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Published: April 24th 2004
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Urban Sprawl
It goes on and on and on... After last nights entertainment, I was doubting Yoshi was going to be up for going to Ueno Park… heck, I was doubting I could do anything today. But I finally fell out of bed, hung around in the lounge for a little while, then Ryan asked if I wanted to go to view of Tokyo in Roppongi. I needed to get some good pictures, so I figured this would be the opportune time to take care of business. We find the place, wait in line, and once we get to the front find out the observation deck is closed. Aha… that probably explains the people all turning around and leaving the line. Darn language barriers! People were still there for some strange art exhibit though, so we didn’t know any better. So now our only other option was to hit up Tokyo Tower, and Ryan had already visited that. But the day he went was very hazy, and today was pretty clear as days go around here, so we decided to take a stroll over there. It looks a lot closer than it was, but that seems to be the norm around here, everything appears closer than it really is. I’m
really glad we went though, I mean, this tower is pretty much a replica of the Eiffel Tower, only bigger, and painted orange and white. The top observation deck was pretty good, and well worth the price (If I remember right I think it was about 1500 yen). It makes the stratosphere in Vegas seem really cheap now.
The views were fantastic though. You have no idea you're in a city so sprawling until you get up there and take a look around. Everything is packed in so tightly together, it looks like one of those enoumous and ridiculously insane jigsaw puzzles! Like me, you can spend a whole week or two in Tokyo, and you know it's big, you know it just goes on and on, but this just really hits you. And to think how so many people live in such harmony together, and how well the public transportation works just astounds me. Once again, you are greeted by more pretty uniform wearing women scattered throughout the tower that just seem to make you happy to be there.
Night time equals party time. Yumi had invited us to come party with her
Tokyo Tower Girls
Here they are, in their cute uniforms. and some of her friends tonight. It was to be a night in Roppongi, which again is a little pricey, but what the hell right? So we gather everyone up… ends up being 7 people going out in total. So we start the roughly 15 minutes walk and head into Timeout which is on the main drag in Roppongi. It also seems to be pretty packed with foreigners and hostess girls. It’s a tiny little place playing your normal top 40 hip hop kinda stuff, not bad, but I’d been to better places in the area. Anyway, we meet her friend Kiwako (Key-Wah-Ko), and another girl whose name I can’t remember, and head off to Wall Street Bar. On the way there I got to talk to Kiwako for a while before she became occupied with Chris after having a bit too much to drink. Anyway, I was pretty amazed by her English, and had to ask where she was from. Felt a little strange asking a Japanese girl where she was from… but she was from Japan. Turns out she spent a lot of time in the states from grade school through to high school, but moved back to
Me and Yumi
Another night out on the town. Japan afterward with her parents. This was the first professional business woman I’d met in Japan. At the bar, we manage to grab a whole area at the end of the bar before it got too busy. Before I knew it, I had a few drinks in me, and was dancing away. Yumi and Kiwako started dancing on the bar, and we were all just going nuts. Eventually, people start trickling home, and we continued to party till it was just me, Yumi and Taka. As we left the club, I was struck by the evil that is day light. Ugh… we head over to another Wall Street, but this one was Wall Street “Dance”, which is where Taka likes to go to check out the foreign girls. Yumi and I both decide we’d had enough after being there for about an hour, and take a Taxi back to the Hostel.
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