2016年11月23日
Tokyo, Day 3:
My friend and I took our morning slow and easy, knowing that it was a holiday and that we'd be meeting up with our friend from Saitama for lunch. We met up at Sugamo station where he said he knew of a great sushi place near Ikebukuro station 「池袋駅」so we hopped on the train to get there. We figured we'd take advantage of the work holiday to catch up over some sushi, y'know, as one does in Tokyo. Well, apparently everyone else had the same idea, because the line was out the door. So, we ended up going to a different sushi joint literally around the corner. We went to Sendai Heiroku in West Ikebukuro 「仙台平禄池袋西口店」and it was really good! I had never tried revolving sushi before, so it was exciting for me. Our friend from Saitama has been working as a salaryman 「サラリーマン」and in his words, he says he's so busy making money that he doesn't have enough time to spend it, so he was gonna cover our tab for the day.
Imagine. Getting to a point where you make so much money you don't actually know how to spend it.
Tokyo, Day 3:
My friend and I took our morning slow and easy, knowing that it was a holiday and that we'd be meeting up with our friend from Saitama for lunch. We met up at Sugamo station where he said he knew of a great sushi place near Ikebukuro station 「池袋駅」so we hopped on the train to get there. We figured we'd take advantage of the work holiday to catch up over some sushi, y'know, as one does in Tokyo. Well, apparently everyone else had the same idea, because the line was out the door. So, we ended up going to a different sushi joint literally around the corner. We went to Sendai Heiroku in West Ikebukuro 「仙台平禄池袋西口店」and it was really good! I had never tried revolving sushi before, so it was exciting for me. Our friend from Saitama has been working as a salaryman 「サラリーマン」and in his words, he says he's so busy making money that he doesn't have enough time to spend it, so he was gonna cover our tab for the day.
Imagine. Getting to a point where you make so much money you don't actually know how to spend it.
Amazing.
Anyway, it was dope! I think I had somewhere like 8 plates...? My friends ended up splitting the tab, so the salaryman didn't end up having to stunt as much as he intended lol. Afterwards, we wanted to grab some coffee before we parted ways, so we tried finding a coffee shop that wasn't bougie and wasn't starbucks, gave up, and went to starbucks.
Anyway, it was dope! I think I had somewhere like 8 plates...? My friends ended up splitting the tab, so the salaryman didn't end up having to stunt as much as he intended lol. Afterwards, we wanted to grab some coffee before we parted ways, so we tried finding a coffee shop that wasn't bougie and wasn't starbucks, gave up, and went to starbucks.
We accidentally stumbled upon a festival happening and these people were doing a cool dance? Afterwards these really buff dudes started like flag spinning and stuff it was wild because the flags must've been like, at least 20 feet tall, they were huge, I just forgot to take any videos or photos oops. So we just walked around for a bit with our coffees, taking in the atmosphere, tryna warm up because of how chilly it was. By about 2 pm though we parted ways, because I was planning on going to Hachioji 「八王子」to meet up with some friends studying Japanese at Soka University「創価大学」and our salaryman friend had a meeting he needed to go to. We got to Ikebukuro station so that my friends could help me charge my Suica as well as figure out how to get to Hachioji without breaking the bank. It was maybe 300-ish ¥ one way on the Keio train, so it wasn't that bad at all. While on my way to Hachioji, I realized that the trains and subways in Tokyo all have heaters underneath the seats, which is just bonkers to me. I loved it. I was talking about how in Taipei we wouldn't need them, and even if we wanted them, all the seats on our MRT are plastic so it wouldn't make sense lol.
I had told my friends The Alex's (they're both named Alex) to meet me outside Mister Donut outside Keio Station at Hachioji. I caught up with The Alex's for a little bit and asked them what they wanted to do. We're all in the same general category of broke-ass college student, so we decided to stick around this side of Tokyo as opposed to going into downtown. Alex N knew of a few good thrift shops, so we went to those. In hindsight, I should've bought something from the thrift shops because I never ended up buying like, a legit souvenir to commemorate my time in Tokyo. Like yeah, I got cool flavored Kit-Kats and whatnot, but I'll finish the bag in a couple weeks, and then what? I found a decent flannel that was like $12 at a thrift shop near Tachikawa Station 「立川駅」but it didn't read so much "Seattle-grunge-meets-hip-hop-choreographer" like I hoped it would, more so "I voted for Trump and don't see anything wrong with that" and I wasn't confident in the ambiguity of it to buy it lmao. We then went to another thrift shop where I tried looking for a decent black bomber jacket but didn't find any. I found a lot of nice camel-colored wool coats, which is definitely a winter-time look that I'm into, but considering it rarely drops below 10 C in Taipei, I figured it's not worth it.
