Minka’s Japan Files - Less annoying than that music site - Day Five: The Determination
And now, for what I am sure you have all been waiting for. WARNING: picture heavy and will most likely make you all want to pack up and run away to Shinjuku.
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 art of taking photos in the rain, Hide and Seek 12012 style, casing the Red Light District, maid cafes and bargin hunting.
Minka’s Japan Files - Less annoying than that music site - Day Five
As became our routine, we got up early, hung out our window for a bit to watch the world go by, moaning in dismay at the fact that it was extraordinarily overcast. We watched some Japanese children’s shows while getting ready and then stumbled down for our amazing breakfast.
By the time we made it back up to our rooms, it was raining.
Anyway, staying indoors never once crossed our minds so before we knew it, we were out the door, umbrellas in hand and walking towards Shinjuku station. We were off on yet another trip to Harajuku so it was easier to walk a few stations up and just catch the JR train then to switch two or three subways. Honestly, we went there five times in six days, so that shows just how much we loved the place.
Anyway, somewhere along that walk I almost fucking exploded. The ‘handy travel umbrella’ that I had gotten on the Saturday was a joke. Every time we passed a street, the damn thing would flip and turn inside out, so I was getting wetter then I would if I didn’t use the damn thing. Needless to say that I tried to bin the bloody thing but Omni saved it. I still have it. Sitting there, taunting me. Evil fucker.
So I walked through the rain for most of the trip until we found a Lawsons and I got one of the typical 500 yen ones. Though mine was red and covered in stars, so it was awesome.
As expected, Takeisha Street was pretty quiet. The rain has a way of scaring people off, especially those in white knee high socks and chunky shoes. However, there were still a few floating around and all the shops were open. Of course all the hawkers were still out on the street, juggling signs advertising their establishments as well as umbrellas to keep themselves dry.
The first place on the list was this awesome shop that pretty much only stocked male clothing. Omni had seen a satchel that she had wanted in there the first time and despite the price tag, the pretty thing had been on her mind. So shopping spree followed. I also managed to find a super awesome, really long sparkly scarf so I was over the moon. I have this thing for long scarves (think… like the ones Wataru always wears where they wrap around his neck and still reach his knees; it is impossible to find anything like that over here).
Following that we went back to Closet Child and I got my Vivienne Westwood earrings. Very happy.
We contemplated having crepes again though decided that it would be too hard in the rain and so instead we merely wandered around. We were looking for Harajuku bridge though neither of us had any clue where it was which left us kinda just trudging around in the rain.
Then we got the idea of Hide and Seek 12012 style and what followed was us splashing our way around the streets in a truly comical fashion while trying to retrace Wataru’s footsteps.
Travellers Tip: Harajuku is so much more then just Takeshita Street so don’t be afraid to explore. While nothing compares to that main drag, there is still a world of other shops and interesting places to explore further down.
We ended up having a blast despite the rain and the cold. We saw strange museums and odd boutiques, tried to find Death Trap ID and got lost, then went shopping in LaForet instead. We sort of just wandered around everywhere before heading back up Takeshita Street and stopping in at all these Idol Shops along the way. That was fun and so weird. Some of the stuff that they sell. So many boybands, so many pictures of Ruki and Gazette just plastered everywhere. I wanted to go nuts and buy stuff, but Omni wouldn’t let me.
Anyway, we still had a lot to see and do so we finished up in Harajuku, jumped on the train and went to Shibuya for the first time.
Like always, there was a huge shopping complex above the station so we lost ourselves in that for awhile and picked up some cool jewellery and little knickknacks before heading out onto the streets.
It was raining a lot heavier by then; seriously bucketing down and I remember walking over the overpass near the station and not being able to see much at all. It was the lack of vision that had us just going any which way. We couldn’t exactly pull out a map and stay upright with the wind so we just set ourselves to random, headed over the streets and turned left.
What we found was so much more then just the TV screens and shopping of common Shibuya.
We probably walked for about twenty minutes, just snaking our way aimlessly through a series of hilly backstreets. At some stage the rain slowed down and then became a misty drizzle which was nice.
