Sutorenjaa In Japan

Tokyo, You Rock My World... part 2

And so it continued...

Saturday: Group Trip & split
· Harajuku: despite rolling in around 5:30am, we all managed to get up a 9-10 and get on out to Harajuku. Yes, it is a real place and not just a Gwen Stefani lyric. I guess it’s a pretty chic area these days… TONS of shops, both designer and not. Near the station apparently a lot of kids come out to just hang but are usually dressed in gothic style. PS- there are quite a few gothic clothing stores in the area… and I’m not talking Hot Topic, mall gothic… this stuff is damn elaborate and quite a sight to behold. I must say, when the Japanese are into a ‘scene’ they are into it all the way. 2 of my friends donned their goth apparel and seemed to fit right in. It was rather interesting. However, it was here that a few of us split up as people had different things they wanted to see… so we figured we’d reconvene later for dinner & parted ways. So basically, I roamed around Harajuku a bit more… found a DISTURBING toy at Condomania (see the photo of Jon & the clown... and yes, that IS what you think it is...SHOCK!) and went back to the hostel.

· Shibuya Dinner: went to dinner with 3 other friends in Shibuya area (south Tokyo). I heart this area. It’s so busy & lit up at night! Big city lights and all. I must say I found it more impressive than Time’s Square and I’m sure it has a TON more people. So we found a really COOL Japanese restaurant. What was “cool” about it was the atmosphere and design of the restaurant… we were inside but it looked like we were outside! Each dining ‘area’ was separated, kind of in their own rooms… and there were lower and upper rooms (so there were people eating directly above us)… like in small dens. So, when you were walking around in the restaurant you were walking on a small stone path, there were bamboo shoots and lanterns around… as if you were outside & the dining areas were huts. Anyway, it was an awesome layout and the food was good too.

· Shibuya Club: after dinner we met with 2 more of my friends and 2 of my other friend’s friends and we went to a club. Along the way they seemed to pick up more people that they knew and by the time we got to the club, we were rollin with at least 15 people. BTW they were all so nice! Some of them spoke English pretty well and others spoke in broken English, but the point is… they were not afraid to talk with us or meet us or party with us!!! TOTAL contrast to my experience in Fukui. But I suppose it’s a city vs. country thing. Anyway, it game me hope for making j-friends after all…awww. So we went to a hip hop club (JOY!!!) and cover was a bit high (2500 for gals & 3000 for guys) but we went anyway (I think it’s the going cover rate in Japan AND it included a drink). At first I was a bit worried cause there weren’t too many people on the floor, but the DJs were playing fun music so it was ok. The thing that amazed me the most was that people were actually DANCING!!! In Fukui, the clubs I’ve been too (the 2 clubs maybe out of… oh, I don’t know… 2?!), the people just stood around and watched the DJ…bobbed their heads a litte… but at this place people were actually dancing with each other! SHOCK!!! It was awesome to see people actually moving and it reminded me a little more of home… tear. To wrap things up, it got completely PACKED later on in the night, my girl friends left at 3am, and I stayed on with the guys till 5:30am closing (interesting that people actually stay till the end too) and then got back to the hostel at 6:30ish. It was a good night.

posted by KidBach @ 9:32 AM