January, I may be stupid but I would never help another man shower

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August 14th 2008

Published: August 14th 2008

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geoffscoates

Shinjuku

Basically I arrived in Shinjuku and just walked around... or got lost.. but I prefer explored.

So here's the deal... this is actually a lot harder than I thought, so I hate the fact that I didn't do this at the time.. This month mainly consisted of three events... Tokyo, Water falls and pre-snowboarding. I will now list my purchases and please imagine what I may have done. Thank you

So that was a lie but this is honestly painful... I am only continuing because I feel as though I have let down what few loyal fans I have: my mother (end list).(I'm sorry for any of you that may feel you deserve loyal fan status, but none of you have shown the support or utter enthusiasm that is required to be dignified at that level. ps I love you mom) However I'm sure that she of all my readers probably grimaces the most at my sometimes stupid and gruesome tales.

Alright so as I had a New Years break and not a Christmas break, that means it was time to vacation, my first real overnight trip to Tokyo. Sweet deal. So Brandon and I decided to stay two nights at his Grandmothers house (he's half Japanese and his Grandmother lives about an 1 hour

Shinjuku

More exploring

outside of Tokyo) and 2 nights in Tokyo. To start it off I was supposed to meet him down in Shinjuku and we decided it would be easy to meet up, but apparently Shinjuku station is massive.. yes massive. And as Japan didn't really catch onto the whole taking other nations money by making your country easy to use for foreigners through tourism... there is little to no English in Tokyo and its rather confusing... On top of that.. I decided it would be cool and exciting not to charge my cellphone before going down. How sweet.. so my cellphone almost died.. I'm smart! With my good looks and great smile, Brandon managed to find me no problem (30 mins later). I'm not sure what gave me away.. me being at least a foot taller than most people in Japan, having white skin or my eager grin of excitement for the unique and entertaining adventures that I've begun to expect from myself because of my unrelenting curiosity and my unusually slow ability to step back and say... hey... maybe... this is a bad idea.

So Brandon and I headed off. We met up with his friend to guide us

Shinjuku

Exploring

around Tokyo... as it has 12 million people.. its rather large and Brandon is from Cali so he really doesn't know the city. As Brandon's phone was fully charged we had no problem finding his friend. We set off to some sort of night market... as I've never really been fond of shopping it was rather the trill of being in a jammed packed street with bright lights. Any questions I had about strange clothing or weird food was immediately responded to by my tour guide as "Japanese culture". He spoke little to know English.. in fact as I remember it.. that was all he knew.. ahah... But the rather exciting highlight of this trip was my first sighting of Japanese mafia... Brandon and my tour guide said they saw some so I told them to tell me the next time they were around... so they did and me being as smart as I am, I immediately turned around and started to stare and gawk at him. It was great... but no so great... he looked just like an Italian mobster but he was Japanese.. I only got a second to look before Brandon reminded me it probably wouldn't be

Some place

This was some night market.. it was cool

a good idea to stare...

Then we headed off to Akiharaba, the lights/electronic capital of Tokyo/Japan. Yeah basically its just got a lot of lights and computer stuff.. there was a lot of Japanese looking geeks and all that jazz... the only really highlight here was going to a maid cafe. Which the only way to really describe this is a hooters for Japan but instead of small/tight clothing... the girls wear maid outfits and are really nice to you.. no sex involved.. the food/drinks were expensive and I"m not sure how I felt.. I did it the one time but really if I'm going to pay more for my drinks/food.. I want to see a little skin to! But it was worth going once.

Then we headed back to Chiba and met some of brandons friends for drinks.. most of them didn't speak English and by most I mean all. So we communicated with broken Japanese and hand gestures... so it was fun cause we all were drinking more than our fair share of social lubricant. hurray for beer. The night was great, we headed from the drinking restaurant to a karaoke place then left.. and two

Akiharaba

The electronics district of Tokyo

of his friends started fighting each other.. one of them was probably a 40 year old man and the other a 23 year old.. it was humorous to say the least... luckily they were drunk enough not to hurt each other... As the rest of the alcohol continued to take affect.. they basically were just left lying on each other.. at this point they realized they looked ridiculous and it was clear the 40 year had won so they got up... shook hands and we all went home.. why was I not video camming this?

The next day and another tour guide. We started off in Harajuku, which is a wicked awesome trendy place for shopping and people watching.. the people there are dressed crazy... so when we got there, I realized my camera was having memory card error... what the hell??!!! so I tried to fix it but it didn't happen... so no pics... but as we were going through the Harajuku this hot Japanese chick smiled at me and it raised my spirits, I smiled back and we had a moment.. I was happy... truly happy.. then I remembered that my god damn camera broke.. crap.. how

Akiharaba

More Lights

much is that going to cost me. Then from there I think we just wondered around and did whatever.. as I don't have any pictures, all I know is that I bought a coffee, dinner and a disposable camera.. oh shit.. we went to shibuya... there are a lot of hot chicks in shibuya. It was great... plus there was that big intersection from "Lost In Translation"... its really famous... it made me happy... Then we headed in for the night.

