Once again Ive been too busy to write an up to date blog but o well, better late than never!
So last week I went to Tokyo to meet up with my friends. I took the nightbus there, as my finances have been really rather tight recently. The trip was ok, although at one point the bus stopped at a service station for people to stretch their legs/go to the toilet (theres no toilet on the bus). I got off, used the toilet and went back toward the bus. It was at this point that I realized the service station car park was absolutely huge and there were about 50 buses parked there. In my half asleep wanderings I hadn’t bothered to take down the location of the bus and was now promptly lost. It was freezing cold due partly to the fact that it was 2am and partly to the fact that it was late December. Also I didn’t bring my coat out with me.
After a long and slightly frantic search I eventually found my bus just as they were gearing up to go. Phew!
I arrived at Shinjuku station around 6 and having had no sleep went immediately to Itabashi to find my friend Dans hotel. I had agreed to meet him at 7 but arrived around 630 and so decided to go for a wander. The streets of Tokyo is not a great place to be this early in the morning, the only people around being crazy people and tramps, one of which I swear was following me.
At 7 I managed to meet with Dan and we went to the hotel where he and his girlfriend were staying. Since they had a late checkout time (10pm!), they lent me the room for the day to catch up on some much needed sleep. Dan and his girlfriend had booked the hotel just for them for the 2 nights they would be together, after which she would head back to her hometown and Dan would stick around in Tokyo with us guys for 5 days in a weekly apartment we had rented.
Dan is quite into his kickboxing and mixed martial arts, so when I awoke we headed to a sports bar to see some K1 action. The sports bar was ridiculously overpriced even for Japan (a pint for a fiver!), and the system they had in place meant you had to spend at least 15 quid to be allowed in. After seeing some fights my friend Sam joined us. Me, Sam and Dan were go
od friends together at uni so it was cool to be back with those guys and getting drunk. And drunk we did get!
After spending a whole lot of money, we left and headed to Shibuya to get in a club in time for midnight. When we got to the station, we realized there wasn’t actually any trains until 20 past 12. And so we ended up having our countdown on platform 3 of Shinjuku station. Not exactly the new years I had planned, but at least I was with friends.
We eventually arrived at Shibuya station and then had to re meet up with Dan. He had gone back to the hotel with his girlfriend, as she was feeling a bit ill. This proved to be harder than expected due to the fact that he didn’t have a cell phone (I had contacted him through his girlfriend up to this point). After repeated calls from a payphone and getting lost several times he eventually
made it back to us, and we headed straight for Womb. Because we got there after 12 we had a 5 quid discount so it cost us only 20 to get in.
I don’t really remember much of this evening except dancing a lot and drinking even more. Eventually the club finished at half 7 and we headed out to get something to eat. Since the apartment we had rented had a check in time of 3pm we could not go there, and so facing no other opportunites, headed to a comic café. These are all over Japan, and they basically consist of a small cubicle which you rent for a given nu
mber of hours during which you can read from their library of manga, or surf the internet. Lots of homeless people use these for places to sleep as they are 24 hours, and being as we were basically homeless til 3pm decided to do the same.
We managed to get 3 hours sleep after which we headed to meet Dans girlfriend to see if we could check in early. Since the apartment was booked in her name, we had to go there and check in so she could get her flight at 2pm. Needless to say it was pretty essential that we got an early check in. So the room was booked for Dan and his girlfriend, when actually it would be Dan, Sam and me staying there. This was due to the fact that we are all poor and could never afford a normal sleeping situation. Because they had a strict policy against guests having guests, we spent the whole week having to sneak past reception and wait round the corner for each other.
When we got into the room we tried to sleep, but ended up staying up all night messing about on youtube (our roo
m had an internet connection and Sam had brought his laptop). After eventually going to sleep around 5am we woke up in the late afternoon and went and got some food and some drink from a convenience store.
We went home and started drinking. We then headed out into Roppongi which was where we would be staying. Roppongi is famous for its nightlife although maybe its not the reputation it wants. Lonely planet describes it as a place for “punters fresh off the plane and gormless riff raff out trolling for local talent”. However, it was where we were gonna be calling home for the next week so we decided to give it a shot.
