Friday, March 9, 2012

Japan Feb 2012 Part 9

The best thing to do after flashing Microsoft Japan and having an injured knee?  Walking far too long around Tokyo.  Good job for me not doing something sensible like sit at an arcade for a few hours.

Space Harrier - Main Theme

But first I need to gain a horrible sinus headache from flash weather changes.

The horrible headache had started right about the time I got to Shinagawa and the shower hadn't helped at all.  Luckily the Prince Hotel had a mini shopping center downstairs so I stopped at the pharmacy.  Armed with my DS's dictionary, I told the lady I had a sinus headache.  She looked incredibly confused.  I showed her sinus in my dictionary.  I pinched the top of my nose.

"You have headache?" (in English)

For once my Japanese didn't fail me, "Yes I have a headache.  The weather has been changing so I have a headache from this."  "I don't know what you mean, but this is the best medicine for headaches."  So I grabbed the mystical eastern medicine and a bottled water.  I'm joking by the way, it's just Ibuprofen. It worked wonders after about an hour.

So with my still screwed up knee and no dumb tourist backpack or bag of any kind I started walking from Shinagawa.  I decided I'd head up and look at my old campus.

Head to a large Book Off in Shirokane and look for Jojo stuff.

クワバラくわばら。

Try and stop this headache with Vitamin Water.

And travel back down to Meguro station to see how Yuri was doing at work.  She ended up not being at work, and emailed me to say she had stayed home all day.  She was sick and probably wasn't going to go to the hotel.  That meant I had an expensive hotel room with a view of Microsoft Japan to myself. Maybe I should just take this Jojo and go back to the room and read while watching what I could of Tokyo Lights.

I then got an email from U1 that said I could meet him during his lunch break if I could get the fuck over to east Tokyo as fast as possible.  So I did.

My station picture and I didn't actually get the name of the station in the picture.  It was a doozy of name though.  Mozen-nakacho.  We stopped at mister donut and had a nice talk.  He promised to meet me again tomorrow.  I told him good luck with work.  I asked if there was anything around here.  He said he kind of didn't like the area.  At this time I remembered "holy shit like a million bands are playing a show in Shibuya (shit)."   I then decided I wasn't going back to Love Hotel Hill to that venue this trip.  So I started walking what I guessed was the middle of Tokyo.

I called and wished Yuri a good night.  I saw a bus stop for "Kinshicho-eki-mae".  I couldn't figure out where the hell the fairly major station was.  I kept walking over a nice bridge with a good view of Sky Tree, from now on ever present anywhere in north or east greater Tokyo area.

RC Succession - Transistor Radio

An hour of hobbling brought me to Tokyo station.  I got on and headed back to the hotel.  The 7 i and holdings (711's real name) was stuffed with Chinese.  I decided I'd get dinner later.  I went upstairs and enjoyed the night view and read my random volume of Jojo Stone Ocean.  After two more tries to the convenience store it was finally empty after midnight.  I got a bento and ate it intending to use the on demand service provided by the hotel.  Turns out the selection sucked and each movie cost 1000 yen.  My suspicion confirmed the adult sections was significantly larger and was the main focus, Transmorphers just being a front. They also had a running preview for Drive Angry, which really I would have been ready to throw down a thousand yen for.  Too bad it was just telling me I could watch it, NEXT MONTH.  I don't get you Japanese advertising, heavily advertising things I can't have.


Nintendo still gets it like no one else.  I want a 3DS more everytime I see that commercial.  Bentou'd and Jojo I fell asleep.  I woke up early with the rising sun blazing my eyes.  It felt great.  I rolled over and relaxed.  My knee decided to still be screwed up when I got out of bed.  This was going to be my last full day in Tokyo.  I was going to Shimo-kitazawa eventually to meet a friend.  I still needed to find the PS2 Jojo game.  I still wanted to pay money for jeans.  I hoped Yuri would feel better by the evening.

 Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die (愛どんなはない)

It had turned back to rain when I left.  I headed for Shinjuku the only major city I hadn't really visited yet outside of the dash to find a place to stay the second night.  Armed in my jacket the rain didn't bother me at all.   Shinjuku I like more than Shibuya, it still has the problem of their not being anywhere great to eat.  Maybe the "alternative" Tomato Ramen for GIRLS place is good.  Yuri said it was different.  I took my time getting there and it not a lot was open when I got there.

 Gotta get into that pachinko early.

I kept ducking into the many Yodobashi Cameras around the west exit to get out the rain.  I noticed the Sega Word Arcade didn't have anything that I felt worth putting one hundred yen in.  Nowhere had the Jojo game.  That was proving to be more frustrating than I expected.  I got on the train for Shimokita.  I got an email saying to meet at the south exit.  I said I'd be there in 15.  He replied we're meeting at 1300.  I looked at my emails.  It did indeed say 1300.  I decided to try and find jeans before then.

Shimokitazawa to borrow a friend's phrase, is obsessed with Americana.  It also has ton of used clothes, which at this point was useless to me.  I couldn't look for used jeans because 95% of them are Levis which pinch me in ways that aren't pleasant.  Maybe I wasn't in the best place to look for jeans, but I was running out of places I knew in Tokyo to look.  There was Ueno, but I've always felt like I'm missing the best stores in that area and never had a guide to show me how to navigate it.  I've never had one for Shimokita either, but merely going around the disorganized mess and you'll find something.  Not the coolest stores that are probably unmarked and in apartment buildings, but some stores.  The 700 yen store is amazing for just about anything if you have the diligence to look through it.  I love my bootleg ACDC shirt from there.  A friend has quite a fine jacket also from that store.  Plus everything is 700 yen!

