The Big City

 Tokyo. Day 3.  Started off in the Geekdom of Akihabara, or commonly known as アキバ (Akiba).  Mission - to find a cheap iPod.  I was about to get an iPod Nano, but then realized I didn't need it.


I walked down the street where the Akihabara Massacre of 2008 occurred.  For more on that sad story, I suggest looking it up here.  Akiba offers electronic everything.  Electronic gadgets.  Computers.  Games.  Young women in maid suits calling you "master" trying to get you to come into their restaurant.  You're wondering if I actually went into one of these places.  Well, I didn't, although I immediately regretted that decision after I left the area.  I should have embraced the Japanime subculture of the area.  I mean, when's the next time I can get a waitress to call me "master?"

The Geekdom of Akiba

On my way to Shinjuku for some afternoon shopping.

After Shinjuku, I walked down Harajuku again because it was too rainy the first time around.  Ran into this "fun shop."

Walked through Shibuya again, this time with actual legions of people.  The Japanese wait for cross walk lights to tell them to walk, unlike everywhere else in Asia!

Roppongi Hills by night.

F--king FINALLY!  An Irish pub!  Had my long awaited Guinness sometime after dinner.

Then headed to the Tokyo Tower, which resembled the Eiffel Tower in so many ways.

A view of the big city.

I wonder where that fish did go? A fish, a fish, a fishy oooh!

The next day, I left the hostel early to get down to the Tokyo Fish Market, the largest fish market in all Asia.  On the way there, I stopped by the Sony Building.  Their showcase displays had may gadgets of varying functionality.  Some were pretty useless, while others were pretty neat contraptions. A portable bike with a GPS attachment was pretty cool to look at.  I even considered buying a new cutting-edge digital camera, but it was tai gui le.

I got down to the fish market around 9AM, which was WAY too late to see the really interesting things like the fish auction.  Nonetheless, there were hordes of fishermen, workers, trucks and wagons, and of course, fish remains.  I got to see how the fishermen cleaned up after a day's work.

 The one word I can think of to describe the fish market is intense. Trucks would not stop.  Fishermen were arguing and demanding payment from their bosses.  People were trying to sell their fish to whoever passed by.  To be honest, if I had access to a kitchen in Tokyo, I would have bought a nice piece of fish.


Before leaving the area, I was approached by an old lady who asked me if I wanted to have some sashimi.  The lineup to this place was pretty long, but since it was only me, I skipped to the front immediately. It was the best sashimi I've ever had in my life.  There's no other way to explain it, but my sashimi don tasted like excellent.

 Headed to the Imperial Palace after that.  Unfortunately, they didn't allow me in because tours only went through early in the day.  Too bad for me.

After being rejected there, I moved my stuff from my hostel to a small and inexpensive ryokan.  It was in Asakusa, and was near the hostel.  It also was roughly the same price.

After that, I gunned over to a suburb outside of the city core.  Why did I do that??? To go to one of the best parts of my trip...the Ghibili Museum!!  I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside.  The only thing I'll say about it is that it is a magical place.  It's a small museum, but it was easily a highlight of my entire backpacking sojourn throughout Japan and South China.

At night, I went to the well known areas of Harajuku and Shibuya.  Huge amounts of people, although maybe not as crazy as I thought.  Maybe that's because I was coming to Japan from China, maybe because it was raining.  I dunno.  But I did have a good time walking around seeing all the fashionistas out in full force.

I ended my second day in Tokyo trying to get into an Irish pub to get myself a Guiness, but it was WAY too busy.  I settled for a hot shower and tea before bed.

Totoro selling tickets.

Shibuya!

London, Paris, maybe TOKYO! (Tokyo...definitely)

My favorite city in all of Asia was Hong Kong.  Don't get me wrong.  I like other Asian cities.  Shanghai is youthful.  Beijing is full of exploration.  Manila is an adventure.  But now it is very clear to me.  Tokyo is the definitely the place. Actually, I think it even beats Paris on my list of cool cities.

I arrived just before sundown.  As I got to my hostel, I was greeted by a bunch of backpacking hippies. My hostel room reeked so much like man-sweat, I immediately began to miss the Joyce's place in Sendai.  Maybe it was because I was so used to being around such people over the 3 weeks of my backpacking trip, I began to not want to see them anymore.  Spent a bit of time looking for other accommodations around Asakusa, but stumbled across some interesting attractions along the way. I got to see some nicer accommodations for about the same price, and a major temple.  I also came across an internet cafe which rented adult mags and vids, sold new underwear and had small, cramped booths with both a computer and aTV with a DVD player...aiaaahh perverts!).  It was also packed with people, which made it all the more weird. I just wanted to check my email.  I washed my hands so many times after touching the keyboard, you'd think I was a germophobe.  Well, I guess in those few minutes, I guess I would count as one.

Dinner was small and inexpensive.  Many places were closing down as I continued across the Asakusa region.  It also started to drizzle snow, so I stepped into a "shot bar," where there was all you can drink for dirt cheap.  An interesting experience happened. 

I saw a bunch of these kinds of places around, but it didn't really click into my head that these places were for heavyweight whiskey connoisseurs.  As I sat down at a bar stool, I realized that this place had a capacity for max 8 people.  There was another guy there just drinking in silence.  I decided to follow suit, although once the bartender found out I was a gaijin, him and I had a long conversation about Vancouver, what I do in China, the various budo I have studied, different kinds of drinks and how much I missed my girl.

I swear the place had about 100 or more types of whiskeys, sakes, and various other kinds of hard liquor.  I mostly tried my favorite: single malt scotch whiskys.  The one that stood out above all was the Islay single malt Lagavulin.  It actually tasted like burning.

I also tried various sakes, which I didn't particularly enjoy.  Most of them reminded me of baijiu back in Wuhan.  I could stand it, so I delved into some American whiskeys that I would probably never try ever again. Okay fine, I'd drink Maker's Mark again because it was delicious.

The cool night air kept me focused and awake.  As I walked back to my stinky hostel, where it still took me quite a while to fall asleep despite all the drinks I had, I ran into Ultraman near the BanDai commercial building. Strange way to end my first night in Tokyo, but whatever.  More fun was to come!!