Last Week in Japan

Asia » Japan
July 19th 2005

Published: September 14th 2005

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duy

Kei1

I love short, pink skirts

Monday, 19 July 2005 - Goodbye Kei?

My third date with KEI, and she had agreed to pay! We went to karaoke at King Arthur's first, and that hour flew by. Then we ate where the Cineplex was, at some tabehodai for the fried-batter stuff... I forgot the name. It was really good, but it woulda been much better if they had some sorta veggie stuff - all that grease made me paranoid bout getting a heart attack and constipation. Cost was 25 a person. And when she took our her wallet to pay... she only had 10! ... I believed that it was an honest mistake, and took the tab. It was probably the last time I'd see her, cause the whole week was dedicated to Mika (who took that Wednesday and Thursday off to hang out, plus Saturday to see me off at the airport). Soooo, I was intent on finally getting a kiss outta this. We said goodbye in front of Carrefour...

After getting back home, and getting made fun of by Alex and Lars, I decided to shut them up by demanding 15 more minutes to see her sometime before I left, so we could

Kei2

Karaoke @ King Arthur's outside Keisei Makuhari

make out!
(To be continued...)

Tuesday, 19 July 2005 - Love Hotel

During the day, I hung out in Makuhari for a while. Check the RANDOM pic I took in the IES center... ah, I'll miss all of you guys.

I met up with Mika at Hachiko after she got outta work that night. I had wanted to find a LOVE hotel with a water bed and jacuzzi and karaoke machine... A place called "White Box" seemed pretty good (there are listings online, but they are in Japanese), and it had a waterbed and jet bath... We went for it, esp. since it only cost 70 bucks from 10pm to noon. Anyway, when we got there, the only room with a waterbed was already taken. So we just got another one, that had a jet bath.

The rooms are really big. There was a living room at the place we chose, that had a 27" TV and UV light (well, that's what I'm assuming since the feature described was a tanning salon, and there were two lounge decks out to lay on...). It was blacklit too. There was a vending machine that sold various things at

Kei3

You choose your kabobs here

absurd prices (i.e. "love lotion" for 3000 yen, or what appeared to be a miniature vibrator for 15000 yen!). There was also a massage chair, but that didn't work. I was actually disappointed with the TV too.

But then we walked into the bedroom: a nice, red loveseat to the right that was pretty comfortable, a huge bed that was pretty darn soft, and a bigger TV (like 35"?) with a karaoke system. The headboard had a control panel where you could listen to a number of radio stations, that also included American mainstream ones... Then, there was the bathroom, which had a shower and jet bath. I was disappointed a jet bath is not a jacuzzi, but I was pleasantly surprised that you could turn off the lights and the jet bath lit up in different colors, shot out water that massaged you... It was nice.

It was definitely worth the price. Next time, I want that waterbed, and a mirrored ceiling...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 - Roppongi

I wanted to check out ROPPONGI one more time, and watch Star Wars: Episode 3 at the Virgin cinema there too. We first decided to grab lunch

Kei4

There's a deep fryer at each table

at Chinese Cafe Eight again (I love this restaurant!). I found out Mika doesn't like duck actually, so we ordered some other entree stuff. I went for some spicy stuff, and it really was spicy... my heart aches just thinking about all that heat. It was a really really nice day, with the sun shining and a nice little breeze. I wish there was a little more time to stroll around and take pictures, but hey.

The movie turned out to be pretty good. You actually do get assigned seats... I told Mika that even though we are assigned seats, we could probably sit anywhere anyway, since people wouldn't be there... Wrong! We had to move 3 times, since we had stole someone else's seats (they were center ones). Sucks. But oh well.

We went back home and had dinner at Jonathan's in Tsudanuma (... whoa, I almost forgot the name of the place and had to think for a few seconds to recall it). I wanted to eat there to kinda say goodbye, cause I went there a number of times. Plus, I finally got my little "frequent eater" card or whatever filled out... except when I

Kei5

Mmm, fatty...

tried to use it, the cashier kindly pointed out that it was expired. What the hell....

Thursday, 21 July 2005 - Last Date in Odaiba, then Velfarre with the Triad

Odaiba, having a reputation for being a romantic place to go on a date, was my last destination with Mika. I had wanted, two months prior, to have a nice boat ride and dinner... but I was now pretty much broke. Odaiba has lots of interesting architecture. I remember there was a pretty nice hotel too, so we started the day off by going to Le Meridian. There wasn't much to do there, though there was some kinda art gallery. Just killed time. It was a beautifully sunny day out too, and tons of people were around. There were lots of booths set up for some sorta even too.

