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Published: September 10th 2005
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Fruit on a stick
Katherine, Charissa, and I eating fruit on a stick. Yum. I just returned from such an awesome evening in Shinuku. A bunch of the girls (Charissa, Katherine, Carrie, and I) went into Shinjuku during the day so we could visit a huge bookstore. Tokyo is known for its amazing book stores, including bookstores with English sections that are quite impressive. There were six floors to this bookstore, each with a different theme. I went into the architecture and design section and while I wasn't able to read anything, the pictures in a lot of the books were pretty cool. If anyone knows of a book about the architecture of Tokyo (like a guide or a walking-tour book), please please let me know! I have been trying to observe the infrastructure and architecture of Tokyo on my own, but it might be nice to have some specific directions.
Anyway, I bought a Japanese-English dictionary and a really cool book of maps of Tokyo (recommended and tested by my friend Katherine). So, if anyone comes to visit, I am well prepared to navigate the city! A note about purchasing things in Japan... the customer/employee interactions here are significantly different from in the US. When handling money, the Japanese are very up front and
Street crossing in Shinjuku
There were thousands and thousands of people out on this Saturday... probably shopping or "visiting ladies." honest. If you are spending large amounts of money, they count the bills out loud in front of you after you have paid. They leave the money you have just paid in sight (rather than putting it into the cash register) until they have given you your change. And usually you do not hand the money directly to the sale's clerk, but you put it onto a little tray. When you buy things, they are always packed away neatly into the bag. It just seems like a lot more time and care is put into the transaction.
Anyway, after the bookstore we walked around Shinjuku for a few hours. Shinjuku is considered to be a place of enormous consumption and sometimes it is called the Sin City of Tokyo... there are tons of "Gentleman's" clubs all over the place. I walked through the seedier part of the area and there were all of these posters with different girls' faces on them... I think the idea is that you look at the poster, pick a girl, then go inside and pay to visit with her. I didn't visit any of the ladies.
We met up with Chris and Zvy in Takadanobaba
Kinokuniya Bookstore
Six floors of hiragana, katakana, and kanji! and went out to eat at this awesome little restaurant. There are hundreds of these tiny restaurants... They are basically the front room of a private home which is set up with traditional tables on tatami matts and then one row of bars. I think I have a picture of the place. But supposedly a lot of these tiny little restaurants are to be frequented by regulars only and strangers coming in are frowned upon. This place was super nice, they were so kind, they accommodated all six of us, even though it was a very small space. We had to take our shoes off and then sit cross legged (Chris had a hard time, but Zvy had some super flexibility which allowed him to sit in crazy yoga positions for the entire meal). The food was good and relatively cheap. They served Tonkatsu which is like breaded pork chop that has been fried. We also got miso soup and rice. Yum. Oh, edamame is like the "beer food" here in Japan. Instead of serving peanuts or pretzles, they serve edamame (soy beans). It was a really good experience to sit in this traditional little restaurant. Tokyo is such a
Tonkatsu dinner
Everyone at the dinner table... me, Charissa, Chris, Carrie, Katherine, and Zvy. private place to be... you can find little niches within the city to kind of disappear into. Although it is sometimes disenchanting to be so anonymous, it's also very personal to be able to find these little secrets here and there.
We then went to Ben's Cafe, which was basically the whole point of the escapade to Shinjuku and Tkadanobaba. Here's a link to the website: http://www.benscafe.com They were having a short-film screening. It's a little cafe that serves Ithacaish food (think: ABC cafe, CTB!) and drinks and coffee and stuff. So we just got dessert and some drinks and watched these very short films. They were actually really cool and I think that we will try to go again... it's a monthly event. It was just such a good atmosphere and people are starting to get to know each other. Everyone just talked and joked around. Some people had to leave early so that they wouldn't miss the last trains... everyone's evening plans are bound to the train system. Either you must plan to finish your evening at 11 so that you can make the trains before they close at 12 or 12:30, or you have to plan to
More people
More people at Ben's Cafe before the film screening. stay out all night and come back at 5:30 in the morning. I think we are going to do the all night thing in a few weeks so that we can go dancing. Whoo hoo!
But it was a really fun night... it's been good getting to know the IES students. I suppose oure Japanese will not be improving since we are always speaking english, but they are really cool people. Ok, more later.
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InTokyo
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Good One!
Hi, I think your post is a nice one. It can help many looking for having a nice time in Tokyo. Regards, Boy_In_Tokyo 080-5640-2290