Happy New Year everyone!

I might do another “best of” blog…I dunno. I’m still debating. Until then…



Here’s Japan!



–Day 6–



I can’t really remember what we did during the day…maybe we went shopping? probably we got lost somewhere…



But, the real mission for the day was meeting up with an old classmate of mine from SFSU…Hiro.



I had emailed him when I realized I was coming to Japan…I had no idea where he lived, what he was doing,
or if his email address still worked. A couple days later he responded and gave me his number. A few calls
back and forth and we had a plan.



He was working as an AD on an indy feature and was wrapping production in the middle of the week. 
It worked out great, we made plans to hang out on Thursday, grab some dinner, and catch up.



Micah and I waited in the 2-level Starbucks in Shibuya. The Baristas did this really cool sing-song
thing when the cashiers gave them an order. I think Micah drank his mocha-frappacino in like 17 seconds.



It didn’t take too long for Hiro to find us. He looked basically like I remembered, just a little older, and
a bit more clean cut.





We met up with his friend Ryoko. She had gone to university with him before he came to SFSU. Now
she was working as a radio producer. Her show was translated into 17 languages. She was well 
spoken, funny, polite, attentive.



The first thing they did was teach us how to use PASMO. Which is probably about the coolest thing
in subway technology. It’s a RFID card that you just wave over sensor’s when you enter and exit
 ANY OF THE SUBWAYS. It works on every one of the many train systems. It saved a lot of time. And 
Micah and I felt like big pimps. We stopped and held out our cards – Ace Ventura style. Hiro and Ryoko
 laughed and told us to stop. Silly Americans=)



We headed to Shinbashi which was, as Ryoko told us, the place to go to interview salary men.



“Men not like you.” she said motioning at Micah and I. heh. We laughed.


Somewhere around there, a girl in a big puffy jacket and holding a menu started talking to Hiro.



She was like a sales person for a restaurant…I’d say “hostess,” but that means something different in Japan
 than it does in the States. I’m not sure if they were just talking about food, or negotiating prices or what…
but we ended up following her down the street, up some stairs and into a restaurant.



We took off our shoes and entered the private both. They brought by a cart with whole fish that we 
could pick from…Hiro asked what we wanted to eat…Micah and I gave him and Ryoko carte-blanche 
to order whatever. It was a wise move.



I think these were bits of eel.


The Sake flowed like…er wine. We got plate after plate of Sushi…I had really no idea what exactly 
we were eating…aside from “fish.”




something with egg.




One of the delacies in Japanese Cuisine is the fish eye. Micah and I didn’t know this…but Ryoko 
offered the eye to Micah. And he ate it. But I guess you are just supposed to suck on the eye, not
 chew it…there was something hard in the middle of it. She has a nice laugh. 



Mushrooms.




I brought some See’s Candy for Ryoko and a LA Dodgers hat for Hiro. The Japanese have 
a tradition of bringing gifts from your home. It’s one thing we got right.




It’s hard to really put into words how great the dinner was. I was warm from the sake, 
I was full from one of the most incredible dinners..and I felt like I’d made real connections with some locals. 
It was great to see Hiro again and in his home. Micah commented later that he this was when he first felt really at home in Tokyo…

I have to agree. I felt well taken care of and I was filled with happiness. That sounds a little weird, but it’s the best way I can describe it.



After much beer, much sake, and incredible food we went to an international bar. We met a 
Swiss friend of Ryoko’s. I talked to a Japanese helicopter pilot. (I think I have his card somewhere) 
we drank some more. And we danced.



I love how the Japanese dance. They are out there to have fun…not caring about how cool they 
look. It suited Micah and I’s personalities well…since we’re both pretty silly.





It started to rain. Ryoko had to leave, she had an interview at 9am the next morning. I think it was 
probably about 2am…and we’d already convinced her to stay late. I walked her over to the 
nearest subway stop and said goodbye.

