Japan Trip 2025 - Part 3, Tokyo 🗼
2026-02-21By Green Snake
Day 9, To Tokyo (Friday)
Today, we were headed to Tokyo, the mega city.
I bought premium Green Seat Shinkansen tickets through Klook.com a few days ago. You have to use the Klook QR code to enter and exit the gates. You can also buy tickets through the official shinkansen website, but I am loyal to Klook. We were not going through any rush hours or looking to ride any special shinkansen.
There are even more premium seats in other Shinkansens called Gran class mostly North of Tokyo. We threw our luggage over our overhead compartments. If your luggage is abnormally large, you need to order a ticket add-on.
We were headed out to Tokyo. So we took the train to Kyoto Station and found the Shinkansen. You can buy a bento box for the train (aka eki-ben, train-station bento) before or after you enter the turnstile. There are even some stores on the platforms.
Wiki on Ekibens: here
Tons of info, tons of eki-ben pictures: here
Here's DancingBacons eating a bunch of interesting Ekibens:
There is an Ekiben Grand Prix contest run by the JR lines. Here are some recent winners: here
Before the turnstile, I went to Kyoto Nomura and I got some Salmon bento. There are a bit more options after you enter the turnstile. I got some beef bento at the Plusta Bento. Some bentos come with self-heating devices.
The Shinkansen was a pleasant 2 hour ride to Tokyo Station. The train was not full. There is one more shinkansen station a bit south of Tokyo in Shinagawa Station. Outside of the train was scenic nature, and some cities. I ate 2 bento boxes at room temperature, which is how they were meant to be eaten. They were both good. At one point, the train announced that Mount Fuji was to the left. The train voice would switch to a nice British voice every now and then. I got up and went in-between the train cars to get a better view without annoying passengers.
I did use the toilet in the Shinkansen. It was immaculate. And the toilet had seat warmers! Where I'm from, New York, the train bathrooms are mostly filthy almost all the time. And it's often out of toilet paper.
Towards the end of the trip, I discover that the right arm rest contains a smaller tray. We made it to the Tokyo Station and then moved to Shinjuku. We unloaded at our hotel and then made our way to Shibuya Meiji Shrine. We approached from the north-western entrance. Last time, we came from the South, the main Entrance. It looked like there was a wedding taking place. This is a really scenic park in the middle of this city. The large trees hide the cityscape.
We went to Harajuku to Takeshita street. They have some interesting food here such as large cotton candy and large potato spirals on a stick. We went to the slightly hidden Togo Shrine. I got a Hello Kitty omamori (charm).
We went to AsobiSystem and it seemed closed. We went to the Design Festa Gallery, and saw some cool art. If you're here, check this place out. It changes over time so keep checking. I gave people some dinosaurs.
Check out these art people:
We moved to Liberty Walk. If you like interesting Japanese cars, you can go here to buy merch or check out the Nagoya Liberty Walk. We went to the B-Side Label sticker store to get some stickers. They even gave me a little basket, which I found amusing. Then we went to Latte Pocket where they have a foam artist. I asked for a Frieren figure from the anime. They delivered well. And I got the purple sweet potato drink.
Latte artist: here
We visited the Harajuku Mugiwara (one piece store). We went back to our hotel in Shinjuku to pick up our bags and complete our check in. My hotel happened to have wifi boxes, which looked interesting. We got dinner at Coco Ichibanya at Shinjuku. My friend had to pass out.
My bilingual friend and I walked around. Saw the 3d Cat billboard, and then headed to Shibuya. Found the Square Enix Garden, which was harder than expected to find. Saw some signed stuff too. I got some music boxes and charms.
We went to Miyashita Park to check out the rooftop, which had a skate park with people skating. We walked across the Shibuya Crosswalk and checked out the top of Miyashita Park (rooftop park). There was a skate park at the top. Walked west to the Parco Mall. On one floor they have: Pokemon, Nintendo, Jump Store (like One Piece), Capcom, Jojo Store. All had fantastic merch. The Pokemon store had probably all the 1,000+ pokemon. I'm getting old and I only played Generation 1.