Finally I was dying for a smoke and seeing no better option, we huddled in an undercover garage and lit up.
I don’t know how or why, but that is one of the most vivid memories that I have of Japan. I don’t know if it was the rain, or the feeling of being naughty sitting in some office car park, smoking and watching the world go by even as workers drove in and out, but it has stayed with me all this time and no doubt will for months and hopefully years to come.
We took some time to thaw out there and pulled out the Lonely Planet guide. It didn’t help us much; there was so much we wanted to do and yet at the same time not. Maybe it was the rain and the feel of being in a foreign city so far from home that more shopping didn’t seem appealing. We wanted to be in it, to see the rain soaked streets and all that stuff.
So we decided to keep walking and finally I decided that we were in Japan and I should throw caution into the gale force winds and I whipped out my camera. It was hard and some of these photos quite obviously aren’t the best I have ever taken, but the effect of them is just surreal. I had to lean to take the photo while balancing the umbrella against my forehead, holding it there with the crook of my elbow while tilting my head up enough to keep the edge of said rain blocker out of the line of the camera while not getting my very expensive camera soaked.
All I can say is that it was worth the effort. Catching Shibuya in the rain was just… well, you known the MasterCard commercials. It felt like that. It was priceless. I only wish that I had dragged the damn thing out earlier and taken pictures of the winding, hilly backstreets that we walked through. Of the shanty little restaurants that stood mere inches from the side of the road, their doorways lowered with stairs that turned into little waterfalls with the rain. Or the way that lanterns glowed brightly in the midday light of a storm. I wish I had pictures of the banners and signs that marked such establishments blowing in the breeze or captured memories of men in casual pants and tops, cycling through the rain and hardly seeming to care.
All of that is still so vividly clear in my head so I guess that is a good thing. I just, you know, want to be greedy and have it all.
But anyway, coming out of the backstreets of Shibuya, not knowing where we were and not having anything to walk towards, we just wandered. We went into some shopping malls were Omni got stared at (she was in jeans and a huge, oversized and rather ugly jumper so she didn’t fit into the designer world of Shibuya) before taking a few more turns up roads.
The huge Pacman sign marked the entrance to one of Shibuya’s more illicit streets. In the second image you can see the sign for Hotel Zero, a very popular love hotel in Shibuya, and the last image; the pink lights mark the entrance to a Hostess information centre. Basically it is a place where you can go in and get details about the workers of the Water Trade in that area; what they like to drink, what blood type and star sign they are and so forth. I would have taken an actual picture of both establishments but there were people loitering in the hotel door and a very happy guy working in the booth that kept trying to talk to me. So it was a bit of a snap and run affair.
The Road leading from the Pacman sign down towards the famous Shibuya intersection in the first, and then back up the street in the second.
More sights; note the KinKi Kids billboard near HMV with the ‘Have a Dream’ sign in the foreground. That made me smile
Shibuya intersection in the rain, as shot from under a wind tossed umbrella
In a strange way, I am glad that it rained. I like to think that I take pretty good photos and that I can make even boring things seem interesting, but the way that the city came alive in the rain was just phenomenal. The glow of the lights reflected in the water that covered the pavement; the way the trees seemed greener and the road seemed blacker. It was all just amazing to see and I hope that these images portray that.
At one stage we were going to track down Tower Records, but we ended up giving up. The rain was getting worse and the cold was starting to get unbearable. Plus, we were starving. It was one of the few days that we were actually hungry.
So we said goodbye to the flashing TV sets of Shibuya intersection and headed back into the mammoth subway station. There I found this awesome bakery that did these pumpkin and sweet potato pies that were to die for.
Travel Tip: Nothing in Japan is the same as it is in your country. The idea of a pie, at least to us and the rest of the normal world, normally revolves around thin, unsweetened pastry that is filled with meat. Sometimes you get vegies in there, sometimes it can be something like chicken mornay. Most times it has a slightly puffy lid and other times they get rid of that and add mashed potato. That is a pie.
