It’s Wednesday the 11th March and its time for us to go back to Tokyo for 3 nights. It was such a bummer that we had to leave on a day like this as last night it snowed and snowed leaving the softest snow you could ever imagine. It was so lovely watching the snow fall outside our bedroom window as it just lightly fell onto our window sill. We got up early to get ready for the pickup van to take us to the shuttle bus to Chitose Airport in Sapporo, but John decided that the snow was way too good and headed back onto the slopes for one last run. Crazy nutter!!
Lisa snow graffiti on a van
I was in two minds over whether i was going to miss Niseko because i totally loved the snow and snowboarding, but i was sore all over from stacking it so many times..hahaha 
All i have to say about Niseko is that it’s an amazing place where everyone is so friendly, polite and so welcoming every time you stepped into a store or one of the local restaurants there..it was great and i will be going back there sooner rather than later! Lisa on the other hand may not have the same sentiment as i think she was a bit over snowboarding and couldn’t wait until we started our sightseeing leg of the trip. John finally made it back just on time and quickly packed his gear ready for our bus ride back.
Neyuki Apartments
It was around about 6pm when we touched down into Henada airport in Tokyo where we caught the local train back to K’s house and checked in. The sleeping arrangement was that the girls were in one room and the boys stayed in another room, which almost reminded me of school camp and what a bunch of rowdy aussie blokes get up to when they are locked in one dorm room together. The boys room stank of arse from all the high protein diet we have been eating in Niseko and to top that some BO and feet stench!! hahaha….:) The room had no fresh air fan and we couldn’t work out how to open the fire escape window we had in our room. After a few goes we finally manage to open the window to try and flush the room out, and thank god for that coz i swear i was going to pass out soon….LOL 
We decided that we had to go back to the ‘Green place’ as we called it because no one could read what the place was called as it was in Japanese. From what i can tell, they sell Korean style dishes that are self cooked in front of you on induction cookers. The place is only around the corner from where we are staying, it is cheap and especially delicious! After dinner Mike, Chuck, Young, Lisa, Nancy and I went for a stroll around the Asakusa area up to the Sensoji temple. It was really nice and scenic area all except that it was really blowy and cold, so we decided to walk back home and snug up for the night.
Asakusa Area at night
The next day we woke up really early to get to Tsukuji Fish markets. From K’s house it was like 15 minute train ride so it was relatively close, which was good as the lonely planet guide suggested that we go as early as possible to catch the action of the tuna auction in the morning. Unfortunately we didn’t get there in time for the Tuna auction, but there were heaps and heaps of little stalls which specialises in everything, from Tuna, Salmon, eel, smoked fish, pickled veggies and much more. To me it was such a great experience to see all these types of fish and weird crustaceans that we just don’t get at home. Although in saying that, i was pretty sad and disappointed that everything that moves in the sea is sold and eaten here regardless of what size it is. I am sure that amount of fish yield the Japanese consume is totally unsustainable and will if not already severely stress out the fish stocks for future generations.
Massive frozen tuna at Tsukuji Markets
Anyway, sashimi in the morning did not fit into anyone’s appetite so early so we decided to venture off into Ginza which is the upper class Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Bvalgari, Prada area where the girls went absolutely nuts! Unfortunately or fortunately for me, the stores don’t open until 11:30am so the girls couldn’t spend ridiculous amounts of cash and spend hours at each store! It was getting close to 11am and all of us were starving while walking around trying to find anything that was open. We ended up finding this Thai food place inside the food level of a posh department store and let us order early from their usual opening at 11.30am. The brunch was quite rubbish but it was filling at least.
Next place was Ebisu area, where the Yebisu beer museum is hoping to drink lots and lots of beer! The museum was interesting, but the crap thing about it was that it was all in Japanese with a small pamphlet in english to get you around the place. The beer tasting lounge was quite cool where I bought a tasting set of four Yebisu beers; Ale, Dark, white and premium. The beers went down really nice, too nice actually that i had to buy another scooner of Ale..mmmm; and it was even better with these smoked cheese sticks that Lisa bought, which had a slight salami smokey flavour to it….yummo!!!
Me and Chuck at the Beer Museum
Unfortunately John, Tony and Orla didn’t make it with us to the museum as Tony had misplaced his money belt that had his JR pass and the rest of his spending money and went back to try and sort it out. The bad thing about a JR pass is that it can only be bought outside from Japan and that once you lose your pass, that’s it..you pay full fare which would have been like 4 times the amount in full fare rides compared to what we paid for our 7 day pass back home. Luckily Tony had a photocopy of his JR pass which thankfully with the help of Kahoru at H.I.S travel back in Brisbane (yep John had to call her to see what she could do to help) and the JTB office, they manage to accept the photocopy and honoured the JR pass for Tony..pheww!! Another praise for Kahoru as she saved Tony’s bacon big time by persuading the JR office lady to accept the exchange pass form..she is absolutely awesome!
