Monday, August 12, 2013

Sunday, June 30 2013 - Akihabara

Since we stayed up so late rockin' out, we were able to sleep in pretty late this morning. By the time we were all showered and in search of breakfast, it was 11:30am. However, this is our vacation and we can eat breakfast whenever the hell we want to. Fortunately, IB feels the same way. He took us down a very cute shopping street near his aparto in Hiroo and we had breakfast at an adorable bakery called Sawa Mura.

After breakfast we took the train to Akihabara, "Electric Town." Akihabara (or Akiba for short if you are a super nerd) is the part of Tokyo famous for having electronics and collectable toys and porn. It used to be the only place where you could get the latest in electronics, however now that you can get the latest just about anywhere thanks to the internet, the otaku (nerd) influence has really taken over Akihabara. IB had an audio tour of Akihabara that we decided to follow called Tokyo Realtime (really good, you should pick it up if you can find it, they also made one for Kabukicho) that walks you through some really interesting spots you might otherwise miss just wandering, like Super Potato (a small, dark, smoky floor of a building full of retro arcade games). We also went to lots of shops selling toys and figurines from popular manga/cartoons/video games, a 5 story sex shop, a huge electronics store, and got tissues from a girl dressed in a French maid's outfit advertising a Maid Cafe (a cafe where you can pay a lot of money to have girls dressed up in cute maid costumes chat with you). At around 4pm we stopped for lunch at a small curry shop called Mammoth Curry where you could buy a variety of curries in small, regular, large or mammoth size (which was 1,000 grams/2.2 lbs). It was quite tasty and I recommend it, particularly if you find yourself lamenting the fact that you never seem to be able find curry by the pound. 
Maid Cafe in Akihabara
Akihabara is generally a favorite part of Tokyo for guys, and while I definitely wanted Mc to see it I didn't think we would be there for very long since neither of us are much into gadgets. However, with the tour and all the fun toy shops selling character goods, we spent essentially the whole day there. My favorite new character is Nyanko-sensei (he is a character from the manga Natsume's Book of Friends/Natsume Yuujincho, but the back story is not important. He's a cat teacher, I like cats and am a teacher, and he's adorable, so I love him).

My favorite part of Akihabara was Gachapon Kaikan which was a huge shop full of gacha gacha machines, floor to ceiling. Gacha gacha machines are like egg machines at home - the ones where you put in a quarter and get a plastic egg with a random toy inside (or a sticker of Michael Jackson if you're me in the 80's) - except in Japan they cost anywhere from 200-500¥ and the much higher quality toy is inside a little plastic ball instead of an egg. Each machine has a theme, most with popular characters like Nameko (an ugly mushroom character from the most boring game I've ever played where you literally wait for mushrooms to grow on a log) or Hello Kitty or Rilakkuma on a keitai strap (cell phone charm) or pin or puzzle, etc. Of course there was a Nyanko Sensei machine, so I spent way too much money there.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - In Japan, they have coins for 50¥, 100¥, and 500¥. The first paper bill you will encounter is 1,000¥ (about $10). This can be dangerous because a lot of things cost about 100¥ and as an American you don't really even think about spending it because it's a coin and our coins are worth so little. Our brain often decides to think of them as quarters, and they are used a lot like quarters here (like in toy machines). But it's important to remember that they are dollars and they add up quickly.

IB had looked up onsens in Tokyo and found one that we should try. An onsen is a Japanese hot spring where you go to relax. Naked, with all your friends and family. But most are separated by gender. Anyway, it's a very Japanese thing to do and Mc needed the full experience, so off we went. Unfortunately, Mc was wearing shorts and his tattoo was in full view. IB said that the lady at the desk was giving us ick-face from the moment we walked in. You see, tattoos are not seen as rebellious but cool expressions of art or self in Japan. In Japan, tattoos are seen as marks of the criminal underworld and are not allowed in onsens. IB has a small tattoo under his arm and has never had any trouble, likely because they don't see it till he's already inside. They saw Mc's from the door and even though IB tried to explain that it was just a birthmark, they denied us access. So we had no choice but to head out and Mc got to feel wildly indignant about discrimination.

After Akihabara, we headed back to IB's aparto and decided to order pizza. Apparently, you can order pizza online from Pizza-la here now, and since IB is fluent in Japanese, it was here in under an hour. Since pizza is expensive here (3,600¥ for a large) we didn't get a weird one for Mc (like one with potato or seafood or egg and mayonaise), instead we got the Get's pizza which was pretty normal except the corn and cheddar cheese (they will put anything on a pizza here).

Tomorrow is a visit to Harajuku and then another onsen, if Mc doesn't get rejected again . . .

