No More Dream

Posted on 08/06/2014 by Luke

At breakfast I have an amazing caffeine free chai tea with free range ‘happy’ eggs. Andy sits across from me, for his breakfast he has a hangover. Incense is lit and a hangover cure is delivered in the form of a tiny bottle. One drop before and one drop after is all you need, or so the bottle states. From his initial reaction it doesn’t look good.

After breakfast Andy checks the time, it is quarter to eleven. He suggests going for beer. Hangover cure confirmed to work. We take the train to Odaiba, and head for the Gundam. We arrive and there is a huge crowd of people, they are here for more than just a robot. At the Gundam there are about one thousand girls, each with an umbrella. A man with a megaphone makes an announcement in Japanese and the girls begin to scream with excitement.

Members of a Korean hip-hop boy band are shown on a large television screen, there are seven of them in total. Jungkook being the youngest member at 16, Jin and Suga are the oldest at 21. The best named member is Rap Monster. The band are called Bangtan Boys, often abbreviated to BTS. The name of the band literally translates to Bulletproof Boy Scouts.

BTS play their debut release, No More Dream, much to the delight of the one thousand screaming fans. The band then talk on the microphones for about twenty minutes before jumping into their second song, Rise of Bangtan. It features a heavy backing track and some lyrics in English. “Cuz we got fire fire fire, Get higher higher higher.” Andy and I stay for about half an hour. The Gundam is underwhelming in comparison to the music.

Back in Asakusa, Matt joins us for a bit of English teaching and free beer. Kaes, a Canadian friend of Andy’s, joins us, and eventually, two English women we met earlier at the hostel, Steffi and Heather join us too. After last orders, we head out to a late-night bar for some food.

At the restaurant we have to take our shoes off before entering the seating area. At the table I eat ¥450 seared mackerel sashimi, ¥450 fried fish cutlet bites served with a delicious but unrecognisable dip, and a nice big ¥481 beer. Probably one of my favourite meals I’ve had on this trip.

After the meal it’s back to the hostel for some card games via a Seven Eleven. I pay for my goods, totalling ¥212, with a ten-thousand Yen note, the equivalent would be paying with a £60 note in England. It goes unquestioned and I receive my ¥9788 change without any fuss. Paying for things with a £10 note in England is sometimes met with a frown or sarcastic comment.

At the hostel, the English women have sake with them—three bottles, to be precise. I’ve tried hot sake on my trip, but I didn’t really enjoy it. This will be my first time trying it cold. Once again, I find it somewhat unsatisfactory. Finally, I’ve discovered something in Japan that I don’t like.

Cat Cafe, Cats and Dogs, Square Enix

Posted on 07/06/2014 by Luke

I wake up at 9 a.m. to the sound of rain. It is very loud. I head downstairs, I drink two cans of Boss Coffee Sweetened Rainbow Blend and write for a few hours, until I am finally ready to venture out into the monsoon that is the streets of Japan. I buy an umbrella, pleasantly, before taking the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line to Shibuya.

In Shibuya, vans drive around all day advertising new albums from random Japanese artists. There are three AKB48 vans that circle around, blazing out pop classic, Labrador Retriever. I wander the Dogenzaka district in the pouring rain until at last I find the sign I am looking for; it reads Neko, the Japanese word for cat.

Hapineko is a cat cafe. For ¥1180, I order peppermint tea with sweets and spend 30 minutes with the cats. Inside, there are literally tens of cats. Most of them are hiding or sleeping. I spend some time taking photographs until eventually I find a cat that sits with me and allows me to stroke her. It’s an odd concept, really, and how it came about, I really don’t know. As I leave, I playfully change the Japanese word for ‘thank you’ by one letter, “Aricatou gozaimasu!” The staff member gives me a puzzled look.

