Internet, at last!

Finally, I’m connected at home again. Somehow we lasted nearly a month and a half without internet access at the apartment. Thank god for video games.

A quick summary of the last two months: Two friends and I were able to find a three bedroom apartment in southwest Tokyo. We are proud owners of an American sized refrigerator, a small washer and a small dryer. The entire spring/summer break was spent without internet, so we played lots of video games and did a little exploring. Living in Tokyo without a bike is… well stupid and frustrating. So I bought a BMX bike and put quite a few miles on it already. Besides being a blast to ride, it’s good exercise. I’m the fittest I’ve been in a number of years (not that that’s saying much…) Started the summer semester at TUJ. It’s a shortened semester, but the syllabus for each class is the same as the ones used during full-length fall and spring semesters, so I’m slammed with work. Though I only go to school MWF, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays are devoted to homework and studying.

Nothing else to report really. Just all sorts of school work keeping me busy. Tonight for instance; I could have gone out, but no, I’ve been working on a paper for the last five hours. And now it’s 1:16 and I’m going to bed. Good night.

Shinkansen

A little look into what I see every day. It’s a JR 700 Shinkansen (bullet train) at Shinagawa station.

Back Alley in Shinagawa

Fuck the Machine!

Last week I won tickets to a local production of Glengary Glen Ross thanks to the fine gentlemen at TPR. The show was Saturday night and I invited Calvin to come since he had never seen the movie or the play before. The theater is in Iidabashi and is very small, less than 100 people in capacity. It was good, but it certainly didn’t compare to the movie. It’s hard not to be jaded after you’ve seen Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey play those parts.

It was very cold and windy, and the walk from the station to the theater was long and up hill. Once the play was over, having conquered the treacherous hike once, we decided to avoid the return trip after spotting a subway station across the street. Unfortunately, on the way back home, we misheard the train conductor. Instead of getting off at Shinagawa and waiting for the next train to take us to Gotanda, we stayed on and ended up at Kawasaki. I really should learn the words for “Limited Express.”

Luckily, Kawasaki is only one stop via the Keihin Tohoku line from Kamata, which is one of the stations on the Ikegami line; the same line our neighborhood is on. We were starved and decided to venture outside the station at Kamata since the area is full of shops and restaurants. We spotted a tiny Indian place and decided to venture in. The staff was Indian as were most of the clientèle, so I knew we hit on something good. The menu had English, our waiter was nice, the nan was huge and everything tasted wonderful. I’ll certainly be returning.

Friday Night Out

Last night our previous plans of karaoke kinda fell through, so I ended up going to Kua `Aina in Gotanda for dinner with some other dorm mates. I had a BLT with cheese, an order of fries and a drink. Normally I hate mayo, but the mayo here (the Japanese love mayo and seem to put it on everything) is different here somehow. It actually compliments the flavors instead of overpowering them. Now, I’ve had tons of good food since I’ve come here, but I think that was the most satisfying meal I’ve had in Japan. I don’t know if it was just because it was like food I’d eat at home or if it was just that good. Either way, I’m glad we went, and I’ll be sure to go back.

After dinner we were trying to think of some place to go, preferably a large bar with some people. So we headed out to Roppongi. We exited the station through Tokyo Midtown which is absolutely amazing and definitely requires a return trip with the camera. I originally had no intention of ever going to Roppongi, and walking it’s streets was almost worse than I expected. There are Africans posted every few feet on the sidewalks who try to get you to come see “big titties” and “loose women.” But, unfortunately, this is where the big bars are. And there are foreigners everywhere! It’s disgusting. On the upside, there was a very nice pool hall with lots of open space, good looking tables and lots of electronic dart boards. It was rather empty (and expensive) so we headed across the street to the rather insensitively named Gas Panic! (club location).

It was pretty early (21:30) and there weren’t too many people there. The DJ’s started off with a really good set of house music, but it soon deteriorated into hip-hop once the people started pouring in about an hour later. We stayed until about 23:40, which turned out to be just a little too late. Luckily we caught the subways in time to get to Tamachi, and then the last train to Gotanda, but we got stuck taking a cab from there to our neighborhood because the Ikegami line was shut down for the night.

This is probably my number one qualm with Tokyo so far: you’re forced to go home early or stay out all night. The trains stop running between 0:00 and 1:00 and don’t start again until about 5:00. Cabs aren’t cheap here to begin with, and when the trains stop they add an extra fee on top of their normal starting charge (¥700). It’s not so bad when you’re with two other people so you can split the cost, but it ends up being at least an extra ¥1000 each that you didn’t want to spend in the first place.