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Saturday, June 29th 2013 - Shibuya

Saturday was lovely because we were back in Tokyo at a friend's aparto with nothing in particular to rush off and do. We slept in and then got to do our laundry, which was really nice. Once we were up and showered, we headed out to Shibuya, which is IB's stomping grounds.

We were able to walk to Shibuya from IB's aparto in Ebisu and the weather was really nice; warm and clear with a nice breeze. On the way we stopped to get a drink at a conbini and Mc decided to try blue Skal which turned out to be a fizzy pop drink that tasted like bubble gum. Once we arrived, the first thing we wanted to show Mc was The Scramble. The Scramble is a famous crossing in Shibuya (maybe only in Japan can you find a famous crosswalk), just outside the Hachiko exit. If you want to see the stereotypical massive crush of Japanese people, go here. This is where 5 streets converge and instead of having the crosswalks take turns and go with the traffic, all the cars are stopped and all the pedestrians get to go at once in every direction imaginable for 20 frenzied seconds. If you are going to lose the people you are traveling with, it's going to be here. Across the street from the Hachiko exit is a building with a Starbucks a few stories up, which is super popular because it overlooks the Scramble crossing and you get a great view of the madness from above. It is usually packed, but we got to Starbucks early so we were able to get seats and watch for a while.

Famous Hachiko statue outside the Hachiko exit
After a bit, IB led us away from Starbucks through the streets of Shibuya to a completely different coffee experience. We found ourselves in the Love Hotel district in Maruyama-cho, where IB led us through an old-fashioned doorway and back in time. We left the hot, bustling streets of Shibuya and entered a huge, dark room that was cool and calm. There was a complete absence of noise except for the classical music gently filling our ears. We were led upstairs to a small table in the loft, overlooking an immense speaker system set amidst antique furniture and hundreds of classical music albums. IB had brought us to the Lion Cafe, built in 1923 and created as a space where people can come to relax and enjoy music. Talking is not allowed, even our waiter took our order in hushed tones. There are few windows, so the shop remains dark and cool even in summer, and despite the fact that this was a beautiful respite from the busy life outside the door, there were very few people inside. We sat and drank milk tea and whispered and relaxed. It is one of those hard to explain experiences you get in Japan in that it is in no way Japanese and at the same time uniquely Japanese. I highly recommend stopping by if you need a break and a calm moment. http://lion.main.jp/

Milk tea with huge speakers in the background at Lion Cafe
From there we went to Tokyu Hands (not Tokyo, Tokyu), a multi-story superstore of everything and anything. If you travel to Japan, I recommend you find a Tokyu Hands and save a day near the end of your trip for shopping. They have a section of the store for every room in your house, plus floors dedicated to hobbies, pets, science, weird Japanese toys, etc. It's super interesting, but very big, so set aside a chunk of time if you decide to go.

For lunch, IB wanted to take Mc to a real ramen shop and we went to 2 places that ended up being closed. We were getting hungry and finally settled on Matsuya. Matsuya is a Japanese fast food noodle shop. You order and pay for your meal from a fancy digital vending machine, then you find a seat and hand your ticket to a person in an apron. Within minutes, your food is sitting in front of you, and if you are a Japanese person, you eat it in seemingly one long, loud slurp. The food was actually really good and cheap, which surprised us Americans who assume that any fast food is going to be low quality. Matsuya is a chain you will see frequently and is a good choice if you are hungry, love noodles, and do not fear vending machines (which had really great pictures, making choosing your meal easy even if you don't read Japanese). They are easy to spot, just look for the bright yellow, orange, and blue signs.

R's wife had taken Now-chan to visit family and he had the night free, so he met us in Shibuya and we had a mini JET reunion. After a brief discussion about where the best beer can be found, we headed off to Good Beer Faucets, a craft beer pub in Shibuya ( http://goodbeerfaucets.jp/). If you like beer and are tired of the generic "biru" you order in Japanese restaurants, this is a great place to visit. It's modern, clean, the staff speak English, and the beer selection is large.

Dinner was scheduled to be yakiniku. Yakiniku basically just means grilled meat, and when you go to a yakiniku restaurant, you sit at a table with a little grill in the middle, order plates of a variety of raw things, and then grill them while you visit and eat. It's sort of like a tiny barbeque with a select few friends. I love yakiniku and had wanted to take Mc to one and IB lived across the street from a yakiniku place that he'd been wanting to try, so it was kismet. The restaurant was called Hachi Hachi (Eight Eight) and was a lot of fun. We got a variety of meats and vegetables to grill, bibimbap, kimchee, and lots more beer.