We went to the LOST bar sponsored by Chris Broad. There was a brief line. I tried the gashapon and won a free set of postcard and a yuzu shot. I was making an origami dinosaur on line. We waited in line for a bit and got the table Chris got when he filmed here. He pointed at a shoe on the GU sign across. We looked at the GU signacross from us and the shoe there was gone, which was sad. We got some booze, which was nice. I gave our waitress the dinosaur 🦕. And then we moved to the Shibuya Fight Club. It turns out they have “training” around 3 pm to 10 pm. Any later, and it's just a normal bar. I hit their bags a little bit and got winded. From there, the day was ending, so we went back and passed out.
Before I passed out, I wanted to go for a brief walk outside. I went to various gaming centers like Taito to scout it out. There were a bunch of women near Okubo park that cat-called me, which I found funny. Then I walked further around the block. I saw a battling cage, but was too tired. Then I spotted a person in a monkey suit promoting their business near a Mini Stop. Using elementary Japanese, I talked with the monkey about work, our hopes, and dreams. I made an Origami Alpaca 🦙 for the monkey. The monkey was a young girl starting her life out. Her friend showed up, another young girl. I said I wanted to feed the monkey so I took her to the Mini Stopbehind us, and she and her friend wanted me to buy them hot tea and crab sticks. So, we were outside eating crab sticks. Her friend was goofy. Even though everyone was cold, I wasn't due to how weird I am, so I would be wearing a t-shirt. It was around 1 am so I had to head back and pass out.
Day 10, Tokyo, Imperial Palace (Saturday)
The Gang™️ headed to the Imperial Palace to get the private tour. I think the average age must have been around senior citizen age. You have to reserve this a month prior. Check the official website for the exact reservation opening time. You'll have about 30 minutes from that opening to reserve. Be sure to account for your time zone.
The tour overall was interesting and different. We had our own English guide. I saw some of the largest clovers I've seen in my life. At the end of my tour, I gave her a dinosaur 🦕.
We walked back to the Tokyo Station and then walked towards Ginza. We checked out Ginza Itoya. It was 12 floors of stationary. I bought a clover paper puncher. They had expensive pens and all sorts of stuff. They are even growing edible plants in here for some reason. I highly recommend it.
We saw the Ginza Seiko Clock Tower. For lunch, we ate at the historical Ginza Lion Beer Hall. The displays outside make me want to eat everything. It's a huge place so we didn't need reservations. There are two floors each with their own different menus. We chose the beer hall. The beer hall was quite surreal. We're eating German food in Japan. They're even playing German music, so it was quite perplexing. All of the food was good. The sausage was good, the steak was good. The booze was good. The price was good. I would go back again.
We moved to the Ginza Six mall. Visited Tsutaya Books. My friend got some Japanese manga. Saw some interesting art. Outside, people were playing traditional Japanese instruments.
We visited the Nissan Crossing and saw a few of their cars. Downstairs, I asked the nice lady worker about the cars. After some answers, I said that I drive a junker of a car and maybe my next car would be a Nissan. Then I went upstairs and I asked their worker how much the GT-R Premium Edition T-spec cost and he gave some crazy big numbers. I had to pull out my notebook and write it down. It cost as much as half a house at $120,000 minimum 🥴. We got some coffee from the nearby cafe, which I chugged.
Then we went to Ginza Sembikiya. The 2nd floor is the cafe. The 1st floor has a bunch of fancy gift fruit you can buy. Like $200 melons and $100 grapes. They are really fancy and I hear lots of great stuff about them. I really wanted the strawberries but they were out of season by 1 month. I got the mango parfait, which tasted really fancy and some pineapple juice.
We made a move to Asakusa and went to the secret underground district. There were restaurants and bars here. I checked out the coin store here and got one silver Japanese coin, which are rare, even online. We went to the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center and rested a bit. They had a Kendama, which we toyed with. It's a cup-and-ball thing.
We walked down the main Asakusa Senso-ji temple shopping street. I bought a delicious melon Matcha ice cream pan (bread).
I drew my fortune and got “Bad Fortune”. So I tied it off nearby. We went to another coin store. Wasendo Coin shop 和泉洞. I bought two 500 rare yen coins and a silver Japanese coin. We had some time to burn before the sumo meeting. We just walked to the local Donqi. I saw a Kendama so I waited in line to buy one. We all just split up for the moment. After some time, I went into the pachinko parlor in front of me. And we all happened to stumble onto each other again, by pure coincidence. I guess the bright lights lured us all in 🥴.
Time for the Asakusa Sumo club. We were served Chanko Nabe, which was enjoyable. This is the soup Sumo wrestlers use to bulk. Seasoned well and tasty. Some inari, fried chicken (kaarage), edamame, and some cake. And one free beer. The Host and translator gave us some information. The Geisha came out and danced for us. Very lovely. Then the two sumo wrestlers Asanobori and Asanokuma came out. They were absolute units. They explained sumo and techniques. Then we got volunteers from people and it was a very goofy fun time.
At the end of the show, there was a Q&A and picture time. I asked how much the larger one could bench press, he said something like 350 pounds, which is abnormally high. The amount of people I've met who could bench press 300+ pounds is maybe 5. The way to a higher bench press is working out and eating. Their weights were impressive: 160 kg (352 lb) for Asanokuma. 115 kg (253 lb) for Asanobori.
When it was our turn for pictures, I gave everyone dinosaurs. I gave the sumo wrestlers T-rexes on two legs, because it's bad to have your feet and your hands on the ground. That's how you lose in sumo.
Outside, the sumo said their goodbyes to everyone. I asked if I could push Asanokuma, the heavier one. I tried for a few seconds, but I don't think he moved much. I think if I pushed any harder, I would have pulled something. Overall, I'd bring more people here again.
Lastly, for today, we had to visit Akihabara, the anime capitol. We first checked out AmiAmi figurine store so I could get an Umamusume figure for my friend “nice nature.” They had some top-shelf high quality figures that cost a lot like hundreds of dollars. They also had affordable stuff. On the top floor was some 18+ stuff, which was amusing 🥴.
Next, we went to the Bunny Guild cafe. It was full, so we went to a maid cafe, Heart of Hearts. I ordered the omurice, and a polaroid. Then they “moe, moe kun'd” my food. We got one performance related to Oshi no Ko theme song. I gave away about 5 dinosaurs, one for each maid. I got a polaroid of my maid.
We went back to Bunny Guild and spoke some elementary Japanese to our bunnies. We forgot our first cards back it the states. So they gave us new plastic ones for second timers. After some time, a white girl, blonde bunny appeared. It was really unexpected. She said she was from Canada and really enjoys Japan. We all chatted about life and conspiracies. She had an absolute ton of instagram followers. I asked if she gets a ton of messages on instagram, and she says surprisingly not really. She drew in my book. Before she left, I gave her a Harry Potter silver coin and we said our goodbyes.
We headed back to Shinjuku. I tried looking for the monkey again, but there was no monkey. There were a lot of girls out in the main Shinjuku Square trying to get men into their bars.
Day 11, Tokyo, Roppongi (Sunday)
Today was Roppongi Day 🤠. It's supposed to be a ritzy area.
We walked around and stopped in the first random cafe, Tsubakiya Coffee Roppongi. We were a bit underdressed but they let us in. We could read the Japanese menu very slowly. We ordered the basic breakfast (eggs, salad, toast) with coffee. I wondered if the jar if crystals was salt or sugar. I poured some on my hand and tried some. It was sugar.
Went to Roppongi Hills Tower, walked around. Saw the Maman Spider. Saw some loaded citrus fruit trees. Went up to see the Mori Art Museum. They were fully-booked and I didn't even make reservations because I didn't feel like it. We ended up going to the fancy The Moon restaurant for food. The food was really fancy. We enjoyed speaking elementary Japanese with the waiter. We got fantastic views of the northern part. We didn't explore the rest of the restaurant, although I wish I did.
I thought of an interesting question. You were given a billion dollars but you're not allowed to travel, would you do it? Let's say you had to stay in your US State. My bilingual friend answered, "With the billion dollars, I could make my own pseudo-Tokyo."
What if you could choose one city to stay in? Me: New York City? Maybe. Tokyo, maybe.
We walked to the next destination just west of Tokyo Tower to see Team Labs borderless. I went to the bathroom and I'm putting my stuff down. A guy opens my stall, because I didn't lock it yet, and he asks in Japanese for his umbrella (kasa), and I say “Hai, kasa” and I see it and hand it to him.
