Brian's Tokyo Travelogue

Birthday Fun

2009-07-28T21:15:00.012+09:00

For my birthday the girls met me for dinner at the place of my choosing. I was feeling a bit homesick, (at least food-wise) so we went to "The Hobgoblin" English style pub.

The waitress spoke perfect un-accented English and all of the patrons besides my friends were westerners/foreigners. The music they played was English and American. I didn't go to Japan to do things that feel like I'm back home, but it's nice to get a break from the culture shock.

I ordered a Mexican chicken wrap. It was delicious, and it struck me as a bit funny considering that it was a Japanese take on an English pub serving an Americanized version of Mexican food.

After Dinner we went to プリクラ or Purikura. It's a mash-up word that comes from 'print' and 'club' and it's basically an insane Japanese version of a photo-booth.

It's most popular with girls it seems. Actually I think guys aren't even allowed to go to purikura unless they are in the company of women. At least where we went that was the rule.
So you go into this big photo-booth with these super bright lights. you put your money in and then the screen shows you a bunch or sample poses that you are supposed to emulate.
Then after the photos are taken, you go to a separate area where you decorate the pictures with all manner of cutesy graphics and text. The weird thing is when you have your picture taken in one of these things, through some sort of automated facial recognition, the machine makes just your eyes look bigger. After it's all done you get a small printed sticker sheet of your pictures and also you can get them sent to your fancy J-Phone.

After that it was time for Karaoke. In Japan you don't do Karaoke in front of a crowd of strangers at a bar, you get your own private room. You pay by time spent in there and while you are there you can order all-you-can-drink drinks on the phone, and it's part of the package I believe. It sounds like a good deal but they take so long to bring your drink that I don't think you actually get your money's worth.

A huge library of both Japanese and English songs, but the music that goes along with the songs isn't the real music, it's a computery sounding midi track. Probably why they can have so many songs. I was so full from dinner that my drinks had no effect on me, and made me painfully aware of how bad my singing ability is. Plus the girls had never heard any of the songs I chose so there was no duets to mask my voice. It was still a fun experience anyway.

The little wireless song chooser thingy.

I didn't know what they were singing but they sounded nice.

Hachiko

2009-07-28T20:56:00.003+09:00

Here is a famous Tokyo landmark. The Hachiko statue. It's a heartwarming story of a dog that loves his owner so much that it would wait for him every day until he got off from work and would exit at this train station. *Spoiler Alert* The dude dies and the dog keeps waiting there anyway. Soon to be released as a major motion picture starring Richard Gere.

Anyway, they made a statue to commemorate the real dog, and now this is used by many Japanese as a meeting spot and a touristy photo-op. The problem with a famous meeting spot in a city of over 12 million people is that around rush hour so many people are using this statue as a meeting point that it actually becomes very difficult to find who you're looking for. I took this picture early in the day before it got really crowded.

Chocolate flavored beer

2009-07-28T01:09:00.005+09:00

Before my trip I had read about some strange types of beer and Chocolate beer was one of the varieties I wanted to try. After spending about $4.00 on this single bottle of beer, I think I have a better name for it than "Choco Biere". I would call it "Expensive Coffee Grounds and Dirty Dishwater Flavored Biere". So yeah, I'm not a fan. But at least now my curiosity has been satisfied.

Shibuya Crossing

2009-07-28T00:39:00.005+09:00

The famous Shibuya Crossing. Shown in almost every video about Tokyo, it's the biggest crosswalk I've ever seen. Also above that Starbucks, is the famous video screen that takes up the whole side of the building. Much more impressive in the dark, but I unfortunately forgot to come back here at night to shoot it.

People gathering to wait for the pedestrian crossing signal...

And the organized chaos begins.

McDonald's apple pies...

2009-07-25T08:38:00.002+09:00

McDonald's in Japan still have the deep-fried apple pies that we used to have in America. Now you can only get the crappy, dried out, baked ones. On second thought it's actually a good thing they don't have these in America anymore, because they are way too addictive.

Food Show

2009-07-24T23:07:00.005+09:00

I found an amazing food court at/under Shibuya station. the "Tokyu Food Show". It has almost any kind of food you could want and at pretty reasonable prices too. My only complaint is that there isn't an area to take your recently purchased food to so that you can eat it. I was on a quest to find something great for my morning meal.

Roasted Eel...

A delicious looking Indian food stand that I intend to check out further.

After looking at all this food I finally decided to go to this bakery. This has to be the best bakery I have ever been to. They get a '10' for presentation.

These Cheese rolls reminded me of the eggs from the "Aliens" movie.

I got a bacon+cheese pastry,

And a burnt sugar tart with an unknown but tasty type of fruit in it,

And a mini banana cake. Soooooo good!!

Breakfast of Champions

2009-07-24T02:23:00.005+09:00

Nothing like a spicy curry filled donut and some pocari sweat to start your day off right.

The woman at Mister Donut asked me something that I didn't understand when I bought my donut. Later, as I was eating it I realized that she wanted to heat the donut up for me, and I think that would've been a good idea. It was still good at room temperature though.

