Oki-na Gaijin, Chisai-na Kuni (Big Foreigner, Small Country) #8

March 27 - Tsukiji, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro



Got up a little early and, after a nice breakfast, left for the Tsukiji fish market.


We arrived as things were beginning to wrap up at the fish auction but still got there in plenty of time to see lots of interesting things. Scooters and bikes scurried everywhere with loads of fish earmarked for different places all over Tokyo.


In the actual market, the different businesses were readying their fish, sawing, packaging, and otherwise getting their product ready for further on the food chain.

We did our best to stay out of the way but it was difficult because there was so much activity. We even got honked at a couple of times!


I loved all of the colours, fish, and strong smells. Colleen, on the other hand, thought it was gross but kind of cool. Teenagers...

We left the market and went to a sushi restaurant just down the road where I had, quite possible, the best sushi of my life. It was super-fresh, melt-in-your mouth sushi and tasted amazing!

One cool thing - the chef took a blow torch and seared the top of some of the pieces! Very industrial.


On our way back to the station, we stopped by a shrine where a monk(?) was burning dolls that people had purchased. I think it was either for good luck or to remember departed relatives.


After, we went to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro for some shopping. Even Colleen was starting to get a little bit overexposed to the commercialism that is Tokyo, but I still enjoyed wading amongst the masses of people. Tokyoites make for excellent people watching.


Interestingly, we had a couple of delays on the train. Apparently there were two different suicides where people had jumped in front of the train. This is one of the most common forms of committing suicide in Tokyo. I guess it was a bad day for some.


After, we went to Kinshicho station for Shabu Shabu. This tasty dish is where you have a pot of boiling water in the middle of a table and you plop in meat and veg to cook. The sound it makes gives the dish the name. It was very tasty.


Later on that night, Yoichi and I went out clubbing in his fancy car, an Aston Martin. Very cool. First stop was a Karoke bar with Filipino hostesses. This was quite a large place and the manager was a bit excited that I was a gaijin. I was let in, thanks to Yoichi's influence, and things picked up a bit. The woman I spoke to the most was 32 and was looking forward to going home to hang around her house and chill. She had been in Japan for 5 years out of the last 13 and had the equivalent of a green card.


Singing at this bar was a bit intimidating because of the number of customers, the fact that I hadn't had a really warm greeting, and that I couldn't hear myself really well. You also had to go up on a stage where in other places you could sing from your seat. According to Yoichi, there were pretty cheap with the drinks and expensive with the bill.

We then ended up after midnight at another karaoke bar, this time with Indonesian hostesses. Again, the manager was a little excited about the fact I was a gaijin but the customers seemed generally friendlier than the last one. One hostess I spoke to knew less English than I knew Japanese so eventually another one was found that spoke English. She's only been in Japan for a couple of months and didn't speak Japanese very well so she was quite happy to talk to someone she understood. She was nice enough but I made a point of talking about my wonderful daughters and my loving wife...

The singing was better here - I belted out a few numbers - and the clientèle really warmed up to me, especially after singing a couple of Green Day songs.

As to the hostesses, rest assured that, at least in the places Yoichi took me to, nothing untoward happens. Apparently these kind of places are popular in Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea and many other places around the world. The hostesses couldn't believe that we don't have places like this in Canada (at least, not that I'm aware of).

At around 2 AM, we headed home. A full day, definitely!

Oki-na Gaijin, Chisai-na Kuni (Big Foreigner, Small Country) #3

March 22 - First full day in Tokyo! Haircut, Good Eats, Electronics, and Karaoke


Started off with a hair cut as I remembered the excellent scalp and shoulder massages that you get from a Japanese hair stylist. Yoichi arranged a hair style for all of us so we went en masse to the stylist.

It started off with a wash and conditioning. The chair I sat in electronically reclined for the wash. Cool! Then off to another chair for the cut. The girl was very careful - almost examined each section of my head - as she cut my hair. Pretty impressive, considering I’m balding - about 5 or 6 times as long as I usually spend in the barber chair at home!

She then washed my hair again and did the massage. It was the most awesome head and neck massage that I've ever had. I was truly in heaven! I’ve no idea what it cost us as Yoichi insisted on paying.


Lunch was Yaki-Niku - Korean Barbecue! A very nice meal but I was quite full after we finished. I was glad that I had skipped breakfast.


The restaurant was at Kinshicho station which has really grown.

After lunch, we headed to the Electronics town at Akihabara. It was tricky buying the train tickets as the place names on the map where you buy tickets are in kanji - Chinese characters. Although Yoichi is no longer a fan of the trains or the subway, I think it is a great system. We only had to go three stops but it only cost a paltry ¥150.


As we left the station in Akihabara, many young women dressed as maids or girls of the future were hawking different stores or products. It was a real carnival atmosphere as there were bright neon lights, loud music, and people everywhere. For the first time since leaving the airport, I saw other gaijin!


After wandering around for awhile, we ended up in Yodobashi Camera store which carries a lot more besides cameras. There are seven floors of electronics including cameras, video, TVs, computers, and a whole lot more. While the prices don’t seem any cheaper than Canada - maybe a little more, actually - there is the latest technology factor. I ended up getting - receiving, actually, a video and still camera courtesy of Yoichi.

The Japanese system of gift giving is pretty wild. In anticipation, I had brought over a number of presents because I knew that Yoichi would buy gifts and pay for things as I spent time with him. The art of trying to pay for even simple things like subway tickets is very tricky.

After a short nap in the early evening, it was time to step out into Tokyo’s entertainment - the night club - but first we had sushi. This was real sushi - no California rolls or Dynamite rolls - just fish, fresh and raw on wonderful rice. There was sushi that I recognized like tuna, salmon and egg but there were lots or fish I didn’t recognize as well as some spices or flavours that were quite odd. As usual, Yoichi just ordered dish after dish and I was absolutely stuffed at the end of dinner. We then met up with a bunch of Yoichi’ friends and headed to the Star Karaoke bar.

As with many Karaoke bars this one was small - think someone’s bigger living room - with lots of low seating, six or seven tables, two flat screens to see the lyrics, snacks, booze and six Filipino women to meet your needs such as talking, lighting cigarettes, offering food, mixing drinks and even dancing. It’s all pretty innocent and quite common in many countries.

In a karaoke bar, customers sing along to music with the assistance of lyrics on a screen, usually with some arty videos in the background. Lots of English songs are now available to sing in stark contrast to when I first visited when there were only 6 songs (Country Roads, Love Me Tender, and a few more).

I sang quite a few songs and was very well received but I’m not sure if it was because of my singing or the fact that I was someone kind of different. All of the singers were excellent and I even enjoyed the traditional Japanese songs (enka).

Unfortunately, one of the strange sushi pieces I ate disagreed with me during the first part of being in the bar. I sang and slowly sipped my chu-hi (Japanese vodka and fruit juice) until my stomach settled. I was probably a little jet lagged as well but was thrilled to be in such god company. By the time we left (about 2:30 AM) I was more than ready to pack it in. Overall, an excellent day!