 Hiro, Micah and I head to Roppongi to a club Micah was familiar with. It was basically an
 American hiphop club…only it was filled with Japanese people wearing NY Yankees and LA Dodgers
gear…all 3 sizes too big.





Hiro was kind enough to offer his place for us to sleep…the next morning we were going
to the tsukiji fish market…heck it already was the next morning, but we needed a little sleep.



Next time…The Fish Market, Hangovers, Karokee…



-Luke

Kinda sick…at work and it has the feeling of a looooong day. Really, I should be napping. Oh well. Such is the working man’s life.



–Day 4–

Another kinda slow start…heading back to the train.


Air-drying is in. All along the way to Tokyo people had their laundry out. I never see people 
with close lines in California.




Micah’s lunch.




I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a consistent mass of people as I saw at Shibuya Station. It just didn’t 
stop. Each time the light would change people would line up to cross the street. Micah said 
it looked like the “start of a marathon.”



It was nearly overwhelming to see that many souls passing by again and again and again. And 
incredibly distracting.



Shibuya!


We were trying to find a toy store called Blaster. We knew it was by an Apple Store and we were
only a few blocks away. None the less, it took us probably an hour to find it. The streets were 
windy and unnamed. The business’ didn’t have numbered addresses. 



Uhhh yeah. 



It makes it a little harder to find places…



Eventually we found the store…it was pretty awesome. A nice selection of Domokun stuff.



We were also trying to meet up with a friend of Teao’s…Audiopharmacy had just played a 
few shows in Tokyo and what better way to get to know a place than thru a friend of a friend?



Between the street noise, the language barrier and the really really bad cell service in Japan
I didn’t think we were actually going to be able to find where Acco was. But eventually, even
though we were pretty sure we’d gone the wrong way, we ended near her.



Shibuya.




Japanese coke taste different. I think I still like Mexican coke the best…but Japanese now takes 
the 2 spot.


We met her in front of the AM/PM (go figure) and went down an alley, that connected to another alley
that went up a hill. Yeah. We never would have found that place. It was a nice little bar called 
the “Ruby Room.” And just a few weeks before, my friends had played here. 



Evidence.




It was an open mic night…you never know what to expect at an open mic night in the States, 
so what would one be like in Japan?



The first couple bands were a mix of European’s and Japanese…saw one singer song writer 
type from the States. I talked with one of the musicians about his music, he simple described
it as “Rock & Rorr.” We started talking influences and he went all the way back to Robert 
Johnson, Son House, Muddy Waters…real Blues Men. Micah and I were intrigued.



Eventually he was up…and damn. Could that guy wail. Probably one of the best guitar players 
I’ve ever seen – and he didn’t hold anything back, jumping, flying around the stage, going down to his 
knees just ripping. It was amazing.



Check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/jeroki 


We left around midnight to make our trip back…




–Day 5–



Machida. Coffee from the machine…


The Northwest is everywhere.




Kiddyland. 

7 floors of toys.

An entire “Hello Kitty” floor.

Intense.



This was pretty awesome. Even awesomer was that my credit card worked on 1 floor, then didn’t work
on the next floor. My bank evidentially recognized an abnormality to the charge…e.g. it was in Japan.



Of course, I had called them, and told them I would be in JAPAN.



ahh, well, at least one of my cards was still working.




When I saw this place I automatically wanted to eat there…but then I remembered Davis’ words
”Don’t eat Mexican in Japan.” And after my encounter in Minneapolis…I’d have to be crazy to
try it again.


Jasmine Tea, Tempura, Udon, and a lil’ Relish.




We headed deeper into Harajuku..and eventually found…



Bape.




It was awesome. Micah found it…it was below the Ice Cream & Billionaire Boys Club stores…it just 
looked like an abandoned stairwell…Micah made us walk down there. Good thing he did.



So….not only were there no address or street signs, but things were purposefully hidden.



A Bronze Dunny?


After getting home, we looked up this intersection on google earth…


There was an art exhibit in one of the Parco buildings…and we needed to go back there anyways.



