One of my main endeavors the last couple of days was to work out my travel plans. I have had the itching desire to explore more of Japan, and the Osaka/Kyoto region has been highly recommended. On top of that I want to go see all my friends who will be in Sapporo/Hakodate when they are on break for a long weekend starting on Friday the 10th. With that date only a little more than 2 weeks away I needed to figure out how I was going to get there and when I was going to fit in my Osaka/Kyoto visit. I was really bummed because Japan offers one of the greatest deals for tourists in the world: The JR Rail Pass. This only costs around 30,000yen ($300) and you can ride any rail in Japan (including the bullet trains, just not first class) for an entire week. Unfortunately, you can only get the exchange order for this while you are still abroad (you get a ticket mailed to you in America that you take with you to Japan and get the actual ticket with). I was preoccupied with Dead Week, preparing for the trip and seeing friends that I never got around to this. Fortunately, Thanh had an awesome idea, which was to get the thing online, mail it to my house, and then have my parents mail it here. The JR companies will never know...
I had one more snag I had to figure out. If my Rail Pass week had to encompass at least some of the dates that my friends were on break, when should I be doing the rest of my traveling? The deciding factor came in the form of a gift from the gods. The night I was raving, I was waiting around the Shibuya-O clubs for the Loft to open up (when I first went there, two guys waved me off, "Come back....15 minutes"). I started grabbing all the fliers for upcoming shows that were sitting outside. I was going through my enormous pile of these the other day (I collect these things from everywhere I go and the clubs tend to give you another twenty or so when you enter) when I discovered that one of the fliers I grabbed was for J-Wave PLATOn Live. PLATOn is some kind of radio show apparently, but the line up for the show is くるり, サカナクション, and The Pillows...THE PILLOWS! One of the biggest names in Japanese music and one of the few Japanese bands I knew and listened to before I got here. All of their other shows for these two months sold out in a day, but I thought it was worth a shot. Turns out that there were still tickets available and I got one. I am going to see The Pillows (in some sort of capacity). With the show on the 14th, my week long adventures will begin on the 6th.
Yesterday I spent time in both Shibuya and Ginza. I went back to Shibuya because another one of my trusty fliers said that there was an instrument district of shops. I specifically wanted to check out a place called Bass Collection and a place that specialized in synthesizers (I had not been able to find a synth shop in all of Tokyo until then). The Bass Collection was ridiculous. Every high end custom name I had heard of and some that I hadn't. They had Alembics, Ritters, and even a certified 1950 Fender P-bass. Some ran as high as 4,000,000yen ($40,000). I didn't take pictures; I was afraid to. The synth place was the same thing. They had every single high end synth on the market as well as vintage stuff. I messed around on some Minimoogs and threw on some Moogerfooger effects (Moog overload). They also had a Revolution there, which is a 303 knock-off. I love the 303 sound. I wish I could get one, but they go for $1500 on Ebay.
I had never been to Ginza before and I think it was pretty cool. I felt like it had a little more of a Manhatten feel to it, bustling but with a calm sophistication. It isn't like the youthful madness of Shibuya and Harajuku that I have fallen in love with. There I went to the Sony Building and tried out electronics. They had a robot there that I think it's sole purpose was to roll around on the floor in you house, that's it. I also saw this awesome sunset.
Today I checked out Tokyo Dome City for the first time, and went to Yoyogi Park and Harajuku again. The Tokyo Dome City is a shopping/entertainment/amusement park that is right next to the Tokyo Dome. It was raining this morning, so the park was not active. I left without doing too much, but I will be back there to ride the Thunder Dolphin.
The park was much calmer than the first time I went there. I wandered around a bit and then I took this really artsy photo (Um...okay, me).
There was something going on at the stadium by the park.
Dreams Come True is this big pop jazz group in Japan and this is the name of their new album, celebrating their 20th anniversary of their first single. The place was packed, but I checked out the vendors and tailgaters for a little bit.
Speaking of Engrish:
There was some weird stuff this evening. I had a desire for a fruit-tea beverage of some sort, so I went to the convenience store. On the way there was a man passed out on the side walk with a water bottle. Traffic cops who happened to be on the scene were helping him move off of the sidewalk and into a park for children. Speaking of parks for children:
What are you? How do I work you?
Wheeee!The reason I discovered this park was because Ted Everheart, a class of '09 Sebrugian, told me that visiting a temple or shrine at night is a must while in Japan. I will probably do so again in Kyoto, as that is where the serious shrines are.
The final thing is that today I decided to immerse myself in Japanese youth culture in two ways. First, I finally broke down and went to a McDonald's and had a Teriyaki McBurger. It was delicious. Secondly, this thing caught my eye, and I just had to:
I have bought my first Japanese cellphone strap. I will call him Hitome, a fitting but bad pun. Also I don't think this cereal is sold in the US, so I might have to immerse myself by buying it, and perhaps some Gemnai Flakes.
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