Ya dije hace un tiempo que no soy muy amigo de Starbucks, no tanto por los productos de la empresa (no entiendo de café), si no por su política de destrozar una ciudad ya que desde mi punto de vista es lo que hacen. En Japón no es nada extraño salir de una estación de tren y encontrarse una "cafetería" de esta cadena y una "hamburguesería" de Mc Donald's. Me atrevería incluso a decir que es lo normal, salvo estaciones un poco más apartadas o menos concurridas...

Aún así no soy tan radical como para haberme marcado el objetivo de no entrar nunca y aunque prefiera otros locales y alguna vez haya dicho que no a la propuesta de ir a un Starbucks a tomar algo, otras he cedido para no amargar la tarde a terceras personas. Ahora incluso puedo decir que su te Chai es una mierda comparado con el que me llevó a beber Aurelio en Barcelona, pero mi paladar lo tolera.

Pese a todo eso, me gusta reconocer una iniciativa interesante y la que se han montado el Tsutaya y el Starbucks de Roppongi es mucho más que eso. Abierto algunos días incluso hasta las cuatro de la mañana, por una consumición, el cliente tendrá derecho a coger cualquier libro o revista y leérselo, ojearlo, mirarlo, disfrutarlo,.. Por lo que no es nada extraño encontrarse con el panorama de estas fotos un sábado pasadas las tres de la madrugada.

Creo que las ciudades se merecen más este tipo de cosas no sólo a las cinco de la tarde. La fusión o la adaptación de los negocios a otro terreno me parece que sólo pueden aportar cosas buenas, evidentemente los clientes también debemos responder, pero por lo menos en este caso la respuesta parece ser lo suficientemente buena.

I took a picture of a Panasonic display (with a cafe) in the Roppongi Hills shopping area which was set up to coincide with this announcement.

More news can be found in Japan Today:

• Matsushita becomes Panasonic
• Panasonic chief issues rallying cry to 300,000 workers around the world

Do you own any Panasonic or National products?

First evening was to be spent in Roppongi, the infamous neighbourhood known for decadence, money flowing in bars, restaurants and love hotels - not necessarily in that order. We were meeting with two of my brothers colleagues (Nonu and Andre) and had a taste of some fine Japanese cuisine that it is most known for - sushi. Antwerp has some pretty good sushi, but here the fish is almost blowing air bubbles into your face that's how fresh it is.

In the spirit of Belgium, I ordered beer, but a Japanese one. Very light and non_bitter, which is not something that would qualify as beer in a lot of Belgian's eyes. Union or Lasko (no matter which one you prefer, my dear Slovenians) are quite rich in flavour in comparison to this one. Think more along the lines of Bud... or dare I say, Bud light =)

To liven up the evening, it was time to suggest something spicier than beer. Sake wouldn't do, so we decided to have a taste of shochu. This is basically vodka - potato based spirit, but the one we had seemed to be less strong, despite the strongly convinced Nonu that it must be stronger since he got really drunk from it on other occasions. The funny part about it that they drink it like white martini - with water,  rocks and about the same amount as well (so no, it's not a shot). Shochu left more to be desired, so after a few more beers we were off to a bar.

Moving from one location to the other means that you're exposing yourself to persuasive argumentation (not really well based, might I add) techniques of....well.... kind of "bar pimps". The idea is for them to lure you into the bar, where there are skilled girls (and boys) waiting just for you. It does not take many drinks before quite some people lash out the money and have a little taste of Asia. When you walk the streets, as a man, you're a walking target - literally. The guys will walk with you for minutes if necessary, trying to convince you they've got the place for you where you can have a good time - guaranteed.

We managed to get rid of the guys and made it into a bar. The name escapes me, but the owner was Brazilian Japanese. The guys we were out with were Brazilian and Portuguese so I don't need to explain their choice of the bar. The owner was a former sumo wrestler and has lived in Japan for about 11 years now. He is one of many Brazilians with Japanese roots who have been moving back to Japan lately, due to better economic situation around here in comparison to Brazil. It is a reverse movement, since the Japanese first went to Brazil 100 years ago for about the same reasons. (read more about it here)

Let's just leave it at saying that it was multiple tequila time in the bar and also an occasion to listen to some interesting stories. Unfortunately there were not many people there so we decided to go to some other, more lively and populated place. Mission succeeded in about 5 minutes - we could all be seen dancing like crazy with a few more shoots flying around. Now the interesting thing was the scene. The Japanese girls absolutely LOVE westerners and have many tricks up their sleeves in how to get them. Though it is not that difficult in this kind of setting.