I believe they call it Borderless because the art exhibits are disconnected and you explore at your own pace. I've seen other art exhibits that are similar but they seem... manufactured? Team labs always feel organic. We met with our other friend, who was having Shogun Burger, and recovering. Walking full time eats at you over time. Whenever you exercise a muscle group, you need to let it rest the next day. If you just keep pushing, you risk injury or further fatigue. You may even need more than normal sleep such as over 8 hours.
This exhibit had a “create your own animal” section where you draw your own animal, and they scan it for you and it swims around the screens. A squid with “poop” on it.
Workers: ???
Me: (japanese) kono kotaba wa unko desu (this word is poop)
Worker: 🥴
We went to the tea house inside, which was a dark room, which was really cool. I ordered ice cream and hot matcha. And then if you place it on the table, there are things projected on the table. If you move your stuff, the projection moves. I wondered how they did it? Heat sensors? A man behind the curtains? I wonder. I've never seen anything like this. I highly recommend it. I don't want to say too much and ruin the surprise, so just go.
Afterwards, we went to the Mori JP building to check out the Sky lobby. We got lost and realized there are separate sections to the building. So we went to the Hills House section, 34th floor. This place was called, "Hills House Sky Room Cafe & Bar". There was a small fee of 500 yen to enter the observatory. I got my drink and chugged that. Saw the best view of the Tokyo Tower available 🗼. It was a bit gray and cloudy, but the view was great.
We made movement by train to the Team Lab Planets. We were there a bit early and wanted to eat ramen early. They wouldn't let us. Two years ago, you could though. This messed up my planning a bit.
This is my favorite art exhibit by far. If you can only go to one art museum, you go here. I don't want to ruin the surprise but the exhibits are all-encompassing environmental rooms that make you feel something different. Also, roll up your pants above your knees for the water… You can also download the app to enhance your experience but it is not required. My favorite room is the dynamic light matrix room. There's a room in there that lets you control the lights too.
They added a new section since two years ago. Another drawing section. I made a salamander with “poop” on it. I made an airplane with “poop” written on it. “Kono kotoba wa unko desu” I would give the worker my artwork. They would be confused. Then I would explain what the word is. They would laugh. Then they would scan the artwork
We finished off by going to the Ramen place in the compound. Uzu Ramen. It's vegan ramen. They do something to the broth with mushrooms or something. It's amazing, go get yours here. I told them I came here two years ago and this ramen was very good.
We had some time to make the Gundam Statue in Odaiba for my friend, who's never seen it. So we took the train there. We got a little lost since the trees blocked our vision and my compass was going goofy on this island. We did manage to see the gundam statue at night. We booked it to the Tokyo tower. We would had a sliver of time needed to reach Tokyo Tower before it closed. In the train, I dropped my Pasmo since it was the same pocket I kept my half-made origami. The American girl behind me helped me out. When I finished the origami dinosaur 🦕 I gave it to her and thanked her for your help.
We managed to make it by jogging. It turns out that the top deck was sold out. But we did manage to make it to the main deck by 20 minutes. The view at night was quite different. I bought some cookies for our Golden Gai visit. The tower at night was radiant outside.
We made movement to Golden Gai, Shinjuku. This place has 200+ bars, apparently.
It turns out that the bartender we wanted to see two years ago wasn't there, but will be tomorrow. So we went to other bars. Bar Plastic Model, was closed that day. So we went to some random bar, Bar Macska (マチャカ バー)(3rd row, center, 1F)
Met some filmmakers. I was able to speak using Elementary Japanese and joke with them regarding my arts and work. I gave everyone those Tokyo Tower cookies and gummies and then I made some origami dinosaurs 🦕. My other friends talked with them too. I had several beers, including a very unique British beer with an interesting taste.
Here's their youtube channel: @kamikazedouga_official
It was getting late so we had to go. We went to Hanazono Shrine, and saw a wild cat. They had a lot of lanterns that day.
