Stella picks up offerings for our host in Japan

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Day 0 - Preflight Fun

The night before our flight at about 2am, Stella's friend that we are staying with gives her a long list of American snacks (unavaliable in Japan) he'd like brought to him. Once all the packing was done we headed to Safeway in search of Pop Tarts and Fruit Rollups. His list consisted of much more but we only had so much extra room in our bags since Stella's suitcase was already being occupied by a large box of Captain Crunch that our host asked for earlier.

Stella reveals the state of unprepairedness of our nation's graveyard shift Safeway employees in case of a terrorist attack on the checkout computers

Once we had collected all of our goods Stella managed to break the checkout register by pressing "GIFT CARD" instead of "DEBIT". Two weeks of "Press Clear Button Over And Over Again" training was no match for Stella's awesome hacking skills since it took two clerks about 6 minutes to fix the stupid thing.

Sorry I'm starting the blog so late but I will have time to write more later.

Next up is DAY 1 - The Flight...

The Shin-Poo as drawn by Stella Kim

Ok time to get this blog up to date.

Day 1 - The Flight

So only one photo for this section because my camera was up in the damn overhead bin the whole flight and because there isn't much to take photos of in the plane anyway.

Special thanks to Sean for driving us to the airport at 8am. Once we got there we ended up in the United line for far too long because the line we got in only had one person working and she was busy with a customer who was having a huge crisis or some shit like that because she was looking stressed as hell and using their phone a bunch. Finally after a long while they thought to start openning other windows for all of us waiting. We paid a couple extra bux to upgrade our seats to Economy Plus for extra leg room for our 10 hour flight. The girl made a point to warn us that we were getting emergency exit seats but she failed to mention that the seats were right next to the only two toilets on the plane. The flight it self was rather uneventful. Most time was spent doing Sudokos with Stella, joking about the people using the bathroom, and draining my PSP's battery playing Burnout. Everytime this one really fat lady would go to the bathroom Stella would remark that it was like a "clown car". We awaited the delivery of the Shin-Poo (the truest form of Poo ever to exist) but never really got it.

Once we arrived in Narita Airport we boarded the train that would take us to Shibuya station in Tokyo.

Blurry picture of Shibuya intersection

When we arrived at Shibuya station I still didn't feel like I was in another country but when we came above ground and I was exposed to all the tall buildings with crazy LCD monitors and I saw the famously busy Shibuya Crossing before me it started to sink in.

Japan's cellphones are much cuter than those in the states

Our first stop in Shibuya was AU (a cellphone company) to reactivate Stella's old prepaid phone. Shitty thing was since she hadn't used it in over 6 months the phone was deactivated and they had recently changed their policy so that a passport wasn't considered an acceptable form of ID to reactivate the phone.

A romantic mood is set by slot-machine light in the Love Hotel room

After failing at AU we decided to find a Love Hotel so we could nap and shower before going to meet up with some game industry friends of Stella's for drinks. After a little bit of getting lost in side streets we finally found the Love Hotel district which is signified by an archway with a large Pac-Man with shaved head stubble?!?!? (I'll be sure to get a photo of that). The hotel we went to had no front desk, just a little vending type machine with pictures of the different room types and you just press the button for the type of room and amount of time you want. A key drops down and you go to your room. Once you enter the room a machine on the wall has you pay for the room. The room was small but nice and warm and it had a TV, shower, decent sized bed, and most importantly a slot machine with an LCD monitor playing N64-quality realtime graphics of some guy wandering the desert or something. After waking up late from our nap we jumped in the shower and tried to head out to meet up for drinks but couldn't open the door. I guess we overstayed our time and the machine insisted on being fed another 1300 yen. Once we inserted the money the door unlocked and we were free.

Drinks with the game guys was fun. Because of the jetlag I was barely there but everyone seemed nice enough. Got to play some cute Japanese-style weird game some guy at Sony was working on for PSP. We left early to make sure we didn't miss the last train out of Shibuya and headed towards the Andrew's (Stella's friend) house that we are staying at.

Makes perfect sense to me

On the short walk from the station to Andrew's house we passed a Mos Burger (Japanese fast food) and decided to grab a little something to eat since we hadn't eaten since the plane. May I just say that I am in love with the automatic doors in this country. They have little buttons on the side of them that say "Push" and you have to push them to open from the outside. Not exactly sure why they are that way but I think it's cool. Something about pressing the little button lightly and having the door smoothly open for you feels awesome. Also Japanese people understand English so well (fought my urge to use the word "good" here). Want proof check picture above and below.

Awesome ad on train

Totally cool Engrish huh? Anyway, Andrew's house is nice. Cold but the bedrooms have heaters which make things just fine. Squater toilet with normal seat cover is a bit cramped (photo to come later). The futons that he has for us are comfy so all is happy.

I am getting tired so I will try to catch up more tomorrow.

Pretty lights in Shinjuku

Day 2 - Shopping in Shinjuku

Ok time to really rush through some shit cause my memory is starting to fade so I want to get up to where I am today.

After our first night we woke up with little jetlag because we made sure to stay up late the night before. Jumped into a fucking freezing shower and then headed towards Shinjuku station to see some stores.

Amazing costumes

Department stores in Japan are pretty nuts. All of them are at least 7 stories tall and each floor is very specific. Also they are super heated yet the Japanese seem to have no trouble walking around in all the layers they have on to keep warm outside. Enjoy the picture above of some crazy costumes including Stella in a fetching Poodle Hat.

For dinner we had Japanese sushi which is nice because the fish is so fresh but I have to say I really do miss the rolls from the states.

