For most of the last year I’ve been working two jobs. This has involved getting up at 3:30 in the morning and getting home at 8 pm at night. I say this so that there is some context to what comes next: I recently was given the opportunity to go to Tokyo for a very short stay. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.
In doing so I became a disappointment to some, a crazy foreigner to at least two local Japanese, simply “crazy” to yet others and as far as I’m concerned a philosophical 1st world wanderer and rockstar.
I woke up early on Sunday April 14th knowing that I only had to be back to work on Thursday April 18th. Three whole fucking days off, a rarity with my schedule. I didn’t have any concrete plans but I wanted to do something; I wanted to get away. I had hoped to visit my brother or parents but somehow neither opportunity worked out. It was 9:30 Sunday morning and I decided to try and get to Tokyo. I grabbed my backpack, one clean pair of socks and underwear. Had to ransack my apartment for my passport and rushed to the airport to catch a flight. I can’t emphasize this enough, I just woke up Sunday morning, had a bowl of cereal and decided “fuck it” I’m going to Tokyo.
I was extremely lucky and for reasons I won’t discuss here I was able to get a first class ticket to Tokyo. This was my first experience flying first class and it was truly wonderful. Everything from the service, the food and the comfort were above exceptional. If I could afford to fly first class all the time I certainly would.
As this was an unscheduled visit I hadn’t made any reservations or plans. The flight to Tokyo took approximately 14 hours. I left Sunday morning for Japan and I arrived into Tokyo city at around 7 pm on Monday.
I stopped by an internet cafe and was surprised to learn that in order to use their services you now needed to be a member. In order for a foreigner to be a member you had to provide your passport number. I thought that this was a bit excessive but I needed the internet to get some basic research on hotels and get my bearings. I later learned that this was implemented because a few years ago they had a lot of teenagers run away from their homes and stay at internet cafes as I had done back in 2010.
In the end I made it to the hostel where I had previously stayed while in Tokyo, the New Koyo hotel. Instead of taking a traditional tatami mat I choose the western room. I was pleasantly surprised to see western voltage power outlets. They had also improved their showers since my last stay. It was the same small slightly used room with a single bed but it had all the necessities I needed and as always was reasonably priced. You can read about them here. If they could just fix up the mens washroom this place would be even better but I suppose they would then be a lot busier. I like to think of this place as “my little” secret Tokyo hotel even if it is fairly well known.
After having checked in, I headed over to one of the places I fell in love with while in Tokyo last time, the Lyphard lounge. After I spoke with the owner for a bit he remembered my last visit. The place was exactly like I remembered it, relaxed atmosphere, excellent food and all around welcoming. I was tired after a long day of traveling; I had two drinks, wished them good night and headed to the hostel explaining that I would stop by tomorrow night and just hang out.
The next morning I was up very early (I think it was 5 or 6 am). I jumped in the shower, sent a few emails to friends and got ready to go explore Tokyo. I sent emails to several individuals asking if they wanted any souvenirs. Some replied with jealousy that I was in Tokyo, others with awe and some with doubts on my sanity.
I took the metro into the Ginza. Which is described by wikipedia as:
“It is known as an upscale area of Tokyo with numerous department stores, boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses. Ginza is recognized as one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world. Many upscale fashion clothing flagship stores are located here, being also recognized as having the highest concentration of western shops in Tokyo.”
I didn’t really know any of this before hand but as I walked through this neighborhood early in the morning I quickly realized that I was in “one of those” neighborhoods. A little bit like gangnam in Seoul. You know you’re surrounded by opulence. Shit I can only dream of buying due to their price tags and not really my style regardless. I got three things out of this neighborhood. I stumbled upon a very nice park, sat down and relaxed my feet for a little bit. Watched the world go by so to speak or more appropriately watched the Koi swim by (in the lower set of pictures):
Secondly I noticed on their street signs (ie neighborhood guides) that there was a Tourist information center. I stopped into the tourist information center as I wanted to inquire about possibly getting a guide/translator for the day. Even though I assumed it was too last minute to really find anything I told myself the information might be useful for my next visit. I tried but was unable to get a guide for the evening.
