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Tag: Japan (page 2 of 2)

First night in Tokyo…

So we dropped off our stuff at the Cerulean Tower hotel and hit the streets. This is the famous Shibuya Crossing…

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You’ve probably seen it in every movie that ever had a Tokyo scene. Shibuya was hopping. We walked all over that mama-san, checking out all the wackness, crazy stores and bars everywhere…

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Eventually we stopped at a tiny ramen bar called Afuri. You order on a vending machine inside the front door…

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How it works is, you pick the ramen you want, then put your money in and press the button. The machine spits out a ticket and you take that to the counter and hand it to one of the cooks. They made me a vegan ramen and it was oishii!

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Tokyo exists on many levels. Roadways over roadways, tall buildings with rooftop bars and basement shops too. And there are cranes everywhere, construction everywhere. It’s overwhelming. Especially at the end of a long day of travel. We made it back to the hotel bar before our feet melted, for some Suntory times…

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So… after a 15 hours of travel and another 7 hours bopping around Shibuya, I fell into bed at 10PM. Which was still yesterday back home. Good times!

Sha-BOO-YA!!!

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I’m 36,000 feet above the Pacific, crossing the dateline into the future. Tokyo, baby!

Looooong non-stop flight to Narita, Japan (10 hours!) but I had the whole row to myself so I got to lay down like a jet-set hobo. This is a business trip with two colleagues. We’re going to do businessy things. You know, cos I’m all business.

Getting off the plane, I was mobbed by Japanese teenagers. I’m big in Japan! Alas, they weren’t looking for me, they were chasing some Japanese TV star who looked like an Asian Harry Potter.

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My first trip to Asia, I’m stoked! The three of us took different flights so we met up in the airport bar for Suntory time…

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I think those are flight attendants behind me but it might be some weird fetish. They’re into kinky stuff over here. So we got out of there before they started their preversions and hopped a train to Tokyo.

It’s about a 40 minute ride through the cuts to Tokyo. Rice paddies and power plants and run-down houses by the tracks. Just like the train out of New York City. Except for the rice paddies. And the houses are Japanese. And Godzilla, of course…

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After barely escaping in our bullet train, we finally we get into Tokyo…

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We check into the hotel, the Cerulean Tower Hotel in Shibuya. Sha-BOO-YAH! I get a suite with two twin beds (one for each of my split personalities)…

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And the wackiest hotel bathroom I’ve ever had, with a deluxe shower and a toilet that pees back at me and a jacuzzi tub with a spectacular view of Tokyo…

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I unpack my stuff and head out. Are the things I’ve heard about Tokyo true? Will the ramen bring me back to my college days? Do they really have vending machines that sell used panties? Will I figure out how to use the computerized toilet?

Tune in for the next episode to find out…

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