the 37th floor of the Bay Crest building in Shinagawa, and signed up for the tournament. It turned out to be a pretty small event, but everyone there I'd heard of, and they were all cool people. We got down on some casuals and then the tournament started. With only 8 of us, it didn't take long, especially since it was single elimination (lose once, you're out). I played Elven Shadow first, and could tell that he didn't know the match-up so I ended up taking that game, and then faced an incredibly good Japanese player named Tokido who is very famous in the fighting game community. He didn't pick his main character, but instead probably one of his many secondaries and we got down to business. I was surprised to be able to take the game down to the very last round before losing, but I did get a hint of a feeling that he wasn't playing at full capacity. Oh well, I beat Yosuke (the guy hosting) and secured my 3rd place finish. Out of 8 people. Still, 3rd.

The whole crew ended up munching on pizza and drinking in the Sky Lounge until we'd reached the time limit (you rent the lounge for 6 hours at a time, or something), and the crew made tracks to Shinagawa station bound for Shinjuku to visit a bar that Elven Shadow would be taking us to. It turned out to be a hard rock bar that played loud selections from such bands as Kiss, Nirvana, various hair metal bands etc, and it was a fun time experiencing something I wouldn't have normally, although I had a hard time hearing afterwards. Fizz and I decided to cut out a little early since he, currently living in Kanagawa instead of Tokyo, didn't have anywhere to sleep either. He suggested we could sleep at a Manga-Kissa which is like an internet/manga reading cafe that you can purchase blocks of time at. Locating one, we elevator'd up to the 7th floor and purchased 8 hours worth of cubicle time. The cubicles were outfitted with shitty Dell computers, a tube tv and ps2's, as well as a set of cheap headphones and a beat up reclining chair which would be my bed for the night. Only trouble was, I couldn't extend my legs fully in the chair due to a wall, and the space was really tight so the chair wouldn't recline very much. However, since it was after 2 already, I slept as best I could until I woke up at 7.

I'm pretty sure the A/C in the joint had busted, cuz it was hot as all hell in there, and I had a pretty good sweat going when I woke up. Stinky, uncomfortable, and feeling slightly off thanks to the previous night's drinking, I dragged myself and my shit out of the kissa and got on the train for Minami-senju. I don't remember much of the train ride other than arriving and hurrying over to the hostel. Check in, of course, wasn't until 3 pm, but I dropped my luggage off and managed to snag some computer time. Not to mention, I snuck into the shower and rinsed off the gaming/bar/sleeping in a shitty place smell from my body before heading back out. Exhausted, I didn't end up doing much other than touring the Akihabara arcades looking for people to play against. I got in a small session of Border Break where I worked on my sniping skills, played a scrubby Zangief in SF4, and looked for some gifts. All things proved fairly unsatisfactory, and with a few hours to go until check in, I went to Shibuya. I need to research Shibuya, because there was little to nothing to do there upon arrival. Perhaps, had I utilized google, I would've known to go to specific areas, but I just walked around aimlessly and ate some lunch, checking out the Shibuya arcades which proved to be absolute shit. Finally realizing it was check in time, I hurried to the station and came here, where I sit now. I'm glad to finally have an actual bed to sleep in for the night, but I'm not sure if i'll do anything with the rest of my day.

I'll post if anything fun happens, check below for pics from the tourny and my travels,

GT

Pics 78-148 (taken by Scott Popular, mostly)

My pics from the last few days

Japan Entry 9

Kyoto Day 2

Warning: Things get real different all of a sudden.

The windows in the hostel don't have shades, so the morning was pretty bright. Even so, I managed to keep myself in and out of sleep until 8:30 or so when most of the room had cleared out and on their ways (I'm fairly certain everyone but 2 guys checked out today, so maybe I'll meet some new people!), I rose quietly and grabbed clothing to take a shower. I heard that the hostel charges you 100 yen (roughly $1) to rent a towel for a day, but this seemed silly. I just used the shirt I had slept in, which was already dirty, to dry off. Sure, it's a bit odd, but it saved me a 100 that I put towards Street Fighter later.

Once clean, it was breakfast time, and I hit up the AM PM for some grub. Their options were pretty lame compared to the AM PM near my last hostel, even so I purchased a Cafe Au Lait (made by Boss Coffee, such a good name) and a sushi-style roll of Natto, a stinky bean Maiko had told me I absolutely had to try. It did, indeed, smell pretty strongly and the taste as well was quite forceful, but it wasn't altogether bad. Probably not something I'd eat all the time, but I might have it once in a while. The only part that would deter me from purchasing this again would be the gummy-like stickiness to it, and taking bites leave long strands of the fermented bean stuff going from your mouth to the roll. Couple that with eating in public, and you get a formula for some fairly embarrassing stuff.

Finishing up my meal, I hopped on a train to go check out a couple temples and the Manga Museum. I got to one place where a temple was supposed to be, but of course in true GT fashion, I took a wrong turn and got lost. Luckily, the way I'd picked turned out to be a gradual and beautiful climb up to a graveyard. The worker there seemed shocked to see me, but I didn't let that bother me. Making the trek back, I found where i was supposed to go and checked out the temple. To one side were gardens that cost money to get in and since I'd heard mixed reviews, I decided against the 5 dollar charge. So, too, did I not pay to get into the temple but just admired it from the outside with some other travellers. An older Japanese dude and I had a quick conversation, and although I couldn't make out most of what he was saying, it was still nice to chat and practice my Japanese.

