Big On Japan, Part 2/3

(SHIBUYA CROSSING...AGAIN!)

I highlight Shibuya Crossing yet again because, to me, it is perhaps the most pertinent symbol of Tokyo. Made always identifiable and utterly unforgettable by the now classic (at least amongst a certain ilk of people) film, Lost In Translation, this massive intersection, where you can cross the street with several hundred people at once, is the epitome of Tokyo's mind-dazzling over-stimulation. To say that walking across this street was a religious experience would be a bit dramatic, but, even so,  its an experience that I don't think can be replicated, the way that, seemingly at the count of three, everyone sets in motion like the beat dropping on a record. Its strange to say but I felt a certain peace in the crowds of Shibuya.

Having only three days and nights in Tokyo, I chose to limit my explorations to only a select few places. Sure, I had loose plans to see the untouched, traditional streets of Asakusa, or the electronics wonderland that is Akihabara, but those possibilities fell by the wayside the minute I felt the denseness of Shibuya. Located only five stops on the JR Yamanote line from where I was staying in Shinagawa, travelling to Shibuya was an easy ask, getting to know it was another question altogether.

(SHIBUYA STATION, HACHIKO EXIT MURAL)

The Hachiko exit of Shibuya Station has long been a popular meeting spot. In the thick crowds of people, this dog statue called Hachiko serves as a useful marker to find your friends. On this night, I met up with my friend, James, who is also a teacher in Ulsan. He was in Tokyo with his father and brother who were over from England. At meeting up, there were no ground rules for what lay ahead, no clear map to follow, and in an area such as Shibuya, which is just jammed with things competing for your attention, not having a plan can be a blessing and a curse. We walked around for quite a while scoping lots of over-the-top things, including the seedy Japan of lore, where sex clubs are not far away from the main tourist drag, just another part of life in this crazy country. Eventually, a bar with 300 yen beers caught our attention, and it turned out to be the perfect place, a standing bar called Tasu Ichi with soccer on the television, a rustic interior, and a friendly cosmopolitan crowd. It was a place that really glowed with positivity.

After having several rounds of beer and bidding farewell to James's father and brother for the evening, it became clear we were going to be out for the night. There comes a certain point when catching the last train seems as desirable as, say, doing homework on Christmas, and you resign yourself to your fate until 5am. Still not having any clue where to go, a Sudanese street artist directed us to a place called Gas Panic, which besides having a great name was emanating heavy bass music that neither James and I had felt the sweet caress of in far too long. It turned out to be a cool spot with cheap drinks but sort of a tourist trap, equally a place for gawkers as it was for people trying to get their grind on. A few highlights:

(THIS GUY WAS THE LIFE OF THE PARTY. CRAZY DANCE MOVES.)

(JAPANESE FRIENDS!!)

(LOTS OF PARTY AFRICANS ON THIS NIGHT)

After tiring of Gas Panic, this night ended with James and I being the only people posted up at Hachiko at 4:30am, waiting on the station to open. It was a little surreal seeing such a supposedly non-stop place like Shibuya be that quiet and serene, but then again, it was a Thursday night, errrr...Friday morning. After dusting myself off, I spent most of the next day once again exploring Shibuya. At this point, the decision was officially made that I would limit my travels to only Shibuya and the nearby Harajuku and Shinjuku, essentially the main hub of the "new" Tokyo. Its a decision that I'm grateful that I made as I didn't stress myself out trying to see and do way too many things. 

One of the main highlights of Shibuya by day was getting to check out Mandarake, which is the go-to store in Japan for anime, manga, similar strands of Japanese pop culture. The Mandarake in Shibuya is the largest in Tokyo and has to be some sort of Mecca for Mountain Dew-chugging, Dorito-breathed American anime nerds. If its any consolation, the patrons of Mandarake mostly seemed like fairly normal people (and I guess normal people in the States do like this stuff, too), but some of the things to be found there were certainly artifacts of great lore, such as this "pillow girlfriend". Pillow girlfriends are treated like REAL GIRLFRIENDS by some of Japan's more socially strange otaku (anime nerds). They even carry them around, seating them at restaurants, and spotting the real artifact was a bit like seeing Bigfoot in the wild. There was also a fair share of hentai, or way perverted manga. While sort of unsettling in its depiction of women and gross sexism, it was still an article of interest in that I was seeing the real thing in its natural lair. All in all, amidst rows and rows of obscure manga and anime that I will never know, I felt a bit small. It was sort of like staring into space and knowing your true, insignificant size.

(MANGA TO INFINITY)

(PILLOW GIRLFRIEND!!)

After a day's worth of exploring, it was time to once again meet up with James for a night of adventure. The plan was to see a Japanese experimental rock band called Nissenenmondai at a club called O-Nest. After a time mix-up and taking a backstage elevator to another venue in the same building, we managed to catch about five songs, all of which were dynamite. The atmosphere in the connected but separate O-Nest lounge after the show was surprisingly subdued, but we met an amazingly cool French girl who was an English teacher in Japan. We chatted for quite a while before the night took us in an unexpected direction (although there was never any actual "expected" direction). Seizing the opportunity to talk to the girls in Nissenenmondai, we met Katoman, their manager, who took us back to his bar a short walk away. Called Beat Cafe, it was the kind of closet-sized, super-cool Tokyo bar I'd always dreamed of drinking in.

(KATOMAN AND I)

(JAMES AND I WITH SAYAKA AND MASAKO FROM NISSENENMONDAI)

After an hour or two in Beat Cafe discussing life, the universe, and everything (but mostly music!), James, Estelle (awesome French girl), and I migrated to an absurdly great place called Red Bar where taking pictures would get you kicked out! We finished the night doing karaoke at a spot no doubt run by the yakuza (Japanese mafia!) until sun-up. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Tokyo, do karaoke until sunrise.

(ESTELLE AND I, DOING, I THINK "BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE")

Another night of incalculable adventure and good times in Shibuya. The next morning I would need to be out of my hostel at 11am after having only arrived back there at 6am. How would our hero survive to fight another day in Tokyo? Could he stay awake and have enough vigor to do more exploring the next day and then find his way back to Fukuoka that very night? What unexpected twists and turns were to be in store for our unwitting protagonist? Find out in the third and final part of this series!!!