I hop on the Yamanote Line and 4 minutes later I hop off in Shinjuku. If Tokyo is the capital of Japan, I would say Shinjuku is the capital of Tokyo. It is massive and boasts the worlds largest train station. An average of 3.64 million passengers per day pass through the station, which has over 200 different exits. After an hour of searching, and a trip to a Metro Station to ‘borrow’ some free Internet, I manage to get directions and find that I am only eleven minutes away from where I need to be.

Eleven minutes later I arrive at Artnia, the official restaurant of Square Enix. I order two desserts from a Final Fantasy themed menu; the first I order is the Strawberry Pancakes, served with ice cream, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and a Cactuar. After finishing my huge portion of pancakes, I instantly regret ordering two desserts.

The second dessert is a parfait. It is in the shape of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII and contains an edible chocolate Buster Sword. It also features chocolate panna cotta, with coffee jelly and vanilla ice cream, all topped with a layer of whipped cream, bananas, and chocolate sauce. The total cost for both is a pricey ¥1910.

The restaurant also sells a selection of Square Enix official goods. They include games, stuffed toys, trading cards, necklaces, perfumes, and models of popular characters. Here are Tidus and Yuna from Final Fantasy X:

After the restaurant I head back to the hostel where I meet up with Andy, an Australian I had first met at the karaoke night, and Matt, the guy I went to the izakaya with a few nights ago. We decide to go to the English speaking bar across the road. Because of the rain, the bar is quiet and there are only two other customers. A Japanese man here says I look like a famous person, and after five minutes of searching on his phone he reveals that I look like a young Barry Manilow, I strongly disagree.

After last orders are called, Andy, Matt, and I head to another bar with the owner of the English bar and the Japanese man. Here we drink more and more beer and snack on Japanese omelette and smoked salmon served with Daikon. The Japanese man eventually leaves, but not before paying the whole bill. It turns out the three of us haven’t paid for a thing all evening. Thank you very much, Saito-san.

Bach No Senritsu Wo Yoru Ni Kiita Sei Desu

Posted on 06/06/2014 by Luke

I sign up through Craigslist for an event in March 2015. Bach’s 330th birthday celebration. All day and all night the music of Bach will be played in subways and public spaces. The website specifically states that, ‘Solos, ensembles, flash mobs and Bach marathons are all encouraged.’

Outside, rainy season has started. The unexpected heat wave during my first week here has now stepped aside and the rain has taken over. It will not stop raining now until mid-July. I take a ‘free’ umbrella from the hostel and walk to the boat terminal. Here I take a ¥1580 boat ride down the Sumida River to Odaiba; an artificial island. The journey takes about forty minutes.

I see The Goddess of Liberty, a to-scale model of the Statue of Liberty. There is a giant Ferris wheel with no riders and a huge arcade with no customers. It is nearly lunch time and there is nobody else here. A Toyota theme park showcases new vehicles and offers driving lessons and ‘games’. A Shell museum offers not seashells but the history of petrol pumps and petroleum. I am very disappointed.

Japan are preparing for the 2020 Olympic games, and Odaiba, with its large areas of open space, is one of the venues that has been selected. I walk long distances in the rain trying to find the giant 1/1 scale statue of a Gundam robot. I never find it and there is nobody around to ask. I eventually give up and take the train back to Tokyo.

For lunch it’s another Cheese Mushi Cake. This one is from Family Mart and is sadly not as good as the one from Seven Eleven. I also have a natto wrap and a bag of the ‘best crisps’, or so I am told by a member of staff at the hostel.

Natto is fermented soy beans. It is a traditional food of Japan and is usually eaten for breakfast. I once read that most people in Japan eat natto but don’t like it, and that they only eat it for its excellent health benefits. My natto is wrapped in rice and seaweed. The smell is overpowering, and the taste is disappointing.

I spend the next hour or so in the hostel until I am in the right place at the right time. The hostel manager approaches me. He says a film crew for TV Tokyo are making a documentary, and are looking to film someone that is staying here for a while. I immediately agree and wait anxiously until the film crew are ready.