In Japan, all pies (at least that we saw) were sweet. They were like a Danish. So this ‘pie’ that I had was actually sweet, with puff pastry and a glaze.
Despite this odd occurrence, it was actually really damn nice.
Anyway, so we loaded ourselves up on bakery goods and jumped back into the train. We decided that a respite from the rain would be nice and considering that Omni said she had a sore throat already, we opted to head back to the hotel.
Getting out of the wet clothes was, honest to god, like a heaven sent. It felt so good to peel them off and just get into something dry for a bit. With some left over food and more hot coffee, we turned the TV on and hunkered down for a bit of R&R.
I can’t really remember what we did; I think I may have had a nap. Not too sure. And knowing Omni, she probably slept as well. Either way we passed the rainy afternoon away in the hotel before getting out of bed and battling the weather again.
We were off to Akihabara for some more shopping.
We knew our way around there after our hair curler incident so we jumped off the train, flicked out the umbrellas and headed for the main stretch.
What followed was hours of looking at cameras and bargaining in broken English before store hopping and doing it all over again. It was great fun and the fact that each store we went into was so accommodating and everyone tried to help us and speak as much English as possible was just amazing. We both ended up getting great deals on some little cameras. As said, I only have a huge professional camera which is great for travel and the like, but it is awkward and heavy. Plus, I had a SexPot Revenge camera case that I just had to fill.
So that was all awesome and we walked out of there with big smiles on our faces. Nothing like getting an amazing deal or something that would have cost us a small fortune back home.
After that we wandered around neon lit streets, taking in the sights and floating in and out of shops. I wanted a Japanese phone but ended up not getting one. There were just too many awesome phones there that I couldn’t make up my mind and while the staff in places were very helpful, it was still hard to work out if said awesome phones would work well with my Australian provider. That didn’t stop us looking, ohhing and ahhing and generally poking at all the awesome technology though.
Being in Akihabara is one of those things that just makes you know that you are in Japan. I mean, all of Japan is like that obviously and the intersection at Shibuya is one of those internationally recognized places, but there was something about Akihabara that just really screamed Japan. Maybe it was all the anime and manga stores, or the huge billboards with anime girls with cat ears, or the maid cafes that sent their unlucky employees out to stand on the street in the cold rain, Lolita skirts, bonnets and all. It was an amazing site to see.
Wandering around we ended up finding another crepe place and being kinda peckish, we quickly lined up to order. I got a cheesecake one and Omni got one with bananas and chocolate sauce.
Standing out front of the stall, we again just watched the world go by. Oddly enough we saw a lot of foreigners in Akihabara. Maybe they were all swayed by the idea of the life of the typical Japanese otaku and the strange cafes too. One group of said tourists came for crepes as well and raved about how great they were. Obviously they hadn’t tried Harajuku Angel Heart crepes before as the ones in Akihabara didn’t quite live up to theirs.
Again we ducked back to the hotel (I am sure that the staff thought we were insane) and I took our stuff upstairs, added an extra layer of clothing for warmth while Omni when to our wonderful am/pm to get more hot coffee. We met in our carpark for a smoke and a drink and Omni ranted about quick crush convenience store guy. Apparently he was hot, though I missed seeing him. Very sad.
Once done, we again headed to the subway station. This time, we were off to Shinjuku, namely Kabukicho. Rain, storm, hail or flood, we were going to make it.
Stepping out of the hotel and onto the street was intense. After being drenched the whole day and then getting dry and warm only to head back out into the icy winds was probably the one thing that I didn’t like about Japan. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the cold to the heat, but it was just such a shock to the system and just not quite something that we were prepared to deal with. I knew that I should have taken my huge Korean trench coat and not just my furry whore jacket ;)
Anyway, just like always, we got onto the subway and rode in determined silence to Shinjuku. It was like we were preparing for battle or something. Us vs the weather.
We were going to win.
Shinjuku station welcomed us like some long lost cousin and even to this day, I could easily give directions around the monster of a transit stop. Like always, we headed out onto the street, coming up just across from where we had met Harles and we turned out eyes and feet towards the holy grail of our Tokyo adventure.
