Archive for category Greater Tokyo Area
May 24, 2004 pt3 – Burgers and Games
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Team Awesome Sauce on May 30, 2014
After a few hours of electronics shopping, we stopped for lunch at my favourite place near Kawasaki station – Becker’s Burgers. Becker’s was one of my favourites both because it was extremely close to Kawasaki NOVA, but also because they had pretty good burgers, if a little small by North American standards. The guys were all happy with Becker’s.
After eating, we went to a nearby video game store to look for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The newest chapter in the Grand Theft Auto series had been out for over a year back home, but had just finally been released in Canada. I found the game quickly, and we spent some time looking at the huge selection of giant robot games, RPGs that would never be released overseas, and pachinko video games.
While I was paying for my purchase, Flounder started playing a nearby claw machine that was loaded with folded pieces of paper. He caught one, and opened it to find Japanese writing that we couldn’t read. I showed the paper to the girl at the counter, and she told me that Flounder won a video game. We got to pick a game from “level 2” of the prizes. Since Playstation 2 Games from Japan won’t work on a North American Playstation 2 without modding, Flounder let me pick and keep the game. I chose a Japanese baseball game that looked pretty cool, because it was probably the easiest for me to start playing with limited language ability. We also got our picture on the wall with the rest of the prize winners.
We returned home to Hello House and spent the rest of the day playing Grand Theft Auto and having a few beers. Good day!
May 24, 2004 pt2 – Personal sercurity guard
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Shenanigans, Team Awesome Sauce on May 29, 2014
To recover from our long day out in Tokyo, we decided to walk around the my school near Kawasaki station. Our first stop was my usual internet cafe. The guys had never been into a manga / internet cafe before, and were impressed by the setup and the free drinks. If they could read Japanese we would have likely spent the day reading comics. Everyone made sure to send email to friends and family back home. Remember young travelers: always make sure your parents know you are safe and healthy, especially when it is your first time to be on the other side of the planet.
After catching up on email, we went to the big Yodobashi Camera near Kawasaki station. As we walked in, we passed a security guard who casually made a comment into the radio on his shoulder. He then proceeded to follow us around the store to keep an eye on us. Apparently when five young gaijins walk into an electronics store, they are up to no good.
Being five white guys who live in Canada, none of us had ever been followed around a store by a security guard before. I think the guys would have been more upset about it if they weren’t distracted by the huge selection of cool electronics in every direction. We literally examined EVERYTHING in the whole store, from TVs to video games to musical instruments. Generally the consumer electronics you can buy in Japan are at least several months ahead of what you can buy in Canada.
While walking around Yodobashi camera, you can’t escape the horrible store theme song, which is the famous “Battle Hymn of the Republic” aka “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory”, but with lyrics about the store and what they sell. This also happens to be the same tune that Delta Upsilon Manitoba borrowed and turned into a song called “I Don’t Want to be a Phi Delt”. Phi Delta Theta was the second largest fraternity in Winnipeg, and were sworn rivals of Delta Upsilon. As we walked around, the guys started singing the modified lyrics. I won’t post the lyrics here, but there are verses about Phi Delts not being very fun, insinuations of what happens at a Phi Delt initiation, and derisive comments about Phi Delts’ skill with the opposite sex. I was happy that most of the people around us couldn’t understand English.
We likely spent almost two hours exploring Yodobashi camera, with our personal security guard casually following us around at a distance, but trying not to be too obvious about it. At one point we all turned and waved at him, which actually got him to crack a smile. We paid for our purchases and left allowing the security guard to return to his post and wait for the next batch of suspicious looking foreigners to follow around.
(2014 Update) Looking back, I have mixed feelings about the whole experience. I understand that theft is a big problem for stores, and they should be able to take reasonable precautions to protect their assets. Also, our personal security guard was never in our face, he was always a reasonable distance away, casually walking nearby. In my three years of living in Japan, this was the first time that I was ever followed around a store. I think I would feel a bit better if I knew that he followed us because we were a group of young males and not because we were a group of foreigners, but I will never know the true motive for sure.
There is racism in Japan, just like in every country. Being a white guy in Canada, I have never obviously been “profiled” before. It is an unusual experience to say the least. My friends and I simply ignored it because we were all short term visitors in the country and wanted to enjoy our vacation. However, if I was living in Japan full time I would not enjoy this kind of experience at all.
I wish I had some kind of clever way to end this post, maybe something with an uplifting message of peace, unity and brotherhood for the people of the world. Unfortunately I don’t, this whole topic is way more than a simple travel blog can handle.
Be good to each other.
May 22, 2004 pt1 – Chocolate Love Stick
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Hello House, Team Awesome Sauce on May 23, 2014
I woke up “early” and went out with Hippie to Shop 99 to buy materials for a big breakfast. As a group we decided to rotate breakfast cooking responsibilities daily. Flounder cooked scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for the group.
After eating we went to Daiei supermarket for shopping and sightseeing. Going to a supermarket in a foreign country is always fun. Like me, the guys noticed the small shopping carts, the tiny meat section, the huge fish section, and the different products available. They particularly liked the horrible jingle that kept playing on repeat in the meat section. We got some supplied for breakfasts and lunches, and in addition picked up some mini donuts and Giant Pocky.
