Minka’s Japan Files - Less annoying than that music site - Day Two - The Adventure
About this travel log: Written for Minka’s own personal amusement, now you get the chance to retrace her and Omni’s footsteps through the good, the seedy and the glitzy parts of Tokyo. Includes personal photos, fangirling, travel tips and random facts.
Covered Today: The wonders of a good breakfast, the different between left and right, The Golden Gia, a glimpse of Harajuku, Shinkuju and the glowing lights of the Red Light District.
Minka’s Japan Files - Less annoying than that music site - Day Two
Before going to sleep the night before, we had both set our phone alarms. 7:30 Japan time, so that is our normal 8:30. Keep in mind that I normally work nights, so 8:30 to me is still hella early.
So anyway, Acid Black Cherry starts blasting through the hotel room as, for some ungodly reason, I have Spell Magic as my morning alarm. It sure as hell gets you up in a hurry and the fact that ‘OMG we’re in Japan’ finally started to set in meant that we were up and tearing around the hotel room and hanging out the window to watch the street below before we even realized that we actually were awake.
I can’t quite remember the proceedings of the morning, but that is hardly important. We got up, showered and painted the faces on, found clothes, picked shoes and got the camera ready and somehow found time to wander downstairs for breakfast as well.
Our bathroom… isn’t it tiny!?
Now, let me just say that Japanese breakfast is the most amazing thing in the world and our hotel… god, it was good. They had a full western buffet as well as a traditional Japanese one. We tried a little of the Japanese stuff but at least to me the idea of fish and soup in the morning is not an appealing one.
But god, I can’t describe how good this food was. I don’t know what they do to their bacon, but it is amazing. And poached eggs… sausages. Toast and these sweet bread rolls. The oddest French toast I have ever had and yet the best I’ve ever tasted. Coffee, juice, strange cereal, fresh fruit (which is a treat in Japan; for those that don’t know, fruit over there is really expensive and it is kinda a thing to give fruit as a gift because of that. Things like watermelon and rockmelon and stuff that we take for granted over here are considered a gift of great love and wealth. Strange but true fact). They even had salad stuff for breakfast and then, the most amazing breakfast thing in the world.
Broccoli.
Now, I am one of these people who try to eat healthy and yet always fail. The hours I keep don’t really allow for typical breakfast, lunch and dinner meals and I normally end up rolling them into two meals at odd parts of the day and I never eat as many vegies as I should. But god, broccoli for breakfast… it is amazing and goes so oddly good with bacon and eggs.
But ok, that is the end of my food love affair. In short, breakfast was to die for and most days, after eating there, we wouldn’t get hungry again until dinner.
So, with that out of the way and us dressed, we grabbed some not so sensible shoes and headed out for our first official day in Tokyo, Japan. I had my little Lonely Planet guide book in my handbag and so, without much thought at all, we walked out of the hotel, turned in the direction of the imperial gardens and started what is referred to as the ‘O’Great Epic Missioning of the Wrong Direction’.
Yes. We went the WRONG WAY. Only we didn’t know it at the time and really, it wasn’t that much of an issue. I still get slightly confused though. To me, when you walk out of our Hotel foyer, Shinjuku should be left and Ikebukuro should be right.
But no. Just so you are all aware, if you ever go to Tokyo and decide to stay in the wonderful JALCity hotel, Shinjuku is in fact RIGHT. Even later on in the trip when we walked towards Shinjuku (heading right, of course) it still felt like the wrong direction.
Anyway, long story short, we went left thinking we were going the right way and then got all distracted when I saw a side alleyway and went ‘Hey! Let’s go there!’ As always, Omni just gave me that ‘oh god, here we go’ look but thankfully followed along with little to no protest. I think she said something about me getting us lost in creepy back streets or something, but I just ignored her and pulled out the camera.
It was beautiful. I can still remember it so clearly.
I always find that it takes me awhile to get motivated to take photos, so I didn’t go as crazy in this area as I thought I would, but I still got some bloody good ones.
Anyway, turning off that side street into another which lead into another, I finally worked out where we were which, in turn, told us that we had been walking the wrong way.
We were in the Golden Gai.
I was wrapped when I finally worked it out. It was one of the places that I really wanted to go, especially at night. Just to see it all, you know.
Ok, so for those of you who don’t know, the Golden Gai started out as somewhat of a black market area directly after World War II. From what I read, it also used to be a barracks some 60 odd years ago and that was present in the architecture within the five or so streets that made up the area.
It is a place where the narrow road meets your doorway, where washing is strung between buildings at the back of alleys and above you, in the shadows of the skyscrapers, powerlines crisscross over the street in a way that is based solely on need. Jacked power; each cord leading into another and another which, in turn, leads into the original one to slice - no doubt illegally - into the main commercial line.
It is the most amazing sight to see. Mix that with lanterns and posters, door hangings and old cobblestone pathways; a man on the roof fixing shingles and a lady in large wooden shoes moving plants around the front of their bars and homes and it feels like you aren’t in the middle of the one of busiest cities in the world.
I’ll leave you with this little except from one of the books I have on Tokyo and areas like the Gai.
Tenaciously hanging on in the shadows of the skyscrapers surrounding it, the narrow alleys of the Golden Gai are a stubborn anomaly in a city obsessed with making the old new. Filled with tiny, eccentric drinking establishments, some so small that they can only fit a few patrons at a time, these alleys come to life as dusk settles and the lights of the city begin to glow. Wandering into this little maze at this witching hour feels like walking into a time warp.
That describes the place so much better. Now, keep in mind that said tiny little bars don’t normally serve foreigners or even non-regulars, it was the exact sort of place that I wanted to see for myself. Maybe it was curiosity, or some guise of ‘research’ or god only knows what, but I was lost there. For those writers reading this; you know how you can just see something, or hear or even smell something and be inspired? This entire place was like that. I just wanted to perch on a crumbling wall, pull out some paper and make it come even more to life in my head.
((As a small side note, I am listening to the song Inlandempire by Kain while writing this section of the journal and god, it is the perfect soundtrack. Giving me the chills))
Sadly, we didn’t get the chance to go back there during the evening. That has been added to the top of my list for when I make my way back to Tokyo. While I am sad, I think it is probably for the best; I would like to have a better understanding of Japanese before I go stumbling into an area like that and oddly enough, not for my sake, but for the owners. Like everywhere in Japan, it must be so hard having foreigners tramping around their sacred sites and historically important places, especially when you can’t communicate with them.
So yes, that is my plan and let us move on before I get too bitchy against tourists (not to mention homesick).
After that little experience, we headed out, found a main road and got fascinated by this random building. Behold the pictures. Not much to say really, but it just looked weird and, for those interested, it is a block of apartments and yes, they are currently looking for tenants.