Kabukicho.
Now, before I get you all there, I have one to thing to say. The only way to describe Shinjuku, especially at night, is by calling it another world. An alien place of light and colour, sights and sounds that assault the senses all while, of course, the ever present Tokyo wind snaps umbrellas in half. It is like something out of a science fiction novel, mixed with a cleaner version of that stereotypical American movie slums and then all blended in together with a dash of something that people like myself dream about.
In short, it was a twisted form of heaven and a reflection of how I have always envisioned my home.
I’ve talked about it before; how I live a comfortable life, have a good job and a nice home and yet fuck, I would throw it all away to live somewhere in the life of it all. A hole of an apartment with brown water spewing out of a rusted tap at the end of a well kicked pipe; give me that just to have the multicoloured night lights burn away until dawn around me. To live in a place like Shinjuku, I would give everything away and that is the god honest truth.
Other that that, I think the best way to tell the story of Shinjuku, and thus Kabukicho, is through images. So I shall just go for the post spamming and let them tell my story.
Shinjuku while approaching Kabukicho. The first two are side streets that came off the mall we walked through. The third image is just a crazy building that we saw. Don’t mind the water splodges, but see how the entire side of it is decked out like a jigsaw puzzle. I just liked the building with the castle on top ;)
Pretty much right in the middle of the image there is a blue and red signed near a Guinness logo. That is The Hub Pub and the place that we went drinking with Harles.
The gate of Kabukicho stands like a glowing beacon between the worlds of designer shopping and designer sex. In the last images you can see Omni under her umbrella; she decided to make a run for the lights and I, being sensible, got stranded on the middle island. However, it was a good opportunity to take some photos.
This is quite possibly one of my favourite photos of the entire trip. I shot it while standing in the middle of the road, aiming back towards our hotel. I don’t think I can really describe it any better then what the image shows.
And with that we walked under the gates and back into the district that seems to haunt my life, my dreams and thoughts.
You know you are in a Red Light District when there is a porn bus that drives around in circles. You know you are in an Asian Red Light District when said porn bus has huge TV’s mounted to the sides of it.
Umbrella Horrors. I think it is important to note that this is the second umbrella that Omni went through that night. There is just no beating Tokyo’s winds
The Ninja in New York fascinated me. You know, considering that it is SpiderMan and all… The second one is a shot back up the main street toward the gate and, as you can see, there is the ever present, universally recognised McDonalds.
The Oh Great Guiding Gorilla. Harles told us about this; from under the Gorilla’s ass you can see all three live houses that play VK and hard rock music. Also, if you get lost, find the Gorilla as it is easy to get back out of the maze of streets once you see him.
What you have all no doubt been waiting for. The Host Boards. Note how they all look like Yomi. ;)
Travel Tip for the fangirls: If you want to go host watching, Monday night is a bit of a drag. Weekends is the time to go and all the hot, sociable ones come out at that time. The night we took these photos it was obviously raining and a Monday, so while there were still quite a few of them around, all the good looking ones we had seen on our first visit weren’t there. Don’t know if it was their night off or if they were all hiding inside, but either way, it was a slight disappointment.
So yeah, if you are going to Kabukicho just to check out the hotties, there is a little pre planning needed.
Open both of these at the same time. This is a great example of just how bloody windy it was there. We have picture one that is all nice and normal and then picture two where I was almost swept off my feet. Appreciate my photography skillz damnit! ;)
Japan government says no to smoking and walking!
Yet they sell cigarettes by the truck full out of vending machines in the middle of the street
And finally we weaved our way out of Kabukicho. The last two images were taken from under the gate, shooting back the way we had come. Note the odd building in the background. Japan is crazy with their architecture; though the odd thing is that I don’t remember seeing said building during the day. I am good and observant like that.
We went back to the hotel and pretty much flopped straight into bed, utterly dead. it had been one hell of an exhausting day and it sure as hell didn’t take long to fall asleep that night.
