After a successful celebration of Joseph’s birthday and our first full day abroad, we treated ourselves to counting extra sheep and slept in until early afternoon. We grabbed snacks at the local convenient store and hopped on the train to take a trip to Akihabara, a neighborhood full of anime, arcades, and extravagant shops.
Joseph has a friend from Nashville (where they grew up together) named Hawkins, and his buddies go on an annual exotic ski trip. After Joseph and I had bought our flights to Japan and were planning our stint in Tokyo and Niseko, Hawkins told Joseph they had plans to snowboard in Niseko around the same time we were planning, and so we coordinated.
We met Hawkins, Rick, and Chris in Akihabara and explored the area together. After Akihabara, Joseph and I headed towards Ginza. Ginza is a business district in the heart of downtown and has many designer and department stores.
From the recommendations of travelers I had met along the way, fruit in Japan is significantly more fresh and juicy than in other countries. I was on the hunt for some fresh fruit, and unexpectedly found a fruit stand in the underground metro station. Despite what I would’ve thought about a fresh fruit stand being in an underground metro station, we purchased a carton of strawberries and they were by far the best strawberries I have ever eaten.
Joseph and I explored Ginza. We walked around a 12 story Uniqlo store, walked through Hibiya Park and viewed the outer walls of the imperial palace, and enjoyed a fruit yogurt smoothie and BLT sandwich at a local cafe.
Through the experience of Joseph’s friend Hawkin’s girlfriend, who previously lived in Tokyo, we had dinner reservations at a Tempura restaurant. Dom, the fourth friend of Hawkin’s crew, met up with us right before dinner. He arrived a day late due to needing to get his Covid booster to enter Japan. (Note: Check health requirements prior to visiting other countries as they can vary greatly).
Over two and a half hours we enjoyed champagne, sake, and an assortment of tempura vegetable and fish bites. This meal was absolutely fantastic and reiterated the strength of the Japanese food game.
After dinner, we took the metro back to Shinjuku. We hit a heavy metal bar called Godz, which was recommended by my brother Wes who had visited recently. Then, our crew paid a visit to Golden Gai and went to a Blues bar. We had a few drinks and talked music with our bartender before realizing we needed something more high energy if we were to continue on our night after our expansive dinner.
We walked to a Korean karaoke bar in Shinjuku and got exactly what we wanted and needed. Patrons from Korea, Japan, and now American were sitting around the bar that had a fixed group price per hour for unlimited drinks and karaoke songs. This place was an absolute riot. Of the songs I recall singing include: That’s the Way I Like It by KC & The Sunshine Band, How You Remind Me by Nickleback, All the Small Things by Blink-182, I Want it That Way by Backstreet Boys (duet with bartender), and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. Our group also sang I believe I can fly by R. Kelly, but this song was requested multiple times by different groups of locals who demanded we sing with them. Of course we obliged. I suppose R. Kelly may not be cancelled in Japan.
After 3 hours in the karaoke bar, we hit the local convenient store for another round of late night/night cap ramen. We set our alarms for 7 hours later to wake up, pack, check out, and hit the metro airport bound for Sapporo.