The trials and tribulations of Tokyo

4/15/09
16:09

Okay so I will now finish my Japan blob.  It’s taken me a while to finish blobbing because it has been a pretty hectic couple of days on the ship since I got back.  Lots of tests and projects, including the huge Global Studies test, which was a bitch.  It’s so much information, completely unorganized approach, CHAOS.  We’ll see how I do.  Luckily, I’m taking that class pass/fail because there is a chance that I could get a C.  I know, I know, that’s bad.  But you have no idea what this class is like.  We learn about history, religion, CORAL REEFS (pronounced ‘carl’ reefs by the professor, which kills me), weather patterns, climates, islands, homo erectus (giggle), the Dodo bird.  So much info.  BUT today we have a day off.  I slept the majority of today and now I’m drawing and blobbing.

So Japan.  Where was I last time?  Oh yes, Tokyo International Hostel.  The next morning was JILL’S 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! We all woke up early because the designated shower time was between 6:30 and 8:30 am. Rough.  After we showered, we packed up, checked out, and went in search of free Internet so Kendra could get in contact with her friend Mary from high school who is studying in Japan and also to find the Denny’s we saw on our train ride to the hostel the night before.  There is no free Internet anywhere in Tokyo, even though we were told it is all over the place.  City of lies.

We finally stumble upon Denny’s, which is not quite the same as Denny’s in the US, but that’s to be expected in Japan.  But no Internet could be found.  Kendra was starting to freak the F out because she couldn’t get in contact with Mary, so we took the train back to the main station in Shinjuku.  We put our huge backpacks in storage lockers and talked to information about the location of Internet cafés and banks/ATMs, since Japanese ATMs do not take American credit cards.  In fact, the only place that has ATMs that will accept American credit cards was none other than 7-Eleven.  I love that place.  They’re not going to be the same in the States.

So we began our quest in Shinjuku to find Internet and ATMs.   The information desk at the train station wasn’t particularly helpful, but we stumbled upon a 7-Eleven and got some Yen.  Then as we were walking Jill’s iPhone got connected all of a sudden to a free wireless network.  Yay!  So Kendra finally made contact with her friend Mary and set up a plan to meet at 4:20 at the Waseda Train Station.  Jill also got in contact with Chris, a friend from high school who is studying in Tokyo, and we planned to meet up with him at around 7:30. 

Everything was settled so we could go explore Tokyo.  First we set off to see this beautiful Shinto shrine.  The bows of cherry blossom trees hung over the courtyard leading up to the shrine, blanketing the pebbled ground in petals.  When you enter a shrine there is a Torii, which is a squared off archway that purifies those that enter from above.  The pebbles on the ground are said to purify people from below and there is a water fountain where one pours water over their hands out of a ladle to complete the purification process.

We purified ourselves and wandered into the shrine.  I always feel a little uncomfortable going into holy places as a tourist because typically there are people worshipping there.  I feel intrusive.  I, personally, would feel uncomfortable if people were walking by, taking pictures as I sat in my church and prayed.  Thus far, at all the shrines and temples I’ve visited though, no one has seemed to be upset by my disturbance of the peace, but I still feel a bit uneasy.

After going into the shrine we walked around the grounds.  Despite being a holy place, there are still all kinds of shops and food carts for tourists.  You could buy good luck charms, or charms that help you with your studies, and so on.  You could buy your fortune and if it was a bad fortune you tie it up and leave it in the shrine, you could buy a plaque to write a wish.  You could buy crepes, hotdogs, green tea, ice cream.  Then past all of those stands there were several rows of small Buddha statues that represent the spirit of babies and young children who have died or aborted fetuses.  Many of them have little hats and cloaks draped upon them and are adorned with flowers and toys.

We walked down a wooded path, past a Buddhist graveyard that was behind the shrine and found ourselves back on the streets of Tokyo.  We looked across the street and there was a beautiful park with a bubbling brook, willow trees, stone paths – just an explosion of nature amidst all the concrete and steel.  While meandering through the park across a bridge and under the trees, we found ourselves right in front of the Tokyo Tower.  This red and white tower is taller than the Eiffel Tower, and has shops, restaurants, a wax museum, an arcade, and an aquarium in it.   We went in and checked it out.  I wanted to buy Reegan a little Hello Kitty trinket, but even the tiniest, teeny weeny keychain was 800 Yen.  EIGHT DOLLARS!  Stupid. 

