Fast Forward 3 years

Been three years since my last blog post. I stopped travel writing but I didn't stop hobo-ing. Tokyo is now an annual pilgrimage for me and this year, I'm making it in December. It'll be my first trip there in the winter. Brrrr.....

This time though, I won't be traveling alone. My bestie will be trekking it with me. This time, I won't really be hobo-ing either. I'll be putting up in hotels and ryokans. And it won't be all Tokyo. We plan to do make a trip up North with her bro who lives in the city, exploring onsen hotspots.

WIll I be blogging about this trip? I might. But my priority is my food blog now on rumblingtummy.tumblr.com For sure, the food pix will be going up.

Till then. See you maybe on blogspot. But definitely on tumblr.

Where are the Harajuku Girls?

Two trips to Tokyo.

Three stakeouts at Jingu-bashi.

And still no sighting.

Who goes to Tokyo without meeting a Harajuku Girl but me?

I did everything right: Showed up at 10am on a Sunday, showed up the next Saturday (in the rain). I even did a surprise check on the Wednesday in between — figured there might be a make-up session for the lack of show the weekend before.

I figured wrong. Even the security guard at Meiji Jingu next door had no idea why they should clear out every time I turn up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I shouldn't take it personally.

Bah!

The one time I went clubbing...

¥3,500 (app. S$55) for members and ¥4,000 (app. S$63) for others.

I've never paid so much cover charge in my short but party-excessive life. Drinks are cheap, however: ¥600 (app. S$9) for a good house red, ¥700 (S$11) for a gin-something. The cocktails don't pack in much alcohol. But I've heard it's plenty strong for the Japanese.

We got to AIR round about 12-ish, at the edge of residential Daikanyama, a 15-min walk from Shibuya Station (25-min if you're on killer heels). This cavernous club sits in a basement under Frames, a chic little restaurant that serves a mish-mash of pasta, waffles, cocktails and get this – nasi goreng.

It was the second night of AIR's 8th Anniversary celebrations with Guest DJ Theo Parrish spinning all night. The DJ warmed up the house with muted beats. Once in awhile he would drive a infectious pulse into his sound, drawing coos of appreciation from the crowd. By 4am, old school hip hop found its way into the mix and the music was speeding towards an ecstatic climax.

The crowd was really packing it in by now. The dance floor was superheated with body heat. Sweat saturated the air. It was time to leave.

Manga kissas and their rules, rules, rules!

When you've got nowhere else to go in the middle of the night, a manga kissa is surely the place to go. BUT BEWARE OF THEIR RULES. Take it from me. I had to learn it the hard way...

5am.
Was looking for a place to crash after clubbing in Shibuya, a place with shower facilities would be good. So I tried to check into Manboo in Center-gai. It was full. Bummer.

I went next to Manga Hiroba across the street. No shower rooms, no big deal. I can wait till Manboo has a cubicle for me.

8am.

Back at Manboo. I finally got a cubicle and place to shower. Or so I thought before I found out about:

Rule #1:
To use the shower room, you MUST reserve it ahead of time.

There's only ONE ladies' shower room at Manboo and I expect it's the same with the men's shower. And even if no one's using it, you can't go right ahead to shower. The ever-watchful receptionist will take care that you don't.

And FYI, I made my reservation. There were 8 people ahead of me... and that meant I had to wait 4 hours. Which was a huge pain because:

Rule #2:
You're stuck inside until you check out.

I tried to get out, didn't think there was anything wrong with it. And I got stopped at the exit.

=====================

I learnt a few days later, that not all manga kissas play by the same rules.

A Japanese friend has told me of a manga kissa in the Meguro area, which has more than one shower room. Reservations for the shower room are not needed.

I've also explored a couple of other manga kissas after Manboo and I found Chi•Kou•Raku to be a friendly one.

It's the one at Kaminarimon in Asakusa and it allows you to hang out outside as long as you've settled your bill — something which I did as it was their policy to do so anyway.

Moral of the story? If you simply wanna use the Internet, watch movies, read comics or waste time, then just walk in. But if you're looking to shower or find a more comfortable spot to crash, it wouldn't hurt to scope out the place beforehand.