The director cannot speak any English but she has brought with her a language interpreter. I am asked to go to the reception so they can film the hostel staff recommending a strange place for me to visit. I already know that we are going to a bird cafe, so I have to pretend I don’t know where I am going; it is all very odd. The crew film me talking to Daisuke at reception. He recommends that I visit Asakusa’s Owl & Parakeet Cafe, before making me laugh with his chicken noises. We film the same scene again, without the chicken noises, and he marks the cafe on my map.

The film crew then follow me through Asakusa. I rely only on the instructions from the hostel; I am not allowed to ask the film crew for help. Daisuke’s directions are pretty good though, and I find the bird cafe with relative ease. Once inside I am asked to stroke the birds, play with the birds, feed the birds, and get bitten by the birds. They ask me some really random questions. I am not sure whether to direct my answers at the interpreter or the director, and I’m never really sure which parts they are filming.

Once we finish the interview, we head back to the hostel. Overall the experience was rather enjoyable and I am pleased to have been given the opportunity to be on television. I have no idea which footage they will use for their program, only that it will air at the end of the month.

At the hostel I meet with a few of the nice people that I have spent time with over the last few days; almost all of them will be leaving in the morning and I will once again be alone. A few hours of whisky and beer later and the Thursday night Jazz Club is in full swing. Five of us decide to head out through the soaking and somewhat flooded streets of Asakusa to get some food. Tempura again for the third time this week; I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of it though.

After food it’s back to the hostel to catch the end of the Jazz Club washed down with a few cans of Suntory Strong Zero 9%.

In a City of the Future it is Difficult to Concentrate

Posted on 05/06/2014 by Luke

Breakfast from a Seven Eleven. The quality and selection of food in Japanese convenience stores is amazing. The Cheese Mushi Cake was actually quite pleasant; soft with a very light texture, softer than a sponge cake with a subtle hint of cheese. I wash it down with a blueberry yogurt drink. It is a wonderful time.

Today is laundry day; I grab some of the ‘free’ detergent from the reception and head up to the 4th floor of the hostel. The laundry room here is amazing. It costs me ¥200 to wash my clothes. Also in the laundry room random plugs litter the floor, there is a stone water fountain, and a bathtub full of colourful plastic balls.

I see Daisuke here, he is on his break and just chilling out in the laundry area. I ask him to take my photograph. Afterwards, he starts to pick up some of the balls and begins to throw them at me. We have a ‘fight’ for a short while before tidying up our multicoloured mess.

After laundry, I take a six minute train ride to Akihabara Electric Town. I go into a few of the shops looking specifically for models of Final Fantasy characters for a friend back home. In one shop I see Magic the Gathering cards next to the pornography. In another shop the lift is playing House of Cards by Radiohead. Elsewhere in Akihabara, the girl idol band AKB48 are doing a meet and greet, the queue of adult males is insane.

Inside the Club Sega arcade, elderly individuals sit alone whilst playing computer games, while men in suits attempt to win stuffed Pikachu’s from crane claw machines. Outside, a woman dressed in a maid costume hands out flyers for a maid cafe.

Akihabara is a little too much and the humidity is high today. I begin to feel a little dizzy so I head back to Asakusa. On my way back I see a sign saying, ‘In the stations, please refrain from putting a thing on the floor.’ At the hostel it’s 5 p.m. and Daisuke has just finished his shift. I join him in the lounge for a beer and he once again emphasises that I should go to the Robot Restaurant. Soon, I tell him.

I am invited out for a trip to Shibuya for some sightseeing and food. A group of six of us is randomly formed, including Conor, Grant, and Edwina from previous evenings; and we head out to Shibuya. This time I get the chance to see if people crossing the road looks any better during a busy evening surrounded by neon lights. I admit, it is a little better than the day time, but it is still just people crossing a road.

There are some quality English signs here in Shibuya. The highlights for me are a restaurant called the Raj Mahal, a dress shop called 1000% Wedding, and a drinking establishment called Gaspanic.