That concluded our day of immense determination and no doubt added to how sick we both got once we returned home. However, it was fucking worth it and these images and the memories that I didn’t capture will stay with me forever.
/End Day Five
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.
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 art of taking photos in the rain, Hide and Seek 12012 style, casing the Red Light District, maid cafes and bargin hunting.
Minka’s Japan Files - Less annoying than that music site - Day Five
As became our routine, we got up early, hung out our window for a bit to watch the world go by, moaning in dismay at the fact that it was extraordinarily overcast. We watched some Japanese children’s shows while getting ready and then stumbled down for our amazing breakfast.
By the time we made it back up to our rooms, it was raining.
Anyway, staying indoors never once crossed our minds so before we knew it, we were out the door, umbrellas in hand and walking towards Shinjuku station. We were off on yet another trip to Harajuku so it was easier to walk a few stations up and just catch the JR train then to switch two or three subways. Honestly, we went there five times in six days, so that shows just how much we loved the place.
Anyway, somewhere along that walk I almost fucking exploded. The ‘handy travel umbrella’ that I had gotten on the Saturday was a joke. Every time we passed a street, the damn thing would flip and turn inside out, so I was getting wetter then I would if I didn’t use the damn thing. Needless to say that I tried to bin the bloody thing but Omni saved it. I still have it. Sitting there, taunting me. Evil fucker.
So I walked through the rain for most of the trip until we found a Lawsons and I got one of the typical 500 yen ones. Though mine was red and covered in stars, so it was awesome.
As expected, Takeisha Street was pretty quiet. The rain has a way of scaring people off, especially those in white knee high socks and chunky shoes. However, there were still a few floating around and all the shops were open. Of course all the hawkers were still out on the street, juggling signs advertising their establishments as well as umbrellas to keep themselves dry.
The first place on the list was this awesome shop that pretty much only stocked male clothing. Omni had seen a satchel that she had wanted in there the first time and despite the price tag, the pretty thing had been on her mind. So shopping spree followed. I also managed to find a super awesome, really long sparkly scarf so I was over the moon. I have this thing for long scarves (think… like the ones Wataru always wears where they wrap around his neck and still reach his knees; it is impossible to find anything like that over here).
Following that we went back to Closet Child and I got my Vivienne Westwood earrings. Very happy.
We contemplated having crepes again though decided that it would be too hard in the rain and so instead we merely wandered around. We were looking for Harajuku bridge though neither of us had any clue where it was which left us kinda just trudging around in the rain.
Then we got the idea of Hide and Seek 12012 style and what followed was us splashing our way around the streets in a truly comical fashion while trying to retrace Wataru’s footsteps.
Travellers Tip: Harajuku is so much more then just Takeshita Street so don’t be afraid to explore. While nothing compares to that main drag, there is still a world of other shops and interesting places to explore further down.
We ended up having a blast despite the rain and the cold. We saw strange museums and odd boutiques, tried to find Death Trap ID and got lost, then went shopping in LaForet instead. We sort of just wandered around everywhere before heading back up Takeshita Street and stopping in at all these Idol Shops along the way. That was fun and so weird. Some of the stuff that they sell. So many boybands, so many pictures of Ruki and Gazette just plastered everywhere. I wanted to go nuts and buy stuff, but Omni wouldn’t let me.
Anyway, we still had a lot to see and do so we finished up in Harajuku, jumped on the train and went to Shibuya for the first time.
Like always, there was a huge shopping complex above the station so we lost ourselves in that for awhile and picked up some cool jewellery and little knickknacks before heading out onto the streets.
It was raining a lot heavier by then; seriously bucketing down and I remember walking over the overpass near the station and not being able to see much at all. It was the lack of vision that had us just going any which way. We couldn’t exactly pull out a map and stay upright with the wind so we just set ourselves to random, headed over the streets and turned left.
What we found was so much more then just the TV screens and shopping of common Shibuya.
We probably walked for about twenty minutes, just snaking our way aimlessly through a series of hilly backstreets. At some stage the rain slowed down and then became a misty drizzle which was nice.
Finally I was dying for a smoke and seeing no better option, we huddled in an undercover garage and lit up.