The next day we went to Brandon's grandfathers grave, it was really spiritual. No pics allowed... but that morning I'd given serious thought to my camera... what if I just bang it really hard? It sometimes works on TV's right... This would totally work for me... I'm just that special... it'll be great... 1... 2... 3... bang! nothing.. dammit... what if I bang it again... 1...2... 3... bang... ...and that was the story of why you should never bang expensive pieces of electronics... aka how I completely broke my camera... ahah.. just kidding it totally worked.. I'm so smart and special!! ahahah... Then we were off... so first thing first... we checked in at the hostel.. it was

Akiharaba

Lights

pretty sweet... we meet some people and opted to get some food... then over to Shinjuku again where I spent 3360 yen on a Japanese book for studying.. it was great... if it was a person and its ability to teach me Japanese was its beauty.. I totally would have made love to it a number of times in one night... then not called it the next.. waited a few days, called it and then taken it out for coffee, cause you know at that point it totally wants you cause it can't have you.. but I didn't.. and it isn't beautiful.. maybe a little and we're still best friends.

So that night, we went out with some people that we met at the hostel and partied all night.. actually all night.. see the thing about Japan is that its big and nothing is close to hostels.. you have to train everywhere.... this being said.. .the trains stop working at midnight... so you're pretty much committed for the night after 12.... but the cool thing is that by 5 am when the trains start again.. you get to ride it home with everyone and you dont' look like a

Akiharaba

this was on the side of the sidewalk.. how could I not get my pic taken at it?

tool.. cause you're all tools together... and therefore normal... this is also the time that salary men go to work.. so if you're out drinking all night on a weekday... you'll have the awkward, but amazing feeling of being drunk and ready to go to bed when real people with real jobs and real futures are just getting going... its also slightly depressing. Then you remember that they're old.

So the next day involved sleeping and going to the imperial palace... Not much to say.. the pics pretty much speak for themselves... its cool to see... the thing about the palace is that its got two islands.. you can go into the first one.. but the second one is where the actual palace is and you're never allowed in there... cause the emperor and his family are actually living there... there are two days you can see the family, new years day and the emperor's b-day... They come out and wave from behind a bullet proof sheet of glass. It would be cool to see... but I imagine it would be packed. Oh yeah and what I believe is the north side of the moat to the palace.. stinks..

Akiharaba

This is the maid cafe that we went to but were not allowed to take pics at.. how lame.

it stinks really bad... I think there must have been a stable on the other side.. .but it was gross.. I almost threw up... I'm really not joking.. avoid it at all cost... Brandon will agree with this.

So that night.. wanting again the full Japanese experience.. we decided to head out to the Roppongi agree.... which is also known as the gaijin (foreigner) area and by this I mean the area where all the Japanese chicks or J-chicks as they are known that want to "practice" their English.. come and club and meet foreigners... it was crazy... we went into a bar and it was packed and could have pretty much been a bar on the west coast of north America cause there were that many gaijins.. (sorry not the east coast... too many Asians at the bar, not that thats bad or good) But yeah... a lot of dancing and... yeah dancing... we were out again with people from the hostel... the cool thing about the roppongi... is that after you finish at 5 am... on the way home there are all these girls offer massages... they were a little expensive... but if you were really tired

Shinjuku

Brandon and I found the most happening place for guys in Shinjuku: Hot Men's Box.... we didn't go in.. but I can only imagine what was happening

and exhausted from dancing.. I'm sure that would have been really nice... that seems like a winning combination... finish at the bar and get a massage... I wonder why they don't do that at home... hmmm?

the next day we had to be out at 11am and as we came home at 6... it was a rough get up... brandon could not get up so he paid extra to sleep in... so I got the privilege of sleeping on a couch waiting for him. How fun... after that... we just headed home.

Oh yeah... I also went to this famous onsen (Japanese bath house, everyone is naked, but they separate the girls and the guys, how lame, so just a lot of wang for me) and this one had an outside bath and it had a great view of the Yamanashi area (my prefecture) its was cool.. you could also see this place where they were lighting off fireworks.. it was great.. then there were a bunch of Japanese guys there.. probably about 20-25 years old and well everyone has to clean off very thoroughly before and after entering the onsens and lets just say that they were

Imperial Palace

how could a palace not have swams

being more than friendly with each other while cleaning... I kid you not.. one of them held the shower head and sprayed it on the other guys balls as the guy cleaned them... I just couldn't believe it.. it was a little awkward when they caught me looking but I mean.. come on... who wouldn't be starring.. just kidding.. they didn't catch me looking.. but come on... who does that.. I mean I won't even put sun screen on a friend's back let alone hold the shower head while he washes his balls... come on!

Then I went with a friend up to some famous falls.. i decided to use the rest of my disposable camera so I could develop the pictures and when I did.. apparently the disposable camera sucked shit.. and the pics were horrible. But the water falls were beautiful... not much else to say.. didn't fall in... didn't get hurt...

As I wanted to go snowboarding in Japan and lets face it.. I can be a wuss sometimes... I decided it would a good idea to go up on a smaller hill and just get my legs ready for a big day of snowboarding.

Imperial Palace

I'm so beautiful

So we went to a hill... actually a hill.. it was so small. There were two runs.. one to the right of the chair lift and one to the left of the chair lift... separated by... the chair lift.. so basically just one run... and it only took me about 15 seconds to get down.. how lame. The only good thing about it was that earlier that day I went to a second hand shop and picked up a wicked sweet boarding outfit that you're all going to be seriously jealous of. But I didn't take any pics until next month on the boarding trip. ahahah.. so you'll have to wait for February's blog.

this definitely turned out to be longer than I expected but i hope you enjoy.

Cheers

Additional photos below

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