When in Asia, the best thing you can do is pose like Asians…
Right across the road from this unusual piece of architecture was this group of apartments.
While you can’t overly tell, the barrier that you can see next to the road is actually an overpass, so all those buildings extend further below what you can see in the image. The entire thing had this feeling of just being hastily tacked together, each level dumped on top of the other as the need for space grew. Honestly, it was amazing that the place was still standing.
On the other side of said overpass, there was a flight of stairs that we decided to take. Yes, by this stage we were just aimlessly wandering, still slightly thinking that the Imperial Palace was ‘that way’ even though we had somehow managed to stumble upon the Golden Gia.
Bikes and scooters just cause I could.
After that happy snap, we kept walking. And walking some more. We saw odd buildings, strange places guarded by men with what looked like light sabres and flocks of businessmen disappearing behind closed doors and gates. Walking down the streets was weird cause everyone acknowledged us. Some would just nod, others would mutter good morning and others would smile warmly as we glanced around all wide-eyed at the sights.
Eventually we came across a large street map that we could actually make sense of and finally our mistake at the hotel clicked. We worked out how it was that we went the wrong way and ended up in the Golden Gia and then realised that we were miles away from where we wanted to go. What the map did tell us, though, was that there was a shine not that much further up in the way we were going. With no pressing need to be anywhere, we kept wandering and came across this hidden little spot, right in the middle of the city.
The first view… and the stairs to get up there
The view from the top… you can see the train tracks in the distance, the road and buildings and yet right behind the camera there was an oasis of green and quiet tranquillity.
I think that this was the time that everything just clicked.
We were in Japan.
Something about that shine was life altering. I have never been a religious person and never will be, but the sense of serenity that that place offered, even as you could hear the whirr of traffic in the distance, was enough to make me want to believe.
Now, there is one thing that I really hate and that is tourists; they are always so loud, so rude and so arrogant and so Omni and I, before we had even left Australia, had decided to set a proper example. We stayed out of the way, we tried to take as little photos as possible and when we did get snap happy, we made sure to not include people in there. I remember that there was a couple sitting off to the right of the image of that strange rock, and I think one was upset about something from the way the other was cradling their head and rubbing their arms and back. It is not our place to intrude and the last thing they want to see is a pair of idiot foreigners insulting their shrine while catching them on camera.
I’m not saying that we were perfect; I am sure we probably did something wrong that we weren’t even aware of, but we did our best and that is more then I can say about most people. Thankfully we didn’t run into other tourists until the last day and I shall save that epic ranting and bitching for that section of the journal.
So we didn’t go up the stairs to the door, we didn’t poke around all the wishes or attempt to make our own. It is not our religion so why should we be asking for favours? Instead we kept it quiet, kept it respectful and then gushed about it when we followed that path in the last picture around to the back and out onto a street.
It was on said street that we found the best thing ever! Coffee. In a can. Out of a vending machine. Hot.
I thought it would be disgusting, but it was actually rather nice. Like drinking an Ice Break, only heated up. In fact, it is one of the things that I miss. I think I got just a little addicted to it while there and god, now that I am talking about it, I am craving it like crazy.
It was over our canned coffee that we decided to stop pointlessly walking and to head to Harajuku There was a subway station nearby so we went underground and wandered around lost for awhile, trying to work out what line we needed and what stop he had to get off at. No joke, we spent about ten minutes staring at this Japanese map above the ticketing machines trying to get our bearings. It was made especially hard for the fact that the map I had in my travel guide was set out differently to the map telling us prices and the like.
Anyway, we stood there and stared and then there was this guy next to me bowing and offering a piece of paper.
Can you fucking believe it; this guy didn’t speak a work of English, but he had been in his shop at the station watching us and had come over to give us a copy of the Japanese map translated into English.
This man was a lifesaver, honestly.
We thanked him fifty times over, bowing as he bowed and raced back to his job. We went back to looking at the map and fuck me, but somehow we were still confused.
Feeling stupid, we went over to see him and asked a few questions (this is how we knew that he didn’t speak English). He went red, which was cute, and his co-worker grinned like crazy, but he nodded and curled his hand over, telling us to proceed. He squinted and nodded some more and eyed the map and then started pointing things out for us.
The fact that language wasn’t an issue was just amazing and it says so much about the Japanese and their manners and ideals. He didn’t have to help us; he could have shaken his head, ‘No, I don’t speak English’ style and left us with that. But no, he tried and blushed a lot and somehow he actually worked out what we were saying and got his explanation and directions across to us in a way that made sense.
While I am on this subject, let me just say that I am still amazed at just how helpful everyone was. Before I started to write this journal, I googled some other Japan diaries and had a read of the stories of random strangers. Like me, there were a few who gushed about it, who ranted and raved about how wonderful it was and how nice the Japanese were. However, there were more that bitched. They said that they were treated poorly, that they were ignored when needing help and looked down upon. Even someone I work with who speaks Japanese said that she was treated poorly and while she does love the place, she wouldn’t recommend it to the common traveller who isn’t at least partly fluent in the language.
To those people, I pose this question: what did YOU do wrong?
Because honestly, I find it hard to believe that any Japanese person would treat someone like that. We didn’t even need to ask for help; it was just freely offered each and every time we were in need. People who didn’t speak English would offer to help us, even if it was just by pointing or leading the way.
But anyway, more on all of that later. For now I’ll leave it as this lovely man helped us out and gave us the most valuable gift ever and we found our way to Harajuku rather easily after that.
Walking out of the train station we were greeted with the very familiar front gate of Takeshita-dori.
Standing out the front of Lawsons (place on the far left of the first image, below the cut off TV screen) in the small designated smoking area, Omni and I promptly decided that we were not ready for this. We were inappropriately dressed in our jeans and T-shirts and we decided that when we passed through the Takeshita-dori gates, we didn’t want to be those boring, annoying tourist.
Considering that the only real band that we wanted to see on the Saturday was D’espairsRay and they weren’t playing until late, we made the decision to turn around, head back into the station and have the Harajuku experience the following day when we would be dressed up for V-Rock.
That is exactly what we did.
Next on the list was Shinjuku which seemed like the smart bet since it was both close to the hotel and where we were going to be meeting harlequinn_coy later that night. So back on the train we went.
Once there, we found this amazing little bakery in the walkways of the subway and got a bunch of goodies to munch on, one of which looked like this…
…before we went up and into Odakyu, a 16 floor department store above the train station. We didn’t buy anything in there as it was all a little… mature (like David Jones) but I got a real kick out of seeing Vivienne Westwood stuff for sale all over the place.