Jill, Kendra, and Adrienne went up to the top to check out the view and I decided to walk around and check out the museum.  I thought I would save some cash…well nothing is free in that tower except for the diorama, picture timeline, and informational plaques on the tower.  That was nice, except it was all written in Japanese so my curiosity remains about the construction and history of the tower.

Outside of the tower, we came across a crepe stand and the crepes looked delicious. Filled with various fruits, whip cream, custard, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, sprinkles.  Needless to say I invested in one with strawberries, ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream.  So good.

We wanted to go see an art museum, but they were pretty pricey and we didn’t have enough time to get our money’s worth before meeting Mary.  So we hopped on a train in search of Kendra’s long-lost high school mate.  We found her in the station and Kendra and Mary embraced and shrieked with joy.  It was cute.  I wish one of my best friend’s were studying in Tokyo.  Why weren’t you guys studying in Tokyo while I was there?  Seriously.

Mary took us to the Harajuku district and what a sight to see.  The styles…they are crazy, wild, colorful, polka-dotted, striped, hot pink, scrunchies, pigtails, fake eyelashes, tights, heels, boots, sneakaaazzzz, and nothing I could ever pull off.  It reminded me of Spain, just because everyone was so fashionable there and I felt out of place and fashion backward…as opposed to fashion forward.  It also made me wish I had brought a few more cute outfits from home.  Live and learn.  Next time I’m traveling the world on a ship I’ll remember to bring some more dresses, skirts, tops, a pair of heels, some boots…next time for sure.

As we walked down a main fashion street, staring at everyone, every things, every shop, Jill sang Gwen Stefani’s “Harajuku Girls.”  Fitting, no?  Adrienne got sucked into many a clothing boutique and spent her fair share of yen on some choice items.  She got some cuuuuute stuff.  Kendra and Mary were off in their own world.  I just took it all in. 

One of Jill’s goals for her 21st birthday was to drink bubble tea.  As we walked down the street we saw two girls holding cups of bubble tea.  Jill ran over and asked one where she got it.  This girl clad in funky duds did not speak English very well and she shrugged, but we grabbed the cup and looked at the name, “Pearl Lady.”  We strolled down looking for the Pearl Lady.  We came across a food court and went in and guess what.  PEARL LADY! BUBBLE TEA!!!  Adrienne, Jill and I all got a cup.  Kendra and Mary had separated from us.  I got chocolate.  Jill got mango.  Adrienne got milk tea?  I’ve had bubble tea in every country since Vietnam.  That’s only three countries, but still. I’m obsessed.  Is there bubble tea in Minnesota?  There needs to be.

We came back out with our bubble tea and found Kendra and Mary.  Then we walked to the main avenue in Harajuku.  There is shop after shop, crepe stand after crepe stand, cool Japanese chick after cool Japanese chick.  I loved it.  Mary and Kendra separated from us again, and Jill, Adrienne and I found this ridiculous store called Condomania.  It sold…condoms, duh.  And other explicit items.  Good for a chuckle.

Kendra and Mary wanted to explore some more and Adrienne, Jill and I decided to go pick up our stuff from the station in Shinjuku and meet up with Jill’s friend Chris so we made a plan to meet up again at 8:30.  Back in Shinjuku, we found Chris right outside the station.  He was a great host.  He immediately took us to a cheap sushi place and I tried my first bite of sushi.  I had shrimp sushi, tuna sushi, salmon sushi, crab sushi.  And I liked it. Crab was definitely my favorite.  Is that the California roll?  I think so.  Then Chris took us to see this crazy shop that is jam-packed with EVERYTHING.  Toys, clothes, costumes, underwear, jewelry, gag gifts.  Just covered with merchandise from floor to ceiling, wall to wall.  It was definitely a sensory overload and not a good place for claustrophobic people.  Jill purchased a panda suit.  Good buy, my friend, good buy.  Next Chris took us to get a sweetbean-filled pancake from a street vendor.  I never thought of beans a dessert food, but they are, and they’re good.  By this time it was a little past 8:30 so we rushed back to meet Kendra and Mary.