We started off at a bar called Motown House. They played about 3 motown records before they moved onto Abba and assorted cheese. We were all quite far gone by this point though and ended up meeting just about everyone in the bar. Any attempt to speak Japanese was quickly discarded and we slurred our way through many a conversation about nothing. After a while we decided to leave our new found friends behind and head to Karaoke. We booked a room just for an hour, as Sam said he had to go meet some people the next day and didn’t want to be too knackered.
After singing for about 45 minutes Sam left me and Dan and shortly after we got a call from the reception downs
tairs saying something in Japanese we couldn’t decipher. A few minutes later they came back and my attempts to bribe them into giving us a couple more hours didn`t work and we had to leave after paying a somehow astronomical bill. By this point it was around 5 and me and Dan decided to head to a club. We got in there, got a beer and left shortly after. As I left the club I threw up a bit on the street and felt much better although still heavily inebriated. Dan wasn’t much more sober but decided he knew the way home. After walking for an hour in the wrong direction, we eventually decided we had no idea where we were and got in a taxi. The driver had no idea about the apartment we were staying so we got him to take us to the nearest subway station. The length of the journey was a testament either to how far we were walking in the wrong direction before we got a taxi, or how much this driver could cheat out of 2 drunken gaijin. Since the Japanese are relatively honest when it comes to scams, I suspect the former.
We eventually rolled into our room around 730. I headed straight for the toilet and threw up. Heavily. A few hours later Sam woke me up as I had fallen asleep on the floor of the toilet. I stood up and then passed out on the floor for a few hours before someone got up to go to the toilet and put me to bed.
When I woke up I felt horrible. Sam, having gone to meet his friends was gone, and so me and Dan headed to a restaurant to eat some food. We ended up in Matsuya which is a chain of gudon places similar to Yoshinoya specializing in bad meat and bad rice (how can you make bad rice?!).
We then headed home and went to sleep. When we woke up, Sam was back and we watched a couple movies. Sam was totally knackered as he had not had much sleep and had gone out and done a full day, whereas me and Dan had pretty much slept all day.
Despite the excesses of the night before we ended up drinking some Shochu (a Japanese spirit) which was proper cheap and rank. Around 4 me and Dan decided to go out and find a club since we had a second wind. Because of the sheer amount of money spent on the previous nights out (I had spent over a hundred quid on each), we decided to set ourselves a limit of about ten quid each. After searching the streets for a while and not finding anything that interesting, we ended up at Gaspanic, which is probably the sleaziest, worst, most degenerate bar in all of Tokyo. However, they did have a drinks deal meaning we could get 4 drinks each with our meager budget.
When we got in there, it was packed with greasy gaijin and sleazy Japanese girls. Almost immediately we were put upon by this older Japanese woman, who whilst not too bad looking was absolutely nuts. She was all over the 2 of us and as a last resort we told her we were a gay german couple, which she believed. She then regaled to us about her homosexual friends and how much she loves the gays. After getting a little tipsy we decided to head home to prepare for the next night which would be a Friday, and our last night together.
When we awoke we started playing drinking games, including one where we watched the movie “300”, and drunk every time someone mentioned the word “Sparta” or “Spartans”. After this we finished the remainder of the Shochu, Chu Hi and beers and headed out to meet one of Dans friends who would also be in Tokyo at the same time.
Once we met them we headed to an Izakaya to get some food with “Nomihodai” ( this means an all you can drink bar). After drinking ridiculously heavily, we left and decided to head back to Womb. We got in there after paying another hefty entrance fee, and stupidly went to the bar to drink more. After a few hours dancing we all decided to leave early, the music not being too good and the alcohol not having the desired effect of making us happy and stupid, (well we weren’t that happy anyway).
When we awoke the next day we had to check out, which was going to be a bit of a mission due to the fact that me and Sam weren’t meant to be staying at the apartment, but had to get a whole lot of baggage past reception. In the end we decided to just do it calmly and confidently and we got out with no problems.
