Day 13 – Hi Ho to nichome we go~

Alex was feeling better and had decided to take us around. We decided to head to Tokyo tower. We had lots of cool chances for pictures on the way there but when we made it to go inside we were met by a HUGE crowd trying to see it before the new year. We decided not to wait and instead head to Roppongi... the ritzy part of the city where all the rich gaijin live... It was funny to think that to us this was more of a sight seeing tour though their neighborhoods then I'm sure they are familiar. We did catch a few gaijin giving us dirty looks as we wondered though... we were easily discernible because we were the only ones not sporting any form of famous designer ware. We walked though some of the shops and it felt similar to being in America... in fact I remember the gut wrenching feeling I got when we walked into a book store filled with “artzy” gaijin sitting there pondering in which way they could best create their next masterpiece. It was a very infuriating to see that this part of town had succumbed to the same type of segregative bullshit that the US is so famous for. We left that place pretty quickly and didn't bother looking back. So we headed to Shinjuku and wandered around there for a bit and had some dinner. Alex showed us around some of the spots of Nichome he knew and we headed back home for the night.  

Day 12 - Alex still sick

Alex was still sick today and decided to stay in bed. Luckily we had made plans the night before to meet Tugbe so she could show us around Ginza. Ginza is pretty far downtown and full of really really expensive shops. But there are still some very impressive things to see around there. We met up with Tugbe and her friend Lydia at Ikebukro station around 1:30pm and hopped another train towards Ginza. After some crazy train station mishaps on which I will not elaborate... We were in Ginza. It was really quite awesome having those two as guides because Tugbe knew all of the crazy modern day cultural experiences to be had in Ginza and Lydia being a Japanese culture major was able to tell us all the history here. It was really cool that they could tell us both sides of all the places we visited. Some of those places were the traditional Kabuki theater, a Buddhist fisher mens temple, Takarazuka theater, a huge fish market, the Sony building and the Nissan building. All in all it was a pretty awesome night filled with exploration and good times.  

Day 11 – Harajuku + Akihabara (a loooong day)

Harajuku for those of you that don't know is the fashion capital of Japan, but in a different sense. When looking down the streets you won't find Gucci or Prada anywhere, what your more likely to see is various shops sporting the latest “Punk” or “Gothic” trends, those two themes are among the most popular but believe me when I say if there is some strange subculture of fashion to be found... you can find it there. On Sunday (the day we went) you can find loads of people right out of the station putting their new fashion ideas on display for everyone to see. We however did not get the memo that they were not coming the day we went... instead we found a whole lot of tourists... Call me lame, but I really don't like being in a place with a lot of tourists... it just makes me feel dirty. So we quickly rushed down some of the side streets to check out the shopping. Among the most impressive shops there were four worth mentioning. 1) Thankyou Mart is a place you can find loads of the latest “punk” apparels and accessories (basically pacsun) almost everything is under 390 yen ($3.90). 2) Sexy Dynamite. Aside from having an awesome name this was a smaller shop filled with all of the really worn “vintage” British punk clothing … too bad they were crazy expensive. 3) Condomania. Sounds suggestive right? It is. This is a shop entirely devoted to the sell of every type of condom imaginable along with some really hilarious party gifts... I was told it was a popular chain else ware in the U.S. But it was amusing to see one so well set into the conservative Japanese culture . 4) No Name. There was a shop we passed on the way that our friend Tugbe pulled us into that had no name above the shop and no discernible markings to let anyone know it was there. Inside there was a strange assortment of what I could only describe as Japanese metal clothing (you'd get that if you watched a j-metal music video). It was two floors and the top floor full of shoes and some strange people shaped chairs which was just tall enough for me to not have to crawl... granted I'm a lot taller (6'3”) then many Japanese but... this was outrageously short. After we checked out all the crazy shops we headed down some side streets lead by Tugbe to a huge three story art showcase. All three floors were completely painted or occupied by art in some way. It was really quite impressive but no pictures taking allowed inside. By this point Alex had started feeling a little ill so he headed back to his dorm and Tugbe lead us on to check out some of Akihabara and to find me an R4 card (mod chip for my Nintendo DS). Tigbe is a really impressive guide because she knows all of the crazy back streets and sketchy looking shops where you can find close to anything your heart desires. We were out wondering around Akihabara for the next 3 hours or so, looking at all these crazy shops, then grabbed some dinner and headed our separate ways home.

3 day recap

I apologize for not updating sooner... but I got lazy with keeping this log.

Day 8 we just did some exploring around Takadanobaba and I headed up to one of the Shinto shrines near by and with the ground keeper's permission snapped some pictures. He was a very nice old man who explained bits of the Shinto religion to me and was very enthused that an American came and was interested in the shrine. All in all it was a nice day and an eye opening experience to have someone so enthused in their religion and have it explained without it forced upon you. I was very pleased with how some of the pictures came out too.