We all grabbed our backpacks out of our lockers and changed into our “going out” outfits.  Jill had also purchased some tiger-ear clips to put in her hair in order to distinguish her as the birthday girl.  Rawr.

We got all fancy and put our backpacks in new lockers.  Jill didn’t want to bring a purse so I put her Japan Rail Pass as well as my own, and our locker key in my little purse, along with my money, passport, and camera.  I thought about leaving some stuff in the locker (like maybe my passport), but I decided it would be fine, clearly ignoring my intuition.  Always a mistake.  FORESHADOWING.

We followed Chris to a hole-in-the-wall bar where he was meeting someone for an interview.  The bar had a half-pipe in it and was decorated with all kinds of paintings done by these Japanese tattoo artists.  The paintings were of Kapa (spelling?) which is like the Japanese version of the boogie monster.  The paintings were very sexualized and rather vulgar and violent.  I took a picture (that I will never see) of one with a female Kapa who had a pickle or cucumber coming out of an orifice that I would not want any sort of produce coming out of.  EXPLICIT.  Chris knew a lot of the tattoo artists, and this was perfect because Adrienne really wanted to get a tattoo while in Japan.  She had drawn out a design and had kept her eye out for tattoo parlors the entire time we were in Japan, but to no avail.  Chris promised to take her to get a tattoo the next day and I promised to come with for moral support and to see a tattoo done in REAL LIFE!

The bar was empty apart from our group and Chris was friends with all the bartenders.  He told them in Japanese that it was Jill’s 21st and they congratulated her.  We ordered a few drinks and then the bartenders came out with a bowl of popcorn with three flickering candles sticking out of it.  They sang, “Happy Birthday” and also brought out Hershey’s kisses.  It was so sweet.  We all sat and talked and laughed, and after a little while, one of the bartenders came over, turned off the lights, and levitated a pen between his hands.  City of magic.   It was totally random and hilarious and perfect.

Chris’s interviewer hadn’t shown up after an hour and we decided to go check out the club scene in Shibuya, another district in Tokyo.  It was about 11:30 by the time we got to Shibuya and we began wandering around in search of clubs.  Everything seemed to be closing because the last train is at midnight.  We ran into some other SASers who also had a birthday boy in their group and we joined forces in search of a good time.  We found a club called Vuenos, that gave us a deal: $10 cover charge, with 2 drinks included.  We were in. 

This club had three levels: the first was a sitting area, the next was down just a few steps and had a bar, then there was a stage, dance floor and bar area below that you could down at from a bridge going across.  It was pretty cool.  And completely empty, except for about 20 SASers.  Typical.

  Chris had told us the Japanese word for birthday and I believe it was ‘tanjobi’ or something to that effect.  Jill forgot and I overheard her asking some SAS guys what the word was.  The blatantly lied to her face making up random Japanese words.  City of lies.  I swooped in and told them they were liars and Jill and I went up to the bar to tell the bartender it was her ‘tanjobi’ in order to get a free drink.

After an hour or so at the club, Japanese people started to filter in slowly and then there was a flood.  The dance floor was filled, the music was hopping, it was starting to become quite the party.  We were all dancing and enjoying ourselves and it was a pretty quality night and then everything went to straight to H-E-double hockey sticks.

It was getting late so we left the club and went in search of a place to stay.  We were planning on staying the night in karaoke bar because you can rent a room until like 8am, but there weren’t any close.  We happened upon a love hotel, which is a hotel where you can rent a room for an hour or so, or the whole night and….love someone.  Adrienne worked her magic with the guy at the front desk and we were able to get a room for 12000 Yen.  That’s a bout $30 a person.  Not bad for Tokyo. 

The next morning we woke up, got ready to meet Chris for Adrienne’s tattoo appointment, and I realized my purse was missing.  FML.  Game over.  Life over. City of misfortune.  I searched the room through and through.  I checked everyone else’s bags, I wandered the streets, I went back to the club but it was closed and wouldn’t open again until 3pm.  My purse was nowhere to be found.  Everything was gone. 