Hachi Hachi yakiniku restaurant
The only logical end to the evening was a round of ancient traditional Japanese karaoke. IB took us to Aso Viba, a cheap karaoke place near his home. For those of you who have never tried Japanese karaoke, it is much different than in the States. Instead of singing a song in front of an entire bar after waiting an hour for your turn, you are given a private room with a telephone on the wall where you can order drinks and snacks as you make an ass of yourself in front of your closest friends and loved ones. There is less pressure (except peer-pressure, there's way more of that), you get to sing as much as you want too, and their sound system makes you feel like a total rockstar. It is so much more fun; you have no idea. We may have forcibly dragged R into the karaoke booth, but it was for the best as we blasted 80s hits and played air guitar well into the night (R took me and a few other newbies to my first Japanese karaoke experience way back when). And if I got a little misty-eyed, it was probably just the smoke from the yakiniku . . .

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Friday, June 28th 2013 - Robot Restaurant (Back in Tokyo, Obviously)

Shrine/temple quota met and then some, we just took our time our last morning in Kyoto. Check-out was between 8-11am and our shinkansen home wasn't until 12:32pm. We slept in, repacked everything, got the most out of their free wifi and at 10:58 we checked-out. Then we trekked to Kyoto Station to buy some Kyoto omiyage for the people we were going to stay with and find some lunch to take on the train. We ended up with pizza chips (with real cheese product!), sando (sandwich, and the ones in Japan are already cut into little triangles with the crust cut off for you, but the filling is only placed in a small section in the very middle of each half), tamago (Japanese style rolled eggs), croquet (fried potato ball like the ones in Europe, pronounced "kurokay" in Japanese), and a chestnut pudding cake dessert thing (you can tell if a dessert is chestnut flavored if you are in the dessert section and you see one with what appears to be pasta on top).

This trip we had window seats on the Mt. Fuji side of the train, so Mc, not having seen Fuji-san yet, kept an eye on the window. A note about Mt. Fuji - Fuji-san is the original ninja. He is the most famous mountain in Japan because of his perfect mountain-shape and because you can see him from almost everywhere in Honshu. Despite this, I chased Fuji-san for 2 years before I was able to catch a good picture of him. People would take me to places specifically because they were beautiful Mt. Fuji viewing spots and he would just not be there. I would look down at the brochure picture of Fuji-san behind a beautiful lake, look up and only see a beautiful lake. Fuji-san can pull up a cloud-screen so perfectly constructed that you would never know that it was obscuring an entire mountain. I guess Fuji-san doesn't like the paparazzi. Anyway, Mc came to understand this in his efforts to see Fuji-san. At one point of the train ride while I was writing, Mc said, "Look! Is that Mt. Fuji?!" and I glanced up to see the very top of a mountain sliding behind a cloud screen. It was as if he was peeking out to see if the coast was clear and Mc caught him looking. Fortunately, it was enough to satiate Mc's desire to see the famous icon.

We arrived in Tokyo Station and caught a train to Ebisu Station. For once, we were early to meet someone, but since IB was coming from work and couldn't meet us early, we had some time to kill. So we wandered around the shopping mall attached to the station. Many major train stations in Japan have multi-leveled shopping malls attached and it was a lot of fun to wander through and look at the ridiculously expensive items even though we were dragging suitcases. Then we made our way to where we thought we were supposed to meet (turns out it was the wrong exit . . . well, it was the right exit, but there were 3 west exits), IB found us, and we trekked off to his new apartment in Ebisu. IB has a very nice 1 bedroom apartment with a lovely view of a cemetery from his shower window. We only spent a moment there, however, because tonight was Robot Restaurant night and we had 8pm reservations!

Japan is famous for having wacky themed restaurants. I went to the Lock Up (pronounced "rock up" in Japan) with IB back in the day and a lady dressed like an officer seated us in a dark cell and halfway through dinner there was a jailbreak and the lights went off and emergency lights flashed while monsters ran around reaching through your cell bars and growling (because I guess in Japan you don't destroy monsters, you give them a fair trial and then send them to a jail with questionable locks). It was really fun and Mc wanted to try one while were there. IB recommended the Robot Restaurant and got us reservations. If you want to go to the Robot Restaurant (and you do), do not fear calling to make reservations as the staff speak pretty good English.

