I’m a few days behind with this, which based on our last two
trips to Japan isn’t unusual once we hit Tokyo. We move into a different time space once we hit Tokyo.
While we’re skiing, time is dictated somewhat by the fact
that the lifts don’t typically run at night (though there are times where
there’s night skiing) and by the fact that the legs tend to be a bit worn out
by the end of a day of skiing. As noted earlier on this trip, I usually push
for us to be on the mountain as soon as the lifts are running and we typically
ski until close to the last lifts operation. This year that wasn’t quite the
case and the fact that I spent the second part of our ski adventure injured
tempered my push for us to be up and out the door so early.
After a long day of travel to Tokyo the day before and a
reasonably late night, no one was particularly bent on getting out of the door
early. We hadn’t planned a lot for the day, but we did know that the Telford’s
were arriving into Tokyo that morning and that they’d be staying at the same
hotel (having planned it before our departure).
I’d pushed for us to go have a look at Takeshita Street and
that ended up on the agenda for the day. We travelled in to Akihabara to pick
up 72 hour Metro tickets only to find (and remember) that we needed all of our
passports in order to be able to buy them. We’d only brought one with us just
in case we happened to buy something duty free. That meant someone had to head
back to the hotel to collect the rest of the passports. Caroline was the hero
who agreed to go while the rest of us wandered around a couple of stores.
The delay meant that Caroline met up with the Telfords at
the hotel and so they joined us in our trek to Takeshita Street. Reaching the
top of Takeshita Street was one of those oh
my God moments. The street itself has a reputation for being something of a
get anything and everything kind of
street, popular with the youth of Tokyo and something of a fashion centre.
Emily was after boots and a coat and Thomas was after a
coat, so it seemed like a reasonable place to start the search even though it
was so crowded that movement was an interesting proposition. We quickly decided
that twelve of us trying to tour the street together wasn’t going to work and
opted for splitting up and meeting later, then quickly abandoned thoughts of
crossing the street and went down one side and up the other instead. By the
time we’d toured up and down the street (a good 2 hour exercise) we’d seen all
sorts. Crepes, Idol goods, food and a range of fashion from acid-tripping space
cat t-shirts, to punk, Lolita and a range in between. There certainly didn’t
seem to be any rules to how the whole place was arranged. In once case you had
to walk through a lingerie store to get to the upstairs to a shop selling anime
goods. Completely crazy.
Not only did we all survive, but all twelve of us actually
managed to find one another at the end of the process and find Emily a pair of cheap boots! Talk about success.
By the time that we’d managed to complete the venture,
dinner was looming which with twelve people in tow looked like being an
interesting proposition. One thing that we did know was that the restaurant
that we’d eaten at the day before had sufficient seating upstairs, the food was
good and most importantly we knew exactly where it was. So we went back.
I can’t remember as I write this on the plane home whether I
posted the image of the menu with the more interesting options … liver,
diaphragm, guts … rectum. As we’d walked home the night before, we’d discussed
the fact that the diaphragm was listed as skirt steak and was very tasty. We
wondered whether rectum would actually be rump steak. There’s only one way you
can find these things out. When we returned the second night I suggested that I
was going to order the rectum to see whether our theory held true.
I did it. I ordered rectum for dinner. That’s something I
thought I’d never say. Unfortunately our theory was incorrect; it clearly
wasn’t rump steak. It didn’t look offensive, but I was left facing the fact
that if it wasn’t rump steak, it probably truly was rectum, probably pork
rectum from its appearance.
Having ordered it, there was only one thing left to do …
taste it. Not many people were up for a taste of my rectum, but that’s kind of
understandable really . I tasted it and it wasn’t offensive or anything. It was
mostly a bit chewy, like gristle. It came served on a skewer with about five
small pieces on each of the two skewers. In the end there was one piece left.
As the person that ordered it, I figured I should be the one to finish it.
Unfortunately it was quite a large piece and the more I chewed it the more I
thought about what it was. In the end I quickly swallowed it down half chewed and
put it behind me.
The rest of dinner was as good as the first night, though
given we’d been separated into two tables we certainly managed to over-order. Again. At least we knew how big the
serves of fries were going to be.
Having finished dinner, there was a call to try the
PachinkoSlots by some of the younger members of the group. I opted to go along with
them if for no other reason than curiosity. We’d been to Tokyo twice before,
walked past them many times, but I still had no idea what they were.
Michael, Thomas, Max, Gigi, Sarah and I walked to Akihabara
and into the first Pachinko Slot establishment we found. About twenty minutes
later we walked out again with less money and yet no real improvement in our
understanding of what these slots were.
I watched Michael play mostly. It involved putting money in,
watching little ball-bearings fall down and lots of lights and crazy things
happening. And then suddenly there was no money left. Even had they won, they
couldn’t have converted the winnings to cash. You can trade the little ball
bearings for prizes or preserve your balance on a card to play another time,
but the only way to convert to cash apparently involves a grey market and some
dubious exchanges. I think I was happier that the money just disappeared.
Of course being in Akihabara meant that we were right next
door to the claw machines. Well, we couldn’t deprive the Telfords of the chance
to experience that wonder! We made our way in and watched Michael suck Max into
having a go. I think it was best summed up when upon committing additional
funds to the machine one of his sisters stated, “You’re a dickhead Max.” But in
his defence, he was having fun! And he won a prize, though won is possibly
over-exaggerating how it came about. There was a machine on easy mode with a
big fat fluffy hedgehog waiting to be claimed. Max had a couple of attempts
before help was called for. Before too long the attendant had all but put the
toy into the claim box to help him finally win it.
Probably the funniest item that was acquired was a sizeable
plastic Bowser.
The game consisted of a toy balanced with a lever holding it
in place. Around the outside was a ring of lights. They lit up one at a time so
that the light spun around the toy. You had to press the button to stop it on
the one with the lever which would then drop away and release the toy. It was
also on easy mode.
Max had a go and missed by two lights. Before long Michael
was being talked into have a turn just because Max had. Michael tells it that
he had a go just to go one better than Max or at worst. To not miss by more than
Max had. He nailed it first go. Unfortunately that meat even more crap for our
luggage.
Michael’s Dumpling count: 107