A good place to begin your research would be www.cafeman.jp

The season is changing by the day

25ºC, partly cloudy to sunny skies.

That's pretty much what was forecast for the week I'm here. The perfect holiday weather.

But when we're at the cusp of a new season, the only thing we can predict about the weather is that it's unpredictable.

Rain clouds swung by on Tuesday, the day I went to DisneySea. And it poured Wednesday morning. Good thing I was ready for a cold, cold autmn. I brought enough clothes to wear in layers.

But summer came back on Thursday. I'd checked in most of my luggage in the locker at the train station and walked around with my camping gear (was planning to go camping that evening but never made it).

Sweat poured out of pores I never knew I had as I lugged every kilogramme of the dead weight — around Shinjuku, Harajuku and all the way from western Tokyo to the southern tip of Odaiba.

Good thing I ended up at an onsen-themed amusement park there.

Tubs and tubs of bubbling spring water. A 15-minute sand bath. Absolute relaxation.

Telephone blues

Does anyone ever get confused with foreign telephone numbers?

I always do. An easy way out is to use the +(country code) (area code) (number format) on your cellphone. But that gets expensive.

So then, how do you call someone from a landline or payphone?

My guidebook says that the area code for Tokyo is '03'. But when you dial from outside Tokyo, you drop the '0'. So when calling to Tokyo from Tokyo, do you drop the '0' too?

This is what I've discovered (but only after I returned from my trip).

Drop the '0' when dialling from outside Japan.

So to call Tokyo, the number will look something like this: 81 3 XX XX XX XX

Drop the '03' entirely when dialling Tokyo from Tokyo.

The number should be something along the lines of: XX XX XX XX

Include both '0' and '3' when calling Tokyo from other parts of Japan.

So you'll be dialling: 03 XX XX XX XX

I've got the b for one more night

Still reeling from yesterday's nightmare of hunting for a place to stay.

So my plan for today:

Walk around Ikebukuro, Ueno, maybe the Yoyogi Park to find accommodation.

Bummer. And I was thinking of going to DisneySea today :(

Culture shocked

It startles me to discover how different the same city can seem, once you throw yourself off the tourist circuit.

It's one thing to observe the quirky Japanese culture and be amazed by it, another to as they say, do as the Romans do.

I've been here what, 36 hours? But it feels way longer than that. I've done so many things out of the ordinary — not to mention out of character.

And I'm exhausted just trying to keep track of them all.

On board NW20

I hate turbulence. Especially the kind that creeps up on you. It's like, one moment you're unbuckling your seatbelt, getting up to go to the loo.

Then the plane drops 50 storeys.

...

1360km more to go, 1 hour 43 minutes left to pass. Can't wait to touch down.

T minus 1 hour and 22 minutes

T minus 31 hours and 40 minutes

I sprained my pinkie toe.

I know!!! This close to Tokyo???!!!

I've a really bad habit of walking into walls. Usually I end up with a huge bump on my forehead. But today's wall is only half a wall, it reaches up to my mid-thigh. It's too low to hit my thick skull. And so my left foot became next in the line of fire.

Bummer.

My flat shoes will stick out like an ugly sore thumb in Shibuya.

T minus 48 hours and 40 minutes

5am. I can't sleep.

One. I'm really excited about Tokyo and two, a little nervous.

I'm planning to get lost in the city. Not gonna set an itinerary. Not booking ahead into any hotel.

This way, I figure, I'll get to see all of Tokyo. The touristy side, the every day side and any surprises it throws my way. But that's not to say I haven't done any homework.

I know where to find Harajuku Girls and I know what time I've got to be there. I know I'm going camping and I know I'll need to reserve a campsite.

Yes I'll be sleeping under a tent in Tokyo, land of the manga kissa, loveho, sento and capsule hotel. I'll be spending a night in them all if I can have my way, why not? That's part of the Tokyo experience.

My "all-seeing" Tokyo experience :)

Well, looks like I'm more psyched than nervous now. Great. Now I really can't sleep.