I passed by what I think were Japanese Juggalos.  I couldn't confirm because me brain overloaded and died for about 5 minutes.

In looking for jeans I have two stories.  The first is while in I think GGD.  I was examining a pair of jeans, and a clerk came up, "Oh these are loose jeans so you must be here to get a change of style am I right?"  I was baffled and the only words I could think of were in English and not exactly polite.  The other was in the one jeans shop I found.  The clerk didn't even say irrashaimase when I entered.  I pulled out and looked at one pair of jeans that were around 200 dollars.  They were nice but I wanted to see what else they had.  As soon as I folded and set them back down the guy came over and vigorously shook the jeans and folded them right next to me.  I immediately left.  I guess he didn't want me spending 200 dollars in his store.

 I later remembered a similar experience at the same store about 4 years ago.  You might say 200 dollars is a lot for jeans, but my criteria is that I absolutely love them and I'll wear them probably every day for at least two years.  It's not like I'm going to spend the money on liquor!

at 1300 I went to the south exit to wait for my friend.  At 1315 I started finishing up all the stores I could on the south side.  At 1325 he finally showed up.  We went to a ramen shop where he sat one seat away from me and spoke too loud for a small establishment.  We got caught up on each other.  He gave me looks about being in Japan for a week.  I kept thoughts to myself. 

He accompanied me as we got lost on the North side.  I regretted not buying a pair of shoes I saw.  I also felt okay not having to carry shoes all day.  I couldn't find jeans on the north side.  The best pair I found had zippers for pockets and that would get uncomfortable if  had to stick my hands into them.  My friend said he was heading for Shibuya, I figured SMKTZW held nothing left for me, certainly not jeans.  I went along.  He suggested I try Gap and Zara.   In Shibuya there was unrest!

Rin Toshite Tsugure - Telecastic Fake Show
A woman was yelling into a microphone, scramble crossing was closed.  I couldn't tell what the hell she was saying.  I don't think native Japanese speakers knew what she was saying.  The signs I could read had no unified message and were in protest to all the things protests are about.  Half the parade seemed to happy to be angry.  I couldn't find jeans in Shibuya either.  In protest of Shibuya I fled on the Inokashira Line, the most depressing train line in Tokyo, to Kichijoji.

KCJJ was once the number one place people wanted to live.  It's got shopping, it's got restaurants, it's got bars, it's got a beautiful park that was useless to me on such a dreary day.  After an hour of running around I was jeans less but one shop finally had the Jojo game.  I declared myself "done with shopping."  I went down to the muji and sat on the couch and missed when I had my own muji couch to sit on.  I wondered if I even still dreamed of owning a muji couch again.  Muji is owned by Seiyu (home to the GROCERY STORE THAT CLOSES AT 8PM).  Seiyu is owned by Walmart.  That is how Walmart infiltrated Japan.

I got an email from U1 to meet in Higashi-Nakano.  I headed over and had coffee.  I still hadn't heard from Yuri.  U1 and his lovely Finnish girl were meeting his friend at 7pm.  I had leant them DRIVE the first time I saw them hoping they'd like it.  They didn't bring it with them, but I didn't push the issue.  I got to hear what Finnish sounded like and her interesting work experience.  We headed to Shinjuku.   I knew as soon as we sat down at the restaurant Yuri would contact me.

His friend was confused as to why I was there.  I felt slightly out of place.  He was a high school friend U1 had randomly met in Meguro.  He continued to feel confused at my presence.  He seemed slightly more relaxed when I said I could speak Japanese.  This was the only time the whole trip my Japanese didn't fail me.  He asked my hobbies.  I asked U1 if I should tell him the truth, or was I immediately going to get shut down.  I went truthfully, "video games, punk rock, walking around Tokyo."  He didn't seem to mind.  I said, "I got engaged this week."  He turned to U1 and went, "So when are you two going to get engaged."  "It's a little quick to suggest that."  Turned out he was a florist.  I pondered how he acted around customers.

Yuri said she'd meet me back in Nakano.  It was my last night.  I wanted Yami Yami again.  I was going to get Yami Yami again.  I gave my farewells and well wishes to the 3 infront of me.  I told his girlfriend, "I hope you don't have a messy breakup."  I meant it sincerely, whether they break up or not.  She was a good match for U1 it seemed from my brief time.

Everytime I'd seen U1 it picked up right where we left off. It never felt like I had been gone six months or a year.  It immediately felt like I was back living in Japan, or that I had never left.  I wished him the best of luck with his new job.  I wondered when the next time to pick up would be with hope and dread.

Yuri stopped by the korroke bakery on the Nakano Sun Road.  I recommend it if you like korroke.  Her mom always tells her to buy some when she's in Nakano.  If you can read French you can admire the nonsense French along the outside sidewall.  I didn't even stop inside the Broadway, though I had 10 minutes before 8 to do so.  I was still done shopping and looking at things.

Yami Yami is open until 2am (unlike the grocery store.)  It was still amazing.  The staff being completely different didn't effect the taste. I was glad for that.  I was taking in as much Tokyo as I could with quiet melancholy.  I was trying to relate all the boring things that had happened since I saw her last.  I was trying to treasure the moment while I could.  While we could.


Don Quixote  Theme
Before heading to the station we headed to the Don Quixote.  I needed to make one last pass for souvenirs.  I found Nakano Hair Wax for all of 400 yen and screamed (it usually goes for 1200 yen and that's what I had paid for it at a drug store a few days ago.)  I considered getting an ugly track suit.  There were no souvenirs to be had.

We returned to the hotel.  Yuri was overjoyed you could, if you pressed your face to the glass looking left, see Tokyo Tower.

 Next Time: Oimachi, to the airport, and Final Thoughts to Part 10!

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