Next stop was the Manga Museum which had a special exhibit on the history of toys and figurines, which I enjoyed looking at. A lot of the collection was from private donors, and some of the retro stuff (and really old Edo clay figures) were really cool. The mainstay exhibit on Manga was fairly interesting, though I've never been much for the Manga craze. There was, however, a small gallery of a really talented artist who goes by RM there and the sketches showing his work were fantastic.

The night before an Indian bloke had handed me an ad for the Maharaja Indian restaurant, and curry sounded really good at the time so I made the trip back to the station near my hostel and sat down for lunch. I ordered the B-option lunch that came with soup, a small salad, and curry with Nan instead of rice. While waiting for my order, I watched some of the bigscreen tv they had which showcased a lot of Indian music videos as well as ads inbetween, but the ads were a bit disturbing since 90% of them were for creams that would make your skin lighter. The sad mood this put in me in quickly cleared away as I got down to eating, and was done in record time before heading back out in search of shops and the famous a-cho arcade which I had just found out was in Kyoto. I got a gift for Shohei's parents, and stepped into the aracde. At the time of my arrival, it was pretty dead, so I played some SF against who was there until they left and went upstairs for some Border Break and VF (both I did poorly in) and resigned myself to watching people play other games for a while. I noticed someone playing MvC2 (a game they don't play here in Japan) but he turned out to be pretty scrubby and didn't rechallenge after I beat him. After an hour or so, the place really picked up and there was tons of skilled competition to play against. It feels pretty good to beat Japanese players.

Afterwards, I visited Wonder Tower for a goodbye session of Border Break with the regulars there, and then back to the hostel. I stopped for dinner at a Spanish bar and ordered a draft beer and some Paella, which was a fairly small portion for 500 yen, but I didn't care. The bartender there greeted me and received my order in Spanish, so I asked him a couple things in Spanish as well, and he hastily told me he didn't actually know the language. We both had a laugh, and spoke a hybrid spanish/Japanese to each other since he seemed insistent on answering in Spanish when he could. He told me that there probably wouldn't be any place to get a Japanese baseball cap here so I suppose I'll just have to wait until Tokyo.

Back at the hostel, the new blood has arrived and I've met the new roomies. A guy from Germany who will be in Japan for 6 weeks, and a girl from Michigan who has just finished teaching in Korea for 2 years. How wonderful.

GT

Japan Entry whatevernumberimonrightnow

Greetings from Kyoto!

I skyped for a good amount of time with my family this morning (though it was 5 pm yesterday for them) and we caught up on how we were doing on both ends and I got to see Scooter the doggy too, but I think his tiny dog brain couldn't understand Skype. Silly animals.

Hopped on the train after much trouble. The Osaka (and Kyoto as well) trains have just about the worst directions/information I've ever seen. I had to ask 3 people, who gave me 3 different answers, before just picking a direction and getting it right. The train ride to Kyoto from Osaka is relatively short, and very pretty. The train is smooth, the riders quiet, and the country green and lush with small residential areas peppered here and there. It's something out of a movie like this movie called 700 Days of Battle.

Once I reached Kyoto, I hopped off the train and looked around for signs/information on the subway stop/train stop where my hostel would be. Too bad there weren't any. I again guessed and, making a wrong turn, found my way after about 30-45 minutes of walking with my heavy suitcase. Thanks, guys.

Dropping my luggage off, I couldn't check in legit until 3 pm (like everywhere, I guess) so I just started walking again looking for a place to have lunch. Having virtually no luck with that, I settled on a convenience lunch that turned out to be pretty damn good. From there I just walked the streets looking at shops, and happened upon an arcade. Of course I had to go in, and found an 11k BP Sagat player on the machine. We played, and I went 2-1 using Fuerte, and took him 2-0 with my Ken before he gave up. He was decent, but nowhere near as good as some of the other people I've played while here. Still, it was good to have the practice since there's a tournament I'm going to on the 28th.

After the arcade, I kept walking around and noticed a bunch of posters for an Olmec exhibit at the Kyoto Museum, so I hopped on a train and made the walk. For $13, the exhibit was a little bit small, but it included the main exhibit as well (although I had little interest in it) so... I'd say it was... half worth it. At least I got out of the heat and did something touristy. I promised myself I'd do more touring tomorrow just so I could say I've been to the places I'm sure I'll be asked about.

After that, I checked out a soccer shop (considering buying a jersey, but it's a bit pricey of course) and then checked into the hostel. I'm in an 8 bedroom dorm this time, and had a chat with an italian bloke about the bed situation. I settled down to peep the computer, checked the FB, and went back out again to check out Gion the Geisha district. It's a tourist place, of course, and it felt like I'd seen more foreigners than Japanese there. But I did spot a Geisha nearly immediately. It's certainly interesting, in any case, one side feels old and traditional, many buildings housing outrageously expensive traditional Japanese restaurants with plenty of people in traditional dress coming out of them, while the other side was mostly bars and 'clubs' that seem more like strip joints or 'conversation dates' where sex isn't included but clearly implied (as someone on the street called to me). They're separated by the main drag with its many gift stores and small shopping buildings. There's a temple at one end, or maybe it's a park, illuminated with lights so it looks like some sort of amusement, but I opted to eat instead of check it out.

