Tokyo Trip: Day15
From www.ChopStork.com
(1/7/05)
We wake up, pack, and eat. My parents take the four of us to the ANA hotel to catch the Airport Limousine bus to Narita. We get our tickets, say bye to my parents, and load up on the bus. Bye mom and dad. Thanks for having my retarded friends. I really don't want to go home.
Down to two in Tokyo.
The water at the airport came with sweet straps. The flight was fine, slept most of the way. The games were broken on Laura and my seats, so no Othello against DP. He made a new friend that was a much better challenge. Thanks for picking us up at SFO, Liz.
-A.J.
Last Day in Japan for AJ, Laura, Luke, and Peterman. They have to fly home. Nooooooooooo! Irene and I stay behind to truly define "Lost In Translation" (more below).
We said goodbye to most of the crew at 10:30 this morning and then headed out into the city to cross a few items off of our 'To Do' lists. First we went to Odabiya. It is a pretty cool place - somewhat like the Marina, it is a part of the city created by landfill. There we saw the Japanese version of The Statue of Liberty, the Rainbow Bridge, the Fuji Broadcast Center, and the Tokyo Big Sight. Oh, and we discovered the wonders of the 100 Yen shop in the Tokyo Fashion Center - very cool. All in all, it was a fun place to walk around.
Afterwards we went to both Iidabashi and Harajuku for some last-minute souveneir shopping. Mission accomplished. Out on the town for 7+ hours at that point, we decided to head home. After a quick rest we were ready to go back out and discover the wonders of Shinjuku.
First stop, The New York Bar and Grill in the Tokyo Park Hayatt (a la Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannsen). At the 52nd floor we were greeted and sent to the bar. The hostess explained to us that it was a two drink minimum - no problem. There was a jazz band playing, and a good one at that. Before leaving the bar I introduced myself to the vocalist who noticed my KQED vest and mentioned he was from Lake Merced, California. He's playing in the bay area soon. Check him out at scottywrightjazz.com.
[Lost In Translation Defined] The two drink minimum ended up not beng relevant at all. There was just a cover charge. 1800 yen per person. Add that to the two drinks each for a total of 11,200 yen fo the night. You do the math... Apparently we should have questioned the hostess who spoke broken English.
So we left and needed some dinner - a bowl of rice/meat from a local eatery would sufice. Because Tokyo has no open container law, and we were going to Shinjuku, we grabbed a drink from the local am/pm. Irene didn't want a lot so he bought a small Asahi. She was excited to read that it had 9% alcohol - about the only thing we could decipher on the label. She didn't notice that it said 'Sakatori' at the top of the can. I guess that's Japanese for watered-down-whiskey-like-drink. It was really bad. Once again we could have used a more extensive japanese vocabulary...
So we saw the lights of Shinjuku and made the one mistake that all gaijin are warned about; trains stop running at midnight! Left with little choice we hopped in a cab. Fortunately, I had the name for the housing complex in my wallet so rather than trying to tell the cabbie where to go I just showed him the name of the place and we were off. But when he stopped we weren't there at all. We were at the Embassy and not the housing complex! The building guards and the cabbie tried to figure out where the housing was while Irene and I sat helpless (i.e., Lost In Translation) in the back seat. Finally, I butted in and said, "Roppongi Station" - the closest train station to their house.
3000 yen later we are now home. That's it! See you stateside...
- Scott
Funny thing is, I told them they'd end up at the embassy instead of home if they weren't careful. See. Other funny thing is you go right by home if you're driving from the embassy to Roppongi station. Doesn't matter, it's not that far anyway. I'm jealous I missed the New York Bar. You should have stayed in a capsule hotel in Shinjuku - another thing on the list we didn't get to do. I wish I was still home. Mom, where does dinner come from?
- A.J.