Pocari Sweat is one of those "when in Rome" things you just gotta try. Because it's got a slightly salty taste, it truly feels like you're drinking a can of someone's sweat. Refreshing!

Tokyo Disneyland...

2009-07-23T23:45:00.014+09:00

I went back to Tokyo Disneyland the next day, this time by myself. It was rainy all day but it turned out to be a good thing. The lines were short due to the weather. I didn't have to wait more than 25 minutes for any ride all day long.

At Tokyo Disney the "World Bazaar" it the equivalent to Main St. USA at the American parks. It has a glass rooftop enclosure to keep you dry on days like this one.

Splash Mountain in "Critter Country"

The ride had "technical difficulties" causing us to sit and wait while at the top of the big plunge at the end of the ride. It made the girl in front of me very anxious, but it offered me a chance to take a good picture.

Haunted Mansion in Fantasy Land. I tried to get Some pictures inside the ride but it was too dark and the ride moved too quickly to get a good shot. The Japanese dialogue throughout the ride seemed somehow scarier than the English version, even though I didn't understand much of it.

Pirates of the Caribbean in Advenureland. This was a fairly exact reproduction of the American version, including the the Johnny Depp and Davy Jones updates that were implemented in the US incarnations of the ride.

"It's a small world" in Fantasy Land.

Tomorrowland... I'm not sure but I think the Japanese version of Space Mountain is faster, although it hasn't received the somewhat cosmetic modernization that the American versions got.

Star Tours in Tomorrowland. Why can't I ever take a tour of the moons of Endor without the Empire fucking things up? This seems to happen every time. Maybe if I got a pilot with more experience...

At both tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea, they have some unusual flavors from the popcorn vendors.

There was:
Honey, Caramel, Sea Salt, Curry, Extra Black Pepper, Soy Sauce & Butter.

If you ask me Curry popcorn is the best.

The Disney Cheeseburger set. About $8.00 USD. I think it was a good deal considering it's captive audience food in Japan.

The "Meat Pie". A puff pastry filled with a mixture of ground meat and a "gravy" of sorts.
I first had this the day before at Disney Sea. When I heard it was called "Meat Pie" I had the girls ask the vendor what kind of meat it was. The vendor replied "every kind of meat." Somewhat ambiguous, but I tried it anyway. It was fantastic. To clarify, it really does taste like every kind of meat.

Tokyo Disney was awesome, and now I only have to go to the Hong Kong park and the Paris park to complete the lifelong goal of visiting all the Disney parks before I die.

Tokyo Disney Sea...

2009-07-22T22:35:00.006+09:00

Tokyo Disney Sea... It was a lot of fun, but there weren't as many attractions as I had hoped. This is what you see as you pass through the main ticket gate. The theme of Tokyo Disney Sea is basically a collection of the different sea ports of the world with similarly themed rides and attractions at each port.

Some of my favorite attractions were the "Journey to the center of the Earth" ride, and the "Indiana Jones" ride.

Some of the views from the queue...

We were passing time in line by looking through Kaoru's ipod...

Another favorite of mine is of course the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror". I feel like the Tokyo Disney cast members need to work on getting into character a bit more though. In the American parks when you are on a scary-themed ride such as the Tower of Terror or Haunted Mansion, the cast members behave in a creepy or morose kind of way. In Japan they are every bit as cheerful and polite as if you were going to ride the Winnie the pooh ride. This kind of takes away from the overall experience, but maybe I'm just being picky.

I got a lot of pictures from the "Mermaid Lagoon", not because it was my favorite, but I knew with the color scheme in there, the pictures would come out nice.

Tokyo Disney Monorail on the way back... It was a long but fun day.

Electronic Keyboard Concert

2009-07-21T22:08:00.003+09:00

Kaoru and I went to see an electronic keyboard performance by Shizuka and her mother today. It was part of a contest sponsored by the Yamaha corporation (they make electronic keyboards among other things) and it was great. There were many performances and they went on close to last. I know I might be a bit biased, but I really thought they were the best that night. Every performance had a Yamaha Electone keyboard used in it in some capacity. So all the performances had a videogame-music vibe to it, but the effort and many hours of practice were still very evident.

After the concert we went to "yakiniku" Japanese bbq where you cook your own meat right there at your table. Our waitress took this picture. (Clockwise from the left: Me, Shizuka, Shizuka's Mom, and Kaoru.)
It was my first time meeting Shizuka's mother, and she was so sweet and nice, and she knew a fair amount of English, so that helped too. I tried some unusual stuff that night... beef toungue, beef heart, and small intestine. A few beers really lowers your inhibitions when it comes to food.

Outside the restaurant...

Later on that night at Shizuka's house, they threw an early mini-surprise b-day party for me. The cake reads "O-tanjoubi omedetou Brian" or "Happy birthday Brian" and it was Oishii.

I slept at Shizuka's because we were going to "Tokyo Disney Sea" the next morning and it's near where she lives. I slept in a Japanese style bedroom on a futon, and it was sooo comfortable. This is the room I slept in.

