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• Tokyo part 1

  Monday, Feb 23, 2009 2:07PM / Standard Entry / Members only
  5 comments

  My trip to Tokyo did not go off to a smooth start whatsoever.  Due to the most retarded of brain farts, I was late to the airport and missed my flight.  Northwest didn't have any more flights to Tokyo until the next day, and they don't endorse flights, so I had two choices: pay full price for a new flight from a different airline, or stay in Taipei one more day, get another hotel for the night, lose one prepaid hotel night in Tokyo, and pay a $250 rescheduling fee. 

  It turned out they both were going to cost about the same, so I paid $425 for a new flight that was leaving that day.  OUCH... it hurt so bad, I shed a few tears of frustration.  But I guess at least I had been saving money the whole trip so far by getting reasonable flights and not overspending on food or shopping...  

  After a 3 hour flight, I arrived in Shinjuku, which is huge and awesome:

  

  My room at Hotel Sunroute Plaza is tiny, cozy and comfortable:

  

  The 9 mosquito bites that I had unluckily gotten the night before in Taipei had become huge and unbearably itchy. I spent my first day walking around Shinjuku in my cute new boots, but they made the bites on my ankle terribly swollen and irritated.  I got some mosquito bite medicine from a pharmacy and it helped, but I had to spend my second day walking around Ginza and Akihabara in a skirt in order to prevent further irritation to my bites.  (I looked for some loose fitting cotton pants but couldn't find any.)  I felt like my ankles were going to break off.  I thought, "I haven't felt this cold and miserable since working background on Moonlight." 

  Ginza was way too upscale for me, with super high end shops that you can find in Europe or on Rodeo Drive.  Akihabara was flashy and cool with 5-story arcades and electronics shops everywhere, plus tons of pachinko parlors and porn/fetish shops.  I love the crane machine so I won a bunch of stuffed toys, mostly small Rilakkuma bears. 

  Akihabara, game & electronics central:

  

  Winning toys:

  

  On my third day, my mosquito bites had improved enough to wear leggings again.  THANK GOD.  I tried taking the subway to Shibuya but accidently took an express train to Ichigaya.  I walked around a bit, had some sushi and accidently ordered 4 pieces when I thought 8 were coming.  (Damn language barrier.)  But it was good, and reasonably priced.

  Yes, it's true what they say about the subway system here... it's so huge and ridiculously complicated.  Shinjuku station is the one I had to use every day, it's about a quarter mile long, with about 200 entrances.  You have to buy your ticket directly next to the gate you're going to use, or else you'll get a ticket for the wrong line.  Sometimes, like at Kuramae station, you have to go outside the station and walk down the street to get to the correct line you need.  You have to make sure you pay attention to the subway exit you came out of and use the same one to get back, or you might take the wrong line or even the wrong railway altogether. 

  I finally found my way to Shibuya, which is amazing:

  

  Shibuya might just be the coolest hangout in Tokyo, with a good mixture of shopping, games and bars.  Shinjuku is more of a guys' place, full of pachinko parlors, arcades, and contains the red-light district of Kabuki-cho, full of hostess bars, adult shops, etc. 

  At first glance, Japanese boys are very hot.  They're mostly tall and skinny with spiky long hair and nice clothes.  But then you look closer and realize the reason they look pretty boy-ish is mainly because they do their eyebrows.  Eyebrows make such a huge difference, they can completely change a person's look.  Sometimes it looks great, sometimes too metro, and sometimes it just looks like a stubbly mess from being shaved a day or two ago.  Do it right and get them plucked, boys!  

  Also, these guys carry man-bags, like I heard, but sometimes they have straight PURSES.  It's like they wanted to upgrade the man-bag to a nicer one and ended up with a purse.  Also, like girls, they often have a keychain dangling from their cell phones - sometimes a manly one, sometimes a little stuffed bear or something.  I saw this in Taipei as well.  Overall, the guys here have a cool edgy look, but I think the guys in Taipei are more "cute".    

  A little too metro for me (yes they are boys):

  

  Sometimes I see groups of guys all dressed up in tight black metro clothes, eyebrows perfect with their dyed/highlighted hair spiked all to hell, just standing around busy areas at night as if they want to be "seen".  (I'm really not sure what they're up to.)    

  As far as the girls go, the prettiest ones I saw were businesswomen in light makeup on their way to or from work.  The teenagers and college girls either wear zero makeup, or far too much.  Sorry guys, the girls in the Japanese magazines are in there for a reason - they're models!   (Heavily airbrushed too of course.)  I've only seen a couple of girls who actually look like this: