This is the fifth in a series of posts retro-blogging my trip to Japan in January.
We started the morning by heading to the south side of Kyoto to Fushimi Inari shrine. This shrine was notably different from others I’ve seen—it was absolutely saturated with fox statues and torii. It was surprisingly busy as well. Car traffic on the street in front had been brought to a standstill by all the people.
Every little detail at Fushimi Inari seems to have been themed, from the overwhelming use of orange down to the fox-shaped wooden tablets. A path winds into the hills behind the entrance beneath thousands of torii gates. The gates stand so close as to nearly abut at their thick bases; the path may perhaps be more accurately classified as a tunnel. With the constant flow of people down the (one-way) path, you don’t have much choice once you enter but to follow it until the next fork. We walked a loop that splits in the middle rather than do the whole thing, which I’ve heard can take upwards of 2 hours.
Afterwards we bought some dango for breakfast, and I bought some incense for a souvenir. I joked with Mark about the possibility that I had just purchased funeral incense or something equally gift-inappropriate, but it turns out the label only says “maple scented.” Guess I won that gamble.
In the afternoon we took the shinkansen back to Tokyo and met up with Nat, Adam, and Jeff. I hadn’t seen Jeff since our time at the ‘kan, so it was great to catch up. By the time we got out of the station it was already a quarter past motherfucking booze time, so the five of us went to a nice izakaya in Ikebukuro. We all got a nomihodai and immediately ordered an even cross section of every drink on the menu. I don’t remember too much from there, but can definitely offer this advice: if you are ever presented with the chance to order wine from an izakaya’s nomihodai menu, don’t. It is not palatable.
From the izakaya we returned to the Hub, where we met up with former Kenshukan-mate Neil. How many people does it take to constitute a reunion, anyhow? Being the adventurous bunch we are, we decided to try absinthe, since, hey, it was on the menu. Now, I understand that an English pub in Japan is probably not the most representative location to base one’s opinion of this notorious beverage on, but man, that shit was awful. Like black licorice soaked in ammonia awful. I’m crossing that one off the list and never looking back.
When it got late enough to worry about trains, we headed towards the station, but stopped at another bar to briefly meet Yumi, a former Kenshukan RA. Then we parted ways, and those of us staying with Nat and Adam departed for Hidaka.
Though it was late when we arrived, I demanded a karaoke session. It was pretty much the only opportunity that fit into our schedule, so our hosts obliged, and after stopping at a conbini briefly for a dose of genki juice (our invented term for Japan’s tiny bottled energy drinks chock full of vitamins, herbal supplements, caffeine—oh yeah, and nicotine), at about midnight we sat down for a marathon 3-hour karaoke and nomihodai.
Despite the late hour and our travel weariness, it was a ton of fun—I really miss Japanese karaoke! With Natsumi being the only representative Nihonjin, we sang English songs almost exclusively. Fortunately, the place had a pretty decent selection, and Mark even managed to find a Dragonforce song to try out. When our time was up, we wearily began the trek back to Nat and Adam’s place. The streets were utterly deserted, and I was none too pleased upon the realization that I would now have to carry all my luggage over an unknown distance. But after a few blocks we lucked out and found an off-the-clock (looking to pick up some extra fares I guess?) taxi driver willing to take us. And so ended the extra-Tokyo portion of our trip.
We woke up a bit earlier than I would have preferred and bade the Ogura residence a sad farewell. Next stop: the infamous Akihabara.
Akihabara—or “Akiba,” as the internet claims some people call it—was extremely entertaining just to walk around. Since it was Sunday, the streets were closed to traffic, and all the otaku were out nerdin’ around. And when Akihabara otaku nerd around, they don’t half-ass it. This place can really put things in perspective; I mean I have done some nerdy things in my life, but damn, Japan! You win.
We stopped in a few stores to see all the ridiculous otaku merchandise, and patronized a couple arcades. Out on the street we saw a fair amount of folks in cosplay and watched several wannabe idols performing. This was especially entertaining since otaku would gather around these performances. And dance.
Unfortunately we couldn’t stand around and watch awkward singers with their more awkward groupies all day; we had a maid cafe to visit! In the afternoon we hit up Little PSX, where for the modest sum of 800 yen, we got a half hour of unlimited drinks and games, a solid meal, and—oh yeah—the waitresses were maids. They acted the part right down to the chauvinistically satisfying “Welcome home, master!” on our entrance. And we witnessed one fellow get a waitress to write his name in ketchup on his omelette (which is, I should mention, a service advertised right on the menu). In all seriousness, it was a pretty good deal with the meal and drinks; they had a PS3 and a Wii in their game selection, and I got to play WarioWare before it had been released in the US. Plus, maids! Japan is awesome.
No pictures were allowed in Little PSX for obvious reasons, and their site doesn’t have many pictures on it anymore (it used to have profile pics for each staff member), but this site has a good overview. I wonder if most Japanese photographers are that good at making interior spaces look larger than they are.
Side note: for a good laugh, check out Google’s translation of that Little PSX page. Choice quotes include:
In the evening Nat and Adam went home, leaving Mark and I to fend for ourselves in Tokyo. We found our hostel without too much trouble, and then pretty much squandered away the rest of the evening. I think we may have gone out to find an ATM and combini.