Bored with that we went across an overpass, took a few photos and then headed into a huge camera place next door and Omni commenced the camera search.
Damn, I have a good zoom on my camera.
Now, I have NO clue what these things were. At first it was secret underground zombie lairs ala Resident Evil and the Hive and then it got to the more practical subway vents or something. I’m not too sure, but I took pictures of them anyway.
More walking lead to more random purchases, including some heavy wallet chain things from this odd little stand set up in the midst of a construction site. Reaching the main part of Shinjuku, we found Starbucks, thus working out where we needed to be for the night and then we stumbled into the be all to end all of female fashion shopping centres.
This place was like a treasure chest and while it got confusing for a bit, we quickly worked it out.
Travel Tip: Shopping in Japan is weird. A typical shopping centre over there is nothing like what we have here. Maybe we Australian’s are weird, but when we go to a mall, it is one huge big building filled with smaller rooms that are all individual shops. They have glass display windows, doors and security alarms, walls and all that stuff.
In Japan, however, it is all set out like a department store. You have your walkway that is, lets say, white, and then the different shops are simply sections that are different coloured. At first view it looked like it was one huge big shop, seeling shoes over there, jewellery there and bags over there. But no, they are all separate, individual shops with no walls or boundaries separating each one.
It is fucking insane and a lot to get your head around at first.
Anyway, once we got that sussed, I got some awesome fucking earrings. I have four lobe holes in each ear with a fifth one between and above my first and second hole on my right ear. So I found all these silver earrings that were like, a pair of studs joined with silver chains and with all crystals and stuff dangling down. So I went crazy and have had these amazingly unique J-rockish earrings in ever since. I also got my clip in black curls that I used for the concert on the Sunday.
Omni picked up some earrings as well (just normal ones) and even managed to find some clothes.
Travel Tip: Again on the shopping. Remember, if you want to try on clothes you need to take your shoes off to enter the change rooms, so dress accordingly. Also, if you buy anything, don’t be alarmed when the shop assistant takes the bag, walks you to the door and bows over and over again while presenting you with your shopping. It is weird, but something that you quickly get used to.
We honestly shopped until we were about to drop. There was so many floors to this place; it just kept going and going and then, of course, when we came to the end, we had to travel all the way back down. With our wallets significantly lighter and our hands full of bags, we thought it would be best to head off.
We took a quick trip back to the hotel to dump the shopping, get changed and freshen up after the big day before jumping back on the subway and heading for Starbucks at Shinjuku station and our dinner date with harlequinn_coy.
We got there with no issues - other than the fact that, just like usual, we were running late - and pretty much got lost in the crowd. It was that first real sign of Tokyo’s immense population that we had actually seen and fuck, maybe I am crazy, but I loved it.
Anyway, we met up, introduced everyone (including ourselves cause believe it or not, Minka, Omni and Harlequinn Coy aren’t our real names. lol) and then Omni and I followed wide-eyed along as they lead us to their choice of restaurant for dinner. As soon as they told us the name, we were all for it. Anywhere with an Engrish name of ‘Neo Tokyo Fooding Bar Mysterious’ was a must see on our list.
Honestly, it was one of those places that if you didn’t know it was there, you would have just walked past. Nothing more then a hole in the wall with some crazy blue lighting and a few Halloween pumpkins just to be festive, the Mysterious Fooding bar was just that; utterly mysterious.
After walking in the door and almost falling down the SURPRISE dark steps and in my tall case, needing to duck quite a bit, we were greeted by the door host. Coy took care of it all, speaking Japanese like it was easy and Omni and I just stood in the background and thanked our lucky stars to have a translator, even if it was just for a little bit.
Coy then directed us to take our shoes off and pick a locker, saying that we could get in but we would have to vacate the table in a two hour period. There was also a 300YEN minimum spend, which is like, the price of a soft drink. All good and rather reasonable.
Travel Tip: Now, let me tell you, it is impossible and I mean, fucking impossible to pack correct shoes for Japan. I was in slip on wedges; pretty comfortable; the heel was probably a little too tall cause it made me tower over the short Asian even more. But they were ok. Problem was that later on, when it rained, the last thing you wanted was open, strappy shoes. Omni, on the other hand, had huge lace up knee high boots and joggers; one fashionable and the other sensible and great for the rain. But if you want to go anywhere like restaurants or shopping centres to try on clothes etc, you have to take your shoes off.
But anyway, we made it and then stood around waiting for Omni to get her HUGE chunky boots off and then we were lead through this dark passageway lit by blue lights in the floor.
Now as a restaurant supervisor, I was utterly freaked out about the idea of walking around barefooted through a servery place. It goes against all our health and safety laws and I am sure that my OHS training had first died and fallen in a grave in order to then roll over it in. But I managed and kept that paranoid little twitch quiet and hopefully hidden. Not good to convince them all that I am insane by freaking out about feet on the floor.
Our hostess finally guided us to our table and I just grinned. It was that typical sort of utterly mental Japanese style that you see in travel shows. Our table was this little triangle thing against the wall - of course you sat on big cushions on the floor - it was hardly lit and the entire thing was surrounded by a cage with a door that low that I almost took myself off at the shoulders.
It was awesome!
I got to be in charge of the Service Button which gave me a little thrill. Small things amuse small minds…
Poor harlequinn_coy got stuck as our translator again and had to read out the menu choices. The verdict to avoid seafood was unanimous so that made things easier and we all ended up just pooling in for a whole selection of dishes and just sampling a bit of each. There was this amazing spicy sausage casserole thing that I fell in love with and then their Cajun chicken was also fantastic. We all got some cocktails which were brilliant and I was surprised at the price of them. Even considering the conversion rate, they were still hella cheap and yet bloody yummy. Really well decorated as well - you only see that sort of stuff in a swish-pay-a-fortune cocktail lounges in the city here - and I loved the little shiny sugar balls (like those cake decorations) that they sprinkled over the tops.
Travel Tip: Cocktails in Japan are good, but keep in mind that their version of a cocktail isn’t always the same as ours. A cocktail to them is any spirit with a mixer. For instance, a vodka and tonic is a cocktail when over here it is, well, a vodka and tonic. So be careful when ordering.
So, the food was awesome, the service was great (our waitress was dressed up as some black fairy/demon thing with wings and a tutu) and the ambiance was perfect. They had Halloween decorations up and the soundtrack for the night was mainly from A Nightmare Before Christmas with a mix of songs from evil Disney characters.
Aptly tweeted as ‘Best night. Wandered around the rld & had dinner @ the mysterious fooding bar where they put u in cages and force u 2 listen 2 disney music’ I was utterly cursing that stupid 140 character rule thing and the fact that I had to use interwebz speak.
