tokyo 2001

after the last time i went to tokyo i told myself that next time i would bring someone with me to stop me from spending too much time in tokyo cd shops. so this time i did just that and got my friend peter to come along with me. unfortunately, i realize that there is no hope for me and no matter what i am still going to spend a lot of time cd shopping even when the people i bring with me to stop me from doing this are getting annoyed at me. we spent 5 days in tokyo(well 4 nights and 5 days). on our first full day in in tokyo we met up with my friend taro from the exotica and pizzicato five mailing lists. i'd met him once before when he came to taipei. he came to our hotel and the three of us headed out to electric city(akihabara) as peter wanted to see what computer products were available and for how much in tokyo and i was toying with the idea of buying a digital camera. after perusing various computer shops and a few cd shops we went for lunch. we ended up at some nearly deserted restaurant and i had some sort of egg crepe topped with ketchup with rice in the middle. i think it may of actually been french food. whatever it was i had never had it before and it was delicious. after eating we went out again, though we had no real plans. while walking around we stumbled upon a temple so the three of us decided to take a look. and it turned out to be a confucius temple. a little chinese taste. by this time it was getting late in the day and taro was worried it was going to snow so we said bye to taro and thanked him for showing us around and all the help he had given us.

after saying bye to taro we decided to head out to shibuya. i wanted to check out some cd shops. so we went there and just as we got there it started to snow. peter had never experienced snowfall before and was quite happy to see it and i was happy to see it again as it is one thing i really miss from the states. unfortunately we were really not that prepared for snow or real winter weather. but we found a little shop selling gloves that were not too expensive so we picked some up. after a little wandering around we headed back to our hotel. the snow started to stick and everything was turning white. so we decided to go out for a walk in it. there were only a few people out so we did a little exploring of the streets near our hotel until the snow started to turn to rain and then headed home.

the snow was still there the next morning but some of it had melted. this was a sunday and we had plans to meet my friend mina and her friend who's name i always seem to forget. mina and i have been pen friends for over 10 years now, and this was the third time we had met. when i came to tokyo last time she yelled at me for not coming on the weekend so this time i made sure i was there for the weekend so we could spend more time hanging out. we met in harajuku. we went to the meiji shrine as peter had never been to tokyo before and i thought he should see it. to get to the shrine we had to walk through a a small forest. there was still snow on the tops of the trees slowly melting so as we walked we had to dodge falling snow. at the shrine there was a bride decked out in traditional clothing. a really nice surprise. so we watched the wedding party for awhile and then went up to the temple and mina taught us how to pray with throwing a coin in to this wooden box and clapping afterwards. it was nice.

after the shrine we went back to harajuku, on the way back we crossed this bridge where some goth kids were getting ready to show off their fashion sense. every sunday kids come out here to be seen apparently. my japanese friends were surprised we knew about this. and so peter showed them a picture in his guidebook that talked about this. they were really surprised at this! we decided to eat in harajuku. so we had lunch and sat around talking and then we stopped by recofan cause i wanted to see if they had anything i HAD to have. they didn't have much really, but i managed to pick up a p5 single i was missing with a rare b-side so i was happy about that. after lunch we decided to head out to the senso-ji temple in asakusa. as you walk towards the temple you pass what feels like hundreds of little shops hawking souvenirs. there actually was some nifty things in these shops, but we didn't buy anything other than some ice cream(yes, its winter and we're eating ice cream). instead of a cone, it was served on some sort of bread/cookie that is designed to look like a fish or something. you had different choices. so it was closer to an ice cream sandwich. not bad actually. we battled the crowds up to the temple and prayed again. a friend of mine once told me he was surprised to see that the temples in taiwan are used for religious reasons and not purely as a tourist trap. i can see what he means after going to this temple. but i still found it interesting. after the temple we walked over to the asahi building and went up to the top where you can have a drink(beer, coffee, tea,...) for 500 yen while taking in this great view of tokyo. we just sat around for awhile drinking in the view and then decided to go to ebisu to find something to eat. when we got to ebisu, the restaurant they wanted to take us to was closed. but after wandering around a bit we found another place. this was another one of those restaurants on top of a building and it had an excellent night view. we ordered a bunch of small japanese dishes and shared the food. i think the total came to 5-6,000 yen. which is not bad for 4 people with that view. it would of never been that cheap in taiwan that is for sure. if you have a nice view you'd pay through the nose for it. while we ate, peter and my japanese friends kept comparing notes about similiarities in taiwanese and japanese. apparently there are quite a few taiwanese words that are pronounced similiarly to japanese words. i'm not sure if this stems from the japanese occupation of taiwan or is just a natural occurance. but it was interesting. after eating we said our goodbyes and went home. it was really nice to see mina and her friend again.

the next day, our last full day in japan we took the train to kamakura. there are a lot of temples in this area. we mainly wanted to see the big buddha. we got off at an earlier station than was needed to reach the big buddha. we intended to walk through a bunch of the temples and finally end up at the big buddha. well, we did walk through a bunch of temples, but it was quite cold and we were getting cranky so we decided to walk to the nearest station and just take the train to the stop near the big buddha. well, the nearest station ended up being much further away than we expected. but it was nice to walk through a suburban neighborhood where you could see real houses, not just apartments. eventually we got our train to the big buddha. you still have to walk a little to the big buddha though. on the walk, we passed some shop that was selling some sort of jerry garcia dolls(yes, as in the grateful dead). really odd. shortly, we reached the buddha. it was really nice. i could of spent all day just admiring it. it was definately worth being cold and miserable just to see. sadly, once i got there my camera batteries started to die. so i only got a few pictures of it. after taking it in for awhile we decided to head back. before catching our train back to tokyo we stopped in some restaraunt and had something to eat, and got a little warmed up. then back to tokyo. when we got back to tokyo peter went back to the hotel to rest and i went off to shibuya to do some last minute shopping. i found this time the cd shopping wasn't nearly as good. last time i was in tokyo i found lots of rare and cool things, and there were singles i wanted for cheap everywhere. this time there were hardly any at all. i did manage to pick up a few p5, fantastic plastic machine, hideki kaji things i had been missing as well as some reissues by the plastics. the next day we flew back home to taiwan. the trip was nice, i think the highlights were the snow, seeing my friends and seeing the big buddha. but i think the next time i go to japan i want to go somewhere other than tokyo.

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