Day 9 was mostly a day for rest because that night we knew what was going to happen... Karaoke with the Koreans... it was an experience that I will never forget... I was surprised how many English songs they knew... it's strange to think that American music is so popular in Asian countries when it just seems to mediocre to me... More impressive still was the choreographed dances that the three Koreans were able to execute while singing... it was quite a sight~

Day10 Sleeping in... because we were up until 6am doing karaoke... I did some laundry and made a run to the market for some food. Later we met up with Alex and made a run to Book Off where you can get your fill of manga for 105 ($1.05) yen a book... which is outrageously cheap... we perused the selection but there was nothing we really really wanted.... We headed back to the room and watched the Battle Royale and made our plans for tomorrow..... Harajuku

Fun Facts about Japan

I thought after bing here for a week it would be a good time to explain some strange cultural things you may not know and also list off some of my impressions.

-Gaijin in Japanese means “outsider”- this is what they refer to anyone one non-Japanese

-Being a Gaijin at times is very beneficial and other times its makes you feel a little outcast but not all Japanese judge you on this as I have witnessed.

-Night time – Here it gets dark at 4pm every day but that in no way stops anyone from being outside

-The night life here is almost every night there is no pause for holidays. Weekends are a little more busy but really its just as crazy as going out any other night.

-Christmas – Christmas in Japan is NOT a family holiday... in fact my room is by an Elementary school here and the kids are at school on Christmas day. Christmas is more of a Romantic holiday for couples. As you can imagine all the restaurant are packed with couples and all the bars and clubs are packed with singles trying to escape the reality of their single status.

-PDA personal displays of affection... NON EXISTANT the Japanese rarely hold hands in public (with the exception of Christmas) anything more then that is unfathomable to them...

-Sickness, there is no means of self medication here... no aspirin, nothing like that. If people have a cold... they go to the hospital and if that strikes you as odd I might also add that they also wear masks (like doctor masks) as a courtesy to other people as well as filtering their own in take... so its not uncommon especially this time of year to see large groups of people wearing surgical masks around town while carrying out their day to day tasks or simply hanging out with a group of friends.

-Trains... the JR Yamanote line is the most packed train in the city because it operates in a circle and you connect to trains from there... if your claustrophobic... avoid it... you will sometimes get a little toooo intimate with the person next to you...

I still have a million other strange things to share... but I really don't wanna be stuck in this room typing them... id rather be out enjoying them... so when I get some time... I'll write some more. 

Day 7 A very BLEACH Christmas Eve

One week into our travels we decided to try something new in Japan. We went to Denny's. You may be saying to me... Justin we have those in America... your dumb. I would say YOUR WRONG... Denny's in Japan is something close to a 3 star restaurant... there is really no concept of the traditional American breakfast here there are very few dishes that actually contain egg. Even their bacon is weird... but it was quite delicious. After some strange new foods we headed to a movie theater to check out the new Bleach movie. YES... they play anime in movie theaters but I would discourage anyone from going to one... because Japanese movie theaters are outrageously pricey. But we did see it and I was surprised how much I could understand... luckily anything I couldn't I had my personal translator Alex to help me out. After that we headed to a park in Ebisu to see their famous Christmas lights... to be honest... it was rather unimpressive but while we were their we did stop at McDonnalds for what we thought was going to be a cheap meal... WRONG AGAIN... McDonalds in Japan has about 6 things on the menu and they are all at least 700 Yen or 7 dollars... as we felt our wallets shrinking and gradually felt more depressed we got a call from our friend Tugbe who was out with some friends and wanted to meet up. This time all of the Japanese who we hung out with spoke English to some extent and we all had a good time... 

Oh and if your looking at my pictures you may be a little confused by the man in the pink one piece... On our way to Shibuya we ran into this guy who I guess just really wanted to blow off some steam being that it's Christmas Eve... and well Tugbe really wanted her picture taken with him... haha

Day 6 A nerd pilgrimage

Today was really just one of the most exciting things I could have asked for. We get to go to Akihabara which some of you may know as nerd paradise. Every inch of district is head to toe electronics and anime. The shops are in fact so over stocked that they just put the best deals out in the streets so most of the streets look like a bizarre. They had every piece of anime nerd gear one could ever hope for. It's not an exaggeration to say there were multiple buildings each having at least 3-5 floors of just anime stuff. We spent a good amount of time just looking around at all the cool gizmos and what not. The rest of the time we were accidentally walking into porn stores. Now some of you may be rolling your eyes right now but I assure you that as someone who can not read Japanese the signs do not help any... one second you'll be on the first floor checking out some new computer gear and you decide to go upstairs... MISTAKE because apparently every computer store doubles as a smut shop in Akihabara...

I picked up a sweet gundam shirt and some cheap stickers and left that place with my wallet intact... somehow...