flurry of activity
real quick rundown of the past couple of weeks:
- 7/11 – farewell/welcoming party for the other foreign teachers.
- 7/13 – tokyo disney resort with my gf
- 7/18 – kita-koshigaya festival
- 7/19 – roppongi adventure
- 7/20 – wandering around odaiba
- 7/25 – birthday celebration all-nighter in shibuya
the farewell/welcoming party was nice. the party, as i experienced it, was in 3 stages: 1) main party, 2) after-party at a bar, 3) after-after-party going karaoking all night.
tokyo disney resort was fun, we went from 9a-9p and rode almost all of the rides and saw all but one show. i enjoyed my disney experience there, especially seeing star tours in japanese. california’s disneyland is just a tad better, a tad. but i had a great time and will go again when i get the chance. thank goodness for fast passes.
this little festival in kita-koshigaya (the japanese name escapes me) was pretty fun. food stalls everywhere, trying to catch goldfish but i couldn’t, and hanging out with friends. the guy at the goldfish stand must have felt bad, he gave me two goldfish. my gf named them ‘beef’ and ‘pork.’ unfortunately, beef died the next day, and pork died the following day just after i had bought him a fish tank with the fixings.
my second experience in roppongi, this time around, was much better. i went barhopping with my new friends and was able to take care of this dancing itch i’ve had for awhile. we hit up wolfgang puck for happy hour, 780円 coronas dropped to 580円. still pricy, but whatever. afterwards, we went to bar milwaukee that had an extended hour, all drinks for 500円! this place also had a pool table at 200円 per game, much better than first bar’s 3000円/hour price. finally, we hit up first bar. they were having a salsa night! we got a 500円 drink ticket (any drink) and danced the next hour or so away. we slowed it down on drinking there because the prices were insane (900円 coronas???) but the dancing kept us content. we all dashed madly for the last trains though and we all made it.
the following day a bunch of us wandered around odaiba. the original plan was to hike mt. takao but we changed plans the last minute. at odaiba, we saw the huge gundam statue there as well as this tiny beach. there was a special event happening, so the beach was lined up with a ton of colored bags with candles inside. everyone was lighting candles and there were a bunch of boats with lanterns taking up position in the water. tokyo is a candidate city for the 2016 olympics so this event was to commemorate that. the bags/candles were set up in a way to say tokyo 2016 as well as display the olympic graphics that can be seen on banners standing around. we also went to this amusement park called joypolis which had very few attractions with disneyland-like wait times. finally, we ended the night with a ride on the hello kitty ferris wheel and dinner at this section of a mall that was modeled after caesar’s palace in las vegas (complete with a small casino).
the birthday party in shibuya was fun. we started at a bar called failte, some irish pub. the drinks were good, but expensive. a bunch of us quickly moved to a dirtier, dive of a bar where the beers were 300円 a pop. quickly after that, we rejoined the group at club atom. 3 levels of madness (trance, house, hip hop?) awaited us and it was jam-packed with a ton of people. it was uncomfortable. i almost got my camera taken away too, i didn’t see the sign that said no videos/pictures. i showed the guy that i deleted whatever i took, and he let me go. after about another half hour, some of us moved to gaspanic, which is some chain bar/restaurant and it played some decent music and had a lot of people, but didn’t feel like a sardine can. a couple of things: 1) all-nighters are not my thing these days, at least my body can’t keep up, and 2) even in japan, don’t forget any form of picture id with birth date! haha.
this weekend, i look forward to putting all of my taiko practice to good use. we’ll be performing at some festival in kita-koshigaya. i don’t think we’re ready, but o well! i also look forward to spending some quality time with the lady and just relaxing.
