(no subject)
Thursday night I met up with Yoshiko and Tetsuo in Korakuen near where Kodo would be playing. Both are going well, although I think they are forgetting their English and I'm forgetting my Japanese. Yoshi surprised me with straight hair. She looks more traditional Japanese now. We walked to Suidobashi and finally found a nice like Izakaya to eat at. The staff was hilarious. I wish I could find the place again, but I could probably walk around for hours and not see it again. After hearing a little about Sado shima I want to go up there and visit. Christmas break is a little too cold though. Yoshi did mention something about maybe going back to Dallas over Christmas/New Years, but she wasn't sure and I don't know if she got a ticket. Tetsuo misses Dallas. Chiba is just a little too far out of the city I think, which I found out later when I visited him.
Friday I caught up with Yasuka rather then going to the bonenkai that night. I didn't feel that good, and paying 5000-6000 when I'd only have a few drinks didn't seem worth it. Instead I caught up with Yasuka and had dinner at TGI Fridays. Yeah, American food, but damn that hamburger was good. I got the bacon cheese burger, and what I wasn't expecting was the large piece of fried cheese on top. It was as big as the patty itself! The single slice of cheddar got lost in the mozzarella goodness. The food did me a lot more good then drinks. Afterwards we walked around Shibuya. Once you get away from the station it seems like there are a lot of nice shops. Back at the scramble crossing things were crazy on a Friday night. There were two young guys with a sign (hanasemasenka? "Would you like to talk?" We debated talking to them for a bit and I finally went up. Their older classmate had started this and then they took over. They've been there every Friday night for the past 9 months. They'll just talk to anyone that wants to. They said there are a lot of lonely people that just need someone to talk to for a bit. Confirms my opinion of Tokyo too! (Although, what does it say about me?) They've met some interesting characters it sounded like, and some good people too. We were just commenting that it was like the free hug people. If you don't know how this started, watch this video. You get some crazy people at those things, so after finally taking some pictures and laughing at them I got my free hug from a Japanese santa. Actually, it was funny that night. Yasuka is 100% Japanese, but she really doesn't look like it. At TGI Fridays they gave her an English menu, on the way out someone thought she was hispanic and a couple of the free hug guys kept talking to her in English because they thought she was foreign.
Saturday... Oh yeah! I was supposed to go furniture shopping. I decided not to, but did by accident. I had unpacked my watches a few days earlier and I wanted to get my old mechanical one fixed. You can still wind it and it tells time, but it's lose and moves around when you shake it. I looked up some watch repair shops and went to a few that seemed promising, the first one near Ueno, actually Okachimachi. As soon as I exited the station there were two large purple buildings in front of me. I knew immediately this was the furniture store I had been looking for a week or two ago! I found the building with their beds. They had a sofa bed I liked, except for the fact it was light blue. Why can't more places use covers like Ikea. They had some others that weren't bad, but I decided I don't really want a fake leather bed to sleep on every night. The watch place said they could send it off to get fixed, but that it would cost about 20,000 yen. (around $200) That was about how much the watch cost. There were a number of other watch places in that area and I stopped in a few more, but the answer always came back that they couldn't do it, or a complete overhaul. I'm not sure what I'll do. I got the battery replaced in my digital though.
I went back to Shibuya and started walking around again, hoping I'd run into some furniture stores and kind of looking for the used clothing stores I'd read a little about. I had copied a number of address and instructions to my iPod, but apparently the notes field only holds so much. I ended up walking to Harajuku, over to Omotesando, window shopped for a bit. I got completely lost after that, but wondered into a couple small museums/galleries with cool shops, ate ice cream and finally found a station. I made it to Takadanobaba just in time to meet Kana for dinner. Kupu Kupu has the best fried potatoes anywhere.
Sunday was Emily's Christmas party. I bought some wine then went to Tetsuo's house. Tetsuo said he had a small folding futon he didn't like that he could give to me, so I went to have a look at it. I see why he doesn't like it, but I can use it for a while. It should be more comfortable with a little pad on it. Both of them live about 90 minutes away from me so fewer trips. Tetsuo has quite the lab set up in his house. I also didn't realize he lives right next to Monkey Punch! Emily's party was fun. It was great to see George again. His eyes lit up as soon as he spotted Tetsuo's kara-age. (deep fried chicken basically). They had plenty of other food. It was on the way back that I feel asleep on the Yamanote-sen and got stuck in Ikebukuro. To answer some questions, yes, I did think about walking home, but a two hour walk at 1am in December sounded a little... cold. Assuming I didn't get lost. Some advice if you do stay in a manga kisa. Make sure you ask for the most comfortable reclining seat they have. Also request a quiet area, or if they have multiple floors avoid the one with the register. Leave early, Tokyo at 5 or 6am is interesting.
I went home and slept until the afternoon on Monday (Christmas eve). I finally woke up and sent Jean the information for the Kodo concert. One of his friends and a Japanese girl were also coming. We met up are Korakuen with little problems and I got the tickets from Yoshi. They were great seats! On the main level, but first row on the upper section so there was no one in front of us. Kodo was fantastic. I have a CD by them, but it's a lot different then the music they played in the performance. It's a lot more then just a concert, there is a lot of dancing, acting, comedy and more. If you haven't seen them, I'd definitely recommend it. I think fewer members might go when they tour the US, but I'm sure it's still fantastic. The four of us went out to an Izakaya to eat then we all split up early. I went to Daimon and got off for some reason. I'm sure I had some plan at the time, but I couldn't remember. I walked home stopping at Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Midtown and Ebisu Gardens on the way. I finally ended up at Anko (restaurant 30 seconds from my place) and drank and snacked the night away with two other people at the bar until 3 or 3:30 am when we all finally went home. I regretted it the next day when I had to go to work, but only a LITTLE bit. Who the hell works on the Christmas anyway?
Christmas I'd planned to go home early and do laundry. Sayuri texted me and we went out for Mexican. Nothing like traditional Mexican food for Christmas. (^_^) She really dislikes Japan and can't wait to live in Europe again. I can understand wanting to live someplace else, but what I can't understand is how you can call Tokyo (and the people in it) boring. Certainly you can say a lot about Tokyo, good and bad, but boring isn't one of them.
Friday I caught up with Yasuka rather then going to the bonenkai that night. I didn't feel that good, and paying 5000-6000 when I'd only have a few drinks didn't seem worth it. Instead I caught up with Yasuka and had dinner at TGI Fridays. Yeah, American food, but damn that hamburger was good. I got the bacon cheese burger, and what I wasn't expecting was the large piece of fried cheese on top. It was as big as the patty itself! The single slice of cheddar got lost in the mozzarella goodness. The food did me a lot more good then drinks. Afterwards we walked around Shibuya. Once you get away from the station it seems like there are a lot of nice shops. Back at the scramble crossing things were crazy on a Friday night. There were two young guys with a sign (hanasemasenka? "Would you like to talk?" We debated talking to them for a bit and I finally went up. Their older classmate had started this and then they took over. They've been there every Friday night for the past 9 months. They'll just talk to anyone that wants to. They said there are a lot of lonely people that just need someone to talk to for a bit. Confirms my opinion of Tokyo too! (Although, what does it say about me?) They've met some interesting characters it sounded like, and some good people too. We were just commenting that it was like the free hug people. If you don't know how this started, watch this video. You get some crazy people at those things, so after finally taking some pictures and laughing at them I got my free hug from a Japanese santa. Actually, it was funny that night. Yasuka is 100% Japanese, but she really doesn't look like it. At TGI Fridays they gave her an English menu, on the way out someone thought she was hispanic and a couple of the free hug guys kept talking to her in English because they thought she was foreign.
