Tokyo, Round 2, Part 1: Fish Markets & Sex Shops

** I would like to remind my readers that I'm keeping this blog primarily as a means of remembering my travels, secondarily for my mother and family members who (thankfully) worry and care about me and my well being, and finally as entertainment for my loyal readers/fans. If this blog takes off wildly for some reason and I become famous that would be great, too. I just fear that some of you may be growing bored with the amount of detail these posts go into.**



My bus got to Tokyo around 06:00, which was earlier than scheduled. On my way to Shinjuku Station I passed some homeless people. Here's a word (or rather, as long winded as I am, many words) on homeless people. I've traveled pretty extensively and seen my fair share of the homeless. Usually they are the same as in the US- dirty, missing teeth, begging. Frequently they have afflictions like missing limbs or nasty infected wounds. Occasionally they have children or pets with them. Sometimes they have some kind of severe mental illness. Whether awake or asleep they have all their possessions on their person. Whatever the circumstance, whatever the city, it's always at least a little bit heartbreaking and reminds me how blessed I really am. Japan's not like that. The half-dozen or so homeless men outside of the station were not as dirty as most people living on the street or in shelters. Of the Japanese homeless men I saw one or two were still asleep, but the others were sitting up, drinking tea from a thermos, laughing with each other. None of them had any signs or were asking for money. One man even had all his clothes folded in a neat pile beside him on his bed made of cardboard. It was as if he were saying to the world, "Yeah. You took my money. You took my home. You took nearly everything. But what you cannot take is my dignity and self-respect. That's mine and it's not for sale." Please note, that this observation was strictly from my own point of view from one instance. It did, however, take place in Tokyo, a city with a population greater than the entirety of Canada. I do not know if this homeless phenomenon is true for all of Japan. I would like to believe that it is.

I breakfasted at Shinjuku station then went to Yadoya Hostel. I knew check-in wasn't for another two hours at least, but I needed wifi and had yet to learn that Starbucks has free wifi. I didn't have a reservation at Yadoya. I know, I know! Going to another city without a confirmed place to stay. Tsk Tsk. This time it was because I had sent quite a few Couch Surfing requests (I was very selective this time) and I didn't want to book a hostel until I heard back from some hosts. Unfortunately the only hosts I'd heard back from told me they could not take me in. So I waited until the hostel opened to see if they had a bed available. I sat down on the front step and sat in a puddle. Damn. Oh well, I was already gross from the Osaka sun the day before, the eight hour bus ride, and trudging around with my pack. What was a little more grossness?

A hostel employee came and let me wait inside. I still had to wait an hour to check-in, though. I met a Portuguese guy and chatted idly with him for a bit.  When the reception desk opened I told them I didn't have a reservation. They only had private rooms available, so I asked if they could recommend me to another hostel. The nice woman told me they Yadoya has a second location, but it was more of an apartment and my roommates were living there. It was cheaper than the dorm I was hoping to book and because I already knew GGG and a few others in Tokyo I wasn't too concerned with meeting people. I asked for directions to the second hostel and she said it would be easier to have someone take me there in the afternoon. I was still allowed to use the facilities, thankfully, and took a shower. I chatted with GGG some and we decided to meet up for lunch.

It was a bit of a fiasco trying to meet GGG because he underestimated how long it would take him to get to the subway station by about an hour and the phone number I had for him was his Canadian number. Eventually we found each other and he told me Sean was coming to meet us for lunch, too! Sean wouldn't be there for another hour or so, so we walked around Nakano Broadway, the shopping center near the station. I was so glad to see GGG again. When it came time to meet Sean for lunch he was late. After about fifteen minutes we began to worry we were at the wrong meeting point because Sean is a punctual guy. We got a hold of him and learned he was farther away than originally thought and he couldn't meet us for lunch after all. Too bad. GGG and I went to Mos Burger, a Japanese burger chain. There wasn't an English menu, so I just ordered one with cheese. Apparently I didn't even order a proper "mos" burger. Whatever, it was tasty. Now I've got reason to return to Japan I suppose.

After lunch GGG went with me to the hostel to get my pack and go to where my home would be for the next three nights. It was approximately a fifteen minute walk from the first hostel. GGG wasn't confident I could find it again without a guide. I didn't tell him at the time, but I didn't think I could find it either. It was an unmarked, not special small apartment building in the middle of a residential Tokyo neighborhood. I'm sure there was an easier way to get there, but for the next three days I only took the way I knew from Yadoya hostel. The place wasn't too bad. I dropped off my bags and went out with GGG. He had to meet a friend of his who had been storing his suitcase while he was in Thailand, Laos, and Kyoto. I met GGG's friend, Julia, who was also from Canada and was teaching. She was staying on longer than GGG, though, and also teaching French. GGG was weighted down with all his belongings, so we sought out a locker. On the way to Nakano station we stopped at a convenience store to search for Kit-Kats. No Kit-Kats, but GGG did buy some cheese fondue flavored Doritos. They were interesting.