I don’t know how or why, but that is one of the most vivid memories that I have of Japan. I don’t know if it was the rain, or the feeling of being naughty sitting in some office car park, smoking and watching the world go by even as workers drove in and out, but it has stayed with me all this time and no doubt will for months and hopefully years to come.
We took some time to thaw out there and pulled out the Lonely Planet guide. It didn’t help us much; there was so much we wanted to do and yet at the same time not. Maybe it was the rain and the feel of being in a foreign city so far from home that more shopping didn’t seem appealing. We wanted to be in it, to see the rain soaked streets and all that stuff.
So we decided to keep walking and finally I decided that we were in Japan and I should throw caution into the gale force winds and I whipped out my camera. It was hard and some of these photos quite obviously aren’t the best I have ever taken, but the effect of them is just surreal. I had to lean to take the photo while balancing the umbrella against my forehead, holding it there with the crook of my elbow while tilting my head up enough to keep the edge of said rain blocker out of the line of the camera while not getting my very expensive camera soaked.
All I can say is that it was worth the effort. Catching Shibuya in the rain was just… well, you known the MasterCard commercials. It felt like that. It was priceless. I only wish that I had dragged the damn thing out earlier and taken pictures of the winding, hilly backstreets that we walked through. Of the shanty little restaurants that stood mere inches from the side of the road, their doorways lowered with stairs that turned into little waterfalls with the rain. Or the way that lanterns glowed brightly in the midday light of a storm. I wish I had pictures of the banners and signs that marked such establishments blowing in the breeze or captured memories of men in casual pants and tops, cycling through the rain and hardly seeming to care.
All of that is still so vividly clear in my head so I guess that is a good thing. I just, you know, want to be greedy and have it all.
But anyway, coming out of the backstreets of Shibuya, not knowing where we were and not having anything to walk towards, we just wandered. We went into some shopping malls were Omni got stared at (she was in jeans and a huge, oversized and rather ugly jumper so she didn’t fit into the designer world of Shibuya) before taking a few more turns up roads.
The huge Pacman sign marked the entrance to one of Shibuya’s more illicit streets. In the second image you can see the sign for Hotel Zero, a very popular love hotel in Shibuya, and the last image; the pink lights mark the entrance to a Hostess information centre. Basically it is a place where you can go in and get details about the workers of the Water Trade in that area; what they like to drink, what blood type and star sign they are and so forth. I would have taken an actual picture of both establishments but there were people loitering in the hotel door and a very happy guy working in the booth that kept trying to talk to me. So it was a bit of a snap and run affair.
The Road leading from the Pacman sign down towards the famous Shibuya intersection in the first, and then back up the street in the second.
More sights; note the KinKi Kids billboard near HMV with the ‘Have a Dream’ sign in the foreground. That made me smile
Shibuya intersection in the rain, as shot from under a wind tossed umbrella
In a strange way, I am glad that it rained. I like to think that I take pretty good photos and that I can make even boring things seem interesting, but the way that the city came alive in the rain was just phenomenal. The glow of the lights reflected in the water that covered the pavement; the way the trees seemed greener and the road seemed blacker. It was all just amazing to see and I hope that these images portray that.
At one stage we were going to track down Tower Records, but we ended up giving up. The rain was getting worse and the cold was starting to get unbearable. Plus, we were starving. It was one of the few days that we were actually hungry.
So we said goodbye to the flashing TV sets of Shibuya intersection and headed back into the mammoth subway station. There I found this awesome bakery that did these pumpkin and sweet potato pies that were to die for.
Travel Tip: Nothing in Japan is the same as it is in your country. The idea of a pie, at least to us and the rest of the normal world, normally revolves around thin, unsweetened pastry that is filled with meat. Sometimes you get vegies in there, sometimes it can be something like chicken mornay. Most times it has a slightly puffy lid and other times they get rid of that and add mashed potato. That is a pie.
In Japan, all pies (at least that we saw) were sweet. They were like a Danish. So this ‘pie’ that I had was actually sweet, with puff pastry and a glaze.
