As I am writing this… I am cruising at about 150mph or so on a bullet train bound for Kobe, Japan. With my super noise canceling earphones I bought in the Electronic district in Tokyo, this ride is a personal oasis of relaxation in the midst of a hectic pursuit of fun in Japan. I spent the last few days in Tokyo. Heres a recap…

Day 1: We arrived at port and got off the ship in Yokohama in the early afternoon. I went with a group of twenty or so. We got on a bus and did an orientation of Yokohama. WE went to a bayside park that overlooked the industrial and sea side of the town. There are 3.5 million people in Yokohama, and in a single view I could see where probably a million of thos people worked. The density of industry was unlike I had ever seen before. We then went to a sweet park/Japanese garden. The most amazing part of this park was that it was in the middle of the industrial district. I have a few pictures that show a nice temple with a stinking crane and tower about a quarter mile in the background. Its nice that the scenery and peace of nature can be in such a crazy place. After this we went ot the tallest building in Japan, chilled at the top for a while and had a beer watching the sun set on top of the smog… my friend Ben called it an “epic moment”. After this we proceeded to travel the 18 miles to the largest city in the world. Tokyo. After getting settled at our hotel we hit the town hard to “shred” the place (this would become our theme). We went to Shiboyu (The times square area of Tokyo) which made New York look like Beaumont. After eating at McDonalds (why not?), we went into this hole in the ground… where we took our shoes off, sat on the floor and pointed at an item on the menu that had “chicken breast” beside it (the only English on the menu). It came out raw, with a raw egg on top… it was sasimi. SO we ate it, and then it the town. We were supposed to meet up at 11 with some folks from the ship, but while they were tardy, we met Lola. Lola is the leader of a hip gang that patrols Shiboyu… they were French, British, a few were Japanese… and a guy named “Five” was from Jersey. Our group went to Karaoke, I went (with 3 others) with Lola. The 20 of us (or so) shared communal alcohol (a few bottles that were just passed) and made a huge scene wherever we went. We traipsed into McDonalds and shared the alcohol with strangers… we danced in the strret. Basically, were ridiculous. This all led up to a Techno club where the beat was thumping, and we had to know somebody to get in… our somebody was Lola. After a few hours, we called it a night, and caught a cab back at 3:30 or so. What a night…

Day 2:

I woke up early at 8 or so… made a few phone calls, ate some breakfast (white rice and picked vegetables), and got on a bus for a full day of Tokyo culture. We went to some shrines and temples and parks and blah blah blah… im not going to harp on that. The coolest moment of my day was at the Mejji shrine. There was this wall of petitions in all languages, written and hung on wooden tablets. It was interesting to see the deep ( one lady wrote to her future husband) and the trivial (one person asked to be skinnier)… and the honest (I wrote one for Dava). We also went to a shogun temple where I went against the rules to the inner room and prayed beside a monk. The peace of the place, within a touristy environment was something I had never experienced before. At night we went to Roppongi, which is the red light district of the town. There was not really a dirty atmosphere, but rather an underground understanding that some messed up stuff is going down behind the walls in the streets. Jamaican, Sierra Leonian, and Ghannan men came up to us and tried to coerce us into their strip clubs… one guy just gave us a smirk and said the wordd “naked titties”… it was interesting. After dinner (vegetable pancake and beef noodle) we went to “Gaspanic” which is a club. They have one rule at gaspanic… that is… if you don’t have a drink in your hand you are kicked out. It was a good time. The place was packed with SAS kids and the DJ was kickin. At midnight, a girl we were with wanted to go home… so I escorted her out and into the street… where we saw more SAS folks and went into another club. After 30 more minutes of clubbing at the other “Gaspanic” about 100 yards away… we caught a cab back to the hotel.

Day 3:

I woke up and did the ritual. And then got with my buddies Ben and Peter, and went to Ryoguko. Where there was a stinking Sumo tournament. There were a lot of options for tickets. From 520$ to 21$ (which is no reserved, no priority… nose bleed type seats), we did the latter and watched Sumo wrestling for a while. There was a guy with a loud and deep voice singing between the fighters… while they did their rituals. His voice was something I wont forget for a while. The wrestlers were sweet too… one flipped another out of the ring and he landed on the grand master. I got some sweet pics if you want to see them. After this, we went back to the electronic district, had some KFC… and went to a 7 story electronics store (where each floor is specified… one for TV’s, for phones… for computers and et cetera). I bought a 2 gig flash drive for 34 bucks… in the future this will be considered expensive… but now, it’s a good deal. We got back on the subway and packed our bags and headed for the Shinkansen station (bullet train). Where we are now… When we get into Kobe, we are going to shred that city. We have no plans, other than to meet some friends at a hostel at 8pm.. where we are going to go out for a Kobe steak and a night of Karaokiing ( it was invented in Kobe). I will report later on the specifics.

The train ride is beautiful. The mountains and fields and architecture is wonderful. There are rice fields and homes built on the sides of lush mountains… Japan, away from the city is a lot like Hawaii, but simpler. Ill write more later, for we have only been on for 30 minutes or so… (the ocean is now to our left, and a mountain range to our right). 2 more hours till Kobe.

I love life.

Tal