I had told my friends The Alex's (they're both named Alex) to meet me outside Mister Donut outside Keio Station at Hachioji. I caught up with The Alex's for a little bit and asked them what they wanted to do. We're all in the same general category of broke-ass college student, so we decided to stick around this side of Tokyo as opposed to going into downtown. Alex N knew of a few good thrift shops, so we went to those. In hindsight, I should've bought something from the thrift shops because I never ended up buying like, a legit souvenir to commemorate my time in Tokyo. Like yeah, I got cool flavored Kit-Kats and whatnot, but I'll finish the bag in a couple weeks, and then what? I found a decent flannel that was like $12 at a thrift shop near Tachikawa Station 「立川駅」but it didn't read so much "Seattle-grunge-meets-hip-hop-choreographer" like I hoped it would, more so "I voted for Trump and don't see anything wrong with that" and I wasn't confident in the ambiguity of it to buy it lmao. We then went to another thrift shop where I tried looking for a decent black bomber jacket but didn't find any. I found a lot of nice camel-colored wool coats, which is definitely a winter-time look that I'm into, but considering it rarely drops below 10 C in Taipei, I figured it's not worth it.
Then we kinda just walked around some more, went to Don Quijote (I talked about Don Quijote on my Osaka blogs in August 2014) went inside an arcade, realized we didn't have a lot of money, and then walked out lol. I asked if we could go to a cafe so I could charge my cafe like the dingus that I am. We ended up finding a cafe, but we ordered separately, and when it was my time to order I was like "uhhhh eigo wa hanasemasu ka?" and the girl got all shy and stuff and was gesturing to her coworker, who was also shy. Then I was like "uhhhh hot coffee?" and they were like wth is that.
Then my friend Alex B (whom I call my son) stepped in and saved the day by saying "hotto kohi" which is like!! the same thing that i said omg!
Anyway, after I charged my phone for a little bit we decided to find dinner somewhere, and I wanted ramen because of how cold it was getting, but the only ramen shop we happened upon had ran out of a lot of choices for the evening and the prices were like....okay.....but so we went elsewhere and found a tempura place that was decently priced.
I got a tempura bowl with kabocha, sweet potato, green beans, eggplant, and one shrimp with an onsen tamago on the side for like, maybe 600 ¥?
Then we went back to Don Quijote (or ドンキ if u wanna sound like u know what ur talking about) to buy some drinks and shoot the shit outside of the subway station because Japan doesn't play apparently and you can just be out here! drinkin! like on the streets! I mean you can do that in Taipei also, but they let you eat and drink on the trains here in Japan I was like what!! okay! So then we just sat outside the train station drinking, catching up, complaining about typical "millennial/college student living abroad" type of problems. It was getting pretty late though, and I knew my friends had class the next day, so we took hella selfies and parted ways shortly after that.
Then my friend Alex B (whom I call my son) stepped in and saved the day by saying "hotto kohi" which is like!! the same thing that i said omg!
Anyway, after I charged my phone for a little bit we decided to find dinner somewhere, and I wanted ramen because of how cold it was getting, but the only ramen shop we happened upon had ran out of a lot of choices for the evening and the prices were like....okay.....but so we went elsewhere and found a tempura place that was decently priced.
I got a tempura bowl with kabocha, sweet potato, green beans, eggplant, and one shrimp with an onsen tamago on the side for like, maybe 600 ¥?
Then we went back to Don Quijote (or ドンキ if u wanna sound like u know what ur talking about) to buy some drinks and shoot the shit outside of the subway station because Japan doesn't play apparently and you can just be out here! drinkin! like on the streets! I mean you can do that in Taipei also, but they let you eat and drink on the trains here in Japan I was like what!! okay! So then we just sat outside the train station drinking, catching up, complaining about typical "millennial/college student living abroad" type of problems. It was getting pretty late though, and I knew my friends had class the next day, so we took hella selfies and parted ways shortly after that.
So then I just hopped back on the Keio train to Ikebukuro and took the Yamanote back to Sugamo and walked back to my friend's studio. I knew it was gonna be cold the next day and I worried for my poor shoes because I already knew I had holes in the bottoms of them, and it was likely to snow the next day, so I kinda just hoped for the best...
Watch out for my next post, where I visit a couple of temples, do some touristy stuff, buy some convenience store socks, and other fun winter-time shenanigans! Did I enjoy the snow? Maybe! Find out more on my next post!
Debating on buying touchscreen-compatible gloves,
和平/PK
Watch out for my next post, where I visit a couple of temples, do some touristy stuff, buy some convenience store socks, and other fun winter-time shenanigans! Did I enjoy the snow? Maybe! Find out more on my next post!
Debating on buying touchscreen-compatible gloves,
和平/PK