The 5 am subway home
Trip Start
Oct 23, 2006
1
11
93
Trip End
Jan 29, 2007
Tokyo,
Japan
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Back home you tip so you get decent service, Here The second you walk into some bars they force you to buy a drink, Then the second you put your drink down, its "buy another one" pretty much instantly, no need to tip.
H
eres the ironic dilemma, The subway stops running from about 12-5 depending on where your going in Tokyo, Which means your stuck out, or paying for a expensive cab ride home.
Its really pretty funny coz i can remember countless times when the bars closing back home at 2-3 am and your thinking damn how retarded i was just getting going.
Here your having a great time, then about 4am you start to get a lil burnt and you check your clock and you think hmmm im bout ready to head er home (subway rides still an hourish once you begin your travels
alcatraz 3
.Its pretty funny so you get on the first subway and everyone everywhere is drunk, And the subway is soooo damn hot and humid down there, Everyone falls asleep, so you look around and everyones passed out, pretty good chance they are gonna miss there stop home, anyone remeber that commercial back home bout not drinking diving where the guy passes out on the train (ironically no such privileged back home with our horrible public transportation system)
Anyways so far i've found things respectably priced, 5-10 bucks for a drink at the bar which is more or less on par with back home, Although cover can be killer upwards around 30. Like most big cities the second you hit any sort of trendy area you are bombarded with promoters trying to get you into there pub/bar/club etc...(be creative)
Here its a bunch of Russians and Africans, all trying to pass themselfs off as Americans by cleverly disguising there accent with "dude" (oddly placed Dude! of course)
Its interesting to see but once you've traveled a bit it can get kinda annoying its like walking the gauntlet.
Surprisingly if you look a little bit theres an abundance of good restaurants that are about 500 yen for a respectable meal (5 bucks just drop 2 zeros)
One thing to watch out for though is Some places have "seating charges" We went to a triped out place a few nights ago called Alcatraz and its a theme restaurant, so they hand cuff you and take you into a prison cell to eat you meal, and it all comes like prison food set up like cutlery and such (not that i know first hand but from what i seen on tv) and then they steal someone away, or the lights go out and they have like a lock down, and the bathrooms all tripped out like someone got killed inside, pretty cool, but then you find out at the end of the night, not only were they small portions for way to much money, theres a "seating charge" of 30 00 yen
Which worked out to 600 each, which isn't the end of the world, but sure a damn surprise
alcatraz 4
.I really love Tokyo, Theres just so many crazy trippy things going on all the time, The one thing i don't like is that like Edmonton, there is no where you can just chill, you always gotta go in and sit down have a beer or a meal, i miss the beach where ya can just chill and enjoy the sights and sounds. Which is what im looking forward to for when i get to SEA, Here once you hit the city, your walking for hours, did easy 7 hours a day this weekend of walking, even with spending 15 dollars a day on the subway, Theres no public benches so if you want a break go have a meal or beer and drink/ eat slowly.
I just really enjoy having a place to chill, like in Latin America or Spain, theres always a beach or a nice lil park with some benches to chill on, Even late at night theres always outdoor plazas where you can just go and chill outside and enjoy a beer.
So i'm not sure how much longer i will stay in Tokyo, Taro heads home to Kyoto today, And tonight i have a baseball game, Was gonna go to tylers table tennis game, but didn't get home till 7 am so ended sleepin through it. So i figure right now im thinking i head to kyoto on wed with the rail pass and then just day trip some other cities with Kyoto as my home base, Once i figure out exactly how my rail pass works, The Japanese Are so specific it kinda reminds me of taking a test "the rail pass is good for unlimited travel for 7 consecutive days, BUT ONLY ON JR LINES, An EXCEPT FOR...
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. lol oh well i paid 270 for it and my ride to Kyoto alone would cost me 130, so if i even take only 2-3 day trips check some of japan out i will be content.The really awesome thing about being in japan and having friends here is just the simple fact that even on an expensive day/ night like yesterday, where i spend 60 bucks, If i was staying in a hotel, that'd be just giving me a rough over my head.
Well thats about all but i will leave you with something to chuckle about.
Right now in japan Taro is here, and he had 2 friends of his visit one is white one in japanse, Heres the thing taro, who's black speaks perfect japanese with out an accent, But everyone expects the Japanese Canadian to speak, They cant comprehend the fact that he speaks only english, and the black guy speaks perfect Japanese, Then when taro busts out his japanese passport, it really drops the jaw, People in a country of 99% one race, just don't understand what its like in Canada, where everyones an immigrant, and outsiders are the insiders, not just the people to ignore. anyways so 15 more days in japan 7 of which with a rail pass should be good, But as always im looking onward to Thailand cheapness fresh fruit hot weather and beaches. Oh on last thing, i seen a 1000 (dollar not yen) melon the other day comes all wrapped up in a bow tie and everything, no joke
alcatraz,
!i took a photo, Its funny coz when you travel you start to have some conversations you never thought you would have, like i had this apple the other day it was damn good eats (5 bucks for an apple)
Anyways i think thats long enough, I'm too lazy to put some photos up, but if i can I'd like to send the ones I've taken back home in a zip file so i can clear them off my memory stick if anyone has a ftp site i can use drop me a e-mail it'd be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Brian
