It’s been a wild and memorable adventure… but now it’s time to get back to reality. Btw, I found this amazing photo on flickr and I marked off where we’ve been living for the past 3 months.
Goodbye Tokyo, we love you!
On Friday night we met up with Saiko, Kenji, Hiroshi, and Yoko for a final night out on the town. Our first stop was Gonpachi. The place was pretty swank and lively. On the way over, the cab driver told us that George Bush had dined there… if that says anything 
.
Next up was this wild place called Icebar Tokyo. Everything was made out of ice… the tables, chairs, and even our drink glass. It was so cold that we couldn’t stay for more than a round of drinks.
And finally we capped the night off at this tiny bar called “You you you” something til 4am. Unfortunately we paid for it a bit this morning… and afternoon.
Thanks to Kenji, Hiroshi, Yoko and Saiko for making it a fun and memorable night!
Today we took a two hour train ride to Hakone to get the sweetest view of Mt. Fuji. We weren’t successful.
After a ferry ride, bus, and cable car, we finally saw it.
The way Hakone is set up is very accessible. The buses, ferry ride, and cable car form a huge loop around the city, so it’s easy to take in the scenery.
Chrissy and Vasili told us of this crazy hotspring area called Yunessun. After our day of travel, we had to check it out. Words cannot describe how bizarre it was. The hot springs were broken up into different themes, and I can now say I know what swimming in coffee is like. Click on this link and keep scrolling down. Chrissy mentioned a pool where the fishes came and ate away at your body, but the sign said they were sleeping so we didn’t experience it.
Earlier in the week we visited the surf town of Enoshima with Saiko.
The main attraction was a small island with a lot of shops, restaurants, and shrines. This is one of those areas where we couldn’t eat a single thing. We saw a booth where the cook dropped a bunch of octopus legs on a flattening grill (I don’t cook so the name slips me). They came out paper thin, and the cook got a pair of scissors and started cutting them in squares and served them like huge tortillas.
We later took a tour through one of the under ground caverns. We asked if it was a cheesy tour, and they said no… but the neon lights and dragon roars would end up proving otherwise.
Here’s some pics:
One more story on Enoshima…
We saw this sign up at one of the shrines on the island and apparently it lists the bad luck ages for men (blue) and women (red).
Women in their 30’s don’t stand a chance!
In keeping with recent news, I thought I’d post some pics from the Toyota showroom.
This is the future of automobiles:
I shouldn’t have found this amusing, but right after I took this, the lady started waving her hands in the air and yelled stop.
Today we headed over to Odaiba (Tokyo’s man-made island) to check out the hot springs at Ooedo Onsen. Bath houses have always sounded a bit shady, but the experience was quite the opposite. This one in particular supposedly recreates an authentic hot spring experience from days of old. With that said, it was pretty high tech. When you check in, you’re given a wrist band which serves as a key to your locker as well as functions as a credit card of sorts so that you can wander the premises and buy food, drinks, gifts, etc.
Getting to the actual springs took a few steps which we had to figure out along the way:
1. On arrival, remove shoes and store in locker
2. Go to the counter to pay for entry
3. Go to another counter to select a Yukata (robe): Most of them had samurais on it and looked fairly unisex, but I was wrong and picked out a woman’s one
4. Go to another locker to change then you are free to wander the premises
5. BUT, before you go into the springs, you must go in to another locker room to store your yukata
5 hours, 3 beers, a dozen hot spring dips and a massage later we were done. Loved every minute of it.
Here’s some photos of the main area that connects the lockers and hot springs:
Recently we headed to Shibuya to check out the Christon Cafe, a Christian themed restaurant and bar. It’s probably the nicest compared to ninjas and nurses, but thankfully this is the last themed restaurant we’ll eat in Tokyo because I usually end up getting pizza and fries anyways. The atmosphere here is amazing, but despite it’s theme, it wasn’t a religious experience.
I don’t know how anyone could eat sushi in the morning, especially after visiting the Tsukiji Fish Market. Instead of posting a ton of pics, I compiled it into one big pic:
Ninja’s is probably my favorite restaurant in Japan. The staff dress up as Ninjas and the interior of the restaurant looks like a Japanese village at night. I first heard about Ninja while watching an episode of Xplay. There was a scene where the waitress threw a fireball on the table which set off a trail of fire that ignited a dish. That got me hooked and I’ve been here 4 times since. The food is a bit on the pricey side, but the presentation is outstanding, and they even have a 10 course vegetarian meal if you’re not into animals.
This last pic is what gets ignited by the fireball… apparently not so good.
The Ghibli Museum is simply amazing. Even if you’re not a fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s work, it’s worth a visit. The museum contained never before seen stuff, including viewings of several unreleased short films. We had a choice between a movie about a bug, or a movie about a lost puppy. We went for the puppy. Aside from that, there were some amazing stuff on display. There was one particular standout piece where dozens (if not hundreds) of miniature statues came to life with help of a flickering light. It looked like a stop motion video taking place right before your eyes.
Here’s some pics around the museum… unfortunately I couldn’t get any in the place.