The night was young and so we decided to head back to have a shower and grab Tony, John and Orla to head out to Roppongi, which is known for it nightlife. Roppongi to me is a seedy dirty place where every corner there is a club, bar or strip joint with hookers everywhere; you can spot them a mile away! What made it really gross was that there were Nigerian i think decent at the front of these strip bars luring guys into their clubs with special entry and drink deals. It was so strange to me as there we so many African guys just hanging around on their phone and trying to entice you in as you walked pass! Then after a while of thought, i realised that the reason why they use guys of African background was probably to act as bouncers and also it would be utterly shameful for a Japanese male to do such thing…it would be such a dishonourable act to be involved in such dealings. Anyway it quickly became boring as every street corner was the same thing…I mean don’t get me wrong, if i was like 20 and single it would have been definitely heaven for me!! hahaha We ended up at a bar that Chucky went last year called ‘Agave’ which was a tequila bar. The bar was down a dodgy alley, down some dodgy stairwell and into a smoke filled basement looking bar that was really dimly lit.
Drinks at Agave
The smoke from cigarettes in there was so bad that it almost produced a localised smog (in Japan you can still smoke in bars and eating areas etc. in fact it almost seems that everyone smoke here and anywhere they like…so frustrating). After ordering our drinks, the owner was being an A-hole by saying that everyone must buy a drink because they don’t charge and entry fee (Lisa, Orla and Young didn’t feel like drinking), so we quickly finished our drinks and left….never going back there again!
The next morning (Friday 13th) we got up early to go check out the Sumo’s at a suburb called Ryugoku which is only one train stop away from K’s house. We eventually managed to get to the sumo museum which was adjacent to the Sumo Arena, but unfortunately we had arrived at the wrong time to see any sumo fights or training at the area. I was told by the information guy that sumo events in Ryugoku are in January and currently a tournament is being held in Osaka. Anyway, after seeing the museum and checking out the souvenir shop we decided to press and get lunch on as it was Nancy’s last day in Japan due to uni commitments.
Sumo wannabe's
Lunch was at this really nice traditional Japanese restaurant that also had a sumo arena stage at the back where you can eat whilst watching a match. Because it was out of season for sumo fights, we were served lunch at the front of the restaurant where we ate super fresh sashimi..actually the fish that was brought out to us was still breathing with both of its sides sliced up into bits and placed around it…ewwww gross…that totally put me off my lunch!! I seriously think that it is inhumane to do that to any animal, but i guess this is typical Japanese culture and who am I to judge on what they have been doing for hundreds of years…
Anyway, after that ordeal..we decided to take the train to Shibuya which is the funky, hip and trendy place for youngters to hang out and shop…gee this place is crazy literally! There are people everywhere and it nearly matches to Times square in New York when i went back in 2000. Shibuya has a four way crossing that I believe is the busiest in Japan; Lisa told me that it is approximately two million people travel through Shibuya station everyday…Wow that is like the population of Qld in one city district!!! Nancy was able to take a glimpse of Shibuya before she had to say her goodbyes to the gang and head back to catch the plane home. The girls were in heaven and spent hours in the department stores, leaving the guys to wonder around the street to look for things to do. It’s so weird here as they have a whole building of 9 floors dedicated to women’s clothing and a smaller building across the road for guys clothing; talk about shopping this is mecca.
Shibuya Crossing
After what felt like ages walking around the area, we caught up with the girls that thankfully didn’t find anything they liked to buy and came out with nothing and headed to try and find a place to eat…It is especially frustrating to try and find a good place to eat without knowing where you are going or how to read or speak the language! After walking through many streets to try and find something appetizing, we gave up and Lisa, Young, Chuck and I headed to KFC whilst the others found a ramen shop a couple of stores down. KFC was surprisingly rubbish as we thought it would taste like the stuff we got at home…boy were we wrong, chicken was small and only original and no chicken salt on the chips…totally crap! The others came out dissapointed with their ramen meal too, so it was not a good night for food until we found a Krispy Creme shop and devoured a couple of donuts for dessert.
We eventually got home at nearly midnight and got into bed ready for our trip to Kyoto on the Shinkansen (bullet train)….I can’t wait!!
Filed under: Japan Trip 09!