When we arrived at the door of the restaurant, we were instructed to go purchase our tickets at a booth across the street. There was a large vending machine where you put in your 5,000¥ (yes, it was about $50 a piece, but we figured it was worth it for dinner and a show and a memorable experience) and then selected the bento dinner you wanted. Mc and IB chose curry and I chose a katsu sando (pork cutlet sandwich). Then we took our tickets back to the doorman, who admitted us to what appeared to be the inside of a disco ball. The waiting room was mind-boggling. Every surface was covered in mirrored tiles or crystals, including the floor and ceiling. There were low tables with red-velvet chairs. There were LED lights everywhere. I simply cannot convey how sparkly this room was. Mc got a beer while IB and I shouted at each other, conversationally. 

Eventually, it was time to go to the main arena and we followed the crowd down about 3 flights of stairs. Each section of stairs was decorated differently, each more colorful than the last. (This is NOT a place to come while you're trippin' on something, it might make your brain explode.) I couldn't even begin to fathom where they bought the materials they used to decorate, is there a wallpaper shop that sells shiny linoleum for your walls with rainbow geckos and dragons? Once downstairs, we followed the crowd into a little room with stadium seating on either side. It only seated about 100 people and seats were unassigned. Because we didn't know this and hadn't rushed to the front of the crowd, we were unable to sit together, which was a bummer. Your seat had a tray and a small bottle of green tea (Mc's was already opened, gross) and you picked up your bento box from a table. My katsu came with a tiny cup of potato salad, and what goes better with potato salad than some cold french fries. The food was OK at best, definitely not where they were investing their money. The stadium seating was on either side of a rectangular strip about 10x50 and open on either end. It was surprisingly small. Behind the stadium seats were TV screens. Then entire wall was TV screens. Also the ceiling. Then the lights went down and the show started.

There are things about the Robot Restaurant that are easy to explain. For example, to the right of us (opposite end from the stairs) was where the robots came in and out from and there were large doors that opened and closed. There are 2 small bathrooms on the same end as the stairs (the women's is done entirely in crystals and mirrors, while the men's features a golden urinal). The audience was a pretty even mix of foreigners and Japanese business men. There were lots of lovely girls who did dance numbers in bra tops. From there, it gets . . . complicated. Here goes - there was a dance number that featured drummers, so girls came out and pretended to drum, like marching band-style, except that there were also taiko drummers and then one girl with bangs who played a real drum set, except the drum set was on a remote-controlled platform that drove around. There was a number where these huge robot legs came walking out of the gates, but instead of bodies they had stripper poles, but the girls didn't strip, so I guess they were just dancing poles. There was a brief and incredibly cheesy video they showed on the TV walls about a prehistoric planet that used to be peaceful till the evil robot-aliens arrived. Then two people dressed as robots (short robots, I think they were the ladies) walked out and waved their arms and then a panda and a tiger and a monkey ran out to fight the robots, but of course had no chance, even though the panda was wearing shorts. So they limped back behind the doors and then the panda came out riding a giant cow, which knocked down the robots. Obviously. But while they were down, they were not out, so a girl dressed like Captain America but wearing a red, white, and blue striped tutu ran out and tried defeating them with Thor's hammer. But only Thor can wield Thor's hammer, so next another two girls came riding out on a giant plastic dinosaur and whacked at the robots with a humongous mace (that was not at all a deflated silver exercise ball), which worked I think because both robots were blown backwards by nothing in particular. Then came the lady robots. (If you visit Tokyo, you will see the advertising for this restaurant which is a huge truck that drives around Tokyo with these robots on the truck bed.) The lady robots are HUGE upper halves of ladies with real ladies draped all over them as they are remote-controlled around the small space. Then all robot hell breaks loose and every conceivable robot comes out - a robot with wheels for feet skates around with a rainbow afro while a 10 ft. robot bounces up and down in time with the loud music while another robot riding a neon rainbow circle that I think he stole from Rainbow Brite zooms around the room while girls sit on recumbent bikes that travel around a track on the ceiling just above your head. There was also a tank made of lights and a motorcycle, but it starts to become a loud flashing swirl in my head.

It was insane. And loud. And over the top. And awesome. You should go. Probably not with little kids or your coming-of-age-son (he looked super embarrassed and was slow to stand up), but definitely go. Mc's favorite part was that they were encouraging patrons not to touch the girls, but the English translation they kept flashing said, "No touching of hips and things" which was hilarious (again, the space is very small and there were a few times where a girl's "things" were 6 inches from my face). Despite the fact that it was expensive and packed and do 2 shows a night, I do not think they are making enough money to cover expenses. At one point I counted 30 performers on the floor at one time, not to mention all the lights and lasers and plastic dinosaurs, so you should go before they declare bankruptcy. We had a lot of fun and it was definitely a great start to our time with IB.


Mosaic in the waiting area upstairs

Remote-controlled drum set, and so it begins . . .