Being up for almost two straight days it was time for me to head home at about 4. Some other people only made ｔｏ head home at about 4. Some other people only made it home about half a day after I have, which should give you an idea about Roppongi.

Another thing that is different than back in Europe is the age difference. Ｔｈｅ　ｇｕｙｓ　ａｒｏｕｎｄ　ｈｅｒｅ　ｃａｎ　ｂｅ　ｍｕｃｈ　ｍｕｃｈ　ｏｌｄｅｒ　ｔｈａｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｇｉｒｌｓ　ａｎｄ　ｖｉｃｅ　ｖｅｒｓａ．　Ａｇｅ　ｄｏｅｓ　ｎｏｔ　ｐｌａｙ　ａ　ｒｏｌｅ　ｗｈｅｎ　ｉｔ　ｃｏｍｅｓ　ｔｏ　ａ　ｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈｉｐ．　Ｙｏｕ　ｃａｎ　ｎｏｔｉｃｅ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｏｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｔｒｅｅｔｓ　ａｎｄ　ｉｔ　ｃｒｏｓｓｅｓ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｍｉｎｄ　ａｓ　ｌｉｇｈｔｌｙ　ｏｄｄ　（ｅｓｐｅｃｉａｌｌｙ　ｗｈｅｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｇｕｙ　ｉｓ　ａｂｏｕｔ　６０　ａｎｄ　ｉｎ　ａ　ｂｕｓｉｎｅｓｓ　ｓｕｉｔ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｇｉｒｌ　ｉｓ　ｗｅａｒｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｈｏｒｔｅｓｔ　ｓｃｈｏｏｌ　ｕｎｉｆｏｒｍ　ｓｋｉｒｔ　ａｎｄ　ａ　ｗｈｉｔｅ　ｓｈｉｒｔ　-　ｌｏｌｉｔａ　ｓｔｙｌｅ　ｉｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｗａｙ　ｔｏ　ｇｏ）．　Ｉｔ　ｉｓ　ａ　ｂｉｔ　ｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｔ，　ｔｈｏｕｇｈ，　ｓｅｅｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅ　ｓａｍｅ　ｋｉｎｄ　ｏｆ　ｐｅｏｐｌｅ　ｍａｋｉｎｇ　ｏｕｔ　ｏｎ　ａ　ｄａｎｃｅｆｌｏｏｒ．　

either, its in customs or someone stole it from my bag.  I noticed my wallet was missing once boarded the plane in minneapolis to tokyo.

Here is my wallet after purchasing some handmade soap in downtown ottawa (in the brown bag).

Thats's right I had this wallet for over 7 years.  It was incredible quality and fine craftmanship.  It will truly be missed.
Not only that, it had all of my i.d. in it, but luckily I only had 2000 yen inside it at the time of it being missplaced.
I will write about this later, but I have to replace my alien registration card and my bank card here in Japan.  That will be a fun adventure!

The wallet was a gift to me from my gf back in 2001.  Thanks a lot!!!
I am thinking about just spending the 350$ to buy a new louis vuitton.  Doubt it though.

It was raining most of this weekend in Tokyo.

I went out Saturday night to shibuya and roppongi with a good friend Jarek. We also ate yakiniku and got into 3 clubs for free. Thats awesome.

Depan restoran Parsi... setelah kenyang.

Antara landmark di Roppongi Hills. Ni di depan Mori Tower.

Dah makan pegi sembahyang kat Mori Tower, pastu gerak ke Tokyo Tower. Muneer sekeluarga dah nak pindah ke Niigata, so ini je la masa nak jalan-jalan sekitar Tokyo. Naik chikatetsu, pastu menapak ke tokyo tower... fuh letihh...

Tapi, bila buleh ambil gambar ni, baru puas hati. Asik tengok dari jauh je sebelum ni...

Fakta.. bukan auta..

333m
Tinggi Tokyo Tower. Sejak dibuka pada 1958, Tokyo tower ni adalah menara besi bersokongan sendiri tertinggi di dunia (world's tallest self-supporting steel tower). Menara Eiffel di Paris 320m.

4,000t
Berat Tokyo Tower lebih kurang 4,000 tan. Lebih ringan dari Eiffel Tower (7,000 tan), hasil daripada kemajuan dalam penghasilan besi dan teknologi pembinaan.

140 tong
Cat yang digunakan ialah 28,000 liter, bersamaan dengan 140 tong. Diwarnakan dengan warna oren dan putih berdasarkan Undang-undang Penerbangan Awam (Civil Aeronautic Law).

24 gelombang siaran
24 gelombang siaran yang dipancarkan oleh menara ni. 14 gelombang analog, 10 digital.

176 Lampu
176 buah lampu dipasang di berbagai bahagian untuk menerangi menara ni. Lampu oren digunakan pada musim sejuk dan warna putih pada musim panas, memukau pelawat dan orang yang lalu lalang di sini.

macam-macam shot buleh amik dari atas menara ni..

Lepas Tokyo Tower kami balik semula ke Mori Tower... ada pameran ikan hiasan. Dari sini boleh Tokyo Tower, so tak lepaskan peluang amik gambar Tokyo Tower waktu malam. Oleh kerana kamera pun chotto.. maka, ini shot yang terbaik. tanpa flash, self timer, sandar kat dinding... baru tak goyang gambar... lain la macam muneer... dia pakai Nikon D60!

Tokyo Tower di waktu malam

Adzra tengah tengok ikan... macam budak besar... macam dah faham je.. hmm... rasanya dia memang faham kot...

Lepas tengok ikan... nak makan ikan la pulak. Ni makan kat restoran indonesia; Restoran Putri, Mori Tower.. gambar makanan ada kat photobucket muneer.

Rice is a basic staple food in Japan and in most Asian countries so it is an important part of the diet, eaten almost daily.  More importantly, you need it to make sushi (^_^).

A company from Kyoto (sorry, I don't know the name) explained and demonstrated to all the participants, in Japanese (no translation), on the process to reap the rice from the fields.  First step is to use a curved knife to cut the rice stalks from the field.

You then tie the stalks together, split it and hang to dry on a horizontal pole as shown below.

Once dry, you use a special machine to remove the rice grains from the stalk.

Finally, using a stick and a plastic bottle, you pound the rice grains to remove the husks.

Roppongi is a known for Roppongi Hills, it's active/vibrant night life and the huge presence of Western tutorists and expats. However, a majority of the people who live in Roppongi are Japanese but if you talk to people here, you'd never know that. Like Chicago, Tokyo is a city of neighborhoods and Roppongi is probably one of the better known neighborhoods in Tokyo.

I've spent a lot of time in Roppongi because it's so accessible to me and because I really miss McDonalds and things that remind me of home, such as Don Quixote. One of my favorite blogs, demonbaby, has some great articles on 'weird' Japan -- that's pretty self explanatory. There are lots of things here in Japan, material and otherwise, that are very unusual to Westerners, and so far, I've found some...interesting things at Don Quixote. Actually, interesting may be putting it lightly but I'll leave it up to you to decide.

Don Quixote is a six floor shopping complex of mayhem and madness located in Roppongi. The first floor sells women's clothing, very trendy women's clothing, the third floor is all electronics (where I got my keitai), the fifth floor is like toys and cute souvenirs, then the last floor is all used goods but super expensive used goods like Marc Jacobs clutches and Omega wrist watches and what not. Every so often though, you'll run into something hentai, (lit trans. perverted) like boobie candy or, well, you'll see...

Check my flickr for more of the adventure and other views of Tokyo!

I just came back from a 9 days trip to Japan where I spent time with my fiancée Aya visiting friends in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka, and I came across very interesting things. The first story I want to share with you is very musical and delicious, because it includes music and ice cream:

After having had lunch with our friends in Shinjuku, Aya and I felt the need to satisfy our sweet tooth and we took the subway to Roppongi Hills, a very trendy commercial complex in Tokyo. Still, nothing—or maybe simply everything—was appealing to us and we kept checking out different shops offering ice cream, crepes, and cakes. After wandering around for about thirty minutes high-pitched, Disney-like singing voices coming out of an ice cream parlor called Cold Stone Creamery caught our attention. A team of young Japanese clerks were singing happy songs while their customers were waiting in line to receive very good, but rather expensive, ice cream.

Aya and I were amazed and thought we ought to experience their creations. I stood in line for about five minutes and got to hear a bunch of songs. When I asked two of the smiling clerks why they were singing they both said, “Because we like singing.” And I guessed, 'also because it is part of the job description.'

One week later—it was also a Sunday—Aya and I went to a popular mall in Fukuoka and found a Cold Stone Creamery shop in the mall. It just opened and people were lining for more than forty minutes to get over-priced ice cream and enjoy a couple of songs. The parlor in Fukuoka is larger than the one close to Roppongi Hills but rather small to convey a good customer experience. The way it is set up makes it difficult for the potential audience to hear the songs and see the singers, because all tables are around the corner.

The Cold Stone Creamery parlor in Roppongi is much smaller than the one in Fukuoka, but is much more charming. The counter functions like a stage for the team to entertain its audience and tables are right in front of the counter. Also, the Roppongi shop is not located in the heart of Roppongi Hills, which helps avoiding being overwhelmed by masses of ice cream-hungry, songs-wanting customers to burnout the singing ice cream creators.

When analyzing both teams working I had the feeling that the Roppongi team was much happier and dynamic than the Fukuoka team. The whole ambience seems more charming in Tokyo. People having ice cream there, were people who were just passing by because they came out of the cinema, restaurant, or were simply socializing with friends. In Fukuoka, being located in the middle of a very crowded and popular mall, people might be less relaxed and not necessarily in the mood for Kiddy-songs, but still feel the need to have a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. And, if the singing team does not get the appreciation they deserve, the job might become considerably depressing.

I highly recommend visiting Cold Stone Creamery in Roppongi. Its team has a fantastic charisma and sings very well. It is simply a treat sitting there, enjoying their delicious creations and happy songs, and don’t mind the price. You don’t eat ice cream everyday anyway. Do you?

Roppongi
A popular Ex-Pat area, found by stumbling through many backstreets from our first tubestation experience. Fell into a great restaurant which had a touchscreen computer on each table to order food - and even with all menus in Japanese, we were able to order a number of edible items - mine of which, looked and tasted like pork and chewed like Goodyear tyres and eventually left my body like an Oyster on a HelterSkelter. Why exactly the joint had a sign on the entrance door saying 'Caution: Police stop here' I couldn't figure out. Why would a restaurant advertise to its customers that police arrive occasionally? Or maybe it was telling the police that they aren't allowed to go beyond that point? Anyways, we pay and leave without the assistance of the Japanese Mafia - which I consider to be a good thing. 

We had 2 unsuccessful attempts that night: first was to try and gatecrash a private members only Karaoke bar and the other was finding Space Lab Yellow nightclub. The best we could manage was Paddy Foleys Irish Pub - oh and it rained so we bought a £3 umbrella which appears to be so trendy with the local during 'its chucking down' time. 

Akihabara
Tech heaven we'd been told and it sure was. The narrow streets were fantastic to walk about, lots of market trader type of feeling to everything - including us being treated to some miserable teenagers banging drums in a street parade thing, whilst a very enthusiatic skantily dressed girl gyrated upfront for the shoppers. What that was all about I don't know - but it was a feature, so it was welcome. We didn't buy anything electrical, however we did find a rather cool 'Linux Café' which did the best food and wandered about 6 floors of intense gaming in the Sega building.

Shibuya
This place is the rich and trendy area with cool kids wearing whatever they liked and all the major worldwide brand names pimping themselves in the golden shop fronts. We were in the area looking to visit the contemporary Art Museum, but apparently, they don't do Monday's - bah. We settled in the Myspace Café - which had nothing to do with Myspace other than stealing the name (more on that later). Em bought some fancy trainers and the shop assistant bowed each time he handed her a shoe to try on - elsewhere it would have been weird - but here, it is normal practice, including the unison chorus of goodbyes from all staff members when leaving the building. 

I have more photos to 'flickr' - but haven't gotten round to it yet. 

There are many other things worth mentioning, but I'll save it for later. We're just getting ready to train it out of the city in to the country to see Em's mate Colin. Looking forward to that, as it'll be nice to get some contrast from the urban environment. 

ok, I'm done, laters - mark

The views from the observatory are breath taking. You can see the lights from Tokyo Disney in Yokohama and on a clear day, Fuji. It's the one place in Tokyo where you can really see (and feel looking down) the expanse of this massive and illuminating city.

Here are a few of the views done absolutely no justice by my iPhone:

La prima catena di alberghi che mi ricordavo di aver visto era la Hyatt.

