Akihabara

We spent day two in Akihabara, after breakfast at Sukiyaki (Rice with raw egg, miso soup, salmon, pickled vegetables and fermented soy beans).

We dumped our baggage at the Akihabara train station and wandered the Akihabara electric town. Every niche and hobby is represented in this area, it's the Valhalla of nerds everywhere. It's full of geeky obsessions like every conceivable model shops, discount electronics and video games.


We found a 5 floor building devoted to retro video games, Quinn and I sat down to a game of Street Fighter 2 where he was soundly decimated.

We couldn't help ourselves, we tried, but McDonalds in Japan is very persuasive. I was beckoned by something called the McCutlet (Pork filled with cheese and covered with teriyaki sauce) and Quinn was entranced by a teriyaki burger (chicken with sauce, lame).

The afternoon became the quest for a map with even the slightest bit of english. Fail. It then turned into the day we found our new home.

SUZUKI SAMBAR DIAS!

Nippori to Akihabara

Now it would seem that everyone in the world knew about "Love Hotels", not Quinn, not Phil, not me, but everyone else. It's an interesting experience when three large white me wander into a "hotel" to ask about a room. We ask a price, the ask if it's two men and one girl, we say it's three men, they cross there arms in a big X and offer no more assistance.

It wasn't until the third stop that we realized why we were getting such strange looks. It was even later that we realized why two men and one women was acceptable. Yowza.

We decided to hop back on the train and head from Nippori to Akihabara thinking there may be more accommodations further into Tokyo.



As soon as we step of the train and into the wide open courtyard Quinn exclaims "I want to ride flatland here". We look across the massive area and spot a young man doing just that. We wander over and strike up a conversation, this will be one of our last English conversations (aside from each other) for the next week and a half.

We explain that were looking for accommodations so we follow him to the nearest capsule hotel. He mentions that there are also "relaxation suites" just down the street so off we go. There is no Canadian equivalent. It's like going to the nearest porn shop which also happens to have private rooms and a shower. You pay your fee to the overly excited otaku porn dealer and you can stay for 12 hours and you get 5 free rentals...pass.

We spent the night in the porn store. The night was restless, noisy and smelly (durp) but the shower was fantastic though I'm sure there was someone watching the action at all times, look for my DVD I assume it will be out soon.





Welcome to Akhiabara. There are better photos to come, that first night was a painful wash.

Japan April 9 from Toronto to Narita

I'll be blogging every banal detail of my 11 days in Japan for my own amusement and posterity. You've been warned.

We get to Pearson nice and early, with plenty of time to catch our flight. Sit down and have a meal with Quinn and eventually Rob and Phil at Coyote Jacks. All seems fine since we've already dealt with customs and baggage, we're all set to go. With our tickets in hand we head for our gate.

There was the first of many heart-stopping moments when Rob is reprimanded for a seriously underdressed group of travel companions they begin threatening to bar us from the flight. On further reflection Rob is sure that it's more likely good natured ribbing but at the time it seemed ludicrously serious. They adjust Quinn's seat and put him at the very back of the Boeing 777.

12 hours and a handful of crappy movies later we are setting down in Narita. Security and customs are quick and easy with the exception of having to find an address to put on our paperwork even though we have no idea where we're staying at this point.

It turns out Rob wasn't staying in Japan but actually just flying us over and then hopping directly onto the return flight, too crazy, it's not an easy trek.

While sitting in arrivals we met an English teacher named Adam. His parents were on their way from L.A. to China with a stopover in Narita so he'd come down for a brief visit.

Unfortunatley they ended up stuck on the plane so he made the long journey for nothing. He was nice enough to let us tag along as he made his way back into Tokyo on the train. We followed him as far as Nipporri before we parted ways and went to look for somewhere to sleep. Not the best plan...

Japan!

2100 pictures later and I'm back in Ontario for a little bit. I was lucky enough to travel to Japan for 11 days so there are plenty of posts to come.

Kampai!

How to fix a Monday morning.

Laugh yourself stupid!



Win!Win!Win!

Sticker Party! Come on, don't be so stuck up! It's going to be great!

And that has made all the difference.

This helped salvage an otherwise devastating day.



Thank you Jonathan Kim