The best place to eat I've found so far are at either Japanese chain restaurants or the Ramen places where you use a machine to order food. These locations are both tasty and not priced outrageously, so you really can't beat it. Then again, you could always get a juicebox and a pastry from the convenience store for around $2 if you wanna be extra cheap.

Finishing up Gion, I went to the arcade again to play this Japanese game called Border Break, and had lots of fun doing that. Returning back to the hostel past swarms of young people sporting all sorts of different looks, street performers, and I'm guessing some hookers, and it's nearing time for bed. A massive group of people staying at the hostel just left to go drink, I believe, but I think they know each other. The people in my dorm so far as I can tell are: A Thai young guy, 2 young Italians, a Eastern European couple who would only glance oddly at me, and someone above me who I've never seen.

GT

(pictures coming when I get somewhere else.

Japan Entry 7

The Osaka post! This'll be a combination post of the two days I've had here in Osaka since I'm a little behind on entries. Thanks for reading if you're still here!

Day One

Having slept very little the night before, it was pretty easy to get up at 6:30 to head out to the train station, especially since the person in the room over had been playing their t.v. nice and loud all night which woke me up numerous times. It baffles me that some people could possibly be so inconsiderate, but it takes all sorts I guess. I probably would have hit him had I seen him in the hall, but that was in my 'it's too early' morning rage, and I wouldn't now of course.

Lugging my stuff to Tokyo station on the crowded morning rush subway was a fun new experience, if a little packed in, and I enjoyed watching all the people who kept glancing at me obviously annoyed that some tall Gaijin had brought a suitcase onto the train when they're trying to get to work. Haters gonna hate!

My excitement grew the more I woke up since I'd never been on a bullet train before. I hadn't reserved a seat in advance, so it was a free for all in the non-reserved cabins of the train, but I managed to find a seat and a place for my luggage and was happy. The person next to me, a younger guy of roughly 14, was fast asleep and had the shade down so it was a tad hard to look out at the scenery. Instead, I worked and finished reading Mr. Peanut which... was a lot less than I expected. Still an interesting read though, I suppose.

Hitting Osaka 2 hours later, it was time to make sense of a new subway network to get to my stop. Once I found where I had to go, I hit the trains and made it to my station with very little effort, HOWEVER I had completely forgotten to take the name of the hostel I was going to stay at, so the next order of business was asking every hotel if a) I had a reservation there and b) if I could use their internet. The second people let me use my laptop on their wifi, and I located where I needed to be. An old man on the street saw me as a tourist and called out to me, "Hey! What-u hoteru?" and then directed me when I told him. People in Tokyo (I'm pretty sure) would never do that, the people here in Osaka seem much lighter.

I found a payphone and called Maiko who my mom worked with and had offered to show me around. She's about to be a grad student at the University of Oregon (in Journalism, which I almost ended up doing), so it was cool to link up with her and talk about something we had in common as well as fire a barrage of questions about Japan at her. She also happens to be very energetic, and once we met up at Umeda station, we spent the rest of the day walking around seeing the sights while baking under the sun and humidity. It was a really fun time, and I really enjoy seeing Osaka. The city feels a lot more wide open, beautiful in its own way while still remaining the second largest Japanese city, whereas Tokyo feels like the buildings are smushed together and the entire atmosphere feels almost claustrophobic. Osaka is a nice change of pace.

We ended the day's activities at a sort-of Mexican cafe/internet cafe. The prospect of some tacos or burritos sounded like a great break from the Washyoku food I've been exclusively eating. I ordered a Burrito and a Gin+Lime. The burrito, as it turns out, was a quesadilla that came with some kind of onion soup and the Gin+lime was about a third of a glass of gin with a little lime juice. Drinks here in Japan are both expensive and incredibly light, so I was a bit happier to at least know I was getting 90% gin in my tiny cocktail. The quesadilla was satisfying since there's not a lot of cheese used in Japanese food (at least in my experience thus far), and salsa was awesome. Maiko and I chatted there for a while before heading our separate ways. I returned to the hostel to catch some tv, update the blog, and relax my aching limbs.

Day 2

Yesterday I'd completely forgotten to bring the Oregon 2010/11 planner I'd purchased for Maiko, so we'd agreed to meet up at her work so I could drop it off. I took my time in the morning, lounging in perhaps the most uncomfortable bed I've ever slept in. I'm not sure how many people actually sleep on Tatame mats but it's essentially like sleeping on a hard wood floor, the thin pad they give you to lie on might as well be making it worse, like a promise of something that isn't really there. My hips were in pain (I think I have bad hips, like my mother) and my shoulder was sore from sleeping in a funny position.

Hurting all over, it was breakfast time. AND I FOUND YOGURT. Yeah, I said it. Something sort of like fruit that isn't freakishly expensive! Sure, it was runny as hell and the spoon they gave me to eat it with was probably for babies, I was elated at the chance and devoured it along with my croissant from the convenience store. Youtube provided me with a lot of laughs courtesy of the Downtown comedy team (a Japanese comedy duo, there are a lot of great activities they do and a lot are fan-subtitled so we americans can understand) and I made sure to cheer myself up before it was time to go meet Maiko. (Sorry, I had to look away from writing. A shamwow commercial in Japanese came on with some european dude speaking Japanese with english expressions of surprise peppered in for effect. lulz)

We met up on her lunch break, I gave her the planner, and then walked along the street to see the library, a government building (both were in western style) and a rose garden/park. She was taking loads of photos, of course, both days were filled with photos. Any time she wanted me to pose for a pic, I'd make her do the same as a kind of revenge. I dunno if I've ever been in so many pictures.