Despite this odd occurrence, it was actually really damn nice.
Anyway, so we loaded ourselves up on bakery goods and jumped back into the train. We decided that a respite from the rain would be nice and considering that Omni said she had a sore throat already, we opted to head back to the hotel.
Getting out of the wet clothes was, honest to god, like a heaven sent. It felt so good to peel them off and just get into something dry for a bit. With some left over food and more hot coffee, we turned the TV on and hunkered down for a bit of R&R.
I can’t really remember what we did; I think I may have had a nap. Not too sure. And knowing Omni, she probably slept as well. Either way we passed the rainy afternoon away in the hotel before getting out of bed and battling the weather again.
We were off to Akihabara for some more shopping.
We knew our way around there after our hair curler incident so we jumped off the train, flicked out the umbrellas and headed for the main stretch.
What followed was hours of looking at cameras and bargaining in broken English before store hopping and doing it all over again. It was great fun and the fact that each store we went into was so accommodating and everyone tried to help us and speak as much English as possible was just amazing. We both ended up getting great deals on some little cameras. As said, I only have a huge professional camera which is great for travel and the like, but it is awkward and heavy. Plus, I had a SexPot Revenge camera case that I just had to fill.
So that was all awesome and we walked out of there with big smiles on our faces. Nothing like getting an amazing deal or something that would have cost us a small fortune back home.
After that we wandered around neon lit streets, taking in the sights and floating in and out of shops. I wanted a Japanese phone but ended up not getting one. There were just too many awesome phones there that I couldn’t make up my mind and while the staff in places were very helpful, it was still hard to work out if said awesome phones would work well with my Australian provider. That didn’t stop us looking, ohhing and ahhing and generally poking at all the awesome technology though.
Being in Akihabara is one of those things that just makes you know that you are in Japan. I mean, all of Japan is like that obviously and the intersection at Shibuya is one of those internationally recognized places, but there was something about Akihabara that just really screamed Japan. Maybe it was all the anime and manga stores, or the huge billboards with anime girls with cat ears, or the maid cafes that sent their unlucky employees out to stand on the street in the cold rain, Lolita skirts, bonnets and all. It was an amazing site to see.
Wandering around we ended up finding another crepe place and being kinda peckish, we quickly lined up to order. I got a cheesecake one and Omni got one with bananas and chocolate sauce.
Standing out front of the stall, we again just watched the world go by. Oddly enough we saw a lot of foreigners in Akihabara. Maybe they were all swayed by the idea of the life of the typical Japanese otaku and the strange cafes too. One group of said tourists came for crepes as well and raved about how great they were. Obviously they hadn’t tried Harajuku Angel Heart crepes before as the ones in Akihabara didn’t quite live up to theirs.
Again we ducked back to the hotel (I am sure that the staff thought we were insane) and I took our stuff upstairs, added an extra layer of clothing for warmth while Omni when to our wonderful am/pm to get more hot coffee. We met in our carpark for a smoke and a drink and Omni ranted about quick crush convenience store guy. Apparently he was hot, though I missed seeing him. Very sad.
Once done, we again headed to the subway station. This time, we were off to Shinjuku, namely Kabukicho. Rain, storm, hail or flood, we were going to make it.
Stepping out of the hotel and onto the street was intense. After being drenched the whole day and then getting dry and warm only to head back out into the icy winds was probably the one thing that I didn’t like about Japan. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the cold to the heat, but it was just such a shock to the system and just not quite something that we were prepared to deal with. I knew that I should have taken my huge Korean trench coat and not just my furry whore jacket ;)
Anyway, just like always, we got onto the subway and rode in determined silence to Shinjuku. It was like we were preparing for battle or something. Us vs the weather.
We were going to win.
Shinjuku station welcomed us like some long lost cousin and even to this day, I could easily give directions around the monster of a transit stop. Like always, we headed out onto the street, coming up just across from where we had met Harles and we turned out eyes and feet towards the holy grail of our Tokyo adventure.
Kabukicho.