Other than groceries, we took some time looking around the department store. The guys were shocked by the “Black Music” section in the music store. In addition to rock, pop and classical, many music stores in Japan feature a section called “black music”. In it you will find rap, reggae, and R&B by artists of all skin tones. This name would be horribly inappropriate back home.
We returned to Hello House and worked out our schedule for the next few weeks while listening to Code Red’s music purchase – a CD of Japanese bands covering Green Day songs. While hanging out, we broke out the snacks from earlier. The donuts came in a box. Inside the box was a bag. Inside that bag were 36 small donuts individually wrapped in plastic. The amount of over-packaging in Japan is shocking, especially considering the strict rules about disposing of garbage.
The Giant Pocky was just like regular Pocky, but huge. While Hippie was in the middle of talking about something, someone (likely Flounder) jammed a Giant Pocky into his mouth and yelled “CHOCOLATE LOVE STICK!!”. My friends and I were never considered the most mature adults around.
April 29, 2004 – VIP at Velfarre
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Life in Japan on April 29, 2014
Today was a national holiday, so I got to teach a morning shift for a change. It was nice to be done and still have the rest of the day ahead of me. The trainees still don’t own watches.
Having the evening free allowed me to take advantage of a unique opportunity. One of the two Japanese people living in Hello House, let’s call her Kyoko, worked in the fashion industry. Thanks to her connections, she was able to get a bunch of discount tickets to Velfarre’s 10th anniversary celebration.
Velfarre is Tokyo’s biggest dance club located in Roppongi. I am not usually a big fan of dance music, but part of the reason why I moved to Japan was to get new life experiences. It’s not every day that I get invited to this kind of event, so I grabbed a quick afternoon nap and got dressed up for a night out. The Hello House group met up and we all headed out to Roppongi. Our discount tickets cost 4000 yen, which I thought was pretty expensive for a night club. When we arrived I found out that the full price tickets were a whopping 7000 yen. Yikes!
The disco spirit is alive and well at Velfarre. The entrance leads to a huge “chill out” area, but the dance floor is 3 stories underground. To get there we all entered an elevator that featured flashing disco lights and loud techno music. The elevator music only seemed loud until we arrived at the lower level and the doors opened, exposing us to the full power of Velfarre’s sound system.
There were 3 DJs featured during the evening, entertaining people on a MASSIVE dance floor that was completely packed. It was like being on the floor at a large arena concert. At the front was a large stage with the DJ and several large, half naked black men dancing while covered in glitter and angel wings. Off the dance floor there were several bars featuring very expensive drinks. I decided to skip the bar line and walked over to a nearby beer vending machine, only to find that a can of Asahi was selling for 700 yen.
After checking things out, Kyoko led us upstairs to the VIP area. We got to sit at our own tiny table behind a velvet rope, with Tokyo’s important people on all sides. At the other end of the VIP area champagne was being served in real glasses. At this point almost everyone decided to go to the bathroom in groups or go to the bar, leaving me to guard the table. I don’t go to dance clubs very often, but I somehow always end up making a futile attempt to hold on to the table in a busy area by myself. I should have tried to interact with the people around me more, but I was feeling very out of place. Apparently I was sitting next to the king of the Tokyo gay scene for most of my time in the VIP.
Eventually we all met up and made our way back to the dance floor. After several hours of dancing, crowds, sweating, and very expensive drinks, we all left in order to catch the last train home. We stopped outside Roppongi station to get donairs from a food truck before getting on the train. Unfortunately this made us miss our connection, and we ended up having to finish our trip home with a taxi ride.
Although the music wasn’t my thing, I had a fun, although expensive, night out. Also, any night that ends with food truck donairs is a good one.
Quote of the night “Amigo, please pick a language!” – Donair stand guy to the 3 Indian guys who ordered alternately in Japanese, Hindi and English.
April 5, 2004 – Walking to Yokohama
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Life in Japan, Yokohama on April 5, 2014
Hey look – the sign is in romaji! I hope you know what a ryokuchi, koenjimusho, bijutsukan, kagakukan and minkaen are.
Bouken day (adventure!). My new floor couch was delivered in the morning. I had to use Japanese on the phone when the delivery people called. This sounds impressive, but I basically just said “hai” about 6 times until they hung up and delivered the couch.
After a nice nap, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go for a walk. I started with a 15 minute walk to the cool park near my place. Upon climbing a really large hill, I found there was an exit on the other side. So I kept walking through this really cool residential area with big houses on a hill. Residential areas are like mazes here, and I was lucky to find my way out the other side after much walking. By this point, I decided to head back home, but I didn`t really know how to get back the way I came. I found a road sign, and started following it. However, the road back had no walking path. So I made a useless 30 minute circle around the area, and started walking towards one of the other stations listed on the sign.
Just after the 2 hour point in my walk, I pass a sign which says I am now in Yokohama city limits. After many more wrong turns and cutting through another park I found a bus route and decided to walk along side it to the next station. Finally about 3 hours after I started, I found Azamino station, which is on the Den-En-Toshi line and the Yokohama subway. I took Den-En-Toshi to connect with the Nanbu line and then returned to Noborito. It took me about 20 minutes to get home by train!