It was really hot today, but we walked along all the same and talked though perhaps less than yesterday. We returned to her work, and said our goodbyes. I set out for lunch and visiting Kobe (a nearby town, and hot tourist spot) while she went back to work. Unfortunately, the rest of the day didn't go as planned. As I was walking to lunch, I realized I didn't have any money. Thinking it'd be an easy fix, I tried 2 different bank ATM's before realizing that I probably wouldn't be able to withdraw any money unless it was in a 7/11. Thanks a lot, U Lane O Credit Union. What I thought would be a quick walk turned out to be an excruciating 2 hour trek to find a working ATM since I had literally run out of pocket money to pay for subway fares or food. Somewhere along the way I stepped funny and my hip popped, leaving me hobbling for a block or two in pain. By the time I withdrew money it was nearly 4 and too late to make the trip out to Kobe.

Feeling especially salty, I went to an Italian restaurant to finally get some lunch. What I ordered was an "Italian Burger" and accidentally ordered a side of rice (I thought the waiter said it was included, but wasn't actually). The burger turned out to be a round meatloaf with cheese on top that came with a soft-boiled egg and 3 home fries. Literally 3. But I didn't care. They had Tabasco. The first hotsauce I've seen all trip, and i used it liberally all over my entire meal. The 3 college girls next to me looked over in surprise but I payed them no mind, it was spicy food time.

Afterwards, I tried to find some gifts but was unsuccessful (I found this adorable little stuffed animal I was going to get a friend, but I spent around $5 trying to get it out of one of those claw machines with no luck before giving up) and just walked through the shopping streets looking at things. Of course, I made a quick trip to the arcade and earned myself a 6 win streak against a couple guys (even another El Fuerte, though I was playing Ken) and that further relaxed me. I then made a trip to a euro-style cafe (there are a LOT near Umeda, and though a bit pricey, the atmosphere is quite nice) for a DARK BEER (tabasco and an IPA in a single day. so lucky) and a salad while watching the Hanshin Tigers play the Hiroshima Carp on T.V. (baseball). I caught a train home having finished my meal and watched a couple innings, and here I sit updating the blog while I watch the game.

I was extra bad today, feeling sorry for myself, so I purchased a little dessert item on my way 'home'. omg

Below is the link for all the pictures I took, heading to Kyoto in the morning.

GT!

PICTURES

Japan Entry 6

Let's see, where did I leave off last time?

Well, so much for a restful Sunday! Instead, I made sure to head to all the districts I hadn't been to yet (save Shibuya, I'll do that once I return to Tokyo) and walked myself silly... once again. It was time for Asakusa and Ginza today.

Asakusa is supposed to be the Gaijin destination of Japan, and it's certainly true. From the subway, to the streets, to walking up to the shrine itself, there are whities (and foreign non-whities) everywhere! Before it might have been a bit weird to see a white person like myself, especially in residential areas, but here it felt so... normal. I actually wasn't a fan of this invasion, but the place itself was very interesting. I was able to snap some photos of the temple and grounds itself, so scroll down to check it out.

All I can really say about it, now that it's a day later and my mind is filled with today's events (sorry for slow updating, I KNOW YOU HANG ON EVERY WORD) but it was a fun little area. There was a theme park dating back into the 19th century nearby, but I wasn't sure how a single white male would do going into a place geared for kiddies, so I just looked at the attractions from the outside as I walked by.

From there, I made the trip over to Ginza which turned out to be more of a shopping center akin to Harajuku, though here were mostly designer labels and other such stores. I didn't even bother going into them, knowing full well just how much everything would cost so it was just like a little sweat-infused tour of an area that was neat but would have been really fun if i had a lot of cash to burn through. Go here if you like fancy watches and sexy clothing that isn't easy on the pocket.

Finishing up in Ginza, I hit up Akihabara for some Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown for like... roughly 3 hours of blissful relaxation. It's really popular at Club Sega, so it was fun to play people that were around my skill-level as well as get absolutely trashed by vets. Then it was time for home, a convinience-store sponsored meal and bed time. Too bad my next door neighbor was watching his T.V. very loud literally all night and morning, so I slept like shit and dragged myself to Tokyo Station for the trip to Osaka. Which is the next entry!

Scroll back up, ya goof,

GT

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/WebSlinger69/Japan%206/

Japan Entry 5

Yes, back again.

When I woke up, my right hip was screaming at me in pain, each step was a chore and I sort of half-waddled to the 8th floor to get my morning shower in before heading out. It's 5 days into the trip and I'm feeling the effects of all the trekking I do each day. I know my grandfather was a mail carrier who walked his entire route, so I should have good genes when it comes to this, but it seems it might have skipped a generation. Leaving a hostel at 9 or 10 am and walking around until 9 or 10 pm has made my feet, calves, and thighs sore in a way I thought previously impossible. When I finally do get back to the hotel, I gingerly move around as little as possible to avoid further 'injury.' I think Sunday is going to be a less intense day.