Di questa catena ci sono ben 3 alberghi a Tokyo e sono uno più bello di un altro
Partiamo dal più "brutto" ma più economico.

Hyatt Regency Tokyo

L'albergo si trova a Shinjuku, quindi anche come quartiere non sarebbe per niente male: ci permetterebbe la sera di non allontanarsi troppo dall'albergo e nello stesso tempo di vedere uno dei quartieri più popolati di sera grazie anche alla quantità di locali notturni presenti in questo quartiere.
Tanto per far capire la zona di Tokyo vi metto una porzione di cartina di Google Maps associata al nuovo servizio StreetView, sempre di Google, che ci permette anche di avere delle immagini a 360° della strada che stiamo visitando.

Il costo per una doppia di circa 24-28 mq. con due letti singoli e colazione la mattina è di 272160.00 yen che, al cambio attuale, fanno circa 1.706 euro totali (853 euro a persona circa). Ovviamente per l'intero periodo che va dal 28 Febbraio (giorno di arrivo a Tokyo) al 08 Marzo (giorno di partenza).
Se si lascia perdere la colazione (e si provvede in altro modo) il costo scende a 238560.00 yen, cioè 1494 euro totali o 747 euro circa a persona. Sono 100 euro meno. Anche considerando 10 euro a colazione da Starbucks ogni mattina per otto mattine si arriva comunque a spendere 80 euro. E 10 euro a colazione è un'esagerazione! Direi che conviene prendere l'albergo senza la prima colazione. :)

Il secondo albergo che ho visto, sempre della catena Hyatt è il Grand Hyatt Tokyo.

L'albergo si trova a Roppongi, distretto del quartiere speciale di Minato. Zona che con molta probabilità non avremmo MAI visitato di proposito. La zona è famosa per i night club, per i cabaret, per i ristoranti ed i bar, per gli hostess club e così via, con buona parte di questi locali in mano allo Yakuza (la mafia giapponese).
Dormendo qua avremmo modo di visitare un ulteriore quartiere di Tokyo, così come non sarebbe difficile capire cosa fare durante la vita "notturna". L'importante è non dirlo alla moglie di Lorenzo... :D

Il costo ovviamente si fa un po' più alto: l'albergo è migliore e la stanza più piccola ed economica è comunque grande quasi il doppio della precedente (42 mq.). Si parla di 360000.00 yen: 2.256,00 euro totali. In pratica 1.128,00 euro a testa. O_O Quasi 400 euro in più del precedente (a testa).

L'ultimo della catena Hyatt mi vergogno quasi a presentarlo perchè è veramente esagerato. E' il top del top, a mio avviso. E' il famoso Park Hyatt Tokyo.

Anche quest'albergo si trova a Shinjuku ma in una zona un po' diversa dall'altra. E' veramente a due passi dallo Shinjuku Park, uno dei più grandi e più belli parchi probabilmente di tutta Tokyo.

La nota dolente qua è il prezzo... :|
Ci voglio 457600.00 yen, pari a 2.866,00 euro. Sono la bellezza di 1.433,00 euro a testa. Mica pizza e fichi. :(
Un altro albergo che mi ricordo e che sono andato a controllare (ma era meglio se non ci andavo!) è il Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel.

Qua le tariffe partono da un minimo di 342000.00 yen (2.142,00 euro in totale) per una doppia di circa 34 mq che si trova tra il 19° ed il 24° piano fino ad arrivare ad un massimo "umano" (perchè volendo si sale ancora con i prezzi) di 481000.00 yen (3.014,00 euro in totale) per una doppia sempre di circa 34 mq ma che si trova tra il 35° ed il 37° piano.

Questo albergo si trova a Shibuya, altro quartiere da visitare ASSOLUTAMENTE!!! Anche in questo caso, come nel caso di Shinjuku, si potrebbe unire l'utile (dormire) al dilettevole (vita notturna). :)

L'albergo ha un certo fascino... :)

Ultimo albergo, ma non di importanza, è il Conrad Hotel Tokyo.

L'albergo si trova nella zona dello Shiodome nel quartiere di Minato, a pochi passi dalla Tokyo Bay (la baia di Tokyo) ed a pochi passi dal quartiere di Ginza (altra probabile meta del nostro viaggio). Tra l'altro, se non ho capito male, il Conrad fa parte della catena Hilton.

Anche qua, una doppia di 48mq vista Tokyo Bay e strade di Giza, siamo sui 411400.00 yen pari a 2.578,00 euro (1.289,00 euro a testa).

