On the 31st, while waiting for the arrival of the highly anticipated Eletronic Tribe New Year's party, me and the guys sans Natalie made our way to the Geek Town of Tokyo; Akihabara. When we got there, we were all quite hungry so after a bit of searching, we stumbled into a Gyudon shop (meat, sauce, and rice). Andy's eyes instantly lit up when he noticed that the place offered a food challenge (always a bad idea). The food challenge basically a HUGE bowl of rice, two eggs, a lot of meat, some Kim Chi, and some veggies that had to be finished with no time limit. A picture of the winner is posted on the wall. I think that Andy got through about 2/3 to 3/4 of it. Not bad, but it was definitely a fail. I couldn't do even that much myself. You really have to like rice. Yuck. After that (and some time in the bathroom for the others), we explored the area a bit. The area was crowded. Lot's of anime and manga. It was a happening area. Being an anime fan (and my friends not being anime fans), I think I would've enjoyed the area more on my own. Otherwise, it was fun to see some of the more interesting Technologies that Japan has to offer. I guess the world is really into 3d things and we got to seem some pretty amazing things in that respect. I don't think we truly did justice to the area considering how crowded and filled with things it was. Maybe next time. Afterwards, we headed Ginza to the Sony showcase room where Sony shows off their newest technology for everyone to try out. It was pretty fun. The best part was that right outside of the Sony store, there was a free outdoors foot spa. After dipping our feet into the hot water, we all felt refreshed and ready to go for the party.
And that brings us to the party. We all got ready and did some really fun pre-drinking. We had liquor and all of the trimmings. We headed out to the venue around 9 and basically had an amazing time. I don't remember all that much but only that everyone was joyous, the music was really great (dubstep), and that the green curry was awesome. Many things happened and my memory for it is pretty clouded. It was an epic way to start the New Year and an epic way to mark the middle of our vacation.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
New Year's in Edo Part II
On the 30th, Me and Nat had planned a day trip out to nearby Kamakura and then to Yokohama. Kamakura is one of the ancient capitals of Japan and so it's littered with history and temples. Yokohama, Japan's 2nd largest city, is famous for being one of the great international ports and thus contains Japan's most famous Chinatown. So, we all tried to get up early once again to take advantage of some truly amazing weather. Although the train ride was long, I think everyone enjoyed it. Strangely, one of the highlights of the trip finding a touchscreen vending machine. I can't describe it except that it was straight out of Japan (oh wait). Hopefully, Matt will post a video of it. Our first stop in Kamakura was the lovely Hasedera Temple. This one was really picturesque. Nestled on a hill, it offered a breathtaking Mediterranean-esque view of Kamakura. Combined with the clear blue skies, I think it had to be one of the nice temples I've been to. I think that's saying a lot. The temple also had an enormous wooden Buddha and a very interesting grotto for visitors to make their way through. We had a good time taking in the beauty of Japanese architecture. After a quick convenient store lunch (essential to any trip to Japan), we made our way to Kamakura's famous bronze cast Buddha statue. It's an enormous Buddha and is the second largest of it's kind in Japan. I thought that it was pretty awesome and you could even go inside to see the details of it's inner workings. I think the rest of the group was a bit underwhelmed by it however in that there were a lot of people there and we had just seen another giant Buddha statue in the previous temple. But hey, that's the way it goes in Japan. On way back to the station, we picked up some delicious craft beer and then headed out to Yokohama.