However, Saturday was a totally intense day! I started bright and early, setting out for the Tokyo Tower in the morning hoping to avoid a lot of the rush that would sure to accompany a lunch time crowd, so I got there around 10 am. Though there may have been more of a crowd at mid day, there was still a 45 minute-long line to stand in before getting into the elevator and heading up. The elevator had a ton of LED's that would go off in sync with the mood music that gently faded in while the woman stationed to hit the buttons talked into a microphone thanking us for visiting. At some point, the elevator's glass (which was fogged) suddenly became clear as we climbed and we could look out as we moved higher and higher.

The observation deck was full of families and little kids running around, yelling while the parents stared at the views. I walked around the whole deck and took the time to admire each portion of the 360 degree panorama. I mean, hey, why not take my time? I paid for it. Not to mention I got the combination set that also included the wax museum and guinness book of world records museum. I had never been to a wax museum or a world record museum, so I figured, "why not?" and bought the more expensive ticket to check it out. After the observation deck, we were let out of the 'down' elevator on the '4th floor' where there were small children's amusement rides as well as an arcade. Yeah, the Eiffel Tower didn't have an arcade. Step your game up, France.

The wax museum was a strange kind of ode to a random mishmash of stars, the models themselves were sometimes scarily accurate and other times very, very poor. Julia Roberts looked terrifying. It was a quick walkthrough and, to be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the whole thing. Hoping that I'd quickly be made happier by visiting some world records... I wasn't. It's sort of, well, very trivial. A lot of lists of who holds what record with photos of the winner, and some cool memorabilia from various movies and such... but all in all, you should completely and immediately skip both these museums.

Looking down from the top, I noticed a cool looking temple close to the base of the tower, so I hoofed it over there once finished with the Tower, taking a moment to look at a performing couple who were feeding a small monkey which must have been the main attraction of their show. All I could think was how hot it was. Arriving at the temple, I snapped some photos and admired the traditional feel it gave before heading back up the hill to the metro station (Which I almost didn't find) in order to get over to the War Museum.

I hopped out at the stop that the guide book said would be the right one, and then promptly forgot the Japanese name for the shrine where the museum was located and went the wrong way. Instead, I went into a giant park that was home to the Modern Art and Science museum (of which I desired to see neither) so I spent about 45 minutes walking in the afternoon heat sweating while growing more frustrated with my situation. Yes, it was a beautiful day and the park was very nice, but damn it's too hot to be outside for extended periods of it. I should have picked a different time of year to come visit. Eventually though, I did find the right shrine and entered the museum only to be frustrated by its content. The Japanese War Museum, as my guide book warned, is more a revision on history than real straight facts, and it was really frustrating to see how they portrayed all acts of war not committed by Japan I suppose it's understandable, but I left with a bad taste in my mouth and I wouldn't recommend visiting.

Leaving there, I settled on heading to Shinjuku since Shohei and I didn't see very much of it the day before, but stopped for a quick gander at the shrine itself. There were a lot of people praying there, this shrine was supposed to honor dead soldiers I believe, but I didn't partake. It would feel really disingenuous to honor warriors who gave their lives trying to take ones from my fellow countrymen.

I read in my guidebook about a sports bar that had british beers on tap and showed a lot of premiership league soccer, which is all good and right up my alley, but it turns out the book was a bit out of date. Tokyo Clubhouse, the sports bar, had closed shop a while ago, and I was left to aimlessly wander Shinjuku side streets trying to find it. Suddenly, I noticed a bar called "The Clubhouse" which was on the 3rd floor (like the sports bar) and so I thought, "They must have moved! Yes, I found it!" Sure didn't. I climbed the stairs past a hungarian cuisine restaurant (shoutouts to Laurel) and pushed the door in. The bartender looked up and stopped midgreeting with a look of surprise before finishing his sentence. I bowed and sat at the bar next to 3 other men. After being shown the menu, I settled on a beer and opened up my guide book to figure out my next move.

My next move, as it turned out, was to sit and talk in an english/japanese hybrid conversation for a couple hours as we discussed our love lives, movies, music, and things to see in Tokyo. The guys who worked/owned the bar were really nice, and I guess their surprise was due to very few Americans visiting their little bar. Well, it was either very few Americans or very few straight Americans would come into the bar. It turned out I'd found a gay bar with a very similar name to the one I had been searching for, the two dudes who worked there were very reluctant to tell me though, and I didn't learn about the... persuasion until mid-way through my visit. Of course I'm totally fine with gay people, so it was kind of cool to stumble upon a less-talked-about Tokyo subculture.  Best $16 I've spent on beer in a long time, probably.

Afterwards, I walked Shinjuku to take a look until I was too tired to possibly walk a minute more, and went home to bed. As I said before, I think Sunday is gonna be rest day.

GT

I've given up on this image uploader, here's the photobucket:

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/WebSlinger69/Japan%205/

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.

