Richard vs Shibuya

Day 2, and its Phil and Wakako's anniversary (happy anniversary guys!) so Richard needs to fend for himself for today. Shouldn't be too hard; after all, I've learned enough to get myself around the train system, right? Right!?

Sort of. I started out in the morning and, after breakfast, found an internet cafe to write yesterday's blog entry. At lunch time, I decided to find a Kaiten-zushi (sushi train) which, when you don't have a native Japanese speaker with you, is nowhere near being a simple task. The English speaking rate in Tokyo is lower than people say. Much lower. My quest was long, but so totally worth it. Best. Sushi. Ever. The other thing I noticed is how nice Kaiten-zushi chef's are, it really made the experience that much better. Suffice to say I'll be returning there on more occasions throughout the week.

So Ikebukuro Station, my old nemesis, we meet again.

After the feed it was off to Shibu Ya. So Ikebukuro Station, my old nemesis, we meet again.

Shibuya is supposedly the technology district of Tokyo and man, they're not kidding. Once off the train I'm surrounded by neon and large screens on the sides of buildings. No space on any building is not used to advertise something. Unfortunately it was at this moment that I realised that my camera was out of batteries, so there are no photos to show. I'm very much considering going back later in the week with a full battery just to take some pictures.

My main destination in the area, as recommended by Phil, was Tower Records. "Tower" is right: its a seven story music store. In. Sane. I browsed the first 4 floors and even listened to the Death Proof sound track which was, in Tarantino stye, great. From the train station, however, it was difficult to know which direction to start walking to even get to Tower Records. Luckily a random Japanese guy, out on his cigarette break, put out his cigarette and walked with me for 200 metres up onto a footbridge to give me a better view of where to go. In Sydney, I'd have been ignored or stabbed or something. Probably stabbed.

It was at this point I decided to try to find a digital disposable camera. I wasn't sure if they existed but if they did, they'd be in Shibu Ya. After asking a random shopper in Tower Records, they recommended I try a convenience store (actually more like a Dick Smiths). They then caught the lift with me downstairs and walked with me for 300 metres until we'd be in eyesight of the place. Then came the hardest English/Japanese conversation I've ever had: attempted to explain that I wanted a disposable camera. So much harder than you can possibly imagine. I had a team of 3 people attempting to help at one point. Finally they understood but, alas, there was no such thing as a digital disposable camera, only film cameras. The effort involved in getting them printed and then scanning them was too much. In the end I bought a Japanese/English power adapter so I can charge my camera and left a broken man.

My next task was to find a book store to find the third book in the trilogy that I'm reading. I knew finding English books in Tokyo would be hard, but I thought I was up to the challenge. I was wrong. Book stores in Tokyo are few and far between — department stores don't even have a book section. Anyway, after much walking around I found the largest book store in Shibu Ya. Unfortunately, it was all in vein — even a 5 story book store simply didn't have enough English titles to include the one I wanted. Sigh.

I decided to buy a Japanese CD so I could get an idea of popular music. It turns out that the only band I know, Dragon Ash, is ridiculously oldschool now. At least I used to be cool. Anyway, I asked someone who worked there to recommend me a CD and I was shown Sparta Locals, which I listened to and instantly decided to buy. It takes influences from bands like the Killers and Arctic Monkeys, both of which I'm a big fan of.

By the way, there's a very good reason you don't see Japanese clowns. Japanese + Clown = creepiest thing I've ever seen. I wish my camera had batteries so I could share the terror with you.

After my long day, it was back onto the (now extremely crowded) train which was as efficient as ever. I noted on this journey that each station has its own "jingle" that plays after a train arrives, although I'm not entirely sure why. What I am sure of is that Takadunobaba station stole theirs from one of the Zelda games. I'm not kidding either.

Just now, as I came up the elevator to write this blog entry, some people got out of the lift at the level below. I had a quick peek in and asked the internet cafe guy upstairs about it. Turns out that that floor contains hirable family rooms: Because all the apartments in Tokyo are tiny, there's nowhere to just hang out and watch TV with friends. Enter the hirable family room. Pay a fee and you can hang out in a room that has couches, a TV, a DVD player, and a Playstation for a few hours. Really good idea actually, <nerd>apart from the choice of Playstation rather than Xbox. </nerd>

So I came back alive, but couldn't find some of the stuff I wanted to find, so we'll have to call this a draw.

Richard, 0. Shibuya, 0.