I estimate I walked about 10km in total, possibly more, so I rewarded myself with some Wendy’s. Random walks in huge cities can be fun.
(2014 Update) – According to Google Maps, I walked at least 7.5km, but probably more due to the unexpected loop I made.
February 20, 2004 – Parklife
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Life in Japan, The Penpal on February 20, 2014
A walk through Ikuta park
Thanks to a shift swap, I spent the day hanging out with The Penpal in the Noborito area instead of working. We spent some time at Hello House, and then walked to Ikuta Park, which is located near Mukogaoka-yuen station. Unlike many “parks” in the greater Tokyo area which consist of a tree and a bench, Ikuta park is actually a real park. The scenery is a start contrast to the surrounding area. When you enter, the city simply stops and you are surrounded by nature. I will have to come back in the spring!
(2014 update) As you can see from the date stamp on the picture, I did go back in the spring.
November 26, 2003 – The universal language of beer
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Greater Tokyo Area, Marshall, Shenanigans on November 26, 2013
(rewrite of original post)
Marshall and I went out to a small local izakaya called Avenue. It was about a 5 minute walk from Hello House where the smelly alley meets the main street. Anyone who has ever lived in the area will know exactly what this means.
When I left Winnipeg there was a big push to cut down on over-serving. For those who don’t know, over-serving is continuing to sell alcohol to customers who are already (seriously) intoxicated. Coming from that environment, it was a bit of a shock for me to have to step over a customer who was passed out on the floor. He was on his side clinging on to a plastic bag to puke into. At that point we also realized that we had just walked into a place with character.
Marshall and I ended up having several beers at our own table, which was separated from a large group table by wooden slats that you could easily see through. We caught the attention of the large group of Japanese guys at the next table who were celebrating a birthday. They started talking to us, and thanks to the universal language of beer (and some basic Japanese), we were invited to join them at their table. We ended up having a little too much fun with our new friends. I snapped the attached picture of one of them as he was encouraging us to drink something out of a mysterious green bottle. The 120 x 120 pixel picture was the most my 2003 phone camera could handle, and it adequately represents what my vision was like at the end of the evening.
I love this country!
Life in Noborito – Daiei Department Store
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Life in Japan on November 24, 2013
Daiei near Mukogaokayuen station in Kawasaki Japan
One of the most important places in the Noborito area was the Daiei Department store. The Daiei building contained a department store, 99 yen shop and grocery store, all of which were important for daily life in Hello House. The closest Daiei was about a 5 minute walk from Hello House, directly across from Mukogaokayuen station.
During my first week in Noborito I stocked up on stuff for my room at the 99 yen store. Over the next year I ended up buying a small floor couch that folds down into a matress, a small stereo, a Playstation 2 and other items to decorate my room. There was a small photo studio outside the main entrance that I used regularly. For those too young to remember, cameras used to require film. Once the film was used up, you needed to take it somewhere to get developed and turned into prints. I paid extra for digital copies of my pictures on CD.
The grocery store was the most common place that I visited at Daiei. It was a well stocked regular grocery store with a large deli section filled with ready to eat bentos and other food. The food was prepared daily, so it needed to be sold before the end of the day. Starting around 8:00pm, one of the employees would walk around with discount stickers for the food. Discounts would start at 10% and increase regularly after that to a maximum of 50%. It was not uncommon to see a crowd of hungry salarymen (and a few English teachers) following the discount sticker guy around the store.
The only downside of the Daiei store was the annoying music. Certain areas of the grocery store would have their own music that would play over and over until it was firmly stuck in your head. To this day I remember the songs for the meat and fish sections. The worst was the Daiei Hawks victory song. Deiei used to own the Daiei Hawks baseball team, who are now known as the SoftBank Hawks. In 2003 The Hawks won the Japan Series title and the store did nothing but play the stupid Hawks song on repeat. I feel bad for the employees who had to endure the song day after day.
Having a department store nearby was one of the great things about living in Noborito, and went a long way in making my time in Kawasaki enjoyable.
October 13, 2003 – Canadian Thanksgiving in Japan
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Life in Japan on October 13, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Well, its Thanksgiving in Canada today, and some sort of holiday here. But did I get any turkey???
It rained like crazy this afternoon. When the rain finally stopped, the water in the street was close to 30cm deep! I got some good pics which I will get around to posting when I can. The drainage in my neighbourhood leaves a little to be desired.
I was bored this evening so I headed to downtown Kawasaki to my usual internet cafe. Some scary lady was trying to hit me up for cash outside the front door. I just played the “gomenasai” (sorry) card and tried to walk away. She kept asking, saying something about her being a “kawaii onna” (cute woman). I respectfully disagree. I hope she is gone when I leave. I have to stop going to downtown Kawasaki at night.
Update from a few days later:
Well, the crazy lady was gone when I left, but the underground mall that I normally walk through was closed. So I had to navigate downtown Kawasaki at night and find my way to the station. I caught the last train with minutes to spare!
Drinking in Japan 
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