Japan Entry 3

Holy crap, I'm tired right now. I woke up at 6 a.m. for no other reason than a splitting headache caused by the horrible pillow at the hostel and the rock-hard matress. I'm pretty sure beanbags do not make tight places to rest your head. I swear ima cancel a hostel booking if I find they've got pillows like that. Anyway, I got up and, once sleep turned out to be impossible, I instead watched A Single Man to kill the time until checkout. The movie itself was pretty good, and I really liked Colin Firth's strong performance, but Julianne Moore is pretty fucking terrible. Sure, I bought Firth's affection for Moore's character Charly, but it was a one sided ordeal and the movie really lost something because of it.

Once done with the movie and some convenience store breakfast, it was time to check out and head to the next hostel I'd booked which was... really far away, as it turned out. Lugging the child-sized suitcase onto the subway once again, I reached the correct station after 3 changes only to get totally lost. The fun thing about the hostel website I keep using is that the directions are so terrible that you only get a "6 minutes from ____ station by foot" and shit. Like... seriously? After much searching, and asking a bunch of people on the street, I strolled in to find out that check in wasn't until 3:00 pm (it was 11:30 am). Luckily, they had one room open so I was able to dump my luggage and change my shirt before heading back out to Ueno/Akihabara/Harajuku. The room itself is bigger than the last, the bed is bigger, and it has its own bathroom attached to the room. Feels kinda worth the extra $15 a night.

Hopping back on the train after asking the clerks at the desk about attending a baseball game (I thought there was one tonight, but there's actually one tomorrow), I headed back to Ueno to conquer the museums that I had missed the previous day. Finding the park is extremely easy because it's about the only place with trees that I've seen (besides Harajuku) in the city. Giant lush foliage pops out when it's squeezed amongst skyscrapers and department stores, and the park is certainly a welcome break from the hustle bustle. The only issue, same as yesterday, is the heat which hasn't let up one bit so walking around to get photos becomes a race against how sweaty I feel like getting. Today wasn't a day for heat, so I hoofed it fast over to the Nat'l museum and paid my entrance fee.

Once inside, I perused the main exhibit and looked at a wide array of armor, Buddhist sculptures, poetry from the Edo period and more. Every time I travel with my parents anywhere, one of the first destinations would be the museums, so this was a kind of comfortable feeling to combat any homesickness I've been feeling. I think it's the brand new place, but I've been yearning for my bed and to not spend so much freaking money every day, but I'm still having an amazing time.

After the museum, I walked back to the station and searched for an ATM. I'm not sure who decided all this, but I've only come across one money machine that'll even take foreign credit/debit cards which seems very silly to me. Without money, the Ueno markets just across the street from the subway station were a lot less fun. Sure, it was nice to see the fish vendors and clothing shops (one place had a giant shipping box full of shirts which had a sign on it that said "ATREASUREHUNT!"), but not being able to buy anything soured the experience. I wanna go on a treasure hunt'n'stuff.

Back on the subway, I went over a couple stops to return to Akihabara in order to get to the one ATM that seems to take my card, and I withdrew money. However, unless I wanted to get a shitton of coins as change for buying a subway pass, it would be necessary to break the large bills the machine gave me. After looking through the terrifyingly weird video game stores for a gift for Josh, I settled on a cocktail and some ice cream at the Gundam Cafe since I knew it'd be a regret of mine if I didn't go (pic below). The cocktail was delicious, but pretty damn expensive. I really hope the rest of the bars aren't like this.

It was now pushing 7 but Harajuku was calling me, so I changed lines a couple of times (after semi-understanding a Metro Information person's instructions) and stumbled out onto the bustling shopping district. This was the first time I'd even been out past 7, which is apparently where all the younger people are hiding. During the day, I only really see families and older citizens, but here in Harajuku were people of my age and slightly older, dressed up and enjoying themselves. It was pretty fun to walk around and people watch as well as check out the shops, but I'm going to go back tomorrow to do some shopping. There were a lot of closed shops, and I couldn't find the Stussy store so... tomorrow.

Satisfied that I'd be back tomorrow, I jetted off to Akihabara to play some arcade games against competition that would supposedly be there. They were, but I simply couldn't beat the guy holding down the machine, so I gave up and grabbed dinner. A lot of the ramen shops here have a machine where you insert money and choose your selection, which then prints out a ticket you hand to a cook. It's a pretty cool system, and the people behind the counter more assemble the dish rather than cook it, each part being prepared separately at all times in order for a speedy order. This was the first time eating Ramen, so I had to work on my noisy eating. It's odd trying to slurp food when it's been ingrained in us that this is a show of poor manners, so I had some difficulty but I'm fairly certain I didn't insult the chefs at all.

I'll probably just give up on the arcade idea. It's kind of expensive to play, and Street Fighter is pretty dead in the places closest to me. Everyone seems to have moved on to games like Virtua Fighter, and I really don't feel like learning a new game so fuck that. I'll just save my money and spend it on clothing or gifts instead. Being an adult is hard.

I'm supposed to see Shohei tomorrow, we'll be checking out Shinjuku and hitting up some bars in the evening, I'm fairly certain, so it's exciting to finally talk to someone in person who I know.Hopefully I'll catch him on Skype tonight but maybe not. In any case, check below for photos from the day, and I'll try my best to update tomorrow or the next day. Still not sure where I'm sleeping tomorrow.

GT

WHY men want sex

Pachinko is really big gambling here. Near Ueno.