Tokyo Tower

2009-07-21T20:16:00.003+09:00

Kaoru and I went to Tokyo Tower. It's the Japanese version of the Eiffel Tower. They use it as a television signal broadcast tower, and a tourist trap. I normally try to avoid the touristy-type things, but I figured I would get some nice shots of the city from the tallest structure in Tokyo, and I was right.

Some interesting facts about the Tokyo Tower...

Height: 333 meters. Eiffel tower is a mere 320 meters. (suck it, Paris!!)

Weight: a slim, trim 4,000 tons. Eiffel is 7,000 tons. (Paris, see above.)

Birthday: Tokyo tower opened in 1958. The same year that instant ramen noodle soup was introduced to the world. (I don't think Paris minds this fact so much.)

On a clear day you can see Mt. Fuji to the south. This wasn't a very clear day unfortunately.

I picked up a souvenir at the gift shop. Like it or not I am a tourist after all.

Akihabara Electric Town

2009-07-18T07:46:00.004+09:00

I went to Akihabara, the area of Tokyo known as electric town because there's sooo many different electronics stores/vendors. They have any and every type of video game, gadget, camera. Some parts of Akihabara are like a flea market with used, beat up, and sometimes even non working old electronics for sale in big bins on the ground, and then there's also the high end, high priced electronics boutiques. I only took a few pictures on my phone, because that's all I had on me, but I'll be going back with the good camera for better coverage.

This is my favorite store in Akihabara. It's called "Super Potato" and it's made for people who nerd out for retro home video games and consoles. (Me.)
The first two floors were jammed with every game and system imaginable, and some of the really rare systems had pricetags in the thousands. They had signs in Japanese and English saying that you weren't supposed to take pictures, so I took some of these from the doorway.

The top floor was a retro arcade that was mostly full of coctail style arcade machines, and a few sit dow standard style arcade machines. The machines were hacked/tweaked to make them easier to win. For instance I played Final fight to nearly the end stage on just one coin, because they made the punch button set to matrix-like turbo speed. There was also a throne made out of old Japanese nintendo cartridges, presumably for the king of nerd-land. I sat in it.

Questionable product names Pt. 2...

2009-07-17T15:34:00.004+09:00

This one might not qualify as a questionable product name, because I think there really is placenta in there, animal or human placenta, I'm not sure.

Mitama Matsuri summer festival

2009-07-16T06:16:00.012+09:00

Went with Kaoru & Shizuka to the Yasukuni Jinja shrine to attend the Mitama Matsuri Festival. According to Kaoru, the purpose of the festival is to "enshrine our Japanese ancestors". It was pretty fun although insanely jammed with people.

There were many, many food vendors along the main path.

The "catch a goldfish" game...

There was a pretty funny haunted house attraction. Lots of dudes in masks jumping out from behind corners and scaring the crap out of you. good stuff.

Traditional "Bon Dance" performance.

onlookers joined the dance around the stage.

There had to be over 100,000 lanterns there, and I'm not even exaggerating. It just kept on going and going....

Several large groups of people hoisted these mini "portable shrines" up on their shoulders and slowly carried it to the main shrine while continually chanting and bouncing up and down in unison.

Kaoru doing the purification ritual meant to show respect for the shrine.

Morning banana

2009-07-15T04:21:00.002+09:00

I saw a commercial for this product on tv so I took a walk to 7-11 (they have them here too.) to pick some up. I thought it was going to be banana flavored juice, but it's actually juice AND mushed up bananas. On a scale of 1 - 10 the taste gets a 6.5 and the texture gets an absolute zero due to the fact that it feels like eating a pouch full of lumpy snot & blood clots. Mmmmm...

No love for the smokers.

2009-07-14T15:53:00.004+09:00

All over the sidewalks you see signs like these...

And if you want to smoke outside it seems that you must cram yourself into this smoker/business man corral.

Completly different topic, but I have noticed after walking around today that Japanese women seem to have no hangups about riding bicycles while wearing short skirts.

Questionable product names Pt. 1...

2009-07-14T15:18:00.005+09:00

Gumball machines...

2009-07-14T15:00:00.005+09:00

So this is what gumball machines are like in Japan...What ever happened to high bounce balls and friendship bracelets? And yes, I did buy one of the "squishy breasts" toys.

Japanese Tappas Bar

2009-07-13T21:27:00.005+09:00

I met up with my friends Kaoru & Shizuka from the Showa SFC program tonight. They took me to a Japanese version of a tappas bar called "Shirokiya 300 Yen", and guess how much every dish costs? 300¥ equals about $3.00 US dollars, and we got a whole bunch of unusual but delicious things plus 3 rounds of drinks and it all came in around $50. And you don't tip at restaurants in Japan either. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Among the more unusual things we got was an omelette that was filled with soba noodles and soy sauce. No pictures on this one because I'm really tired and forgot my camera when I left the hotel. But here's a pic from the net that's pretty much the same thing but ours was presented much nicer.

A Kiss From Tokyo...

2009-07-01T16:09:00.004+09:00

This is just a test post, but please do enjoy this cool animation...

12 days until I fly out...