Once dinner was over, Coy and her friend took us for The Tour. The idea of standing under the Kabukicho gate, next to a 7Eleven and just up street from a MacDonalds and a wealth of sex clubs and bars was mind blowing. It was everything that I had dreamt about and yet completely different at the same time.
Anyway, we got a quick tour, stared at some pretty hosts and got shown what the word ‘Porn’ in kanji looks like. We were introduced to the Guiding Gorilla and told that from said statute, you could see all the good live houses in the area.
Now, since I am doing this journal in strict order, I won’t really go into the depths of Kabukicho until Day Five. Omni and I refrained from acting like tourists for the most part that night; we didn’t pull out the camera and simply looked and watched and quietly marvelled.
Once the loop was done, we did the only thing that a bunch of Aussie girls would do at 9 o’clock at night when in a foreign country? We headed to a British pub and proceed to get wasted.
Travel Tip: It is illegal to smoke on the streets in Japan. This fascinated me to no ends. It is even more illegal to smoke on the streets and be walking at the same time; spreading your smoke, you see. If you want a smoke, you are meant to go into a café or pub and take a seat at a smoking area. I assumed that this is where all this minimum spend policies came into it. Places got annoyed at all these people just walking in, taking up a seat and smoking without buying anything. Cunning little ploy there.
Of course though, when in Kabukicho, these rules rarely apply. As harlequinn_coy put it, no one is going to tell the yakuza and the hosts that they can’t smoke in their own streets and thus that kinda makes it alright for us to do that same thing. However, if you are in Japan and you are a smoker, just be careful and use your common sense.
So, needless to say, walking into The Hub Pub was a shock to the senses. I am a smoker and even I found it rather disgusting to come down the stairs, open the door and just be assaulted by cigarette smoke. We got a table for four, sat down and let the chain smoking and drinking begin.
Travel Tip: There is none of this pushing your way up to the bar stuff that you get here. In fact, it is completely the opposite. You line up in an orderly fashion around the edge of the bar, single file of course, and you order at the till before moving down a few steps and picking the drink up from a dispatch area.
It is like a fast food outlet or a production line. Very odd, but actually rather sensible.
I can’t even remember what we ordered, but harlequinn_coy and I decided that the more colourful the drink, the better it would be so we went for some layered, multicoloured thing that, once mixed together, looked fucking terrible. I’m pretty sure it tasted good though; then again, it might have been the cigarettes drowning it out.
Back at our table, we just all chatted. I can’t really remember about what; I think we shared some of those horrible drunken stories about falling over and passing out and then just other random things about Japan. We fangirled over the upcoming concert as well. I know at one stage we all got distracted by the TV which was showing some pro wrestling and for whatever reason we got onto the subject of jrockers in wrestler outfits and how horrible (and I mean horrible) those little shorts and that huge belt would look on Hazuki.
There was this rowdy group of foreign guys behind us who kept trying to chat us up. One of them was very original and kept making angel comments at me thanks to my wings and I honestly felt like giving him a round of applause for being just soooo damn creative. Note the sarcasm. However, they did come in handy when I lost my lighter in my huge handbag and while scrounging for it, blink and then there were three guys with lit lighters all around me. It was creepy but kinda cool. So I got to, you know, do it like in those old 1950’s detective movies; lean in close, light the cigarette, breath in and then out and smirk in thanks. It was fun!
Anyway, as they say, all good things have to come to an end and harlequinn_coy and her friend (whose name I have forgotten… *hangs head in shame*) had to go. They were further out of the city and had a fair bit of travel time to deal with. So we bid them goodbye, said we would no doubt see them at the concert and then they headed off.
We stayed and kept drinking, avoided the guys behind us who were most disappointed to see us leaving, and just stayed around the bar area. We ended up chatting to some odd Swedish guy (or Finnish… I can’t remember) who was entertaining enough and liked to bitch about the idea of paying to talk to Hostess girls.
Eventually we wandered off and went for another walk around Kabukicho on our own. It was getting later now, so there were a few more questionable things, but it still had that squeaky sort of feel to it. We had no issues there and considering that we were just wandering aimlessly and turning into street after street, neither of us was even a little bit nervous or paranoid or afraid. Despite its reputation, it was an oddly safe feeling place. The worst that happened were the black guys. There was a lot of Africans there working as trouts for the clubs and they seemed to like to target foreign girls. We had one follow us all the way down the street trying to get us to go with him and god, don’t shake their hands else they won’t let go. My poor hand.
Interesting Fact: When writing this, I again did some more research into the area. You see, my main knowledge of Kabukicho is from a few years ago, when it was first starting out and all that, not this newer history. From what I have read, there is actually a really large Nigerian gang cartel in the area, which would explain the amount of trouts and they took over after the police cleaned out a lot of the Triad on a huge expired Visa raid.
Other than that, we passed through without incident. We tried talking to a few of the hosts, one of which really reminded me of Yomi. He was a little cutie, but fucked if we could understand anything that he was saying. It had him in fits and had us in fits as we talked about him in front of him and we all just seemed lost. Of course asking them how they got their hair to stay flicked out like that got us nowhere and next time, damnit, I am going to learn that phrase in Japanese and get to the bottom of the Asian styling mystery.
Anyway, after a few more cigarettes, we too decided to call it a night. It had been a huge day and we wanted to be up early to get to Harajuku before the concert. So with one last look at the gate, we crossed the street to the more respectable side of town and headed back to the subway, thus concluding Day Two
Looking back on that night…
It is the oddest thing. For those who don’t know, harlequinn_coy and I have been chatting on here for, fuck, probably about a year now. Somewhere along those lines we worked out that we actually lived within about 20 minutes of each other and even used to work in bars not that far away from one another. Small fucking world.
But we never met. We never found the time to catch up and then suddenly she was moving to Japan for a few months and it went back to a few comments and replies here and there.
So when Omni and I decided to go to Japan, I will admit, that at first harlequinn_coy didn’t really come to mind. It wasn’t until the day that I posted up on here ranting about going that I remembered that she was over there and not just 20 minutes down the highway.
Needless to say, I am fucking glad that I did remember and that she saw the post.
The fact that we met in Japan, in the heart of Shinjuku and that she toured us around Kabukicho is just crazy. We sat there and had cocktails and smoked, talking about the upcoming concert, jrockers, drooled over Hazuki in a magazine and then went and stared at the hosts for a bit. It still feels unreal in a way; utterly phenomenal.
It kinda boggles the mind and while I know that you are busy with exams and all at the moment Heather, just wanted to say thank you for an awesome night and for a great introduction to that seedy, brightly lit side of Japan. It was a fucking blast!