PACHINKO

Fish in the Ueno street markets

Akihabara architecture

Ueno park exit graffiti

Nat'l Museum stuff

Nat'l Museum stuff 2

Nat'l Museum stuff 3

Ueno Market

Nat'l Museum

Whale

Sculpture, and then more museum.
  

 Blogspot sucks at adding pictures in the order I upload them.

Japan Entry 2

Mm, finally awake. I passed out in my bed around 9 and slept solidly until around 2:00 A.M. when I was suddenly wide awake. I could hear a group of people speaking quickly in Japanese and laughing just down the hall, where there's a small lounge. Though they weren't the source of my waking, I was kind of put off by them being so loud after the curfew.

"Whatever," I thought, "They'll go to bed soon..." And rolled over to try and get back to sleep, finding slumber until 3 A.M. when some North American guests arrived who were also loud though not nearly as noisy as the first group. I drifted off using my beanbag pillow that was hard as a rock and woke up again at 5, and then 7 (now). Jetlag is something I haven't experienced for a long time, but I think I can get a handle on it by tonight. I made myself stay in bed all these hours and woke up at a good time that I can hopefully replicate tonight. That, or I'll just drink a ton of coffee during the day.

I'm thinking my plan today is to head out to Akihabara until Lunch, and then from there... well, I was going to try and see about going to a Sumo match but the wifi I was able to locate last night seems to have run out. Ah well, the best I'll do for now is go to Akihabara, try and find a prepaid cellphone so I can contact Shohei to see what he's up to (yet I don't have his phone # yet. Hope he's checked his FB), so I'm off for now.

PS: Karate Kid is called Best Kid in Japan.

--

So now that I've cranked the A/C up and am sitting here half naked, I figured it'd be time to finish the blog post for the day. I did, indeed, go to Akihabara "The Electric Town" and perused the shops and arcades there. The guide book was completely right in that this was a complete geek's wet dream. There were stores and stores of anime comics and videos that, although I don't really care much for, I went into anyway just to see what it was like. Most of these stores are so compact that they are rather small at first, but then have 6-7 more floors above full of even more japanese animation. Once such store I went into (an indie gaming store, trying to find a gift for a friend who is an indie game creator) turned into a porn store the second I went above the first floor. There were widescreen tv's showcasing scenes from various DVD's and loud ... porn sound effects playing from them. I quickly turned around.

From there, I moved into various arcades just to see what they were like. I went to Sega World as well as Taito Games although no one challenged me in SF at either location... how depressing. Finishing up at the arcade, I went to the very first Japanese restaurant I'd visited and got some chicken/egg/rice dish akin to what I make at home but, obviously, much better. While I ate, I took the time to pull out my guide book and look for my next destination which I decided would be the Tokyo Nat'l Museum in Ueno park. Only problem was, once I got back on the subway and disembarked at Ueno station, I got lost and spent a long time hoofing around side streets and generally going the completely wrong way. I decided instead to head back to the station and in doing so found the park. By this time it was just an hour before the museums were going to close, so I just walked around the park instead. The issue here was that it's hot and humid all day and being in public looking l

ike you just got outta the shower is... not desirable. I'm going to have to be more careful when planning my days so I spend most of my time.. in airconditioned locations.

Jetlag caught up with me at around 4pm and so I called it a night and decided to come back tot he hostel. It's already 5:30 now, but I feel pretty lame sitting here all exhausted watching T.V. I don't understand. (a white dude comes onto the tv as I type, and he speaks better Japanese than I ever could)

My laptop's battery is going to die pretty quick here, I think I might head out in a few to find a converter and grab a quick dinner before coming back and doing some research for my activities tomorrow.

GT out [pictures below]

The Japanese Burger Menu

Gorilla Curry shop. I should've eaten there.

Gundam Cafe is where I'd decided on for lunch, but when I finally got back there to eat, there was a giant line out the door, and I decided against it. Maybe another day.

Big multi-floor shopping center which, I think, was a bunch of small businesses on every floor.

Multi-floor arcade from heaven.

 

Music games galore. Volume was extremely loud.

These things seem to be still pretty 

Of course El Fuerte wins.
 

Spotted this guy waving at people as I left the arcade. On a day like this, I can't believe someone would be able to survive in a suit like that.

Japan Entry 1

Well, true believers, it's finally happened. After waiting for the entire summer to get to this day it has finally arrived, and I'm a mixture of excited and a tad nervous. I've never gone abroad for this long by myself before, so this is a completely new experience for GT. I'm sitting here in the PDX airport at the moment awaiting my roughly 16 hour flight (I think) to head into Tokyo. Thanks to the time difference, it'll actually only be 5 hours later in the day; It's 12:23 here on the 16th, and I'll get in 'round 5:30 PM on the 16th. Wewt, gaining a day is pretty tight.

Airports are pretty strange to me. Sure, I've spent plenty of time traveling enough that I know what it's like to sit for hours and hours next to complete strangers who usually overpack. Seriously, get your damn carry ons (that feel like they're as big as the bag I checked) from out my space. My ankle is here, not your shit. The suspended-reality-world that airports operate in has always been slightly eerie for me. The little shops are always the same, the employees here are all wearing their fake smiles to hide exhaustion or boredom, and nobody seems happy at all to see me. So, to combat these ho-hum sentiments, I often am much nicer at the airport than I am in real life: greeting the employees with a smile and questions about how their day is going, smiling at the little foreign toddlers teetering around the gate before the flight... things like that. (As I wrote that sentence, a small middle eastern boy just ran by with a monkey backpacked strapped to his front while his sister gave me a bashful grin)

I heard sandwiches are supposed to be $7 for ham and cheese. Just because I can't take any liquids past security doesn't mean you should charge me $3 for water, you pricks. Hurrr. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm only going to be getting one meal for the entire flight, which is fine I guess. Yet everyone complains about airports and airplanes, so maybe I'll just hold off.