In Yokohama, some people recommended that we go to the Ramen museum so we headed there. Yokohama doesn't really impress much in all honesty. It seems small and lacking in vitality, especially in comparison to nearby Tokyo. It felt like Houston's downtown...lacking. Even the Ramen museum seemed to be crappy. Upon entering, we were greeted with an all Japanese museum and a space that consisted mostly of an RC car race track and model cars on the walls. Fortunately, after our initial disappointment, we made our way downstairs to the real highlight of the museum. Downstairs consisted of a pretty awesome recreation of post war Tokyo, replete with little shops and artifacts. It was a very faithful and fun recreation, and each area was basically a Ramen restaurant. We decided that it was like Fun Plex, but more awesome. We even got to watch a pair of possibly gay juggler's do a very impressive..well juggling act. That was definitely the highlight but instead of eating Ramen at the Ramen museum like we should've, we decided to go get some Chinese food in Chinatown. My intention was for us to eat some authentic Japanese style Chinese food but I don't think it worked out the way I had planned. We should've looked up some recommendations. We got to the area, which was a hassle to get to, and explored the rather impressive Chinatown. Everything was brightly colored and would've been really nice to explore if it wasn't really late and if we weren't really hungry. After a few minutes of walking, some Chinese lady sold us on a 90 minute all you can eat affair for 18 bucks. Everyone agreed and we all made our way upstairs and ordered about 30 things in the first 5 minutes. I think that that pissed off the Chinese ladies that we were working there and they proceeded to give us some god awful service. But hey, you said all you can eat! It didn't help that the food was mediocre and that we ordered liver on accident. It all just reaffirmed my belief is the Denny' s of world cuisine. "Hey, we have meat...let's add grease and MSG!"
In Yokohama, some people recommended that we go to the Ramen museum so we headed there. Yokohama doesn't really impress much in all honesty. It seems small and lacking in vitality, especially in comparison to nearby Tokyo. It felt like Houston's downtown...lacking. Even the Ramen museum seemed to be crappy. Upon entering, we were greeted with an all Japanese museum and a space that consisted mostly of an RC car race track and model cars on the walls. Fortunately, after our initial disappointment, we made our way downstairs to the real highlight of the museum. Downstairs consisted of a pretty awesome recreation of post war Tokyo, replete with little shops and artifacts. It was a very faithful and fun recreation, and each area was basically a Ramen restaurant. We decided that it was like Fun Plex, but more awesome. We even got to watch a pair of possibly gay juggler's do a very impressive..well juggling act. That was definitely the highlight but instead of eating Ramen at the Ramen museum like we should've, we decided to go get some Chinese food in Chinatown. My intention was for us to eat some authentic Japanese style Chinese food but I don't think it worked out the way I had planned. We should've looked up some recommendations. We got to the area, which was a hassle to get to, and explored the rather impressive Chinatown. Everything was brightly colored and would've been really nice to explore if it wasn't really late and if we weren't really hungry. After a few minutes of walking, some Chinese lady sold us on a 90 minute all you can eat affair for 18 bucks. Everyone agreed and we all made our way upstairs and ordered about 30 things in the first 5 minutes. I think that that pissed off the Chinese ladies that we were working there and they proceeded to give us some god awful service. But hey, you said all you can eat! It didn't help that the food was mediocre and that we ordered liver on accident. It all just reaffirmed my belief is the Denny' s of world cuisine. "Hey, we have meat...let's add grease and MSG!"
New Year's in Edo Part I
So, for my 10 day winter vacation, as previously mentioned, my friends (Andy, Matt, Anup, Atit) came all the out here to the other side of the world to spend their hard earned vacation and money and visit me and Nat. And there's not much to say in that it was truly a good vacation, of epic proportions. It always is! In short, we did so much and saw so much in such a short span that it's hard to really do this trip justice in one condensed (1.5 weeks late) post. But I'll try my best...