/End Day 2
Please note: All photos continued within this report are mine and I do not want to see them popping up in other places. You may look but do not steal. They have been sized down in order to combat this. If you wish to use them, please contact me through email and we can work out some sort of arrangement.
Covered Today: The wonders of a good breakfast, the different between left and right, The Golden Gia, a glimpse of Harajuku, Shinkuju and the glowing lights of the Red Light District.
Minka’s Japan Files - Less annoying than that music site - Day Two
Before going to sleep the night before, we had both set our phone alarms. 7:30 Japan time, so that is our normal 8:30. Keep in mind that I normally work nights, so 8:30 to me is still hella early.
So anyway, Acid Black Cherry starts blasting through the hotel room as, for some ungodly reason, I have Spell Magic as my morning alarm. It sure as hell gets you up in a hurry and the fact that ‘OMG we’re in Japan’ finally started to set in meant that we were up and tearing around the hotel room and hanging out the window to watch the street below before we even realized that we actually were awake.
I can’t quite remember the proceedings of the morning, but that is hardly important. We got up, showered and painted the faces on, found clothes, picked shoes and got the camera ready and somehow found time to wander downstairs for breakfast as well.
Our bathroom… isn’t it tiny!?
Now, let me just say that Japanese breakfast is the most amazing thing in the world and our hotel… god, it was good. They had a full western buffet as well as a traditional Japanese one. We tried a little of the Japanese stuff but at least to me the idea of fish and soup in the morning is not an appealing one.
But god, I can’t describe how good this food was. I don’t know what they do to their bacon, but it is amazing. And poached eggs… sausages. Toast and these sweet bread rolls. The oddest French toast I have ever had and yet the best I’ve ever tasted. Coffee, juice, strange cereal, fresh fruit (which is a treat in Japan; for those that don’t know, fruit over there is really expensive and it is kinda a thing to give fruit as a gift because of that. Things like watermelon and rockmelon and stuff that we take for granted over here are considered a gift of great love and wealth. Strange but true fact). They even had salad stuff for breakfast and then, the most amazing breakfast thing in the world.
Broccoli.
Now, I am one of these people who try to eat healthy and yet always fail. The hours I keep don’t really allow for typical breakfast, lunch and dinner meals and I normally end up rolling them into two meals at odd parts of the day and I never eat as many vegies as I should. But god, broccoli for breakfast… it is amazing and goes so oddly good with bacon and eggs.
But ok, that is the end of my food love affair. In short, breakfast was to die for and most days, after eating there, we wouldn’t get hungry again until dinner.
So, with that out of the way and us dressed, we grabbed some not so sensible shoes and headed out for our first official day in Tokyo, Japan. I had my little Lonely Planet guide book in my handbag and so, without much thought at all, we walked out of the hotel, turned in the direction of the imperial gardens and started what is referred to as the ‘O’Great Epic Missioning of the Wrong Direction’.
Yes. We went the WRONG WAY. Only we didn’t know it at the time and really, it wasn’t that much of an issue. I still get slightly confused though. To me, when you walk out of our Hotel foyer, Shinjuku should be left and Ikebukuro should be right.
But no. Just so you are all aware, if you ever go to Tokyo and decide to stay in the wonderful JALCity hotel, Shinjuku is in fact RIGHT. Even later on in the trip when we walked towards Shinjuku (heading right, of course) it still felt like the wrong direction.
Anyway, long story short, we went left thinking we were going the right way and then got all distracted when I saw a side alleyway and went ‘Hey! Let’s go there!’ As always, Omni just gave me that ‘oh god, here we go’ look but thankfully followed along with little to no protest. I think she said something about me getting us lost in creepy back streets or something, but I just ignored her and pulled out the camera.
It was beautiful. I can still remember it so clearly.
I always find that it takes me awhile to get motivated to take photos, so I didn’t go as crazy in this area as I thought I would, but I still got some bloody good ones.
Anyway, turning off that side street into another which lead into another, I finally worked out where we were which, in turn, told us that we had been walking the wrong way.
We were in the Golden Gai.
I was wrapped when I finally worked it out. It was one of the places that I really wanted to go, especially at night. Just to see it all, you know.
Ok, so for those of you who don’t know, the Golden Gai started out as somewhat of a black market area directly after World War II. From what I read, it also used to be a barracks some 60 odd years ago and that was present in the architecture within the five or so streets that made up the area.
It is a place where the narrow road meets your doorway, where washing is strung between buildings at the back of alleys and above you, in the shadows of the skyscrapers, powerlines crisscross over the street in a way that is based solely on need. Jacked power; each cord leading into another and another which, in turn, leads into the original one to slice - no doubt illegally - into the main commercial line.
It is the most amazing sight to see. Mix that with lanterns and posters, door hangings and old cobblestone pathways; a man on the roof fixing shingles and a lady in large wooden shoes moving plants around the front of their bars and homes and it feels like you aren’t in the middle of the one of busiest cities in the world.
I’ll leave you with this little except from one of the books I have on Tokyo and areas like the Gai.
Tenaciously hanging on in the shadows of the skyscrapers surrounding it, the narrow alleys of the Golden Gai are a stubborn anomaly in a city obsessed with making the old new. Filled with tiny, eccentric drinking establishments, some so small that they can only fit a few patrons at a time, these alleys come to life as dusk settles and the lights of the city begin to glow. Wandering into this little maze at this witching hour feels like walking into a time warp.
That describes the place so much better. Now, keep in mind that said tiny little bars don’t normally serve foreigners or even non-regulars, it was the exact sort of place that I wanted to see for myself. Maybe it was curiosity, or some guise of ‘research’ or god only knows what, but I was lost there. For those writers reading this; you know how you can just see something, or hear or even smell something and be inspired? This entire place was like that. I just wanted to perch on a crumbling wall, pull out some paper and make it come even more to life in my head.
((As a small side note, I am listening to the song Inlandempire by Kain while writing this section of the journal and god, it is the perfect soundtrack. Giving me the chills))
Sadly, we didn’t get the chance to go back there during the evening. That has been added to the top of my list for when I make my way back to Tokyo. While I am sad, I think it is probably for the best; I would like to have a better understanding of Japanese before I go stumbling into an area like that and oddly enough, not for my sake, but for the owners. Like everywhere in Japan, it must be so hard having foreigners tramping around their sacred sites and historically important places, especially when you can’t communicate with them.
So yes, that is my plan and let us move on before I get too bitchy against tourists (not to mention homesick).
After that little experience, we headed out, found a main road and got fascinated by this random building. Behold the pictures. Not much to say really, but it just looked weird and, for those interested, it is a block of apartments and yes, they are currently looking for tenants.
When in Asia, the best thing you can do is pose like Asians…
Right across the road from this unusual piece of architecture was this group of apartments.