2 hours until my flight, so I think I'll just read or work on my novel for now. 'Bout to save this ish and then re-edit with the rest of my first day's experience once I (hopefully) get to my hostel and situated.

--
The flight turned out to be 10 hours which meant time for 3 movies provided by the airline which included Date Night, The Bounty Hunter, and Alice in Wonderland of which I watched the first and last. As much as I love Gerard Butler, it seemed pointless to even try and occupy myself with that steaming poopile that I instead got some shuteye.

Sleeping on a plane, to me, isn't really sleeping. I kept having short, very frantic dreams all involving air travel and all being so odd that I ended up waking up nearly every 10 minutes. It's no way to rest but I supppose it'll have to do for now until I can actually check into somewhere with a bed; something that'll prove more difficult than I first thought.

I had originally arranged to stay Monday the 16th and Tuesday the 17th at a hostel called Meigetsu, but it turns out I got my date of arrival wrong. I gain a day coming back, not going to, so I've missed my check in date like a true 'tard. How could've I been so dense? Sometimes I question whether my mind is already going since my memory, too, often leaves me. Just ask my girlfriend how often I forget certain arrangements or misremember which days she'll be busy.
In any case, here I sit on the plane with 4 more hours to go. The guy in front of me has lovingly reclined his seat which makes it very hard to type at all, and the screen is at a strange angle. Coach is hella tight. I could watch A Single Man which I got just for this ride, but then again, I couldn't see it very well unless homeboy up there decides he wants to sit straight up. Tata for now, time to occupy myself with something other than this.. wish I'd copied over all my book documents.

Quick thoughts on the films:
Date Night: It's intended to be a fun date movie, so it's aptly named. However, it's not funny at all, and often fails completely at what they're going for. Luckily, it quips along decently, and there was that good Heat reference.
Alice in Wonderland: The cast here is so star-studded, not to mention Tim Burton's direction, that this shouldn't have been as poor as it was. Yes, I understand the need to make the film appeal to children, but this was just ridiculous. Anne Hathaway was terrible, Johnny Depp did the most with what he was given and it often felt like his movie. The only time I was enjoying myself was when Tweedledee and Tweedledumb were on screen, both played by a favorite british comedian of mine named... yeah. I'd skip it and stick to the original unless you really like cringing.

Ooh, they've just put on Whip It
--
Which turned out to be kind of a drag. I'm all for a movie whose focus is all about girl power, but when it's executed poorly I'm just... sad about how much better it could've been. That being said, it was a much better way to kill a little while than Alice in Wonderland was.

Finishing up the flight got harder and harder as I started to smell worse and worse. We eventually landed at Narita Int'l where I spent some time trying to explain that I didn't have the address of where I would we staying. The final customs guy laughed about this, and we had a good chat about my plans for the trip and knowingly nodded when I said it was my first time. Finally I somehow made my way onto the subway system to head to my hostel. It wasn't exactly the easiest task, and I struggled to figure out the ticket g system as well as the subway map, not to mention getting on the busy subway trains with a suitcase and bag full of electronics was like having a child in tow and a baby on my back. Goddamn. The train ride itself (I went for the cheap one) took almost 2 hours to complete while I couldn't sleep due to being too nervous to miss my stop.

Once at my station, I asked a security guard about the hostel I was staying in, which he had never heard of. He went away for a moment and gave me directions I half-understood, which was alright. Good shit, Japanese class! I walked out into the warm and humid night, suitcase in hand, and eventually spotted the place down a side street right as I was about to turn back and ask someone for help. Checking in, I got the tour after trading in my sneakers for house slippers (my shoes wouldn't fit in the cubby and the slippers wouldn't fit but they luckily had a bigger size) before heading back out again to get some dinner and some water. I've tried 2 different things that looked like water but both have turned out to be sweet Crystal Light tasting beverages, so uber fail there.

I'm not sure if it'll happen again tomorrow, but I was getting stared at quite a bit. Sometimes it'd be the good-natured neighborly sort of look, but other times it was more of a "get out of here" kinda vibe that I was at first surprised to see, but then came to terms with it. Those people giving me stink-eye got smiles in return, and I even greeted some people though they didn't greet me back. We'll have to see if this keeps happening, it reminds me of those scenes in Inception where Ariadne kept messing with Cobb's dream and all the subconcious citizens started to look at her. No, I didn't get stabbed at the end of the night, but it sure was a bit creepy.

I think now I'll brush my teeth and go to bed early tonight. (A Japanese woman walked by me as I brushed and exclaimed, "Whoa...") The only pillow available is a small beanbag thing I've never seen before so this could be awesome or a complete disaster. We'll see!

[I didn't have much time to take photos today so... here's my bedroom at the hostel and a tired myspace self pic. sup]