Day 12, Tokyo, Ikebukuro (Monday)
Later, we planned on going to Ikebukuro. It's northwest of the center of Tokyo. It's a chill place with several malls and some places of interest.,
It was a semi free day in the morning. I went to the nearest Onitsuka Tiger to try to get one pair of shoes for my friend. I spoke some elementary Japanese and they didn't have any. They did give me some pointers like if you are a US 8.5, get a larger size since the shoes are narrow. They also found another nearby store with the shoes in stock. I gave them a dinosaur 🦕. I wanted to find some expensive sushi for lunch. These kinds of restaurants take you to another world of flavor. I'm talking about those restaurants where everyone is really quiet and serious. I tried two restaurants but they were fully booked. I think maybe if I waited, I could have hoped someone flaked.
Walked around. Saw a picture of Joel Robuchon, one of the world's best chef's on the planet. RIP 2018.
I went to the next Onitsuka Tiger and I was able to find the shoes and buy them. I gave them a dinosaur 🦕. These shoes are normally cost $300 back in the states. To make my friend nervous, I sent a picture of similar shoes (but not exactly) on top of a box of bought shoes to my friend saying I bought them.
At that time, it started raining a lot for 2 hours 🥴.
For lunch, I decided to eat at the sushi place in the Shinjuku Square TOKYO SUSHI ITAMAE SUSHI Shinjuku Toho Building. Got the omakase for $80. I was hoping for only sushi but they gave me a large meal of tempura and fish skewers. I should have actually read the menu 🥴. Overall, it was alright. When I left, everyone said “thank you and come again”, even the chefs.
My bilingual friend and I went to Ikebukuro. Around Shinjuku, I said outloud, “Once I started to lie down, my whole body seized up due to all the walking.” Some nearby tourists agreed. Like a big tuna fish, you have to keep moving. You stop, you die. We went to the Seibu rooftop and check it out. Got some juice from the vending machine. Went to Seibu Loft and got some Snoopy-shaped paper clips.
We went to a cafe, Cafe Racines FARM to PARK. Got my “berry berry float” drink and chugged that. We tried to translate what the sign on the grass said. “Grass something, something, dont stand here.” The grass is growing. We joked about how it would be an international incident if we stepped on that grass.
We went to the Gashapon store, the largest one. I zigzagged and then I bought a few knick knacks. I wanted to get a Pokemon Eevee, non-evolved. A tourist in front of the machine wanted a few specific Eeves. I got two eeves, none of which I wanted, but the tourist wanted, so we traded. On the way back, we saw some boy band meet and greet, JamHeads
Went to the Muscle Girl Bar and we met up with our other friend. This place is really popular with the tourists. The muscle girls sing and dance and pose with their muscles. I was mesmerized. It's a goofy time. I made our shy muscle girl a dinosaur 🦕.
She was wearing a Snufkin pin and I showed her my Snufkin hat. She even wanted to wear it and take pictures of it. She even squeezed grapefruit juice all over me with her bare hands.
I used some “Muscle dollars” to buy some group photos with me and the muscle girl. I tried to do some JOJO poses but I only knew one and that one hurt my back. I thought I recognized a previous muscle girl from two years ago. I pulled up a picture from my google drive and showed it to them, but it turns out it wasn't here and that my brain is just bad 🙈
There's a muscle challenge. Sitting bench press machine. I did 35 out of 50. For 50 kg / ~110 lb. I felt like I could have done more but I didn't feel like putting out. Also, two years ago, I did 50 barely.
Here's their twitch: here
My group reminisced about meeting a girl from Kansas, USA, who spoke fluent Japanese, two years ago here. She spent 7 years learning Japanese. I believe her name was Amber?
We went back to our hotel. Our hotels had heated a bathroom mirrors so they don't fog up. I've never seen that before.
We went back to Golden Gai and found the two bartenders that was there from two years ago. We talked about our life and work. I mentioned that I crochet stuff and I was here to deliver some gifts to Atarashii Gakko's office AsobiSystem. She then mentioned that they may not like gifts because crazy people will insert cameras, trackers, and poison. I mentioned “Ricardo Lopez", a scary Bjork fan stalker.
I put on “I Remember You” by Bjork for the bar. Lovely song. After that, we played more city pop. I ordered five drinks infused with various fruits. They gave me some origami paper and I made some animals out of memory. Brontosaurus, T-rex, rabbit, peacock.
