Arigato Mr. Roboto

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Konnichiwa everybody,

So after a one and a half hour flight delay I finally took off for Tokyo. Of course I had to sit between two obese men during the flight. So that sucked, but one of them turned out to be a Native American who was his tribe's chief. He was going to meet with some native Taiwanese people. So that was interesting. After the flight I had a long trip on the Metro to my hostel. I sat next to a Japanese business man (although here they just call themselves "business men") who was really excited to practice his English with me, but I had a really difficult time understanding anything he said. We talked for a half hour about maybe baseball, but I'm not sure. I think I heard him mention Matsui at one point there, but who knows. When he left he gave me a pack of Japanese gum (although here they just call it "gum") which was nice.

When I got to the hostel I met two girls, Farah and Anna, who I went out to dinner with and I threw back a few beers. We hit it off so we made plans to go around Tokyo the next day. Farah is fom Canada and Anna is from Germany. They were studying together in Northern Japan and were in Tokyo for vacation.

The next day we started out in Akihabara, which has a ton of cheap electronics stores. They close off an entire block where you can walk around and check out a bunch of stores and street vendors. This was sort of cool, except it got old after a while because everybody is selling the exact same stuff, which wasn't that neat to begin with. We also went to this place called Club Sega, which is a huge arcade. It is weird because in the U.S. arcades are generally for kids, but in Tokyo they are packed with adults and there are ash trays next to each joystick. You could also play slot machines and bet on virtual horse races.

Next we went to Harajuku which was disappointing. It was just a bunch of shopping, most of which were American stores. I think maybe I just didn't like it because I was also freezing cold. It is below freezing in Tokyo and the warmest article of clothing that I brought is a thin long sleeve pullover.

I was beginning to think Tokyo sucked until we arrived in Shinjuku. It was awesome. It was ubelievably crowded. I have never seen so many Suzuki students congregated into the same area. There were tons of huge neon light advertisements and giant TV screens. We went to an indoor market there with tons of free samples (I love free samples!) and cute little Japanese girls shouting about whatever they were selling. There was some great people watching too. All of the woman in Tokyo wear these short mini skirts with boots even though it is freezing outside. We kept walking around and ended up in the red light district, which was interesting, but nothing to write home about, so I won't.

After all that I was pretty tired so I went to bed instead of going to party in Roppongi. Oh well. Today I woke up and went to Shibuya to walk around for a few hours. It was also incredibly crowded with lots of shopping. I went to an arcade and played a fighting video d game against some kid who destroyed me. They love video games here. I liked this area lot, and there were of lots of huge record stores that I checked out.

So that was my quick glimpse of Tokyo. I think I need to stay for a longer period if I get a chance to come here again. I am pumped to hit the warm and sonny weather of Bangkok. Talk to you then. I am off to the airport. Sayonara.

-Jonathan

By the way, I apologize for any spelling and grammer errors. I have a crippling spelling disability and I majored in engineering in college. Also, sorry these pictures are lame. I'll work on taking better ones in the future.

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Photos

Akihabra
That's me on the street of all electronic stores in Akihabra

Shinjuku
That\'s me in Shinjuku with all of the huge signs and tv's and tons of little Japanese people.

Beer Girl in Shinjuku
This girl loved her job. She was dancing around while holding her beer mug costume's handle and constantly laughing.

Comments

[sam turner]

biru
that beer girl is hot shit. too bad you didn't get to see more shit, but doing any city in two days is tough i guess. holla.

[sj chapman]

stud
Jonathan you are a stallion.