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 . . .