After one of the more incredible naps of my life, Stac and I are fully awake at around 9pm. We enjoy a fairly uneventful night around Shinjuku that includes dinner at a sushi-go-round (avocado rolls FTW) and my first extended time spent in a Japanese arcade- Club Sega to be precise. The place is intense, everyone is smoking, and there are arcade games there that had no business being arcade games in the first place. I’ve heard technophiles tell me that Half Life 2 should never be played on a console, so I have to imagine their heads would explode if they knew about the arcade incarnation. Certainly not something I expected to see.
They also play Golden Tee at home and wear hats on their feet. (This joke appears courtesy Yakov Smirnoff. All rights reserved.)
I was psyched to get some play time in and had promised Stac a (relatively) game free day to follow, so I got to work. The average bitmobber might not know this about me, but I’ve got a divine gift for the crane game. From bugging my parents for change at the bowling alley to filling booths at the bar with unwanted Taiwanese toys, I’ve always been able to commune with the spirits of the crane-realm. But crane games in Japan are different. Over there they call them ‘UFO’ games and, in the tradition of Japanese gaming sadism, the damn thing only has two claw fingers. They stock the machines with everything you can think of, too. Stuff like ice cream, stationary, small trash cans, and trading cards accompany the normal stuffed animal goodies.
This uniquely foreign take on my beloved arcade stand-by has me nervous. Will I be able to compete in a two claw arena? 100 yen in hand, I aim to find out. I’m humming the national anthem, I’m sweating, I’m hogging the machine the school girls are waiting for, and (glory, glory) I’m winning. My fist rises in triumph as Stacey yawns emphatically, but there’s something in that yawn- could it be pride? According to Stacey, “No.”
Gloating over my kill.
Later, as if we’d accidentally stumbled back into Georgia, we found a Krispy Kreme across an elevated walkway over the station. I can’t tell you how weird it was. McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and all the rest are on every corner in Tokyo, but the food is adjusted for Japanese audiences. Also, I’ve come to think of those brands as international rather than American. Krispy Kreme, on the other hand, is downright southern. I’m happy to report that the Tokyo store got everything right- the donuts were delicious and you still get to watch them being made. There were some noteworthy differences like the inclusion of a theme park-esque wait time sign at the start of the line (they love their donuts and morning lines sometimes crest an hour) and the *ahem* price difference.
16 bucks for a dozen donuts OR why Japan has no need for the Atkins diet.
Team McReynolds calls it a night after the donuts and, thanks to the magnificent power of jetlag, we’re up at 6:30 AM local again the next morning. Our second full day belongs to Asakusa or Old Tokyo. This was the center of the action back in the Edo days. I’d be forgoing any pretense of video game theme were I to describe this day at length, so I’ll keep it brief. When we arrived, it was like getting off the train on another planet. The advertising let up and it was almost what might be considered quiet when we arrived at the Temple of the Bodhisattva. My mind obliged and filled the void with a mental soundtrack of Steely Dan (thank you, Rock Band 2). Everything is beautiful, well preserved, and old. Not American old either, which starts at around 200 years ago, some of this stuff was from the 5th century. Things are so old that it kinda comes off as arrogant. The bell that rang the time back in the 600s was destroyed and had to be recast, so the current bell is only from 1692. Take it easy, Tokyo- we’re all impressed. No need to remind me that even your new stuff predates my country by 84 years.
This is how Stac and I looked at Asakusa. Coincidentally, it’s also how we’ll look on this year’s Christmas card.
After traipsing around the temples, the Team heads back for a nap. We’re up and at ‘em a little earlier than the previous evening and decide to get down to serious business- drinking. Stacey had read that the local malls host beer gardens on their roofs in the summer, many with unique themes. We end up at Lumines East where the beer garden is Mexican themed. Very poorly Mexican themed.
They call it BeerMex and for 3500 yen a person you can eat and drink all you’d like for two hours- a deal they had clearly worked out before the McReynolds came to town. Stac and I treat the two hour time limit like a personal challenge and down Sapporo as if its running away from us. The theme is more confused American west than Mexican featuring cowboys and the like, the only beer available is Sapporo, and the food consists of macaroni salad, fries, onion rings, and plain noodles. There’s some chips and red water which might have been intended as salsa available as well as green stuff that tasted like plain olive oil and didn’t really look like guacamole. Remember, when selecting Mexican cuisine- proximity to Mexico is definitely a factor.
They lined those tanks up behind me in preparation, but it was… too late.
Stacey v. salsa maybe.
Now fully drunk, Team McReynolds takes Shinjuku by storm. We drank beers on the odd porch in front of a 7-11. I see my first ad for the PS3 slim (which was a scoop then and is old news now). We drink beers at the First Kitchen. We take in the awesomest street performers we saw our whole time in Tokyo. Not only were they really catchy, but after this song (below) we started to walk away and both of them ran up to us to shake our hands and thank us for watching. At least I think that’s what they were saying, I don’t speak Japanese and I had a solid three hours of beer behind me, so they may as well have been begging me to leave their country with a friendly handshake, but their overalls say otherwise.
The night went on and some details were admittedly lost. We got a final snack (with a beer, of course) at a convenience store before retiring to the hotel. With the aid of a more than adequate nightcap, I’m able to overcome jetlag and rest up for Shibuya.
On to the stirring finale. Click here for the next entry.
