Tokyo...week 1

So, every night we talk about how we need to update the blog, but then it gets late, we've had a few beers or wine to drink and we decide to sleep instead. So, we apologize for being slow in updating about our stay in Japan so far. It's hard to believe that we'll be home in less than 2 weeks, so we're trying to cram in as much as possible in our remaining time. This blog dates back to April 19, our arrival in Japan.

We are staying at a guesthouse, which is similar to an apartment, but we share the bathrooms, kitchen and living room with others. There are 12 rooms in the guesthouse and the majority of the rooms are filled, but it seems like it's half empty because most people have jobs and we never see them. We never have to wait for the shower, and the living room has a cable tv and free internet! Our room has a mini-fridge, hanging wardrobe, futon (not an american futon, but more like a mattress on the ground) and small tv. It's small, but it's so nice to finally be able to unpack our stuff and not have to pack up every 3 days.

We chose this place because it's only one stop away from Masa (Evan's friend from high school), and in a city of almost 15 million that's pretty amazing! On arrival, Masa hooked us up with metro cards so we don't have to buy a ticket for every ride. We really feel like we live here! Our neighborhood is called Koenji and has a really cute pedestrian street with fun boutique shops along with restaurants and grocery stores. We quickly found the 100yen store (a dollar) to buy some random stuff for our room. Tokyo isn't as pricey as we thought it would be, especially if you know where to shop.

We went to Masa's house and he introduced us to his newest find in his neighborhood...a vending machine that was programmed incorrectly to sell beer for 110yen instead of 210yen. Jackpot! We stocked up and went back to his place to meet his girlfriend, Tami chan. She doesn't speak english, and I speak no japanese, so Masa is the translator. Evan is a little rusty with his japanese, but he can usually get his point across. Tami chan was shocked by my blonde hair and kept saying sugoi (wow). She was also entertained by us speaking english and using phrases that she hears in movies.

We spent the next few days acclimating ourselves to the area, doing some grocery shopping and some clothes shopping. I bought some jeans and shirts on April 20 and I can honestly say that 16 days later, I have worn the jeans every single day. Normal clothes feel sooo good after living in travel clothes for over 3 months!

We are only about 10 minutes away from Shinjuku and our metro card gets us there for free, so we've been there a few times. Shinjuku is the busiest train station in the world with over 3.3 million passengers a day. It's a crazy busy area with tons of shops and restaurants. Evan found some golf stores that were 7 stories, so he was in heaven and this isn't even the huge golf district.

Sushi was on my mind and Masa had a great conveyor belt sushi restaurant to take us to in Shibuya. The chefs are in the middle and prepare the sushi and place it on the conveyor belt. I have never had sushi this delicious before and it was super cheap ($1 for 2 pieces)! My favorite is the tuna, and we would scout out the best tunas and hope that they would make their way around the room to us.






In Shibuya there's a statue of a dog named Hachiko. Story goes, the dog saw his owner off from their apartment and would go out and meet him at the end of the day at the train station. After his owner died, the dog returned every day to the station to wait for him and did so for the next 10 years. We both got a little sad thinking about Pacha waiting for us. It was crowded, so we didn't get a photo, but I'm sure we'll be back to Shibuya to eat more sushi.

From Shibuya we went to Cat Street and Harajuku, very trendy shopping areas. We visited Tami chan's cafe to say hello and have a drink before heading back to our place for dinner and relaxation.

On Tami chan's day off we went to Shinjuku to a governmental building with a free observation tower. It was cloudy, but we could appreciate the mass sprawl of Tokyo. On a clear day you can sometimes see Mount Fuji, so we'll have to go back when the sky is blue.



That evening (the 24th) Masa and Tami chan introduced us to the excitement of a Japanese arcade and PriClu. Priclu is the photo booth stickers which we hope to get forwarded to our email next time so everyone can see how dumb we are. Here's three of the gang after a fun night.



Shinjuku is also a major area in town for lonely ladies who could use a little companionship, male geisha style...



The following day we headed off to our first Japanese baseball game to catch the Yakult Swallows take on the Chunichi Dragons. On the way there we passed one of the many vintage clothing shops where Evan spotted a Culver Hoodie for a cool $319 USD, yep that's right, three hundred nineteen us dollars, wow!

At the game we picked up some noise makers and joined in the reverie as best we could. Yes we're goofballs, but we have a lot of fun doing it.



Masa got everything rolling by diving into a pack of fans to get a ball thrown into the stands by the right fielder, he skinned his knee, but the prize was worth it. Several innings and several stadium brews later...



...we found ourselves on the jumbotron. Michelle happened to be filming on the video camera at the time, but got a bit too excited and forgot her priorities, so we have some great footage of who knows what with all of screaming, "it's all on video" or something to that effect, in the background. In the end we had a blast, and our home town, Yakult Swallows prevailed 2-1, so everyone went home happy.





We decided to go for back to back sports days, and so we headed west of town to Ajinomoto stadium to catch Tokyo Verdy vs. Nagoya Grampas. After a lacklustre first half, Verdy came out firing in the second half and netted a 2-0 victory thanks to some cool finishing from their Brazilian import as well as a home grown player. Nice panorama to come as soon as I get off my butt and find the software for Masa's comp.



On the way home from the game we stopped in Ginza to meet up with Masa and check out the Sony building. With 4 to 5 floors of space to show off, Sony quickly sold me on the next generation of HD camcorders as well as TVs. They split a screen and had what amounted to our camera filming an object and one of their new HD cameras doing the same and there was really no comparison. Michelle is sold, so now it's just a matter of time and a kid coming along to justify the expense!

That evening we were treated to a special culinary treat from Ms. Tami chan herself, Japanese soul food. With meats, salads, rice and other treats we stuffed ourselves and had Masa continually translating our thanks for such a delicious meal. It was a great evening all around with exciting Man U. vs. Chelsea on the tube and delicious food to keep us happy.

Our final day in Tokyo before our side trip we wanted to check out Harajuku again, this time in the weekend chaos. Our first stop was Takeshita Dori, a shopping street that is too crowded for its own good, but a lot of fun to squeeze through nonetheless.



We picked up fun socks and did a ton of window shopping before grabbing a bite to eat and getting some peace and quiet over at the Meiji Jingu shrine.



The shrine itself was nice, as with many of the temples and shrines in Korea, this one was not the original, must a more recent version. Nevertheless they do a terrific job with the reconstructions and come out with a beautiful place that is just as sacred to those who come here to worship.



A curious site on the way out were these replica kegs of sake which were placed across the path from a number of barrels of French wine as some sort of cross cultural exchange with France, who knows, we liked the sake though.



Only one thing left for us and that was to make it to the bus depot and onto the right bus for Kyoto, which we did with ease and we were off for our side trip to Kansai. We can't stress how great it's been to be with Masa and Tami this week, Masa is such a great friend from so many years back that seeing him and taking part in the usual shenanigans has been quite a treat. We also can't tell you how great it is to settle down in a place like Tokyo for a month, after all the moving around, this is something we can quickly get used to.