Next stop was the Fuji Television tower, or whatever it's called. We took lots of pictures there, but it didn't interest me too much. I highly recommend bringing a Japanese girl there though cause they would actually recognize all the characters and stuff... Mika enjoyed it a lot, so that was the important thing. I had to feign

Kei6

interest, haha. But, honestly, it's nice just to hear laughter - it's contagious.

The other big thing I went to Odaiba was to go back to a place called Decks so I could buy souvenirs. I had kept a mental note (since March, during my first visit to Odaiba) of a floor filled with "old" Japanese things - very touristy items. First, though, Mika and I had lunch at a ramen shop. It wasn't bad.

It turns out that there is only one floor that had the souvenir stuff I was looking for - the "old Japan" place. The first floor is the Sega Joypolis, which I heard got shut down indefinitely because someone died from one of the rides. Anyway, I still bought a crapload of stuff, and there was a nice vendor lady who gave us free handkerchiefs since I bought 4 of her "Number 1 Souvenir in Japan" towels -- pics of geisha or whatever (the word starting with a "b" and ends in "jin" that we learned from Pop Culture class... what is it... blah). Anyway, the towels are meant for you to bring into the onsen or ofuro, and when steam heats it

Kei7

I LOVE "ANNIN DOHU"

up, the clothes come off (of the ladies in the picture I mean). It's pretty sweet, and the vendor gave us a demo by blowdrying the towel. Yea, it was a sweet souvenir. It looks nice on its own too.

I really enjoyed the place because of its unique vibe. I was glad Mika liked it too, saying it was "natsukashii." Yea... nostalgic stuff. I really wanted to try the attraction that had some sorta ghost thingy, but Mika was adamant about not tryin it out. Scaredycat... Oh well, next time.

At the end of the night, we checked out the mini Statue of Liberty and Rainbow Bridge... the lights are nice when it gets dark. We had a vanilla milkshake at a place called "Longboard Cafe" which was right outside the Statue of LIberty. I teared up sitting there with her too, realizing it was all going to end soon.

... such happy times.

Anyway, back to the story, I had to end the date early that night so I could meet up with Set, Joyce, Nancy, and Kelly at Velfarre. Actually, I ran a little late, so I felt pretty bad holding Seth up.

Kei8

(little did I know...)

I didn't get to go home and change clothes, and had Mika get my stuff to take home with her. I was excited about Velfarre, and saw some cuties walking around, but the night was dedicated to Joyce anyway.

When we got in, we were... really surprised, haha. The music that night was "Para Para." If you guys don't know what that is, it's like "Eurobeat." ... uh, it's like trance, but faster. You can't move your feet fast enough to keep up with the beat, so you use your hands. It's like those hand dance thingies you see at Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea... freaky. So apparently, they have their dancers go on stage and teach everyone the dance for like 10 minutes, then everyone gets into it. It draws the older crowd: OL's and salarymen. I thought I might have a good chance with the OL's if they might dig a younger guy, as in younger than 30, haha.

No luck. Oh, and we played a nampa game in the group. I think Joyce was first, and that was a miss. Seth and I went over to some "cute guy" that the girls wanted us to

Random

...wow... :) (I MISS YOU GUYS!)

pull, but he turned out to have a girl with him, so he wouldn't come over. Kelly was next, and she talked to some dude in a pimped out white suit. She tried the line I gave as an example, and asked for the time... lame, haha. At least she did it though! Good times. Oh, it was a miss :/

Yea, it was a good night for Seth. Haha, the rest of us... I don't know. We left the club early and were not sure what the game plan was. Seth and Kelly actually lagged and gradually disappeared on Joyce, Nancy, and I. We ended up going to GAS Panic. It's a sick place. Don't go unless you wanna remember how it feels like at a college frat party's dance floor -- cramped and hot with nasty guys everywhere trying to hit on the same girl. Haha. The only good thing about it is you just have to have a drink in your hand to stay in the club. I mean, no cover charge, so you walk in, check out the crowd, see someone you like, buy a drink and baby it. Your best bet is to buy

Love1

Love hotel found in Shibuya - 70 a night!

a beer, cause they can't tell if its empty or not.

Anyway, the night ended at a manga kissa.

Man, remembering those all-nighters and how much I wanted to shower makes me want to shower right now. Oh, btw, it's 3:02AM and I'm supposed to actually be doing my homework while uploading the pics, but I can't really upload pics if I don't have this typed out "update" to post first... so yea, I'm tired. Anyway, that's basically it.

It was a nice final week of dates. The next update is on the Sayonara party the next day, Friday. That was possibly the best day of my entire visit, which means one of the best days of my life. I'll have probably 100 pics on that day... I miss you guys from IES, and my Japanese friends!

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