On Tuesday the 28th, we boarded an overnight bus all the way to Tokyo. Considering that it was an 11 hour bus ride, I think that me and Nat survived half decently, with the help of sleeping pills and a long day of work behind us. When we arrived in Shinjuku, Tokyo, it was basically immediately apparent just how much more ridiculous Tokyo is in respect to everywhere else I've been. From Shinjuku, we boarded the a train to Harajuku and made our way to the apartment that we were staying at. When we got there, we met up with the guys and it was really good to seem some familiar faces after being in Japan for 6 months now. That day, we all ended up going to Shibuya, one of the biggest fashion and entertainment areas within Tokyo (and therefore, the world). Shibuya is famous for being sort of the Times Square of Tokyo. It has the world's busiest crosswalk, and honestly it didn't disappoint. Even outside of peak hours and during the holidays, the crosswalk is crawling with people going about their daily lights. Crossing it is almost dizzying and it's something that is impossible to experience in Texas, or probably in the states for that matter. Crossing it was fun, and we even attempted to have a 5 man flash mob with Natalie filming it. Worst Flash Mob ever AND we tried to do the Macarena. It was pretty embarrassing, but in a hilarious way. The rest of the day was spent exploring some of the quirkier stores of Japan such as Tokyu hands. We also made our way to the TMG tower which offers a free view of Tokyo from the 40 something floor. It was a really nice view, but otherwise, it was just a run of the mill tourist attraction. Afterwards, I was really disappointed in myself and Nat in that we took my friends to a very, very mediocre Nomihodai, ate very, very mediocre Ramen, and went to a very, very mediocre bar afterwards. Of course, being around fun people, we still had a blast but I would've liked to show them into some nice places. But hey, we were new in town as well (and still relatively terrible at Japanese) Oh well, and this was when the USA chants started.
On the 29th, we all tried to wake up as early as possible so that we could make it in time to see some fish action in Japan's largest fish market; Tsukiji. There's not much to say about the fish market except that it stinks, looks like a fish market, and basically looks like dump (as it should). Yeah, it was interesting to watch but at the end of the day, we came there for the Sushi...and man, that was incredible. You know the sushi is going to be incredible when most restaurants have a 4 hour wait. Yes, 4 fucking hours! These shops get the fish directly from source. It's as fresh as it gets. Enthusiasts swear by the sushi at the market. Although we didn't have the patience for a 4 hour wait, we still ate at a quality sushi restaurant with about an hour wait. The sushi was expensive but worth every penny (or 1 yen coin I should say). Prepared directly in front of you, when you take the first bite, you instantly know that this is the best sushi you've ever had. It melts in your mouth like a piece of warm pie or something. The freshness is intoxicating and the rice is prepared to perfection. Overall, it was an incredible lunch and being the snobs that we are, we're all going to laugh at all other sushi out there. After the lunch, I had planned to take a ferry out to Asakusa (Tokyo's pre-war center of everything) but since it was vacation, it was closed. Instead we had to walk our way to the nearest station with a brief stop in the ever entertaining Don Quijote store of all things madness. Asakusa ended up being pretty cool. It had a really beautiful temple and plenty of things to take pictures of. I'm sure the guys enjoyed it. My favorite part, however, was when Atit got taken advantage of in a side alley. Some priest looking man came up to him, handed Atit a golden card, gave Atit a pen and paper, and told Atit to give him 10 bucks for it (all in the span of 3 seconds). It was pretty hilarious to see the look of confusion on Atit's face. After the temple, me and Nat spotted the holy grail of American food chain's; Denny's! Being the Americans that we are, we decided that eggs, bacon, hash browns, pancakes, and grease buckets were too good to pass up, even in Japan. Much to our surprise however, Denny's in Japan is lacking everything that makes it American. Shockingly, there are no eggs, bacon, or pancakes to be had. Where was my bucket of grease? I so badly wanted to eat grease with my ladle. Instead, everything was replaced with HAMBUG steaks and you know, typical Japanafied western fare. Not that it was bad, it just wasn't Denny's. But to be honest, I loved the experience of going to Denny's and not having Denny's at all. Bizarro Land, Japan is. Afterwards, we all decided that All you can drink Karaoke would be in our best interests. We went back to Shinjuku and found the best Karaoke there is; Manikeneko. All I have to say is that I think everyone enjoyed it. We we truly the loud Americans. Noone sang, only yelled. It was fun and it was one of those nights when you just don't quite remember what Happened. Let's just leave at that.