Ancora dove andremo a dormire non si sa. Le idee chiare non ce l'abbiamo. Vedremo quando andremo in agenzia di viaggi cosa ci proporranno.

Thank you to the absolutely gorgeous Beth who took this vid with her camera. Beth and I have a major hooping date!

Swimming around in the internets I found this old footage taken of me chilling and spinning to the beats. I hooped for about 7 hours that day in Yoyogi, those guys were too good...kept my hoop going.

Deanne（from HOOPLOVERS）

Day 2, Tokyo, Nightfall.
Well after the travels we went through in the morning, we slept the afternoon away. Literally. We got home from our "trip" at around 1 pm local time, and I "napped" until about 7 pm that night. Yes, naps are awesome.

Fast forward 6 hours. I awake from my awesome nap (I could have slept longer, it was that awesome) and head for the shower to get ready for a night in Roppongi. And with our growing confidence we head for the nearest subway station and board the Oedo Line heading towards Roppongi, which is surprisingly only 5 stops away.

Once we got off there's only one thing on our minds: search for GasPanic, which is apparently club that is predominated by youth, has no cover charge and since it was Thursday night (GasPanic Happy Day) drinks were ¥400 - ¥500 all night. That comes to about $4 - $5 cdn a drink. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Well if you've read the previous posts you would have assumed that of course we would have gone through some ordeal before actually getting to where we wanted, and of course this night was no different.

To start things off, we head off in a direction the moves directly away from where all the clubs actually were. So by the time we realize that we pretty much left the club district we decide to head back, but not in the same way we took, we vote to go around the block in hopes of stumbling upon it from the other side. Well as you could imagine we were wrong. As we try to somehow "circle" the block we come to a dead end, and instead of heading backwards and getting back to the main street we opt for an alley-way. Yeah we pretty much were expecting to either get stabbed or murdered, or like fall in a man-hole or something. We speedily walked through the alley and got back to the main road. But we still had no clue where GasPanic was.

Fast forward 10 minutes. We arrive at the same exit we came from when got off from the metro. Now with a general idea of where not to go, we opt for the street with the most lights. Well not such a good idea when you roll with Anthony. Apparently rolling with him is like rolling with a magnet for hustlers and lost locals.

Rewind to the morning before. I don't know what it is but apparently Anthony looks enough like a local to be asked (or "hassled") for information. When we were heading for Shibuya and coming into Harujuku, Anthony was approached for directions while we were waiting at a cross-walk. Mind you I was standing right beside him wearing shades so I could have been approached but oddly enough he looks more of a local than I do. Not that I'm complaining, because I would much rather not be approached at all in the first place. And you'll see why in a minute.

Anyways back to Roppongi that night. When we finally head in the direction we want, but before we do so a Nigerian fellow (a hustler by all means) approaches Anthony. Now this dude was hassling him trying to get him into a gentlemen's club. This is why I don't mind so much not getting approached. But Anthony is more of a magnet, and when I say that I mean it. After getting rid of the first one, another dude approached him. Maybe it's the way I look, Anthony and I have different fashion styles or its my young look. I figured we switched roles where I looked more like a local and Anthony was the foreigner. Because they just kept approaching him. And even when I tried to act like buffer to Anthony they would go through me to get to him. Quite hilarious if you ask me.

To carry on, Anthony now was walking at a hurried pace trying to lose the Nigerians, and I was just trying to keep up. When he finally did stop it was in front of GasPanic. We head inside, and it was nothing we expected. It was pretty small, barely full and to be honest there was nothing great about it. Granted it was only 9 pm....

But anyways I was happy to see they had Corona on there alcohol list. We got those right off the bat.
Well Anthony went into social mode, while me on the other hand not so much. He was talking to everyone while I was just drinking. Yeah, soft on my part, but in my defense my morale had been crushed from the day before. And besides I'm weaksauce. Continuing on, at the pace we were both drinking we would have been broke by night's end. On my count it was about 3 beers in less than an hour. So Anthony said to slow the pace which we did. The catch for GasPanic is that you always need a drink in your hand, so suffice to say we milked our drinks soon afterward. The club got pretty packed for the size, but it was a sausage-fest. And we couldn't really do much with the Japanese girls seeing how they didn't speak a lick of English. The club was jammed by midnight. For what it was GasPanic was a pretty ok club.