Sam and Dan left me at this point, Sam going back to Kofu where he goes to Uni, and Dan going to Kyushu where his girlfriend lives. However, since I had booked a nightbus I would have to wait around until 11. I decided to stash my bag in a locker at Shinjuku station and explore Shinjuku and Akihabara. Whilst I thought this would be really boring, it was actually alright and I ended up meeting a safe American couple in a tempura restaurant, and chatting for a while.
Eventually I got on my nightbus, and got to Nagoya around 7am on Sunday. I then slept for a few hours before Ayae came back from her parents. She came back around 12 with her Dad, and loads of fresh fish from the fish market! Because I had said that Unagi (eel) was my favourite fish, they had got me 12. As in 12 Eels! This brought me no end of happiness and they are chilling in our freezer as I speak.
The next day I had to go to work which was ok, although I had to question where all my money had gone and what I had actually achieved with my week in Tokyo. I guess I got some memories. And pictures, I got some funny pictures. I should be grateful for that much.
Ive just about adjusted my body back to the routine of sleeping at night and eating 3 decent meals a day which feels
really great. In Tokyo I was lucky if I got 1 meal a day and it was usually from a convenience store. The hideously grimy pig sty that was our weekly apartment has been replaced by mine and Ayaes lovely clean Nagoya flat, and I haven’t drunk anything for about 4 nights. I think it will be a while before I embark on another Tokyo adventure, mainly because I really can`t afford it, financially or physically.
Still Ive got a feeling Im not done with the Electric City just yet, and Im sure before this year is up Ill end up back there, wallowing in my own filth and hanging around my fellow gaijin scum.
Peace
Jack
So last week I went to Tokyo to meet up with my friends. I took the nightbus there, as my finances have been really rather tight recently. The trip was ok, although at one point the bus stopped at a service station for people to stretch their legs/go to the toilet (theres no toilet on the bus). I got off, used the toilet and went back toward the bus. It was at this point that I realized the service station car park was absolutely huge and there were about 50 buses parked there. In my half asleep wanderings I hadn’t bothered to take down the location of the bus and was now promptly lost. It was freezing cold due partly to the fact that it was 2am and partly to the fact that it was late December. Also I didn’t bring my coat out with me.After a long and slightly frantic search I eventually found my bus just as they were gearing up to go. Phew!
I arrived at Shinjuku station around 6 and having had no sleep went immediately to Itabashi to find my friend Dans hotel. I had agreed to meet him at 7 but arrived around 630 and so decided to go for a wander. The streets of Tokyo is not a great place to be this early in the morning, the only people around being crazy people and tramps, one of which I swear was following me.
At 7 I managed to meet with Dan and we went to the hotel where he and his girlfriend were staying. Since they had a late checkout time (10pm!), they lent me the room for the day to catch up on some much needed sleep. Dan and his girlfriend had booked the hotel just for them for the 2 nights they would be together, after which she would head back to her hometown and Dan would stick around in Tokyo with us guys for 5 days in a weekly apartment we had rented.
Dan is quite into his kickboxing and mixed martial arts, so when I awoke we headed to a sports bar to see some K1 action. The sports bar was ridiculously overpriced even for Japan (a pint for a fiver!), and the system they had in place meant you had to spend at least 15 quid to be allowed in. After seeing some fights my friend Sam joined us. Me, Sam and Dan were go
od friends together at uni so it was cool to be back with those guys and getting drunk. And drunk we did get!After spending a whole lot of money, we left and headed to Shibuya to get in a club in time for midnight. When we got to the station, we realized there wasn’t actually any trains until 20 past 12. And so we ended up having our countdown on platform 3 of Shinjuku station. Not exactly the new years I had planned, but at least I was with friends.