While you can’t overly tell, the barrier that you can see next to the road is actually an overpass, so all those buildings extend further below what you can see in the image. The entire thing had this feeling of just being hastily tacked together, each level dumped on top of the other as the need for space grew. Honestly, it was amazing that the place was still standing.
On the other side of said overpass, there was a flight of stairs that we decided to take. Yes, by this stage we were just aimlessly wandering, still slightly thinking that the Imperial Palace was ‘that way’ even though we had somehow managed to stumble upon the Golden Gia.
Bikes and scooters just cause I could.
After that happy snap, we kept walking. And walking some more. We saw odd buildings, strange places guarded by men with what looked like light sabres and flocks of businessmen disappearing behind closed doors and gates. Walking down the streets was weird cause everyone acknowledged us. Some would just nod, others would mutter good morning and others would smile warmly as we glanced around all wide-eyed at the sights.
Eventually we came across a large street map that we could actually make sense of and finally our mistake at the hotel clicked. We worked out how it was that we went the wrong way and ended up in the Golden Gia and then realised that we were miles away from where we wanted to go. What the map did tell us, though, was that there was a shine not that much further up in the way we were going. With no pressing need to be anywhere, we kept wandering and came across this hidden little spot, right in the middle of the city.
The first view… and the stairs to get up there
The view from the top… you can see the train tracks in the distance, the road and buildings and yet right behind the camera there was an oasis of green and quiet tranquillity.
I think that this was the time that everything just clicked.
We were in Japan.
Something about that shine was life altering. I have never been a religious person and never will be, but the sense of serenity that that place offered, even as you could hear the whirr of traffic in the distance, was enough to make me want to believe.
Now, there is one thing that I really hate and that is tourists; they are always so loud, so rude and so arrogant and so Omni and I, before we had even left Australia, had decided to set a proper example. We stayed out of the way, we tried to take as little photos as possible and when we did get snap happy, we made sure to not include people in there. I remember that there was a couple sitting off to the right of the image of that strange rock, and I think one was upset about something from the way the other was cradling their head and rubbing their arms and back. It is not our place to intrude and the last thing they want to see is a pair of idiot foreigners insulting their shrine while catching them on camera.
I’m not saying that we were perfect; I am sure we probably did something wrong that we weren’t even aware of, but we did our best and that is more then I can say about most people. Thankfully we didn’t run into other tourists until the last day and I shall save that epic ranting and bitching for that section of the journal.
So we didn’t go up the stairs to the door, we didn’t poke around all the wishes or attempt to make our own. It is not our religion so why should we be asking for favours? Instead we kept it quiet, kept it respectful and then gushed about it when we followed that path in the last picture around to the back and out onto a street.
It was on said street that we found the best thing ever! Coffee. In a can. Out of a vending machine. Hot.
I thought it would be disgusting, but it was actually rather nice. Like drinking an Ice Break, only heated up. In fact, it is one of the things that I miss. I think I got just a little addicted to it while there and god, now that I am talking about it, I am craving it like crazy.
It was over our canned coffee that we decided to stop pointlessly walking and to head to Harajuku There was a subway station nearby so we went underground and wandered around lost for awhile, trying to work out what line we needed and what stop he had to get off at. No joke, we spent about ten minutes staring at this Japanese map above the ticketing machines trying to get our bearings. It was made especially hard for the fact that the map I had in my travel guide was set out differently to the map telling us prices and the like.
Anyway, we stood there and stared and then there was this guy next to me bowing and offering a piece of paper.
Can you fucking believe it; this guy didn’t speak a work of English, but he had been in his shop at the station watching us and had come over to give us a copy of the Japanese map translated into English.
This man was a lifesaver, honestly.
We thanked him fifty times over, bowing as he bowed and raced back to his job. We went back to looking at the map and fuck me, but somehow we were still confused.
Feeling stupid, we went over to see him and asked a few questions (this is how we knew that he didn’t speak English). He went red, which was cute, and his co-worker grinned like crazy, but he nodded and curled his hand over, telling us to proceed. He squinted and nodded some more and eyed the map and then started pointing things out for us.
The fact that language wasn’t an issue was just amazing and it says so much about the Japanese and their manners and ideals. He didn’t have to help us; he could have shaken his head, ‘No, I don’t speak English’ style and left us with that. But no, he tried and blushed a lot and somehow he actually worked out what we were saying and got his explanation and directions across to us in a way that made sense.
While I am on this subject, let me just say that I am still amazed at just how helpful everyone was. Before I started to write this journal, I googled some other Japan diaries and had a read of the stories of random strangers. Like me, there were a few who gushed about it, who ranted and raved about how wonderful it was and how nice the Japanese were. However, there were more that bitched. They said that they were treated poorly, that they were ignored when needing help and looked down upon. Even someone I work with who speaks Japanese said that she was treated poorly and while she does love the place, she wouldn’t recommend it to the common traveller who isn’t at least partly fluent in the language.
To those people, I pose this question: what did YOU do wrong?
Because honestly, I find it hard to believe that any Japanese person would treat someone like that. We didn’t even need to ask for help; it was just freely offered each and every time we were in need. People who didn’t speak English would offer to help us, even if it was just by pointing or leading the way.
But anyway, more on all of that later. For now I’ll leave it as this lovely man helped us out and gave us the most valuable gift ever and we found our way to Harajuku rather easily after that.
Walking out of the train station we were greeted with the very familiar front gate of Takeshita-dori.
Standing out the front of Lawsons (place on the far left of the first image, below the cut off TV screen) in the small designated smoking area, Omni and I promptly decided that we were not ready for this. We were inappropriately dressed in our jeans and T-shirts and we decided that when we passed through the Takeshita-dori gates, we didn’t want to be those boring, annoying tourist.
Considering that the only real band that we wanted to see on the Saturday was D’espairsRay and they weren’t playing until late, we made the decision to turn around, head back into the station and have the Harajuku experience the following day when we would be dressed up for V-Rock.
That is exactly what we did.
Next on the list was Shinjuku which seemed like the smart bet since it was both close to the hotel and where we were going to be meeting harlequinn_coy later that night. So back on the train we went.
Once there, we found this amazing little bakery in the walkways of the subway and got a bunch of goodies to munch on, one of which looked like this…
…before we went up and into Odakyu, a 16 floor department store above the train station. We didn’t buy anything in there as it was all a little… mature (like David Jones) but I got a real kick out of seeing Vivienne Westwood stuff for sale all over the place.
Bored with that we went across an overpass, took a few photos and then headed into a huge camera place next door and Omni commenced the camera search.
Damn, I have a good zoom on my camera.