GGG stored his heaviest bags and we went to meet another one of his friends back in Nakano Broadway. This friend was a middle-aged Japanese woman who worked at a karaoke bar. GGG met her when he first came to Japan and she helped him a lot along the way. The woman, N., didn't speak much English, but no mind- she was very nice. We had coffee and GGG and N. caught up (he hadn't seen her since he left for Thailand over two months ago). N.'s daughter, K., joined us after a while. K. was a university student in her early twenties. She had just been granted a scholarship and she spoke English well. K. and N. asked GGG and I if we wanted to get a drink. Of course! We went to a nearby bar and ordered some drinks. GGG told N. that he had yet to try torisashi. Torisashi is raw chicken. GGG had tried raw horse meat and of course sushi and some other Japanese foods, but not torisashi. N. informed us that torisashi isn't usually available, but when she looked at the food menu, there it was! We ordered some and also some okonomiyaki and a few other plates to sample and share. The okonomiyaki was better in Kyoto. The torisashi was OK. It tasted like cold chicken.

We said goodbye to K. and N. and GGG walked me back a far as the first hostel. I wanted to verify the directions just in case. GGG and I had another sad goodbye. Like I mentioned before, meeting people while traveling is bittersweet because we didn't know when/if we would see each other again. Thanks to Facebook and Whatsapp (a text messaging app), though, we could keep in touch. It was a sad walk back to the apartment/hostel. I was glad no one was home when I got there because I was not in the mood for making new friends. After a long day I fell asleep.

I took my time getting ready the next day. My roommates had arrived very late and were gone early. GGG got in touch with me because I'd told him I was planning on going to Tsukiji fish market. It's the biggest fish market in the world and I neglected going the first time I was in Tokyo. GGG wanted to go to to Tsukiji to get some souvenirs for his family. We were at the market around 12:30 and mostly everything was already closed. We walked around the deserted fish stalls for a bit and saw a couple rats scurrying from under one table to the next. Even a city as clean as Tokyo can't keep all the rodents out of a fish market. I'm surprised we didn't see more. Then we saw a cat lounging on a step. At first I wondered why he wasn't going after the rats, then realized he had probably feasted on fish and rats all morning. The cat was just short of being the famous Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland with the happiness he was clearly exuding. I decided that if I were a cat I would try to make my way to Japan. It would be a good life living as a feline in Japan. Not bad weather, fish and a few rats, and people would adore me! If I was lucky I might even make it to a cat cafe. I hoped my cat Zeus ran away to Japan and was living happily in a cat cafe somewhere. So long as he headed west and stowed away on a boat over the Pacific and didn't try to go east through China.

There were four sushi restaurants open. We chose the one that looked most welcoming to English speakers (really they were probably all equal) and sat down at the sushi bar. It seemed kind of expensive, but I justified paying a higher price because I was I knew the fish would be very fresh and very tasty. Obviously the best sushi comes from Japan. And it is said that the best sushi in Japan is from Tsukiji fish market. Therefore simple logic states that the best sushi in the world would be at Tsukiji. I didn't mind paying a little extra for the best sushi in the world. As it turns out, I got quite a lot of food, so it was a better deal than I thought. GGG got one of the souvenirs he was searching for and then he invited me to another area of Tokyo I managed to miss on my first journey: Akihabara.

Best sushi in the world

Akihabara is a district of Tokyo with tall buildings full of arcades, video games, all the technological stuff one could dream of, maid cafes, cat cafes, and sex shops. If ever you go to Tokyo you've got to go to Akihabara. A maid cafe, if you were wondering, is a cafe in which all the waitresses are dressed as maids and they treat you as the master of the house. GGG and I did not go to a maid cafe, but these girls are standing on nearly every street corner in Akihabara. My friends from Kyoto Josh and Troy went to one. Josh does a much better job explaining it than I do. They're all made to look much younger than they really are. I guess these maid cafes are like tamer strip clubs. Much tamer because there is no actual stripping, but it is playing to a fetish of Japanese men, though. Apparently you can pay to have them play games like Uno with you, too. Josh said when he was there he looked around and realized all the maids were pretty enough and had a red bow in their hair. But there was one maid who was prettier than the rest and she had a blue bow in her hair. Josh suspects that the blue-bowed beauty is like the queen bee of maids in the maid cafe and that many men come hoping to have her as their maid. It's all a little weird for me, but it is so Japan.