Finally I saw one of the ugliest buildings I’d laid eyes on while in Tokyo. It’s just my opinion but it stuck out like a sore thumb:
After this it was onto the national museum of nature and science. It was the first time I purchased an audio guide in a museum. Although the museum wasn’t what I expected it was still an interesting few hours. The audio guide was well done and It definitely added to the experience as many of the displays were in Japanese only (which was expected).
It was a nice sunny day out and there were hundreds of tourist of all nationalities as well as student groups. It was such a different contrast to my last time spent wandering the Ueno area as I got ready to leave for Hiroshima. It was raining, I was wet, the surrounding area was empty but for a few homeless people trying to stay dry. The museums were all closed on the Monday and I was feeling slightly depressed.
On this day the sun was shinning, I was in a great mood, surrounded by groups of tourist and school children. I stopped into Ueno station (which is the station where you can find these museums) and did a bit of shopping. Along with some new clothes I got my ninja socks. I’m pretty certain this means I’m now certified to be a ninja:
I’m happy to announce there’s a possibility I’m going to be famous in Narita ;-) I say this with a hint of humor, so let me explain: As we got into Narita airport, myself and one other westerner were some of the first people off the plane. It just so happened that both us only had carry on bags, no checked bags. That meant we didn’t have to wait around. Now I should preface this by saying I’m a fast walker. As we exited the plane both of us began walking towards immigration before exiting the aiport. As this was a fairly large airport and we were both walking quickly we soon found ourselves alone walking down the long hall ways making our way towards the immigration section. As we neared the immigration gates there was a large group of professional camera men lined up against the wall. I thought maybe we were interrupting some press conference (yes there were that many cameras). I looked at the other westerner in front of me and jokingly said “it looks like were going to be famous in Japan”. As we continued to approach the camera men he answered “but I don’t want to be famous in Japan” and I laughed as I replied “Same here”. As we finally approached the gates the cameras started going off, a barrage of flashes and “clicking” sounds as we walked through the gates. I have no idea why they were taking the pictures but I’m going to laugh my ass off should I ever return to Japan and see myself on some kind of immigration hand out!
After the museum I headed to the hostel for a quick nap and a shower. Adjusting to the large time difference between Montreal and Tokyo was proving a challenge. I woke up a few hours later, went to walk around the Minowa neighborhood looking for food and souvenirs. A short while later I was back at the Lyphard lounge, rested and ready for a few drinks at my favorite Tokyo watering hole. I was soaking up the atmosphere when one of the Japanese patrons approached me and asked if he could sit at the stool beside me. I had seen him talking to the owner earlier and testing his English. I invited him to sit down and we began talking.
Turns out he was a music video producer. You can see some of his work in this music video (specifically the clip with the clouds). We continued to talk about various subjects throughout the night at which point he started asking me more pointed questions. We talked nuclear energy, foreigners, travel, quality of life and music. We discussed Japanese and Canadian culture. He asked me what I thought of K/J-pop (Korean/Japanese pop groups, both men and women). I said I disliked them but some people enjoyed them. He asked me about Justin Beiber (he is Canadian after all). Finally he asked me what type of music I listened to. I was attempting to find some groups he might know and the one I’ve really enjoyed these past few years is actually Japanese. I wasn’t certain if they were well known in Japan. I had the pleasure of seeing “Ego Wrappin” while at the Pentaport rock festival in Seoul. Since that time I have been a dedicate fan. So I was pleasantly surprised when I dropped the name Ego Wrappin and his face lit up.
He agreed with me that they were a great group of musicians and explained to me that they weren’t as well known in Japan as they probably should be. I think he was slightly surprised I even knew about them. I guess it just goes to show that good music and musicians cross cultural boundaries, even if we might not necessary understand the words being spoken.
The night finished at a reasonable hour. I went to the nearest little Japanese fast food place where they serve bowls of rice with various ingredients (beef, pork, sauces etc). I was tired, slightly inebriated (drunk) and hungry. I walked into the place after having struggled with the door to get in. It wasn’t a pull or push, but rather a “slide to the side”. this wasn’t so obvious after a few drinks and late a night. I sheepishly slid the door open and sat down at the counter. I simply pointed to the picture on the menu of what i wanted to order. The courteous Japanese worker behind the counter spoke to me but I had no idea what he said so I simply pointed to the item again and took out some money.