Now, before I get you all there, I have one to thing to say. The only way to describe Shinjuku, especially at night, is by calling it another world. An alien place of light and colour, sights and sounds that assault the senses all while, of course, the ever present Tokyo wind snaps umbrellas in half. It is like something out of a science fiction novel, mixed with a cleaner version of that stereotypical American movie slums and then all blended in together with a dash of something that people like myself dream about.
In short, it was a twisted form of heaven and a reflection of how I have always envisioned my home.
I’ve talked about it before; how I live a comfortable life, have a good job and a nice home and yet fuck, I would throw it all away to live somewhere in the life of it all. A hole of an apartment with brown water spewing out of a rusted tap at the end of a well kicked pipe; give me that just to have the multicoloured night lights burn away until dawn around me. To live in a place like Shinjuku, I would give everything away and that is the god honest truth.
Other that that, I think the best way to tell the story of Shinjuku, and thus Kabukicho, is through images. So I shall just go for the post spamming and let them tell my story.
Shinjuku while approaching Kabukicho. The first two are side streets that came off the mall we walked through. The third image is just a crazy building that we saw. Don’t mind the water splodges, but see how the entire side of it is decked out like a jigsaw puzzle. I just liked the building with the castle on top ;)
Pretty much right in the middle of the image there is a blue and red signed near a Guinness logo. That is The Hub Pub and the place that we went drinking with Harles.
The gate of Kabukicho stands like a glowing beacon between the worlds of designer shopping and designer sex. In the last images you can see Omni under her umbrella; she decided to make a run for the lights and I, being sensible, got stranded on the middle island. However, it was a good opportunity to take some photos.
This is quite possibly one of my favourite photos of the entire trip. I shot it while standing in the middle of the road, aiming back towards our hotel. I don’t think I can really describe it any better then what the image shows.
And with that we walked under the gates and back into the district that seems to haunt my life, my dreams and thoughts.
You know you are in a Red Light District when there is a porn bus that drives around in circles. You know you are in an Asian Red Light District when said porn bus has huge TV’s mounted to the sides of it.
Umbrella Horrors. I think it is important to note that this is the second umbrella that Omni went through that night. There is just no beating Tokyo’s winds
The Ninja in New York fascinated me. You know, considering that it is SpiderMan and all… The second one is a shot back up the main street toward the gate and, as you can see, there is the ever present, universally recognised McDonalds.
The Oh Great Guiding Gorilla. Harles told us about this; from under the Gorilla’s ass you can see all three live houses that play VK and hard rock music. Also, if you get lost, find the Gorilla as it is easy to get back out of the maze of streets once you see him.
What you have all no doubt been waiting for. The Host Boards. Note how they all look like Yomi. ;)
Travel Tip for the fangirls: If you want to go host watching, Monday night is a bit of a drag. Weekends is the time to go and all the hot, sociable ones come out at that time. The night we took these photos it was obviously raining and a Monday, so while there were still quite a few of them around, all the good looking ones we had seen on our first visit weren’t there. Don’t know if it was their night off or if they were all hiding inside, but either way, it was a slight disappointment.
So yeah, if you are going to Kabukicho just to check out the hotties, there is a little pre planning needed.
Open both of these at the same time. This is a great example of just how bloody windy it was there. We have picture one that is all nice and normal and then picture two where I was almost swept off my feet. Appreciate my photography skillz damnit! ;)
Japan government says no to smoking and walking!
Yet they sell cigarettes by the truck full out of vending machines in the middle of the street
And finally we weaved our way out of Kabukicho. The last two images were taken from under the gate, shooting back the way we had come. Note the odd building in the background. Japan is crazy with their architecture; though the odd thing is that I don’t remember seeing said building during the day. I am good and observant like that.
We went back to the hotel and pretty much flopped straight into bed, utterly dead. it had been one hell of an exhausting day and it sure as hell didn’t take long to fall asleep that night.
That concluded our day of immense determination and no doubt added to how sick we both got once we returned home. However, it was fucking worth it and these images and the memories that I didn’t capture will stay with me forever.
/End Day Five
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.