We eventually arrived at Shibuya station and then had to re meet up with Dan. He had gone back to the hotel with his girlfriend, as she was feeling a bit ill. This proved to be harder than expected due to the fact that he didn’t have a cell phone (I had contacted him through his girlfriend up to this point). After repeated calls from a payphone and getting lost several times he eventually
made it back to us, and we headed straight for Womb. Because we got there after 12 we had a 5 quid discount so it cost us only 20 to get in.I don’t really remember much of this evening except dancing a lot and drinking even more. Eventually the club finished at half 7 and we headed out to get something to eat. Since the apartment we had rented had a check in time of 3pm we could not go there, and so facing no other opportunites, headed to a comic café. These are all over Japan, and they basically consist of a small cubicle which you rent for a given nu
mber of hours during which you can read from their library of manga, or surf the internet. Lots of homeless people use these for places to sleep as they are 24 hours, and being as we were basically homeless til 3pm decided to do the same.We managed to get 3 hours sleep after which we headed to meet Dans girlfriend to see if we could check in early. Since the apartment was booked in her name, we had to go there and check in so she could get her flight at 2pm. Needless to say it was pretty essential that we got an early check in. So the room was booked for Dan and his girlfriend, when actually it would be Dan, Sam and me staying there. This was due to the fact that we are all poor and could never afford a normal sleeping situation. Because they had a strict policy against guests having guests, we spent the whole week having to sneak past reception and wait round the corner for each other.
When we got into the room we tried to sleep, but ended up staying up all night messing about on youtube (our roo
m had an internet connection and Sam had brought his laptop). After eventually going to sleep around 5am we woke up in the late afternoon and went and got some food and some drink from a convenience store.We went home and started drinking. We then headed out into Roppongi which was where we would be staying. Roppongi is famous for its nightlife although maybe its not the reputation it wants. Lonely planet describes it as a place for “punters fresh off the plane and gormless riff raff out trolling for local talent”. However, it was where we were gonna be calling home for the next week so we decided to give it a shot.
We started off at a bar called Motown House. They played about 3 motown records before they moved onto Abba and assorted cheese. We were all quite far gone by this point though and ended up meeting just about everyone in the bar. Any attempt to speak Japanese was quickly discarded and we slurred our way through many a conversation about nothing. After a while we decided to leave our new found friends behind and head to Karaoke. We booked a room just for an hour, as Sam said he had to go meet some people the next day and didn’t want to be too knackered.
After singing for about 45 minutes Sam left me and Dan and shortly after we got a call from the reception downs
tairs saying something in Japanese we couldn’t decipher. A few minutes later they came back and my attempts to bribe them into giving us a couple more hours didn`t work and we had to leave after paying a somehow astronomical bill. By this point it was around 5 and me and Dan decided to head to a club. We got in there, got a beer and left shortly after. As I left the club I threw up a bit on the street and felt much better although still heavily inebriated. Dan wasn’t much more sober but decided he knew the way home. After walking for an hour in the wrong direction, we eventually decided we had no idea where we were and got in a taxi. The driver had no idea about the apartment we were staying so we got him to take us to the nearest subway station. The length of the journey was a testament either to how far we were walking in the wrong direction before we got a taxi, or how much this driver could cheat out of 2 drunken gaijin. Since the Japanese are relatively honest when it comes to scams, I suspect the former.We eventually rolled into our room around 730. I headed straight for the toilet and threw up. Heavily. A few hours later Sam woke me up as I had fallen asleep on the floor of the toilet. I stood up and then passed out on the floor for a few hours before someone got up to go to the toilet and put me to bed.
When I woke up I felt horrible. Sam, having gone to meet his friends was gone, and so me and Dan headed to a restaurant to eat some food. We ended up in Matsuya which is a chain of gudon places similar to Yoshinoya specializing in bad meat and bad rice (how can you make bad rice?!).
We then headed home and went to sleep. When we woke up, Sam was back and we watched a couple movies. Sam was totally knackered as he had not had much sleep and had gone out and done a full day, whereas me and Dan had pretty much slept all day.
Despite the excesses of the night before we ended up drinking some Shochu (a Japanese spirit) which was proper cheap and rank. Around 4 me and Dan decided to go out and find a club since we had a second wind. Because of the sheer amount of money spent on the previous nights out (I had spent over a hundred quid on each), we decided to set ourselves a limit of about ten quid each. After searching the streets for a while and not finding anything that interesting, we ended up at Gaspanic, which is probably the sleaziest, worst, most degenerate bar in all of Tokyo. However, they did have a drinks deal meaning we could get 4 drinks each with our meager budget.