On Tuesday the 28th, we boarded an overnight bus all the way to Tokyo. Considering that it was an 11 hour bus ride, I think that me and Nat survived half decently, with the help of sleeping pills and a long day of work behind us. When we arrived in Shinjuku, Tokyo, it was basically immediately apparent just how much more ridiculous Tokyo is in respect to everywhere else I've been. From Shinjuku, we boarded the a train to Harajuku and made our way to the apartment that we were staying at. When we got there, we met up with the guys and it was really good to seem some familiar faces after being in Japan for 6 months now. That day, we all ended up going to Shibuya, one of the biggest fashion and entertainment areas within Tokyo (and therefore, the world). Shibuya is famous for being sort of the Times Square of Tokyo. It has the world's busiest crosswalk, and honestly it didn't disappoint. Even outside of peak hours and during the holidays, the crosswalk is crawling with people going about their daily lights. Crossing it is almost dizzying and it's something that is impossible to experience in Texas, or probably in the states for that matter. Crossing it was fun, and we even attempted to have a 5 man flash mob with Natalie filming it. Worst Flash Mob ever AND we tried to do the Macarena. It was pretty embarrassing, but in a hilarious way. The rest of the day was spent exploring some of the quirkier stores of Japan such as Tokyu hands. We also made our way to the TMG tower which offers a free view of Tokyo from the 40 something floor. It was a really nice view, but otherwise, it was just a run of the mill tourist attraction. Afterwards, I was really disappointed in myself and Nat in that we took my friends to a very, very mediocre Nomihodai, ate very, very mediocre Ramen, and went to a very, very mediocre bar afterwards. Of course, being around fun people, we still had a blast but I would've liked to show them into some nice places. But hey, we were new in town as well (and still relatively terrible at Japanese) Oh well, and this was when the USA chants started.
On the 29th, we all tried to wake up as early as possible so that we could make it in time to see some fish action in Japan's largest fish market; Tsukiji. There's not much to say about the fish market except that it stinks, looks like a fish market, and basically looks like dump (as it should). Yeah, it was interesting to watch but at the end of the day, we came there for the Sushi...and man, that was incredible. You know the sushi is going to be incredible when most restaurants have a 4 hour wait. Yes, 4 fucking hours! These shops get the fish directly from source. It's as fresh as it gets. Enthusiasts swear by the sushi at the market. Although we didn't have the patience for a 4 hour wait, we still ate at a quality sushi restaurant with about an hour wait. The sushi was expensive but worth every penny (or 1 yen coin I should say). Prepared directly in front of you, when you take the first bite, you instantly know that this is the best sushi you've ever had. It melts in your mouth like a piece of warm pie or something. The freshness is intoxicating and the rice is prepared to perfection. Overall, it was an incredible lunch and being the snobs that we are, we're all going to laugh at all other sushi out there. After the lunch, I had planned to take a ferry out to Asakusa (Tokyo's pre-war center of everything) but since it was vacation, it was closed. Instead we had to walk our way to the nearest station with a brief stop in the ever entertaining Don Quijote store of all things madness. Asakusa ended up being pretty cool. It had a really beautiful temple and plenty of things to take pictures of. I'm sure the guys enjoyed it. My favorite part, however, was when Atit got taken advantage of in a side alley. Some priest looking man came up to him, handed Atit a golden card, gave Atit a pen and paper, and told Atit to give him 10 bucks for it (all in the span of 3 seconds). It was pretty hilarious to see the look of confusion on Atit's face. After the temple, me and Nat spotted the holy grail of American food chain's; Denny's! Being the Americans that we are, we decided that eggs, bacon, hash browns, pancakes, and grease buckets were too good to pass up, even in Japan. Much to our surprise however, Denny's in Japan is lacking everything that makes it American. Shockingly, there are no eggs, bacon, or pancakes to be had. Where was my bucket of grease? I so badly wanted to eat grease with my ladle. Instead, everything was replaced with HAMBUG steaks and you know, typical Japanafied western fare. Not that it was bad, it just wasn't Denny's. But to be honest, I loved the experience of going to Denny's and not having Denny's at all. Bizarro Land, Japan is. Afterwards, we all decided that All you can drink Karaoke would be in our best interests. We went back to Shinjuku and found the best Karaoke there is; Manikeneko. All I have to say is that I think everyone enjoyed it. We we truly the loud Americans. Noone sang, only yelled. It was fun and it was one of those nights when you just don't quite remember what Happened. Let's just leave at that.
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