Something else that can be found in Akihabara: sex shops. I'm not ashamed to say that I've been to a sex shop in the US. It was tactful enough. The shop I went to in Akihabara was normal enough as well. On the first two floors. Then there were the third through fifth floors. Sometimes you've just got to see something for yourself. Even if you're not into it. Sometimes you have to experience it because that's what you're meant to do. You don't go to New York and not see the Statue of Liberty. You don't go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower. You don't go to a sex shop in Akihabara and not go to the top floor. I knew what I was getting myself into. GGG warned me, as did Josh and Troy. At the bottom of the steps leading to the third floor was a sign that said "Man Only. No Woman Past Here." Well if that didn't pique my curiosity... Still, I told GGG, "I don't think I'm allowed up there." "You're fine," he said, "My friend came up here before and it was OK. They're not going to say anything." I knew he was right. Japanese hate confrontation. And foreigners often make them nervous. In my ten days in Japan I had experienced that at the airport, on the subway, at restaurants, and on the street. Hell, even Tomo the awful host from Couch Surfing waited to insult me until he could do it from the safety of his computer. So I followed GGG upstairs. I won't go into detail about the kind of stuff that was there, but it was certainly... interesting. If you're curious do a quick Google search of "Akihabara sex shop merchandise." I'm sure you'll find plenty. It's so Japan.

I said goodbye to GGG, but we didn't make a big deal about it because we had already had our "final" goodbye twice and apparently didn't understand how it was meant to be done because we just kept meeting up again. We were both going to be in Tokyo for a bit longer, so we knew we would see each other soon. I went back to my hostel/apartment, but it took much longer than planned because I got on the wrong train at first. At the hostel I got in touch with Josh and Troy who were back in Tokyo for a couple more days before they had to return to the USA. They and some other guys from K's House Kyoto were staying in Asakusa (a district across town). They agreed to wait for me at their hostel before going out for the night. I showered and went to meet them.

I took the proper metro this time and got to Asakusa station in a timely manner, but wasn't sure which direction was their hostel. The map was unclear. I found fifteen free minutes of wifi and contacted Josh. Then GPS picked up and I figured out where I needed to go. Josh met me halfway. We went back to his hostel where he and Troy were having some beers and dinner. I met brothers Sho and Seiya, also from USA. I think I met more Americans in Japan than I have in all my other travels combined. Really. The four guys were planning on heading over a couple blocks to K's House Tokyo where Payden and some other friends of theirs from Kyoto were staying. I invited GGG, but he was tired and pretty far away.  Josh and I went to K's House while the other three finished eating. At K's House Tokyo there was a party going on! I met Claire (France), Wallace, Mike, and Dave (USA), Tim, Niko, and Payden (Australia), and Todd and Matt (UK). We had a drink there and I chatted with all my new friends. Then we got kicked out and went to get Troy and the other boys and head to a bar.

Claire didn't join us. That left twelve guys and myself. I had my own harem of men. I didn't mind. I only had to pay for one drink that night. GGG had told me previously that for night life in Tokyo we should go to Roppongi or Shibuya. We went to Roppongi. Usually when going out in a foreign city I prefer not to have so many people because it takes forever to make decisions and get anywhere. Tonight was no exception. But hey, I had endless entertainment in my company. What's more is English was everyone's first language. I don't run into that often. Our numbers dwindled to nine or ten before we even made it to Roppongi.

Once in Roppongi we were trying to find a bar. Nay, Troy and Payden were trying to find a bar. I was content to just walk along and have people to talk to. There were lots of Nigerians outside of clubs trying to get us to come in. "No cover" they would say, among others, but there was always a trick, so we carried on. We stopped at an Irish pub for a bit. We were the only customers. Oh, also, the subway stops running at midnight in Tokyo, so we knew we were going to be out all night or would have to pay a high price for a taxi. At one point we passed a Turkish kebab stand and the workers were hollering about their kebabs. I hadn't had dinner, so I stopped to get one. It was probably just OK, but I was really hungry so it tasted wonderful. I stopped to sit down on a step and eat it. I think that's when we lost Troy, Payden, and a couple others. I'm not sure. Josh, Tim, and Mike stopped with me. So the four of us went to a bar Josh knew of and settled in for a couple hours. Josh asked about my bad Couch Surfing experience and I warned them it was a long story, but they wanted to hear it anyway. It was long, but they said it was a good one nonetheless. Mike left. Altough I don't believe it was related to my story because, hey, I tell great stories. Right, readers?

The three of us exited the bar and ran into Troy and Sho and Seiya. We caught up about what we had done and realized we lost Payden. Payden either went back on his own or was out in the great city of Tokyo all by himself. Josh, Tim, and I went to get ramen at a twenty-four hour restaurant. It was like a Japanese IHOP or Denny's. While we were eating the subway opened and Troy, Sho, and Seiya went back to the hostel. When we left the restaurant we ran into Payden. He had went to a nightclub as a scout, but when he came back we were all gone. So he danced the night away with hot Russian models he says. Good for him. Josh and Payden went back to their respective hostels.

Tim and I went to Tsukiji because we happened to be up early (or late) enough to maybe catch some of the action. We had missed the auction, but we saw them setting up for the general sale. Tim took a few photos; I just looked. It was pretty cool with some very large fish. From Tsukiji we went back to our hostels. I fell asleep on the subway, but luckily my stop was the last one. I fell into bed with four hours till checkout. Oops. Didn't think that one through thoroughly.