We were going back to the Ruby Room…the exhibit was pretty cool.



You could make your own stamp…apparently I was the only person to hit it up.




hippo steez.




Back at the Ruby Room – Acco!


We ended up staying super late…met another band that’s actually coming to the States this
 coming here. I guess there name means something pretty unflattering in Japanese…heh


http://www.myspace.com/tokyopinsalocks 
 


They also showed my video for “Prophecies” at the club that night…it was kinda cool. What 
was especially cool was that Acco and most of her friends had already seen it and really 
really liked it. I’m not gonna lie, it felt pretty good to go somewhere new and have people
 already familiar with some of my work. heh, and like it too.



After the club…which closed about 3am (early for Japan) we tried to meet up with an American 
for a Design Week party. Either the directions were bad or I was bad at following them…whatever
the case – we couldn’t find it.



Walking around in Harajuku early in the morning it was like a ghost town. And it was cold. Micah
was done…and I was fading quick. I wandered into a 7-11 in search of coffee.



I couldn’t find any! wtfbatman! what’s a 7-11 without hot coffee?



We walked to the AM/PM down the street…and I couldn’t find it there either! There was a little display 
that said “Hot!” and had some machines nearby, but they just looked like hot water dispensers.



I asked the clerk…he walked over and pointed at the cooler I was near. It was a cooler with metal cans
 of coffee.



“No, hot coffee” I repeated. He opened the door and touched a can, and motioned for me to do the same.



I reached out…and I’ll be. It was a heated unit. Cans of coffee in a clear “cooler” kept hot. I got a can
 and some cookies and we headed back to the Harajuku station.



We had about an hour for the 1st train…




I think we got home about 7am…




Next time…the best meal yet…my friend Hiro from SFSU..and more.




-Luke

The trip back to Sodadomai was long and very crowded…the last train at midnight-ish was packed. 
30 minutes of standing in a crowded train car, well it could be worse. The Japanese are exceedingly 
polite and at this later hour, more than a few people had had more than a few drinks, so there
was actually some talking. It seemed the strict social rules had relaxed a little…

—-Day 3—-



The next morning I had some American coffee. yikes. My stomach didn’t really like that.



I decided to stick with BOSS.



For breakfast we headed to the local sushi-boat place. you know, the place with the ok-ish sushi
that travels around the conveyor belt?



Only here, it rivaled the best sushi I’d ever had in the States…we ate and ate and ate. The staff did
sing song greetings as people came in, they had routines for certain foods, they wiggled whole fish
 at the guests before cutting it up.



Our goal today was the Roppongi Hills and Pumpkin Icecream…hand made, stuffed in a gourd
and only 10 a day served. Back to the train. Back to Tokyo.



One of the many energy drinks available at a vending machine near…well, everywhere.


We sooo sneaky. I just wanted a pic of the bearded guy.




self-portrait steez.




At Roppongi Hills, with, like the building the Wine Bar was in, is a gigantic, super new, super
nice mall. Or rather, collection of multi story buildings. This was becoming the story of the 
trip.



Go to general area. Wander. Get pseudo-lost. Wander. Get ready to give up. Find the place.



We walked around several buildings before we found the right set of buildings, then it
was a matter of finding which restaurant had the ice cream. There was a Thai, and Indian, a bakery…



Our first thought proved to be wrong…it wasn’t the bakery. We headed back to the other restaurants,
I really didn’t think it was possible, but Micah asked at the Indian place. The guy said “yes we have 
that.” But it seemed like he might not actually understand what we were asking…but he left and 
returned with a flyer that had a picture on it.



Yatta!



We sat down outside and short moment later, a cute young waitress brought over two cups of 
coffee so black it would make my Mom proud.



“These are from my manager.” she said as she deposited them on the low table. “Stir and wait
 for a moment.” She motioned that it needed to settle…I could see the grounds around the 
edge, and I figured it was similar to Turkish Coffee. The last time I had that was in Harvard Square 
with Teal. I took a big swig at the end of the cup and ended up with a mouth of grounds…hehe.