He sprang into action, grabbed my money, walked around the counter and approached the door I had just entered. It’s at that moment that I saw there was a machine which you needed to “purchase” your meal. Basically you put money in, click on the button for the meal you want (usually has a picture beside it), get a ticket and hand that ticket to the person behind the counter. As soon as I saw him approach the machine my heart sank. I felt like one hell of a drunken, ignorant westerner. It didn’t help that there was a lone Japanese man sitting across the counter looking at me with a mix of surprise and disappointment. I simply had not seen the machine to place my order but I felt like a total retard for having missed it after a few drinks. The Japanese clerk kindly purchased the right item, sent my ticket to the kitchen, gave me the change and a few minutes later I had a delicious bowl of thin strips of beef on rice.
Feeling slightly embarrassed at my faux pas, yet in a great mood because I was in Tokyo having a blast I wanted to make it up to the worker. I decided in my drunken stupor to leave a “tip” for him underneath my empty bowl of rice. Tipping doesn’t really exist in Japan so my plan was to make it look like I had simply forgotten the change underneath my food. I took out a few bills, attempted to do drunken math in my head, placed them under my empty bowl and stepped out into the night while the staff wished me a good night with their typical Japanese greeting when you leave their restaurant. It’s only when I started thinking about which bills I had left underneath the rice bowl did I realize what I had done. I had left him almost a 25$ tip on a 7$ bowl of food!
I headed to the hotel and called it a night. The next morning I woke up very early, showered, checked out of the hotel and headed over to Narita. I had sushi for lunch, and although it was expensive it was completely worth it. I had been craving some eel (unagi) for months. I sat down and decided to order “A la carte”. I ordered 10 pieces to start and another 2 afterwards. When the waitress first brought my order to the chef he was surprised and she actually pointed me out to the chef. The meal set me back 50$ but I can honestly say that the portions/amount of fish I received was incredible (and it was good). In Montreal I would have gotten pieces perhaps 2 to 3 times smaller.
I spent the afternoon relaxing at the airport waiting for my flight home. I was privileged once more to have gotten a first class ticket back to Canada. I slept like a baby the whole way back. I woke up to the announcement that we were preparing to land. Once again I was greeted by excellent service and the staff offered to get a meal ready for me if I believed I could eat it before landing. I politely thanked them and explained that I had eaten a large meal shortly before boarding and that it would not be necessary. She smiled and told me “You must of partied hard last night, you slept like a rock”. I hadn’t partied hard but I hadn’t slept a lot. Either way I found the comment humorous. A short cross country flight later and I was back home in Montreal.
I got into Montreal around 5 pm local time. As it turned out, a few friends were getting together to head out to a restaurant called Mais. It’s partly owned by a friend of a friend who joined us there for some conversation. If you’ve never been to Mais, you really need to give it a try. The food is amazing and each time I have some I want more of it. The conversation flowed nicely and we all discussed various trips and adventures we had recently experienced.
Now let’s get back to the post of my title: “Perpetuating myths: idiot foreigner, crazy, rockstar, philosopher, disappointment.”
I know there’s a least a few individuals who will be sad when they read this. They will ask themselves “why didn’t he come here instead?” and the honest answer is that it simply wouldn’t have been possible this time. I promise to visit you as soon as possible. So there you have it, three days in Tokyo in which I was:
- A disappointment to some.
- A drunken foreigner to at least two locals.
- A good judge of music to a local Japanese video music producer.
- A crazy person for traveling to Tokyo for less than 3 days.
- And more importantly philosopher and rockstar. That’s right, I would even dare say a legend in my own mind!
I mean let’s be honest: Who the fuck gets to simply fly half way around the world, hang out in a cool bar, eat sushi for lunch in Tokyo and fresh tacos for a late evening supper with friends in Montreal? Seriously folks, life is fucking short and I feel like despite everything I don’t have I’m one of the luckiest mother fuckers on the planet.
As cheesy as it sounds: Peace and love to everyone. Stop and smell the flowers.
mtl_dokk-aebi