Now, I have NO clue what these things were. At first it was secret underground zombie lairs ala Resident Evil and the Hive and then it got to the more practical subway vents or something. I’m not too sure, but I took pictures of them anyway.
More walking lead to more random purchases, including some heavy wallet chain things from this odd little stand set up in the midst of a construction site. Reaching the main part of Shinjuku, we found Starbucks, thus working out where we needed to be for the night and then we stumbled into the be all to end all of female fashion shopping centres.
This place was like a treasure chest and while it got confusing for a bit, we quickly worked it out.
Travel Tip: Shopping in Japan is weird. A typical shopping centre over there is nothing like what we have here. Maybe we Australian’s are weird, but when we go to a mall, it is one huge big building filled with smaller rooms that are all individual shops. They have glass display windows, doors and security alarms, walls and all that stuff.
In Japan, however, it is all set out like a department store. You have your walkway that is, lets say, white, and then the different shops are simply sections that are different coloured. At first view it looked like it was one huge big shop, seeling shoes over there, jewellery there and bags over there. But no, they are all separate, individual shops with no walls or boundaries separating each one.
It is fucking insane and a lot to get your head around at first.
Anyway, once we got that sussed, I got some awesome fucking earrings. I have four lobe holes in each ear with a fifth one between and above my first and second hole on my right ear. So I found all these silver earrings that were like, a pair of studs joined with silver chains and with all crystals and stuff dangling down. So I went crazy and have had these amazingly unique J-rockish earrings in ever since. I also got my clip in black curls that I used for the concert on the Sunday.
Omni picked up some earrings as well (just normal ones) and even managed to find some clothes.
Travel Tip: Again on the shopping. Remember, if you want to try on clothes you need to take your shoes off to enter the change rooms, so dress accordingly. Also, if you buy anything, don’t be alarmed when the shop assistant takes the bag, walks you to the door and bows over and over again while presenting you with your shopping. It is weird, but something that you quickly get used to.
We honestly shopped until we were about to drop. There was so many floors to this place; it just kept going and going and then, of course, when we came to the end, we had to travel all the way back down. With our wallets significantly lighter and our hands full of bags, we thought it would be best to head off.
We took a quick trip back to the hotel to dump the shopping, get changed and freshen up after the big day before jumping back on the subway and heading for Starbucks at Shinjuku station and our dinner date with harlequinn_coy.
We got there with no issues - other than the fact that, just like usual, we were running late - and pretty much got lost in the crowd. It was that first real sign of Tokyo’s immense population that we had actually seen and fuck, maybe I am crazy, but I loved it.
Anyway, we met up, introduced everyone (including ourselves cause believe it or not, Minka, Omni and Harlequinn Coy aren’t our real names. lol) and then Omni and I followed wide-eyed along as they lead us to their choice of restaurant for dinner. As soon as they told us the name, we were all for it. Anywhere with an Engrish name of ‘Neo Tokyo Fooding Bar Mysterious’ was a must see on our list.
Honestly, it was one of those places that if you didn’t know it was there, you would have just walked past. Nothing more then a hole in the wall with some crazy blue lighting and a few Halloween pumpkins just to be festive, the Mysterious Fooding bar was just that; utterly mysterious.
After walking in the door and almost falling down the SURPRISE dark steps and in my tall case, needing to duck quite a bit, we were greeted by the door host. Coy took care of it all, speaking Japanese like it was easy and Omni and I just stood in the background and thanked our lucky stars to have a translator, even if it was just for a little bit.
Coy then directed us to take our shoes off and pick a locker, saying that we could get in but we would have to vacate the table in a two hour period. There was also a 300YEN minimum spend, which is like, the price of a soft drink. All good and rather reasonable.
Travel Tip: Now, let me tell you, it is impossible and I mean, fucking impossible to pack correct shoes for Japan. I was in slip on wedges; pretty comfortable; the heel was probably a little too tall cause it made me tower over the short Asian even more. But they were ok. Problem was that later on, when it rained, the last thing you wanted was open, strappy shoes. Omni, on the other hand, had huge lace up knee high boots and joggers; one fashionable and the other sensible and great for the rain. But if you want to go anywhere like restaurants or shopping centres to try on clothes etc, you have to take your shoes off.
But anyway, we made it and then stood around waiting for Omni to get her HUGE chunky boots off and then we were lead through this dark passageway lit by blue lights in the floor.
Now as a restaurant supervisor, I was utterly freaked out about the idea of walking around barefooted through a servery place. It goes against all our health and safety laws and I am sure that my OHS training had first died and fallen in a grave in order to then roll over it in. But I managed and kept that paranoid little twitch quiet and hopefully hidden. Not good to convince them all that I am insane by freaking out about feet on the floor.
Our hostess finally guided us to our table and I just grinned. It was that typical sort of utterly mental Japanese style that you see in travel shows. Our table was this little triangle thing against the wall - of course you sat on big cushions on the floor - it was hardly lit and the entire thing was surrounded by a cage with a door that low that I almost took myself off at the shoulders.
It was awesome!
I got to be in charge of the Service Button which gave me a little thrill. Small things amuse small minds…
Poor harlequinn_coy got stuck as our translator again and had to read out the menu choices. The verdict to avoid seafood was unanimous so that made things easier and we all ended up just pooling in for a whole selection of dishes and just sampling a bit of each. There was this amazing spicy sausage casserole thing that I fell in love with and then their Cajun chicken was also fantastic. We all got some cocktails which were brilliant and I was surprised at the price of them. Even considering the conversion rate, they were still hella cheap and yet bloody yummy. Really well decorated as well - you only see that sort of stuff in a swish-pay-a-fortune cocktail lounges in the city here - and I loved the little shiny sugar balls (like those cake decorations) that they sprinkled over the tops.
Travel Tip: Cocktails in Japan are good, but keep in mind that their version of a cocktail isn’t always the same as ours. A cocktail to them is any spirit with a mixer. For instance, a vodka and tonic is a cocktail when over here it is, well, a vodka and tonic. So be careful when ordering.
So, the food was awesome, the service was great (our waitress was dressed up as some black fairy/demon thing with wings and a tutu) and the ambiance was perfect. They had Halloween decorations up and the soundtrack for the night was mainly from A Nightmare Before Christmas with a mix of songs from evil Disney characters.
Aptly tweeted as ‘Best night. Wandered around the rld & had dinner @ the mysterious fooding bar where they put u in cages and force u 2 listen 2 disney music’ I was utterly cursing that stupid 140 character rule thing and the fact that I had to use interwebz speak.
Once dinner was over, Coy and her friend took us for The Tour. The idea of standing under the Kabukicho gate, next to a 7Eleven and just up street from a MacDonalds and a wealth of sex clubs and bars was mind blowing. It was everything that I had dreamt about and yet completely different at the same time.
