Shinjuku Streets |
Shortly after I booked my trip to Tokyo, Dave texted me and said "I've got some good news for you." I texted him right back and asked what it was. He explained that one of the teachers at his high school would be interested in having me give a talk on my experiences in college and Taiwan. Best of all, I'd be paid to do it. I would have presented for free (shhh!) because I knew it would be so interesting to have a conversation with bright Japanese high school students, but getting paid was a cool bonus.
Shibuya Scramble |
My Airbnb (technically illegal in Japan but somehow still operates) was in Shibuya, one of the most popular districts in Tokyo. My first couple days in Tokyo consisted of me exploring Shibuya and a surrounding district, Shinjuku. That night I met up with a friend from Taipei, Jesus, and we decided on an Sumire Izakaya, classic Japanese establishments with small dishes and brews, from a blog post I had read about from 2012. I left out that last piece of info for Jesus, hoping that it would still be there as we were on our way. We arrived, were seated, and see a small plastic device on the table that says "Push Button For Service." We press it, and within about 5 seconds, a waiter appears. We ask for "ni birru, kudasai," which is improper Japanese for two beers. If only we had this kind of service everywhere else. After we finished, we get the bill and the beers are 280 yen a piece, about 3 USD, which is super cheap for Shibuya. I later found out that we were charged from the "foreigner menu." The beers for Japanese are 120 yen...
The Tower of Tokyo |
I went out for a run the next day around Shibuya and Roppongi in chilly weather, with the goal of seeing and hanging out at Tokyo Tower. I made some wrong turns along the way, but I felt like I had all the time in the world. Getting lost with no set itinerary is fantastic. Do it whenever you have the chance.
I met up with Dave and his old college roommate, Hirofumi, later that evening to walk around Hirofumi's suburb. Coincidentally, he lives in Tokyo's Okinawa district, the prefecture Dave and I visited 4 months earlier. Hirofumi graciously supplied us with shelter for two nights, along with great information on Japanese culture. Among the most interesting is his kotatsu, a traditional Japanese desk/heating blanket that almost every household owns, where they curl up during the winter months to relax after a long day's work. The work culture in Japan is insane, by the way. It's hard to explain in short, but the high stress work environments cause many problems.
Imperial Palace Main Gate |
We went for dinner at a restaurant in a posh district of Tokyo called Ginza. We ordered all kinds of plates, including karaage, chicken heart with Teriyaki sauce, and tempura avacado with fish egg/mayonnaise dip. Karaage is my newly crowned all-time favorite chicken dish. Oiishi-desu...delicious.
Cultured gentleman |
It took a turn for the worst when the girl shouts (Hirofumi translating), "get us a bag, quickly!" It was too late. Her food quietly dribbled out onto her arm and the rest of the table. It was fascinating to hear Hirofumi explain the situation as well. He said, "Since you are foreigners, it's okay if you look, but if we look, it's seen as highly disrespectful." The main thing is, you have to be alert in Ginza. You never know what's going to happen.
Dave and I hopped on the Shinkansen the next afternoon, and were in Dave's quaint town in central Japan, Urasa, in an hour and a half. This was my first time on a bullet train, even though Taiwan has one of its own, ironically built by the Japanese. Cruising along at 160 mph, I thought during our short journey how outrageous it is that the US doesn't have a full scale high speed rail system. Should have been built decades ago. It's about a 15 minute walk from the train station to Dave's apartment. I knew it was going to be a great trip as we exited the station to the fresh, mountain air and some light snowfall.
The first full day in Urasa was a great one. We headed to one of Dave's high schools he teaches at, Kokusai Joho International High School. I presented first to the seniors and then to the juniors. These students are so impressive. One student's research project was based on Paul Graham's Y Combinator, the highly successful Silicon Valley incubator, and the students even knew about Coursera.org. It's rare that students in the US would be discussing these types of subjects, so obviously being in rural Japan it was even more stunning. We learned so much from each other, and the experience with them was among the most valuable I've had in Asia.
The Lodge and Niigata Mountains |
The next day, Dave and I decided we could sleep because he was taking the day off from school, and the biggest thing we had on our itinerary was visiting one of the best sake distilleries in the world, Hakkaisan Brewery. We made our way to the modern looking building and were soon taking in an all Japanese tour. We nodded our heads like we knew what our tour guide was saying, when we had absolutely zero clue. Dave astutely pointed out later our tour guide could have been 13 years old or 30. The most interesting thing about the brewery, that we could see from a picture diagram, is how they've used natural refrigeration for hundreds of years, packing a mound of snow 70 feet long and 25 feet high, keeping the building cool year round even in the sticky summer months. After a small tasting, which included tasting nearly every available sake, we went to the gift shop to buy a few bottles of our own.
My gloves and skis from the 80s #Single |
Winter Wonderland |
The start of the second weekend in Japan began on Friday with us planning to take the Shinkansen to Tokyo at 12:45 pm. But before we knew it, the clock struck noon, and the Zags were playing in 30 minutes. We thought 'is there any reason we need to get to Tokyo before 3?' The Zags are obviously more important than getting to Tokyo two hours earlier. So a 12:45 pm departure turned into a 3:45. We arrived in Tokyo to meet a mutual friend from Australia, who stayed with us in our beautiful, albeit sketchy, Airbnb (we retrieved the key from a box attached to back fence of the apartment complex). We caught a glimpse of the Tokyo sunrise on our way back from a club in Shibuya, T2, which hosted some of the most fascinating social dynamics I'd ever seen.
Glorious burger |
The last day in Tokyo was a special one because Dave organized a Gonzaga Day celebration at a basketball specific bar in Harajuku called Coast 2 Coast. At the event, we met a fellow Desmetonian who graduated in '58, and a few other graduates from the 80s. We took one last stroll around Tokyo before heading to the pub to watch the Arsenal-Leicester game, in which Arsenal had a 90th minute winner from my guy "WELBECKKKK!!!" Being in the ever odd ecstatic/tipsy state allowed me to miss my connecting train to Haneda Airport. Awesome. At least I made it to about 3 miles away from the airport. It could have been much worse. I made my 5 am flight back to Taipei in time for a nap before work at 2 pm that day!
Go Zags! |
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