Stella enjoys a nasty Japanese take on steak

Day 3 - New Years Eve

On NYE we headed out to a little cafe type place for a quick breakfast before checking into our room at the Century Hyatt Hotel. The cafe had many things on the menu that looked something like American food but most involved some sort of nasty addition such as a half cooked egg on top or mayo where it doesn't belong. I decided to get the only thing on the menu that seemed to be close to normal Japanese food (Teriyaki something). Stella went for the "Hamburger Steak" (pictured above). While you eat Looney Toons are played on TVs above your head with pop music playing over it. Not quite sure why.

Huge chandeliers inside the lobby of the Century Hyatt Hotel

After lunch we checked into the hotel. There were many one night guests checking in along with us. Our room key looked pretty awesome:

Old looking room key

Our room was suprisingly large and very nice. We took a shower and relaxed for a little while before heading back out to Shibuya for NYE dinner.

Yakiniku - Korean for tasty girlled meat

For dinner we had some of the tastiest food I've eaten in while at a place called Gyu-kaku. The food is called Yakiniku and it's from Korea. Basically your table has a small grill mounted in the center and you are given two hours during which you can keep ordering more and more meats and veggies to put on the grill. My favorite by far was beef strips covered in miso sauce. It's a nice relaxed dinner and you get a lot of control over the food since you cook it yourself. I highly suggest this to everyone that has a tongue.

More miso beef and garlic butter beef

So besides eating, my main form of entertainment here in Japan is marveling at the retarded, materialistic, pigeon toed skanks that seem to populate Tokyo. Every one of them armed with a Louis Vuitton bag that they sling from their elbow. These girls are pictures of stupidity and I plan to provide much more text, photos, and videos of them later on. For now enjoy this video of the girls behind us at dinner with their cellphones, food, and mirrors.

Happy New Year from Harajuku

Day 4 - New Years Day in Harajuku

On the morning of the 1st we woke up and watched some awesome Japanese TV covering this awesome 30 child teams doing three legged racing type shit with all the kids tied together. These kids could run fast as hell. After that we checked out of the hotel and headed down to Harajuku station to soak up the New Years excitement. Harajuku was packed with people visiting the shrine there.

Yummy sidewalk eats

The sidewalks were filled with tasty street foods which was an awesome surprise. After eating some meat on sticks and such we headed to a large toy store filled with cool toys. Here is just a taste:

Mmmmm... Ramen

After we finished at the toy store we went to what I'm told is one of the most famous Ramen houses in Tokyo. The line stretched down several flights of stairs. Well worth the wait though. For dinner we were stuck with Japanese fast food because everywhere else was closed for the holiday.

Before I end this day's section a little ode to awesome store names:

eh huh

and:

Roxor the Soxer

Oh yeah.

Spicy bean paste mother fucker

I know I have some back blogging to do but I have to write about what I did today...

LUNCH AT IRON CHEF CHINESE CHEN KENICHI'S RESTAURANT BITCHES!!!!!!!

Fuku-san!
Yes?
You're right the food is fucking amazing.

On to the photos:

Annin Tofu, and Happy Natural Jelly Tea (or some shit like that)

Ok. I'll get back to the normal stuff later but just wanted to mention that now since it was fucking dope. Wish I had seen Chen-san but the food was just amazing.

Entraince to Meiji-jingu Temple in Harajuku

No more posts based on days, now I'm going with topics.

Cultural Things in Tokyo - Meiji-jingu

The temple is burried inside the only patch of trees i've seen in all of Tokyo. The walk in was very beautiful.

View off the side of bridge on walk into temple

The temple was packed due to the New Years Festival. People come to pray for good luck in the coming year. Girls dress in traditional Japanese outfits for the celebration.

That guys isn't actually being creepy just a bad time to snap a photo

Once you get closer to the temple there are little fountains so you can clean your hands before entering. Most of the Japanese would also take a sip of the water.

Gotta get clean before entering the temple

Along the path in we passed walls of barrels of sake put there as offerings to the temple.

Sake wall

The final path in was lined with lanterns with the names of finacial contributors.

Final walk into temple

Inside the temple people wrote their wishes for the new year on little wood planks then hung them up on a wall.

Wish planks

Also people would get their fortune on a little sheet of paper and then tie it to a long clothes line type wire.

Forturnes

Inside the gates were dozens of booths setup selling all kinds of good luck charms such as arrows and little pouches. Each brings luck in a different arena of life from health to love. On the way out just in case things had become too spiritual a bunch of claw prize machines were setup. Oh Japan you slay me...

I hate these things

Everyone have a great year of the Dog.

Entrance to Asukusa temple

Cultural Things in Tokyo - Temple at Asukusa

Here are just some quick photos of the Buddhist Temple in Asukusa.

Inside the temple

Outside the temple along with the standard hand washing fountain was a little area where incense is burned and then people wave it onto themselves as a cleansing ritual. Watch this video.

Freaks outside of Harajuku station wait for tourists to snap photos of them

I'm just gonna throw up the last of my trips photos up now just to get it done since I've been back for a little while.

Tokyo is HUGE

Here ends my selection of photos. I have many more but I think these give a basic idea of my trip. I have some videos I'll post up once I have time to rotate some of them and such. In closing the last three things I did before going to the airport to leave Tokyo were:

1. Play Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike at an arcade
2. Use a squater toilet in the train station
3. Rode the JR one last time :(

Seems fitting huh?

Bye bye for now Japan. Hopefully I'll see you again this spring.

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