Saturday... Oh yeah! I was supposed to go furniture shopping. I decided not to, but did by accident. I had unpacked my watches a few days earlier and I wanted to get my old mechanical one fixed. You can still wind it and it tells time, but it's lose and moves around when you shake it. I looked up some watch repair shops and went to a few that seemed promising, the first one near Ueno, actually Okachimachi. As soon as I exited the station there were two large purple buildings in front of me. I knew immediately this was the furniture store I had been looking for a week or two ago! I found the building with their beds. They had a sofa bed I liked, except for the fact it was light blue. Why can't more places use covers like Ikea. They had some others that weren't bad, but I decided I don't really want a fake leather bed to sleep on every night. The watch place said they could send it off to get fixed, but that it would cost about 20,000 yen. (around $200) That was about how much the watch cost. There were a number of other watch places in that area and I stopped in a few more, but the answer always came back that they couldn't do it, or a complete overhaul. I'm not sure what I'll do. I got the battery replaced in my digital though.
I went back to Shibuya and started walking around again, hoping I'd run into some furniture stores and kind of looking for the used clothing stores I'd read a little about. I had copied a number of address and instructions to my iPod, but apparently the notes field only holds so much. I ended up walking to Harajuku, over to Omotesando, window shopped for a bit. I got completely lost after that, but wondered into a couple small museums/galleries with cool shops, ate ice cream and finally found a station. I made it to Takadanobaba just in time to meet Kana for dinner. Kupu Kupu has the best fried potatoes anywhere.
Sunday was Emily's Christmas party. I bought some wine then went to Tetsuo's house. Tetsuo said he had a small folding futon he didn't like that he could give to me, so I went to have a look at it. I see why he doesn't like it, but I can use it for a while. It should be more comfortable with a little pad on it. Both of them live about 90 minutes away from me so fewer trips. Tetsuo has quite the lab set up in his house. I also didn't realize he lives right next to Monkey Punch! Emily's party was fun. It was great to see George again. His eyes lit up as soon as he spotted Tetsuo's kara-age. (deep fried chicken basically). They had plenty of other food. It was on the way back that I feel asleep on the Yamanote-sen and got stuck in Ikebukuro. To answer some questions, yes, I did think about walking home, but a two hour walk at 1am in December sounded a little... cold. Assuming I didn't get lost. Some advice if you do stay in a manga kisa. Make sure you ask for the most comfortable reclining seat they have. Also request a quiet area, or if they have multiple floors avoid the one with the register. Leave early, Tokyo at 5 or 6am is interesting.
I went home and slept until the afternoon on Monday (Christmas eve). I finally woke up and sent Jean the information for the Kodo concert. One of his friends and a Japanese girl were also coming. We met up are Korakuen with little problems and I got the tickets from Yoshi. They were great seats! On the main level, but first row on the upper section so there was no one in front of us. Kodo was fantastic. I have a CD by them, but it's a lot different then the music they played in the performance. It's a lot more then just a concert, there is a lot of dancing, acting, comedy and more. If you haven't seen them, I'd definitely recommend it. I think fewer members might go when they tour the US, but I'm sure it's still fantastic. The four of us went out to an Izakaya to eat then we all split up early. I went to Daimon and got off for some reason. I'm sure I had some plan at the time, but I couldn't remember. I walked home stopping at Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Midtown and Ebisu Gardens on the way. I finally ended up at Anko (restaurant 30 seconds from my place) and drank and snacked the night away with two other people at the bar until 3 or 3:30 am when we all finally went home. I regretted it the next day when I had to go to work, but only a LITTLE bit. Who the hell works on the Christmas anyway?
Christmas I'd planned to go home early and do laundry. Sayuri texted me and we went out for Mexican. Nothing like traditional Mexican food for Christmas. (^_^) She really dislikes Japan and can't wait to live in Europe again. I can understand wanting to live someplace else, but what I can't understand is how you can call Tokyo (and the people in it) boring. Certainly you can say a lot about Tokyo, good and bad, but boring isn't one of them.