Shinjuku is a bit shady, so be careful being guided into bars. You may get drugged and robbed. For dinner, we later went to Omoide Yokocho (aka Piss Alley) for yakitori. We ate at “Yasubee annex” 安兵衛 別館. We sat down on the second floor. Paid the small cover charge. For our cover charge, got some slimy vegetables and mushrooms which tasted great. We ordered a lot of small dishes like Itawasa (fish cake) and edamame. It turns out they were out of Yakitori (grilled chicken) 🥴. I ordered potato salad and yamaimo with roe. And also some salmon sashimi and booze. When we sat down, that's when they told us they were out of Yakitori. Brutal!
Went outside to walk around to see the monkey with my bilingual friend. Saw a shark instead.
Me: “Saru wa doko desu ka?” (Where is the monkey?)
No monkey until Thursday, by then it was too late. SAD! I did my laundry, but the dryers were all full. Good enough. I laid my clothes out in my room to dry. My pants didn't dry completely for 2 days.
Day 13, Tokyo, Free Day (Tuesday)
Last full day! BRUTAL!
The day prior, I gave my bilingual friend my wifi pack and gave some instructions. I was really tired when I woke up, but I summoned enough willpower to get up and scribble train instructions on a piece of paper between my target neighborhoods. Today's plan was something I duct taped together.
First thing in the morning, go to AsobiSystem and deliver crocheted stuff. I intercepted some employees and they said they couldn't take any gifts. I was disheartened.
I went to Liberty Walk, closed. B-side. Closed. Brutal. I didn't plan this day well. This plan was duct taped together at the last minute. Went to Shibuya, saw a big figure of Takefusa Kubo, saw the Hachiko statue. There's a Hachiko merch store nearby, but I didn't go.
Regarding AsobiSystem, I realized I had a letter, maybe I could give that.
Went to Little Texas in Meguro City. Arrived in Meguro City by train. I was going north when I should have been going west. I was lost and I asked for directions from a nice lady in front of me. “Where is the river?” She pointed in some crazy direction. I said thank you. Anyways, I found the place, and it was closed, too early. I wrote a letter and gave them a polaroid from Big Texan Steak Ranch, The Big Texan in Texas . It was from my motorcycle road trip and I slipped it through their mailbox. I went to Family Mart for a fami-chiki for lunch. This was pretty good, like KFC but less seasoned. Very moist though. This is a favorite of Chris Broad, famous youtuber.
Went back to Shinjuku, Went to Cafe Luigi, chatted up the workers, showed them my back of crocheted stuff, got a latte, and chugged that.
Went back to the Asobisystem, and waved down an employee. I explained why I'm here and who I am in elementary Japanese. They told me to wait a little bit. A man from AsobiSystem came out. I asked if I could give Atarashii Gakko a small letter, and they said ok. I asked if I can give small gifts like the armbands? They said “dame” or “no good". I asked if they wanted it, and they said they couldn't take it. I thanked them and we parted ways.
I went to Liberty Walk, got a Nissan Skyline pin. Did the gashapon over there, got another pin. Then I went to B-side Label. They recognized me for my Snufkin hat on the previous day. I said I'm going back to American tomorrow in Japanese. Brutal! I went to the Harry Potter Harajuku store. I went to the second floor and got some butter beer for my friends. Harajuku is really nice for interesting fashion.
Took a train to Akihabara to really try to look for my friend's Uma musume figurine. This place has a ton of figurine stores. A ton. The Bookoff here didn't have the language learning books I was seeking. Also, while I was here, I dropped off all the gashapon capsules I had accumulated since two years ago at a capsule drop-off point.
I went to about 4 figurine stores but I finally found “Nice Nature” for a reasonable price. It was hard to find.
me: Uma musume ga hoshi desu (I want a horse daughter). Uma no name ga NICE NATURE desu (The Horse's name is Nice Nature).
When to the Animate store here and got 3 Frieren Japanese mangas. Vol 1, Spinoff, and Fan book. I went to the nearby Surugaya Akihabara Station Front Shop. The front blue sign says “Anime/ Idol/ Dojin.” I saw the Radio Kaikan building from Stein's Gate, a fantastic anime about time travel. The first half is 😪😪🥱 but the second half is 👀👀👀, and it makes up for the first half.
