nickelass

Welcome to Tokyo. On my flight into Henada airport I see to my left a very large mountain that really looks like Mt Fuji. Turns out it is the only time in my stay where the city will be clear enough to see it (even if at the time I wasn’t sure if it was actually that close to the city). I catch the limousine bus to Shinjuku station. Before I go any further in this blog let me just say a big shout out to GK who took some well-wicked-almost-professional looking pictures on this trip, some of which is published here with credit.

Arriving at Shinjuku station I locate the correct street but miss my turn off and end up a little lost but I’m pretty happy to just wander around. It is strange to see so many westerners compared to down south. I’m seeing one non-Japanese person ever about 15 minutes. As bus ride from the airport turned out to be really quick so I have a few hours to kill before Mike, Irene, GK and Dina return to the hotel from there, as it turned out failed, attempt to see the “Naked Ass Monkey’s” (work safe link).

I check-in to the hotel and find a room about the same size as my last hotel but this time with two beds.
If Mike and I have any personal space issues it will be something we are just going to have to overcome pretty quick-smart! Thankfully it turns out we are easy travel buddies as we both share a love of weird Japanese game show TV. The hotel has a pretty awesome view of what Tokyo looks like…which is rather un-inspiring medium to high rise for as far as the eye can see… which in this case is two blocks. We also look over a cemetery. Bonus.

Fair is fair, the room is cheap, clean and the staff are lovely.

I head down to the lobby and per chance Irene walks into the hotel lobby just as I’m about to leave to go explore Shinjuku. Turns out she has missed Mike, GK and Dina due to a late arrival so had been shopping. We head out, as I really want to check out the local hood as per my usual agenda for new places.


Shinjuku is divided into a west and east side by the JR loop line. The east side is more business style mixed with funky shops and stuff. The east side is supposed to be a little quiet during the day (well… quiet is a little differently defined in Tokyo). The east side at night is a different story.
It might be banned on the street but you can smoke EVERYWHERE else and they do mate. After chasing the setting sun around it’s back to the hotel to meet the rest of the crew.

On the way back I spy this Ginger cat outside a restaurant. I get closer and say hello.
It is mewing like crazy. After taking a photo I go into what appears to be a retro-clothing store. That said the sign does not make it very clear what kind of store I maybe entering.
The store itself is cool; you go down a narrow flight of stairs, turn left then through a little glass door. I have no idea how the place could turn a profit. Anyway after some serious debating about the merits of a reworked Pierre-Cardin shirt I walk out poorer but happier.

On the way out we go past the now silent kitty.
It seems the Japanese version of a cat is like any other cat. Has humans down. I watch the kitty eat his/her dinner. Smart kitty.

Meeting up with the rest of the crew and after everyone freshes up I suggest we check out Kabukicho (the red light district side of Shinjuku East) and then grab some food.
Tokyo is one of those cities that really possesses a very different vibe at night. At first it was a little strange to realise that nothing opens till about 10:30-11:00am but then you soon discover that nothing really closes till about midnight.

So we roll off the main road into the red-light district. For the supposed red-lightness and seedy-ness of it, it’s all rather clean and safe.




I get a sense that what it considered the ghetto in Japan and Australia are very different.

One thing I was beginning to notice was the Japanese fascination with custom bikes.
They love nothing more then creating the most amazing different rides you will ever see. It makes sense in a city that big with that little space to move. But Japan being Japan they manage to take it to the next level.

We leave the red-light district and head back into the mainstream area of Shinjuku… and by mainstream I mean…
Yeah what is more appropriate than 10 levels of karaoke with a Disney castle style roof to complete the picture? The hunt for a restaurant starts but of course in the nation with more restaurants then people it does not take long to find something that looks like it will work for everyone. And for your viewing pleasure here is the journey from start to finish.







Now on the way in we had put our shoes in the most complex wooden locker system ever. Because I couldn’t read the Kanji I just had to match symbol to symbol. Finally I was rewarded with a match.

The walk back towards the west side of Shinjuku via Shomben Yokocho offered up some good photo opportunities.

I also took this opportunity to take some video of Shinjuku station which at off-peak, (i.e. nearly 11pm) is something like this... (with silly gaijin commentary by yours truly and co)
So you can imagine how bust it is during peak. No wonder it’s a classy spot to get your bottom groped hey Gina! Also notice girl with funny walk. More on that latter. Everyone crashed out pretty early because the next day we had a 6am start to see the Tokyo Fish Markets.