We search a while in Shibuya until we find a restaurant that we all agree on. We buy our meal tickets from the vending machine outside; I order the ‘no pork’ vegetarian ramen and a beer for ¥1380. After ordering we go inside, sit down and hand over our tickets. Eventually our food comes out. It looks pretty good and tastes pretty good. My ramen contains cabbage, spring onions, beansprouts, and noodles in an unidentifiable broth.

After lunch, the group splits. Conor and the others head off to check out a love hotel. Edwina, Grant and I head back to the hostel. On the train there is a sign advertising Suntory Strong Zero. The sign, for no apparent reason says, ‘Suntory Strong Zero 9% Wash You!’ On the way back to the hostel we stop off at the five-storey convenience store. At the store I buy a 135ml can of Asahi for ¥95. It is the smallest can of beer I have ever seen. I also buy a bottle of my favourite Japanese whisky.

At the hostel we do some drinking. Eventually the others return and we regroup for a few games of cards and some bad magic tricks. The night ends at around 2 a.m. We make plans for the following morning then go our separate ways to sleep.

Niagara Falls and Karaoke!

Posted on 04/06/2014 by Luke

I am standing in the panoramic observation deck on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and the view is amazing. I am here with two of the people I was drinking with last night. Daryl, a guy from Tennessee, Ollie, a guy from England, and Edwina, an Australian who we met this morning in the hostel. At the ground level of the building, for no apparent reason, there is a tourist information office selling onions. We leave the Government Building and wander Shinjuku in search of food.

We stop at a random bakery in a train station. I buy two of something that I am told is fish, and some green tea in a bottle for a total of ¥399. The green tea comes with a complimentary tea bag. We walk to Shinjuku Central Park and sit on a bench in front of Shinjuku Niagara Falls. I eat my fish bread, it is very disappointing and I regret purchasing two. After we eat, we wander the park and eventually find a stone gazebo with a bench and table. Ollie randomly has a deck of playing cards, so the four of us sit for a few hours playing cards. It is the first time I forget that I am in Japan.

We eventually leave the park, leave Shinjuku, and head back. We stop off at the biggest convenience store I have ever seen, with five floors selling just about everything. I finally find a bottle of 12-year-old Hibiki for ¥4361; they also sell the much rarer 21-year-old Hibiki, for the so low price of ¥17,047; which is about 50% cheaper than back home.

After a brief rest, Edwina, Daryl and I head out for some food. Inside a restaurant we order five or six dishes between us and share everything. We eat deep fried fish paste, deep fried tofu, deep fried squid, deep fried mackerel, deep fried crab, and some delicious vegetable I’ve never heard of before; the vegetable is deep fried, of course. We are also served a complimentary Japanese omelette. The food is really good. It comes to a total of ¥4600 between the three of us.

After the meal we head back to the hostel and regroup with the others. I chat with Daisuke, the Japanese guy that works here. He is making a joke about the check-in time being 3 p.m. at the hostel. He says, “3 o’clock chicken time!” Then starts to make chicken noises. He repeats this joke probably one hundred times, before it starts to get old. He also teaches me a new word, ‘nomihodai’, meaning all-you-can-drink.

Eventually it is time to head out and we take the short five minute walk to the karaoke building. Somehow Daryl has managed to round up a total of 17 people. We are given a private nomihodai room with a wonderful view of the neon Tokyo skyline. In our room there is a phone that calls reception, which is used for ordering beer. We order fifteen beers at a time.

We finally figure out how to change the instructions to English, and the karaoke begins. Randomly, Pop is Dead is one of the 22 Radiohead songs available. My rendition of Fake Plastic Trees scores ‘92% accurate rating!’

Pictures are taken and pitchers of beer are delivered to our room every five minutes. We sing, we laugh, we drink. Eventually we are all very drunk. I vaguely remember us all singing Hey Jude, but I don’t remember much else. After what was probably four hours of solid karaoke, I return to the hostel and sleep off an incredible evening.

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Monthly Archives: June 2014