Anyway, we got a quick tour, stared at some pretty hosts and got shown what the word ‘Porn’ in kanji looks like. We were introduced to the Guiding Gorilla and told that from said statute, you could see all the good live houses in the area.
Now, since I am doing this journal in strict order, I won’t really go into the depths of Kabukicho until Day Five. Omni and I refrained from acting like tourists for the most part that night; we didn’t pull out the camera and simply looked and watched and quietly marvelled.
Once the loop was done, we did the only thing that a bunch of Aussie girls would do at 9 o’clock at night when in a foreign country? We headed to a British pub and proceed to get wasted.
Travel Tip: It is illegal to smoke on the streets in Japan. This fascinated me to no ends. It is even more illegal to smoke on the streets and be walking at the same time; spreading your smoke, you see. If you want a smoke, you are meant to go into a café or pub and take a seat at a smoking area. I assumed that this is where all this minimum spend policies came into it. Places got annoyed at all these people just walking in, taking up a seat and smoking without buying anything. Cunning little ploy there.
Of course though, when in Kabukicho, these rules rarely apply. As harlequinn_coy put it, no one is going to tell the yakuza and the hosts that they can’t smoke in their own streets and thus that kinda makes it alright for us to do that same thing. However, if you are in Japan and you are a smoker, just be careful and use your common sense.
So, needless to say, walking into The Hub Pub was a shock to the senses. I am a smoker and even I found it rather disgusting to come down the stairs, open the door and just be assaulted by cigarette smoke. We got a table for four, sat down and let the chain smoking and drinking begin.
Travel Tip: There is none of this pushing your way up to the bar stuff that you get here. In fact, it is completely the opposite. You line up in an orderly fashion around the edge of the bar, single file of course, and you order at the till before moving down a few steps and picking the drink up from a dispatch area.
It is like a fast food outlet or a production line. Very odd, but actually rather sensible.
I can’t even remember what we ordered, but harlequinn_coy and I decided that the more colourful the drink, the better it would be so we went for some layered, multicoloured thing that, once mixed together, looked fucking terrible. I’m pretty sure it tasted good though; then again, it might have been the cigarettes drowning it out.
Back at our table, we just all chatted. I can’t really remember about what; I think we shared some of those horrible drunken stories about falling over and passing out and then just other random things about Japan. We fangirled over the upcoming concert as well. I know at one stage we all got distracted by the TV which was showing some pro wrestling and for whatever reason we got onto the subject of jrockers in wrestler outfits and how horrible (and I mean horrible) those little shorts and that huge belt would look on Hazuki.
There was this rowdy group of foreign guys behind us who kept trying to chat us up. One of them was very original and kept making angel comments at me thanks to my wings and I honestly felt like giving him a round of applause for being just soooo damn creative. Note the sarcasm. However, they did come in handy when I lost my lighter in my huge handbag and while scrounging for it, blink and then there were three guys with lit lighters all around me. It was creepy but kinda cool. So I got to, you know, do it like in those old 1950’s detective movies; lean in close, light the cigarette, breath in and then out and smirk in thanks. It was fun!
Anyway, as they say, all good things have to come to an end and harlequinn_coy and her friend (whose name I have forgotten… *hangs head in shame*) had to go. They were further out of the city and had a fair bit of travel time to deal with. So we bid them goodbye, said we would no doubt see them at the concert and then they headed off.
We stayed and kept drinking, avoided the guys behind us who were most disappointed to see us leaving, and just stayed around the bar area. We ended up chatting to some odd Swedish guy (or Finnish… I can’t remember) who was entertaining enough and liked to bitch about the idea of paying to talk to Hostess girls.
Eventually we wandered off and went for another walk around Kabukicho on our own. It was getting later now, so there were a few more questionable things, but it still had that squeaky sort of feel to it. We had no issues there and considering that we were just wandering aimlessly and turning into street after street, neither of us was even a little bit nervous or paranoid or afraid. Despite its reputation, it was an oddly safe feeling place. The worst that happened were the black guys. There was a lot of Africans there working as trouts for the clubs and they seemed to like to target foreign girls. We had one follow us all the way down the street trying to get us to go with him and god, don’t shake their hands else they won’t let go. My poor hand.
Interesting Fact: When writing this, I again did some more research into the area. You see, my main knowledge of Kabukicho is from a few years ago, when it was first starting out and all that, not this newer history. From what I have read, there is actually a really large Nigerian gang cartel in the area, which would explain the amount of trouts and they took over after the police cleaned out a lot of the Triad on a huge expired Visa raid.
Other than that, we passed through without incident. We tried talking to a few of the hosts, one of which really reminded me of Yomi. He was a little cutie, but fucked if we could understand anything that he was saying. It had him in fits and had us in fits as we talked about him in front of him and we all just seemed lost. Of course asking them how they got their hair to stay flicked out like that got us nowhere and next time, damnit, I am going to learn that phrase in Japanese and get to the bottom of the Asian styling mystery.
Anyway, after a few more cigarettes, we too decided to call it a night. It had been a huge day and we wanted to be up early to get to Harajuku before the concert. So with one last look at the gate, we crossed the street to the more respectable side of town and headed back to the subway, thus concluding Day Two
Looking back on that night…
It is the oddest thing. For those who don’t know, harlequinn_coy and I have been chatting on here for, fuck, probably about a year now. Somewhere along those lines we worked out that we actually lived within about 20 minutes of each other and even used to work in bars not that far away from one another. Small fucking world.
But we never met. We never found the time to catch up and then suddenly she was moving to Japan for a few months and it went back to a few comments and replies here and there.
So when Omni and I decided to go to Japan, I will admit, that at first harlequinn_coy didn’t really come to mind. It wasn’t until the day that I posted up on here ranting about going that I remembered that she was over there and not just 20 minutes down the highway.
Needless to say, I am fucking glad that I did remember and that she saw the post.
The fact that we met in Japan, in the heart of Shinjuku and that she toured us around Kabukicho is just crazy. We sat there and had cocktails and smoked, talking about the upcoming concert, jrockers, drooled over Hazuki in a magazine and then went and stared at the hosts for a bit. It still feels unreal in a way; utterly phenomenal.
It kinda boggles the mind and while I know that you are busy with exams and all at the moment Heather, just wanted to say thank you for an awesome night and for a great introduction to that seedy, brightly lit side of Japan. It was a fucking blast!
/End Day 2
Please note: All photos continued within this report are mine and I do not want to see them popping up in other places. You may look but do not steal. They have been sized down in order to combat this. If you wish to use them, please contact me through email and we can work out some sort of arrangement.