back to tokyo. now this half of the trip was really a blur. as soon as we get back, we meet up with Blake for more exploring. we ran through the streets of Harajuku but this time, we hit up everything designer. louis vuitton, chanel, prada, comme des garcons, and marc jacobs. and for Vini, the GAPE and billionaire boys club shops. oh boy did i drool.
that night we ended up going to what Blake and his friends called “the chicken place”. it was in the korea-town of tokyo, apparently a place you don’t really want to go to. so of course around the corner, down some alley, up some unmarked stairs, we find our way to this “chicken place”. i had some vegetable dishes and Vini gorged on various dishes of chicken on skewers. the best part was that they had steins of beer for $2.80. the table next to us had some very loud and obnoxious japanese college students. we thought it was this dating thing that japanese youngsters do – it’s like a double date but with 5 guys and 5 girls. this is how they date. one of them knew english and was eaves dropping on our conversations about them. it was absolutely hilarious because at one point, we rescued him from his crazy drunk friends. ends up, he lived in diamond bar for 5 years!
the highlight of the night was one of the drunk girls dancing beyonce. needless to say, our dinner parties were some how intermixed, we had some beers, had some laughs, and had some more beers. somehow we all make it home safely.
the next day was absolutely useless. we finally got up and out of the hotel at around 3pm. made our way to the taxi depot to pick up our backpack. so…. before leaving for yugawara, we had accidentally left our backpack in a taxi. the concierge at the hotel we were staying at after yugawara helped us track down the taxi and gave us an hourly report on the status. it was amazing customer service. they found our bags, and we slowly inched our way to get it back. we were baffled that no one could remember what happened after japanese beyonce. how did we get home? who paid the bill? where am i???
our backpack had nothing but a bottle of water missing from it. that’s just amazing. you would never be able to find a missing bag anywhere else in the world. there is just so little crime in japan, it’s mind boggling. vini and i wander through the malls connected to Shinjuku before meeting up with Blake for dinner. at this time we were still feeling awful from the night before, so what’s best to cure a hang over? SHAKEY’S! yes that’s right, we went to shakey’s again.
the next day, nice and refreshed, we hit up Roppongi. this place was weird. i mean don’t get me wrong, i love seeing american things. banana republic made my day. but after the past several days with Blake showing us all the “local” spots and going to yugawara… i don’t know, i just wasn’t ready to be a westerner again. Roppongi Hills is a weird place. you live there, work there, eat there and shop there… that was the intention. don’t get me wrong, i like having things close but this was a bit too close for me.
we had lunch at Suji’s. it’s american home cooking, owned by a korean-american lady. and the funny thing is that the USC alumni association was right upstairs. we tried to pop in for a visit but we couldn’t figure out how to use the buzzer. then we went to mid-town roppongi where Vini drooled outside the Konami building and i found some funny art things. after that we made our way over to Ginza to meet up with Blake.
oh Ginza. gigantic flagship stores for every single label i can dream of. i fell in love in the burberry store… i was so close to walking out with a raincoat. if i was going back to America, i would have made the purchase, but since it’s going to be summer in Sydney… i couldn’t justify it. we also went into the chanel building, the sony building where they had all the new products on display, and a really big department store. there is just so much shopping everywhere you go, i’m in heaven.
we made our way to Gody’s for dinner which was okinawan food. it was amazing food, definitely a cuisine i had never tried, egg with bitter melon, shredded green papaya salad, seaweed grape things and okinawan beer. i couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the trip. oh but wait! in true japanese form, we weren’t done for the night. we ended up going back to Baba (the area around Waseda) for a bowl of ramen. well the boys had ramen while i sat waiting patiently. we had missed the last train but the walk back to the hotel wasn’t too bad. we had a nice last walk through Shinjuku in all its lights and red light district shadiness. tokyo is a crazy place filled with fantastic food, generous food and lots of alcohol. i don’t know when i’ll be back but i sure hope it’s soon.
there were so many funny shops. including one where you can find pictures and posters of your favorite pop star. we looked for Blake’s pop star friend but i don’t think she’s that famous yet. we continued our walk through out Harajuku from boutiques to brand name flagship megastores. i could live here.