I missed the Origami Museum but that is kind of in the middle of nowhere. I also missed the Jinbocho book town, but I'll save that for next time. I went back on the Yamanote line back to Meguro to see Little Texas. This time it was open 🤠. I sat down and ordered a steak and onion rings. In front of me, they were playing bull riding on TV. There was also a pile of Bucee's beavers plushies.
They gave me some popcorn. I asked for the wifi password and sync'd with my buddies. Got an alcoholic sour and a corona. They came out with a wooden plate shaped like Texas with onion rings on top of each other like a tornado 🌪️. The onion rings were very good. The steak came out and it was even better.
After I ate my steak, I ate my popcorn and walked around the restaurant and looked at all the stuff in there. Texas College Student Ids, license plates from texas, etc. I just so happened to have a dollar bill in my bag. I took it out and then asked if I could put something on the wall. They gave me a market and I wrote my name and stuck it on the wall in the center. I talked with the owner about America and my motorcycle trip, and showed him a lot of pictures.
I gave him another polaroid from my Motorcycle trip, Monument valley, and a copper 2nd Amendment coin and silver US American Eagle One Dollar Coin.
The owner showed me a picture of him with the real Post Malone, which flabbergasted me. And some pictures of him dining with Trump and North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Both impersonators 🥴. The place is really interesting, and if I'm back in Tokyo, I got to eat here again.
On the train back home, I briefly whispered to a guy in front of me. He was from Ireland with his lady friend. He went to Kyoto and Osaka and Nara. We discussed about Japan.
I went back and linked up with The Gang™️, got back my wifi, and then we went to SODLAND, a goofy cafe. This time, the place was open. The place is greatly enhanced with N3 levels of Japanese. The bottom floor was the sauna, we chatted up the nice lady for 30 minutes. Then we went to the next floor up. The lady spoke a little more English and it was interesting chatting her up. I showed her my crocheted stuff. A Salaryman liked my crocheted Bonsai tree. After 30 minutes, we went to the last floor, the quiet room, and we wore these Daft Punk metal/glass masks and observed bunny girls trying to make us laugh. I got a polaroid of one bunny girl. Overall, it was a goofy time. I recommend you know a good amount of Japanese before you go here.
We went to Golden Gai again. We went to Bar Plastic Model first. It's this really nice bar that places vinyl records, mostly of Japanese city pop. They have various classics. He said they don't have certain vinyls because they're expensive. If you are unsure, just google for “Japanese city pop”. You may find such songs like: plastic love, telephone, etc. I checked out this city-pop list while in this bar. Check out these great hits: list
There was a nice lady there too who was using Duolingo to learn English. I showed her my Duolingo and that I'm on a 1,000+ day streak. I showed them some rare 500 yen silver coins with a big Buddha (Daibutsu) on it. Check it out different wikis: wiki
She taught me this good phrase: “Mise tai” (“I want to show”). The Gang™️ talked with the bartender about life, language, and music. I ran completely out of Origami paper so I used my notebook's thick paper to make a brontosaurus and a t-rex. The bartender suggested I go to Nishigikubo Station for Bar OPK for more vinyl stuff. But that place is really far. This is their twitch: here
We said goodbye and went back to Zeami. We said our goodbyes to the bartenders and the remainder of my crocheted stuff for Atarashii Gakko.
Day 14, Departure Day (Wednesday)
Last day! SAD! Had to pack. It took longer than normal since my bag was 99% stuffed, especially with my buddy's shoes. A lot of people in Tokyo liked my pointy green hat and kept calling me Snufkin. “Snufkin desu”. There was no real plan today.
We checked out and met outside. I was wondering where everyone was. I received a message of a picture of me. I looked around and saw my friends at a distance and I pointed to them. I was checking my bags. They were 99% packed. My coat was covered in waves of powdery white salt from all of my sweat. I checked my to-do checklist. One of them said “NYT Connections.” So we took a squat and played that and completed it, flawless victory.