A short while later the ice cream came out. It was a pale yellow and was sculpted into a dark green
gourd. It was beautiful.



The taste was light and creamy, a perfect counter part to the dark and rich coffee.





As we sat outside we could see the Tokyo Tower…which was on my list of thing-to-do. Using
the Tokyo Metro subway map, I was able to figure out where in relation to it we were…really close actually.





It was only 1 stop away from Roppongi Hills and how hard could something sooo big be to find?



I wanted to walk there, I like walking. It helps me get the feel of a place….but we weren’t more than a block
 away when the streets shot off in divergent directions from the tower. Annnnd the tower was hidden 
by multi-story buildings.



Uhhhhhh, let’s take the subway after all.





Off the subway we walked and walked…it shouldn’t have been that far, but we couldn’t see the darn thing, 
so we just headed in the general direction that we thought it was. Occasionally it would pop into view, 
then they road would turn…



We made it just as the Sun was beginning to set and headed straight for the top.




The girls working there all wore these cute uniforms. Uniforms are so big. Even construction 
workers have uniforms.

 I google’d this image…heh


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3338/3218786111_74480cd04c_o.jpg



Going up to the top of the tower blew. my. mind.



You have no idea how big Tokyo is from the ground, or from the subway…yeah there are lots of stops,
but what does that really mean?



It reminded me of the first time I was in NYC (ironically enough around the same time of year)…Tokyo 
literally stretches as far as the eye can see.





As the Sun set I realized that Tokyo is Blade Runner.



The neon lights, the gigantic metropolis, the video screens, the flying cars…the asian people. heh.



The future is here. And its name is Tokyo.





Back on the train…back west.



By the time we got home I was sooooooo hungry. I hated crashing like this, but I kept forgetting to
get snacks to carry with me.



I know I know. I’m in the land of awesome snacks…and I’m not taking advantage of it.



We wandered around the Odokyu Station (It’s a chain of stores AND a train line)…we found a noodle
place that looked good. But, you had to buy your food from a vending machine – then take the ticket 
to the cook.



The problem being, all the buttons were in Kanji. Sooo it would have been a gigantic hail mary picking
 something out…we opted to continue the search.



Upstairs we found a place that had plastic food…plastic food and picture menus were our saviors.



Many restaurants have these displays outside…


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3085/3219636028_4552cbff22_o.jpg



They didn’t speak much English at this place, so we followed the waitress outside and pointed at what 
we wanted. I opted for the Sobe and Tempura.



I’ve eaten this a few times in the States, but always it was made for me…I don’t think I’ve ever ordered it
 so…I ended up making a wee mistake with the serving.



There are several parts to the meal



• The Kettle with hot water

• The Noodles

• The Sauce

• The Cup

• The Garnish

• The Tempura



The tempura is easy. You eat it.



The rest…well that was a little harder to figure out. See in the window, the sauce was pour right over the noodles.



So that’s what I proceeded to do, poor the hot water and sauce on top of the noodles as they sat in the square dish…



I happened to do this as the Matron was bringing us drinks…a look of horror crossed over her face.



“Eeeeeyah!”

 At about the same time we noticed the water streaming out from the bottom of the dish.



Micah laughed.



I look up at her half in shock, half confused…she motioned for me to stop and proceed to show me what to do.



Sauce goes in cup, noodles go in cup, garnish goes in cup. Stir, eat. Repeat. At the end, pour the hot water in
and drink.



heh.



who knew?!









Next time…Toy Stores, Open Mics, and Friends of Friends…




-Luke

yo yo,

this is a craaaazy week…but I’d really like to get these up before the holidays. We’ll see.




I left LA at noon on Friday…I arrived at 4pm on Saturday in Tokyo. It was only an 11 hour flight…

+ 16 hours and the international date line.



