Hmmm, where to start where to start... well believe it or not we did actually do things other than drink in Tokyo - upon arrival it was full on Cornish style rain, and it stayed that way for 2 days.
To make matters worse, my hectic week of goodbye drinking had taken it's toll and I manged to pick up a minor cold which kicked in at the airport, so after almost missing the plane by naturally being in the pub too long I was sniffling and blowing my nose all the way there. Little did I know until just before we landed that blowing one's nose is EXTREMELY rude in Japan. So half the plane hated me and I kept having to go to the toilet to blow my nose.
Mike also manged to seriously offend the owners at out first restaurant - after a tasty Ramen bowl he tried to tip them (300 yen - cheapskate) this is also VERY offensive in Japan. So we just did one before they could shout at us.
Had a quick wander down to Ginza - a very classy part of town where our route was determined by what shiny things tempted me down the road.... Early bedtime in the hostel (which we couldn't find thanks to the crazy Japanese address system) - 8 hour jetlag after foolishly not sleeping on the flight sucks.
So next day was tourist day - a quick visit to the Imperial palace where this is about as close as you can get:
Then on to the paliament buliding (cops here have
LightSabres!)
Then to Roppongi - very sohoish and mad - with a trendy bit with a giant spider:
and oddly enough a smoking cell - you can't smoke in the streets in Japan so they stick you in these... they were not amused by me tapping on the windows like they were in a zoo.. oh well
Wandered for ages toward Minoai temple in the west, saw an amusing shop in the way:
... again, they were not amused by me tapping on the windows like they were in a zoo.. some people...
So we made it to the temple - beautiful place - you have to purify your soul at the font before you enter..
of course I needed purifing...
Under a tree there was a bank of prayer tablets - anyone can write them, check out the one bottom right.
Then on to Ashzuka - the crazy electronics area... we splashed out well on those new 8gig iPod nanos.. only 130quid! - score!
Had a few bevvies on the terrace with some of the other people staying there... I say a few... I think I got to be at about 5am...
Big hangover cured by tasty Ramen breakfast at a place down the road that I'm sure was the family's front room - ace.
On to the Sumo which we were lucky to catch - dragged a couple of girls from the hostel along with us too. Sumo is rather engrossing - there's a huge ritual around the whole thing with lots of bowing and singing and salt throwing. We got the cheapo seats and quickly wandered down to the pricey bit with the requisite Japanese style sitting on the floor cushions.
Back via dinner and procurement of Jap version of special brew and sake from a carton... decided to go out in Roppongi with Phil and Jhonny from the hostel - most of that trainwreck of a night is documented below. But I've found a few more foters..
.. you can't drink alcohol in the street so decanting Sake into a vimto can seemed like the best idea
and there was much kissing of mr. incredible
And of course the requisite gurning too
So yeah, got in at some stupid time.. 8am or something - after a nap we had to check out. Cue a guilty KFC as we had appauling hangovers and I couldn't taste anything anyway.
Naturally we almost missed the plane to Sydney despite horrendous amounts of running through the airport with a still diminishing hangover but we got there in the end.
I have to say Tokyo was amazing - the food, the customs - I love it. I want to go back. It's also not as expensive as I feared... yes beer is slightly pricier than London but everything else, especially food is far cheaper, even the tube.
So a red, and incredibly pretty locally shaped 7'6" board for 250quid with a decent travel bag. That's awesome. The board rides really well and more importantly matches my boardies and is really good for hitting Mike with.