We gave the hotel our bags so we can wander. We got Coco Ichibanya. You know me: chicken, half rice, spice 4, cheese. Then add the pickles and ask for house sauce. We went to the Bookoff to find some language learning books. Didn't find anyone. I did show a picture to the workers and asked for a specific book. After 10 minutes, they came out and spoke a ton of Japanese.
Them: (Japanese) *An absolute ton of Japanese*
Me: (japanese) I speak a little Japanese. No book?
Them: (japanese) no 😞
I believe they may be saying something extremely long to soften the blow and they are trying to be extra polite. I think long sentences means more politeness.
We went to the nearby Yuzawaya Keio Shinjuku yarn shop. I couldn't read what the yarn was made of. Still, fascinating to see a Japanese Yarn store. We briefly checked out the ITOYA Shinjuku Store. Went to the rooftop area.
We had a few hours left. So I said we should check out Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Last time, it was raining and there was almost nobody there because of it. We paid a few bucks and entered. There were elaborate chrysanthemum displays. I saw a Japanese woman on a bridge clap her hands and summon a bunch of hungry koi fish. 👀. Walking around, we saw some yellow fruit in the dirt with no fruit trees nearby.
We went to the tea house and got some ice cream. A few hundreds meters forward, we found the trees loaded with quince (pear-like fruit) trees. We saw the rose garden there. We finished off the trip by going to the greenhouse and checking out the cocoa, avocado, cacti, and citrus trees. I saw the same citrus tree a few hundred meters to the west of the greenhouse. Two years ago, it had 1 lemon, now it's bigger with tons of lemons.
Overall, it was a beautiful day, slightly chilly. Many people were out and about and lying in the grass. We saw a late-blooming cherry tree blossoming. I guess that counts as "See Cherry Blossom in Japan."
We left the park. We saw a bicycle with no locks or anything. This is unthinkable in New York City!
The Gang™️ said good byes. We got our bags back from the hotel, which was packed this time. The bilingual friend and I head off for Haneda airport by train. The limo bus was out of schedule. We took the familiar Keikyu (KK) sky-blue line to Haneda Terminal 3. They added a new Godzilla head in the terminal. After the security, I got lunch at the Edo Style sushi. Same thing I got during the last trip. I ordered 13 pieces of sushi. My friend ordered got the dipping noodles. The sushi place is: UOGASHI NIHON-ICHI, 寿司 魚がし日本一 羽田空港国際線ﾀｰﾐﾅﾙTSK店. We parted ways…
I went on Air Canada and sat next to a friendly Canadian named Vlad going to Toronto. He tried to say where we was from in Canada exactly, but I had no idea. My desire to know more about Canada is pretty non-existent. My Canadian geography is non-existent. I can point out most of the US States, but nothing in Canada. I don't even know who their current Prime minister is 😴. We talked about life and travel. He also went to Fukuoka and saw the official sumo tournament. I was envious. He asked me some questions regarding programming. He asked about AI taking over. I answered that AI is not there yet, but someday, maybe. It cannot code Grand Theft Auto 1. AI struggles to even make some of my Tomato game. I think I'll be ok for a while. Then we all passed out for many hours and said our goodbyes.
First day home, I slept 15 hours (no lie). I woke up and wondered why it was still so dark.
Conclusion
I wish I brought less clothes so I can carry more stuff back. Specifically, one sweater and not three. And 4 days of clothes and not 5.5.
I recommend more rest days or half days to do laundry and to just stop walking so much. And also maybe more free days? To get people to do whatever.
Also, learning a little bit of Japanese helps open up a lot of dialog options and avenues of possibilities. Wearing a goofy hat gives you a perk, “People have a 10,000% increased chance of remembering you." I'll definitely learn more Japanese and come back, maybe in a few years…
Japan is absolutely surreal. What makes Japan great is its people. The way Japan can maintain a high-trust society is that everyone is polite and courteous and on the same page. Also, when it comes to crime, they don't play around. The conviction rate is very high and they make you march like a robot for hours on end. You'll also be forced to sit and stare at a wall silently.
There was a foreigner who stole a riceball (onigiri). About $1. They jailed him for a year and then they deported him. (youtube source: vid). Japan doesn't play around 🪤!!!
I walked around so much, I lost feeling in my right big toe for 3 months.
Anyways, Japan felt like a really weird dream. 10/10