Last Day in Tokyo

  Tokyo, Kanto, Japan
Sunday, August 23, 2009

08.23.09

We couldn't afford the extra $ to get reserved seats, but as this was an early stop for the train, we were able to find seats. The trip back to Nagoya (where we would transfer to the shinkansen) was just as scenic as before.  Johnny Cash on my iPod made a fun soundtrack for the mountain scenery.  Noticed a lot of fisherman in the rivers today.  Guess they all fish on Sunday.  Jes took a nap after we’d eaten lunch, but I took pictures for her.

We fortunately went immediately to the next train when we got to Nagoya, as the train left about 10  minutes later.  There were no seats available on the shinkansen and we ended up standing in the "between cars" area.  There was a little smoking booth at the front of the car, though, which I did utilize.  The ride wasn’t a very comfortable one, but it got us there.  On way back to Tokyo, I realize I’ve seen a lot of Japan.  Most of it was traveling between 50-160mph.

Back in Tokyo, we rode the Yamanote line over to Ueno, where we intended to catch the Narita express the next day.  We left most of our bags in a coin locker and tooled around the shopping arcade outside of Ueno station.  Then we went to Asakusa and tooled around the shopping arcade there.  Bought our last few omiyage.  Yatta! 

Ate at a restaurant outside of the arcade that had a little bit of everything:  tonkatsu, nigiri/sushi, noodles, rice.  It was ok.  I had tonkatsu; jes had nigiri.  Tonkatsu was pretty good, though their sauce wasn’t.  the nigiri was pretty fresh.  We chatted up the sushi chefs a bit and asked them to recommend a good izakaya for an after-dinner libation and perhaps a little yakitori.  They gave us directions and we had paid out and left, when one of the chefs came running up to us and personally took us to the bar. 

It was a nice cocktail bar, but they did have a few nihonshus, albeit pricey ones.  We ordered a few and sat and talked.  They had some food, but it wasn’t quite the kind of place we were looking for, so we bailed out after a couple of drinks.    

Being our last night in Tokyo, we wanted to live it up a little, so we went looking for yet another bar.  Off to Ikebukuro to find Tonerian, a LP-recommended sake bar, whose owner/bartender was especially knowledgeable about nihonshu and kept a large variety on hand.  Got a little lost looking for it, and asked some guys hanging out on the street to help us.  One very nice man not only pointed it out on our map, he also walked us over to the location. 

We were unsure if we were in the right place immediately upon sitting down.  The menu listed mostly food, and not so much on the nihonshu.  I double checked the LP book and then asked our server if we were indeed in Tonerian.  He explained that we were, but it had changed owners and was now a Korean BBQ place.  Kuso.  We got a little bit of the BBQ.  It was ok. 

Being done for the night we began looking for lodging.  I’d purposely not booked a hotel for our last night in Japan, planning on staying at a capsule hotel or a manga kissa.  Manga kissas are all-night internet cafes, which have a large selection of manga (hence the name), anime, movies, and games.  You rent a both for a period of time and do whatever you want to.  LP suggested it was a suitable and cheap place to stay the night if you were in a pinch.  So we went to Shibuya and found the highly recommended B@gus Cybercafe.  Actually, we found two of them.  The first one turned out to be a pool hall or darts gameroom.  We checked into the manga kissa one and bought a 6 hour block.  However, since that only paid til 5am, I asked to buy 2 extra hours.  I did not, however, get a receipt. 

The booths were small lounging areas, separated much like office cubicles.  They were totally lined in leather, which can us some hygienic concerns.  They were also much too small to stretch out in and we ended up spending a hot, cramped night in them.  On the plus side, the café offered free self-serve ice cream, soft drinks, and coffee, as well as shower facilities.  We watched a little anime (gundam wing, but it was all in Japanese) and a little porn (they had a large selection), and then tried to sleep.  With the cramped conditions and what sounded like a snoring sumo wrestler next door, we didn’t get much sleep. 

08.24.09

Finally, about 6.30 (almost an hour earlier than we were supposed to check out), we couldn’t stand it any more.  We loaded up our stuff and went to check out.  Unfortunately, the guy at the desk the night before had not made any notation that I’d paid for extra time and I had to pay for the hour over the initial time block again.  Crankily, we paid and left, looking for a coffee shop to hang out in until things began opening.  And we left our umbrella.  Kuso.

Found a Krispy Kreme (there are like in Japan), but it wasn’t open yet.  Decided we’d wander around and try and find a coffee shop.  After walking forever and finding nothing, we headed back to Krispy Kreme, conveniently located near Shibuya station.  It was open by the time we got back.  Cranky, grungey, and tired, we ate our donuts and tried to come up with something to do until it was time to go to the airport.  Good news was we got a free donut with our coffee. Yatta!

  Went to Ueno station and walked to Book-Off, an used manga bookstore.  It was, of course, not open yet, so we hung out in the alleyway and smoked cigs til it was.  Looked through the titles, but it was hard to figure out their organization, and we didn’t find much we liked.  I got volume 1 of Inuyasha, in Japanese.  “Read” it on the plane ride back to NOLA.

Walked back to the station, and grabbed lunch at a nearby noodle shop.  I got ramen and jes got gyoza.  Both were pretty good.  And cheap, which was exceptionally good, as we were pretty broke. 

Picked up our luggage and went to Narita, where we spent our last Y1,000 on a hot shower and a small bottle of sake.  Then, back to the USA.