Well we ended our stay at GasPanic at around 3 am, and head for a 24 hr McDonald's across the street. And stayed there until the Subway re-opened. This city never sleeps, heading for the subway I saw that the streets were still full of life. Pretty cool. An awesome way to end Day 2 and start Day 3.

*Note after doing research apparently those Nigerians, were in fact hustlers but of a more different kind you would be normally accustomed to. They apparently try to lure Gaijin into their clubs in hopes of intoxicating their marks by alcohol and drugs and ring up the bill as they see fit. It's sometimes a good thing to look like a local from Harujuku or Shibuya.

- Julian, never the target of flagrant3

Mi principal razón para volver fué que durante la última visita apenas pude ver nada ya que me perdí un poco... vi más embajadas que otra cosa. Lo que queria realmente era ver Asahi TV, entrar en el edificio Mori donde hay un museo de arte contemporáneo (al final no entré por falta de tiempo y compré como un cabrón en la tienda) y otras maravillas como restaurantes españoles (mirar foto "Tapeo España") o boutiques que a más de una de las que conozco se habrían quedado a vivir allí. Si queréis ver el futuro id a Roppongi.

 Acabo de recordar una anécdota. Mientras paseaba por las calles iluminadas por los neones, se puso a llover un poco (mucho) y me refugié en un inmenso centro comercial (el corte inglés sería como una cuarta parte de un cuarto de casita de monopoly). Allí decidi buscar algun mapa del sitio para no meterme en alguna tienda de lenceria femenina sin querer. De repente una chica japonesa muy maja y vestida con un extraño uniforme de azafata muy currado me miró sonriente y me digo algo que no entendí. Afortunadamente me señaló con las dos manos una tabla digital y táctil donde había un mapa! La chica me debió ver con cara de despistado... Ese mapa era la leche. La ostia. El mapa era en 3d y podias tocar todas las plantas y tiendas para saber lo que habia en ellas. Touch! Y veías en 3d lo que había en la 3a planta. Touch! Y veías que tienda era y como era por dentro! Touch! Vamos, como la Nintendo DS pero en gigante.

Después salí a la calle de nuevo y me mezcle entre el bullicio de la gente y las luces. Realmente es una experiéncia genial. Por cierto, para quien sea un/a gran fan de Doraemon (a mi personalmente me cae en gracia) que no se olvide pasar por la tienda oficial de Doraemon en Asahi TV. Si, los pastelitos favoritos de Doraemon se pueden comprar "dorayakis".

So, what have I been up to? Well, after my day in Harajuku, I moved in with my awesome super friendly emergency contacts! So I'm currently in an American-style house in Shibuya. It's a little surreal at times, but all in all good fun. And, best of all (okay, maybe not best) I can eat breakfast cereal here! It's really really thrilling.

Enough of that. So after Harajuku, I spent a day wandering around Shibuya, which was entertaining.

To say the least. There's this big building called 109, which is filled with all sorts of wonderfully dressed saleswomen (see above). Really, it was mind blowing. Why anyone would wear 90% of that stuff, I'll never know.

The other highlight of my day in Shibuya was Loft, which was like Ikea meets The Container Store meets Crate and Barrel. It would have made awesome dorm shopping if I didn't have to carry it all back with me. Shame, shame.

So the next day I went museum-ing in Ueno park. I saw the rather unexciting Tokyo National Museum, which took a long time because it was huge. And crowded. And generally not too fun. But afterwards I bought purple potato soft serve. At least that's the literal translation. It was yummy.

Then I walked from Ueno to Asakusa (bad idea), tried to find the street where they sell plastic food displays, failed, went back home. I did find the street, actually, and they sold a lot of interesting restaurant stuff, but no plastic food. I was too tired from walking all the way to bother with asking people.

The next day was museum-ing for real. I made it to 4. And at all four I managed to convince the ticket person to sell me a student ticket without ID. Go me.

The first one was the Edo-Tokyo museum, which was great fun. It had a plethora of little models and hands-on exhibits and the like. I had a grand time learning the history of Tokyo.

Then I went to...well, I don't really remember what it was called, but it was in an amazing building in Roppongi. In fact, because I didn't want to pay to see European still lifes, I went only to see the building and the museum shop, both of which were well worth it.

Next museum was also in a neat building. It was called 21_21 Design Sight, and the theme of the current exhibition was languages. It had all this crazy stuff. Well worth visiting.

Last but not least was the Mori Art Museum, which had an exhibition by Annette Messager. It was pretty awesome. The museum ticket also came with a ticket to the rooftop viewing level, which was nice, but it was rather overcast.

Then yesterday I went to Kamakura to get out of the city and see some temples. And the giant Buddha.

Who's that guy with me? That's Ayumu, better known as Friendly Japanese Man #I'velostcount. At least this one was closer to my age. He's a student at the University of Hawaii. Really, though. I'd like to be able to go places without being stopped by friendly men. Maybe today I'll get my wish.

So anyway, Kamakura was amazing. I liked it better than Nikko (gasp!). It was unpleasantly crowded, though, but that's what I get for going on a Sunday during a peak time of the year.

Tomorrow I'm back! Hurray! I want to eat Willy's!

It's a really expensive area with Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, etc. Have you ever seen a $25,000 watch?

Now you have. They also have pretty sweet cars like this Rolls Royce.

From Roppongi we took a train to Ueno where we found some great stuff, like this tote bag.

Next we headed for Akihabara, the place to go for electronics in Tokyo.

It's also the place where people dress up anime style...

and as maids, to promote the "Maid Cafe."

Later we went back to Asakusa to see Nakamise-dori Street (which was shutting down by the time we got there), and Hozo-mon and Kaminari-mon Gates.

It's really peaceful there at night, and you almost forget you're in such an enormous city.

Tokyo Gallery

Da noi, la risposta più educata sarebbe: quello che preferite voi. Un ospite non si mette certo ad avanzare richieste particolari. Ecco, una risposta di questo tipo in Giappone non funziona. Li manda in crisi. Si mettono ad almanaccare decine di possibilità cercando di capire dalle tue reazioni quale possa essere la migliore. Per semplificare le cose, oggi ho detto: mi piacerebbe andare in libreria. Eravamo in tre, io, il signore e la signora Furuya, a bordo della Maserati n. 2 (il parco macchine di famiglia comprende anche una Maserati n. 1, una Jaguar e una Lancia Prisma che sembra un po’ la figlia della serva, ma a quanto pare “è divertente da guidare”). Vada per la libreria, dunque. In precedenza, avevo espresso il desiderio di vedere Shibuya o Shinjuku, ma Furuya-san non sembrava tanto dell’idea (troppa gente, troppo casino).

Risultato? Mi hanno scarrozzato in giro per Tōkyō per tre ore ininterrotte. Abbiamo visitato in macchina i quartieri di Roppongi, Harajuku, Shinjuku (effettivamente pieni di gente e di casino), Kabuki-chō, Kasumi-ga-seki e Chiyoda (abbiamo fatto il giro completo del giardino imperiale, impiegandoci circa un quarto d’ora). La signora Furuya ha chiesto poi di fermarsi per comprare il pane (duemila quattrocento yen – circa quindici euro – per quattro briosce e quattro pagnotte), e alla fine mi hanno riaccompagnato a casa, dicendo qualcosa come: “Ci piacerebbe andare a cena a Shibuya, ma visto che domani mattina dobbiamo alzarci presto e che a casa abbiamo già qualcosa di pronto, se a Guido-kun non dispiace...” [al che mi sono affrettato a rispondere daijōbu desu, va benissimo così, tanto più che era avanzato dell’ottimo chirashi-zushi (insalata di riso e pesce crudo)...]

Della libreria, neanche l’ombra.

Ma è stata comunque una bellissima giornata. A tavola, a pranzo e a cena, abbiamo riso e scherzato raccontandoci le particolarità delle rispettive culture. (C’era anche la madre del signor Furuya, che vive qui in casa, una vera sagoma.) Ho insegnato alla signora Furuya a fare il caffè con la moka che le ho portato in regalo (“Esupureso ga daisuki yo”, ha detto, mi piace da matti il caffè espresso). Ho spiegato che a Trieste il caffè non si chiama caffè ma nero. Ho spiegato la differenza di significato della parola volentieri a Trieste e nel resto d’Italia. Devono aver pensato che Trieste è un posto molto strano (e in effetti lo è). Dal canto loro, hanno impiegato un quarto d’ora a sviscerare tutte le possibili sfumature dell’espressione kekkō desu, che significa sia “è buono”, “è proprio O.K.”, sia “sono a posto così”, “basta, grazie”. Discorsi deliziosamente oziosi.