Approaching Narita we had a good 30 minutes of consistent turbulence. I’ve never
 thought I was going to get airsick like I did then…the reason? Oh just a little tropical storm of
 the coast of Japan. 



Awessssome.


Apparently, they really want to know that you have a place to stay…and a contact number before letting you into Japan. I knew neither.



Luckily, I had a guide book. The Tokyo YMCA seemed like a good place to be “staying.” I suppose that means I entered the country under false pretenses…oops.




It didn’t take Micah and I as long to find each other as it did in Germany…



I felt naked without a cell phone…so one of our first stops was the cell rental place. The girls
 were very friendly and giggled a lot. The next order of business was food. And beer. We had
 noodles and beer…maybe Kirin. I don’t quite recall. It was delicious.



You could smoke in the restaurant.



We made our way back to Micah’s on via the train subway system. Micah had never done it before…

it was an adventure…and cost about $40. 



$5 to get to Oakland doesn’t sound so bad now does it?




We took a High speed train to an Express to a Local.



Everywhere people were on their phones, txt’ing. No one talked on them. No phone rang.


Night. Neon. Shinjuku.


After checking into the hotel we went for dinner number 2…


Most of the Japanese I know involves sushi…so I felt pretty comfortable ordering that…we had 
some amazing fish at this place. The guy seemed to recognize Micah.



Sake. Sushi. Horse Meat.




My body was now at about 8am time…but we kept going. Back to a club near the hotel for another drink.



I was like a shark…as long as I kept moving. 26 hour day ain’t nothin! This is Japan!





—–Day 2—–





I don’t know if was the adrenaline or the fact that I’m an awesome traveler…but that next morning
I was set on local time.



None-the-less, a surreal way to start the day…




Cappuccinos were our drink da-jour in Europe…but apparently they didn’t know what they were here. This “Latte” however was surprisingly Cappuccinoesque.



We ate some baked goods from the “Swedish Smell” place, drank our coffee and planned.


the plan was Harajuku…



back to the train.


the madness that is…


Harajuku is pretty much the Cosplay capital…of the Universe. (go ahead and google cosplay) And 
every Sunday is the meeting of Galactic Representatives. You thought Haight Street was weird?



Haight Street ain’t got nothin’ on this…



People come to take pictures, people come to have their picture taken: it’s a big picture fest.




Little Bo Peeps and a Yeti.





We bopped around for a while, took some wrong turns looking for a place to eat…but I didn’t get us lost.
I was getting cranky quick…my blood sugar was crashing…correction, it had crashed. Finally we found a 
place. (the place with a “Grass of Beer”)



I’m pretty good with chopsticks, I actually taught myself how to use them in college. I’d sit out on the back
porch and eat rice and veggies when I lived on Taraval with Christian (who strangely enough JUST
 signed onto AIM as I was typing this…) We never had chop sticks at home, and didn’t go out to 
Asian restaurants…except Thai…and Thai people don’t use chopsticks. But I digress…



The point being. Luke: white boy can sit w/ no chair and eat with sticks.

 BUT…fish…on the bone. HARD. Really hard. It took me forever to eat this fish…and I had to pull
 soooo many bones out of my mouth. I tried multiple techniques. Nothing seemed to work.



Eventually I figure out to scrape in the same direction as the ribs…


After dinner we headed out to Tokyo Central Station to go to a wine bar…it took us a while to find,
 because it wasn’t it the first super huge, super modern, super nice mall we went in. It was in the 
equally big one next door. It was like going to the Grove and looking for a shop, only to find out it was 
in Grove B…next door but with just as many shops (or in this case floors).



The staff was friendly, the view was incredible, the wine was…ehn. It was ok. I guess I’ve been 
spoiled recently with wine. We watched a guy carve a block of ice into a perfect sphere for a drink.



We talked. We laughed. Then we headed home.









Next time…



Sushi, Cheesecake, Pumpkin Ice Cream, Tokyo Tower!






I’m off to see some good ol’ Rock and Rorr.





-Luke