Now I know that losing those possessions was incredibly stupid and irresponsible and I felt horrible.  I wanted to dig a deep, deep hole and crawl into it and never come out.  I felt ashamed that this kind of idiocy could have happened to me.  Who leaves their purse with ALL OF THEIR BELONGINGS and OTHER PEOPLE’S belongings in a club.  WHO? I do.  Sooooo sooo sooo stupid.

We met up with Chris and told him the situation.  He immediately brought us to a police cube, which they have on nearly every street and we reported the loss/theft.  I could barely talk.  I couldn’t eat.  I felt terrible that this was putting a huge, black rain cloud over everyone’s second-to-last day in Japan.  I didn’t want anyone to miss out on their plans because of my foolishness.  Kendra had planned to meet up with Mary, so I told her to go.  Adrienne wanted to get a tattoo, Jill was going to go to the Pokemon store, and we both had tickets to go to a Japanese baseball game and I didn’t want her to miss it.

Kendra went off at noon to meet Mary, Jill met up with Win to tell him she couldn’t come to the Pokemon store, and then Adrienne, Chris, Jill and I went to eat since it was noon and we hadn’t eaten.

I didn’t eat.  I just sat, wanting to wake up from the nightmare I was in.  I decided that I would go back to the club at 3 to make sure my bag wasn’t there.  I hoped and prayed and wished it would be there.  Everyone kept telling me that if you lose something in Japan, people will turn it in to the closest police station.  They told me no one steals.  City of lies.

After everyone ate, Chris took Adrienne to get her tattoo.  Jill and I came with and waited while the tattooist embellished the design and colored it in and drew it on Adrienne’s shoulder.  We watched him start the process and then Chris, Jill, and I went back to the train station so Jill could catch a train to get back to the ship in Yokohama and meet up with the people going to the baseball game.  Jill was really hesitant about leaving me, since I literally had nothing.  No passport, no credit card, no debit card, no cash, no phone, not even the green information sheet we are given by SAS for each port that has important phone numbers and addresses on it.   Chris let me use his phone to call Mary, though, and I planned to meet Kendra and Mary in another district of Tokyo, so I wouldn’t be totally alone. 

So we went to the train station and got a guard to open our locker since the key was in my purse.  That cost extra.  Then we got our huuuuge backpacks out and Jill hugged me goodbye.  She gave me about 4000 Yen since I had no money.  She was so good to me.  Such a good friend.  She really didn’t want to leave me, either, but I didn’t want her to miss out on Tokyo because of me.  Adrienne had also been incredibly nice and understanding.  I don’t know why they were being so nice, because I didn’t feel like I deserved anyone’s sympathy.

 Jill left, and Chris helped me catch the right train to meet up with Kendra and Mary.  I found them in the train station in Asakusa.  I told them my plan to go back to the club and if all else fails to go the US Embassy to get a new passport.  The embassy seemed like a last resort because I was still holding on to the idea that I would find my purse in the club.  It is the city of magic, anyway.

They told me they planned to see the Thunder Gate and some other sights. I didn’t want to impede on Kendra’s time with her friend nor her one chance to see these things in Tokyo and I told them this.  But I also told them that I had nothing.  I didn’t know the language, the area, I had no way of contacting anyone, I had very little money.  So Kendra wrote down some phone numbers and the address of the embassy from her green sheet on a piece of paper for me, and I went off in Tokyo, on my own.  Completely alone, apart from my 30-pound backpack.  I was scared out of my mind.

I got on a train back to Shibuya and went in search of Vuenos.  I stopped in a hotel and asked for directions, but the concierge didn’t speak good English and didn’t really know where the club was.  A guy behind me was talking in English so I asked him if he knew the club Vuenos.  He did and he wrote out directions for me.  City of miracles.  After about 45 minutes of traveling on my own in Tokyo, wandering the streets, making wrong turns, staring wide-eyed at the Japanese characters on the train maps, taking wrong turns, I found the club.  I knocked on the door, asking to go in and look for my purse.  No one spoke English.  I gestured and spoke slowly.  They sent me up to the office above the club and the same thing happened.  Finally they let me in and the Japanese man I had been talking to told me I wouldn’t find it.  A band was tuning up on stage, as I hunted for my purse.