When we got in there, it was packed with greasy gaijin and sleazy Japanese girls. Almost immediately we were put upon by this older Japanese woman, who whilst not too bad looking was absolutely nuts. She was all over the 2 of us and as a last resort we told her we were a gay german couple, which she believed. She then regaled to us about her homosexual friends and how much she loves the gays. After getting a little tipsy we decided to head home to prepare for the next night which would be a Friday, and our last night together.
When we awoke we started playing drinking games, including one where we watched the movie “300”, and drunk every time someone mentioned the word “Sparta” or “Spartans”. After this we finished the remainder of the Shochu, Chu Hi and beers and headed out to meet one of Dans friends who would also be in Tokyo at the same time.
Once we met them we headed to an Izakaya to get some food with “Nomihodai” ( this means an all you can drink bar). After drinking ridiculously heavily, we left and decided to head back to Womb. We got in there after paying another hefty entrance fee, and stupidly went to the bar to drink more. After a few hours dancing we all decided to leave early, the music not being too good and the alcohol not having the desired effect of making us happy and stupid, (well we weren’t that happy anyway).
When we awoke the next day we had to check out, which was going to be a bit of a mission due to the fact that me and Sam weren’t meant to be staying at the apartment, but had to get a whole lot of baggage past reception. In the end we decided to just do it calmly and confidently and we got out with no problems.
Sam and Dan left me at this point, Sam going back to Kofu where he goes to Uni, and Dan going to Kyushu where his girlfriend lives. However, since I had booked a nightbus I would have to wait around until 11. I decided to stash my bag in a locker at Shinjuku station and explore Shinjuku and Akihabara. Whilst I thought this would be really boring, it was actually alright and I ended up meeting a safe American couple in a tempura restaurant, and chatting for a while.
Eventually I got on my nightbus, and got to Nagoya around 7am on Sunday. I then slept for a few hours before Ayae came back from her parents. She came back around 12 with her Dad, and loads of fresh fish from the fish market! Because I had said that Unagi (eel) was my favourite fish, they had got me 12. As in 12 Eels! This brought me no end of happiness and they are chilling in our freezer as I speak.
The next day I had to go to work which was ok, although I had to question where all my money had gone and what I had actually achieved with my week in Tokyo. I guess I got some memories. And pictures, I got some funny pictures. I should be grateful for that much.
Ive just about adjusted my body back to the routine of sleeping at night and eating 3 decent meals a day which feels
really great. In Tokyo I was lucky if I got 1 meal a day and it was usually from a convenience store. The hideously grimy pig sty that was our weekly apartment has been replaced by mine and Ayaes lovely clean Nagoya flat, and I haven’t drunk anything for about 4 nights. I think it will be a while before I embark on another Tokyo adventure, mainly because I really can`t afford it, financially or physically.Still Ive got a feeling Im not done with the Electric City just yet, and Im sure before this year is up Ill end up back there, wallowing in my own filth and hanging around my fellow gaijin scum.
Peace
Jack
2 comments:
wallowing in yours and your fellow gaijins filthy scum is what goin to tokyo is all about!
sounds like you had an exhausting week of drikning and partying, maybe you should give it a week or two til the next one ey?
hey man, how can akhibara not be awesome? dont you remember the whole day we spent there that time looking at random games and gaming related crap? thats my dream man, dont shit on my dream!
part of me wants you to have a quiet week for the next blog, for your sake. but my selfish side wants another reckless adventure...go reckless adventure!
p.s. glad you didnt lose the bus entirely...that would not be fun!
Z
ha almost every line of that blog made me laught out loud! sorry but the fort of u puking and passin out then being put to bed... ha and in japan, lol. dammit clubbin in tokyo trutly is excellent and u do always sound like ur havin adventures and makin loads of friends. Good work pal keep it up so we can all pretend we live ur life in ur blogs, cause its alot of fun. Laters
Tariq
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