Oh no, there goes Tokyo go go Godzilla!

What a lovely day for an update. Yes, yes - perhaps I have been updating as much as I originally had planned but as to be expected of blogs. What is important, is that I DO update. Er, even if that update may come a week(s) too late. There is much to write about since last post so I’ll get right to it. My plan is to do a few posts this week to catch up. I want to give these memories proper justice so I’ll keep them as separate posts.

On June 21st I received my first tour of a little known place of Tokyo. Holy hell, that is some city. One of my fellow teachers was kind enough to offer to show me the ropes of this mammoth so of course I accepted. While I spent the majority of the day there, this goes without saying, but I only scratched the surface of the place known as Tokyo. What a place though, such a fun day. After all, it is the only way to do them true justice.

With a mere one hour Shinkansen ride I arrived in Japan’s capital. After a challenging 15 minutes or so or trying to find each other, we met up in Tokyo station and instantly jumped on a local train to one of the Mecca’s of geekdom - Akihabara. While I’ll admit it was far smaller than I expected, it definitely lived up to the hype. The core of the area was only about two streets but those streets each have three floors of shops on them. Everything from retro video games, cosplay shops, maid cafes, anime, manga, figures - you name it - you can get it in Akihabara and in abundance. While proving difficult to not blow the entirety of my life savings in a mere instant - I refrained from buying anything and used this trip as more of a, well, scouting, experience.

The next stop on this tour was a slice of historic culture. She took me to Sensō-ji in Asakusa. This was my first ever time visiting a Buddhist Temple and what a temple it was. It has a famous gate which I’ve seen in pictures before with storm gods protecting it. Here I got face deep in demon exercising incense. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, it has been difficult to live 31 years without ever being purified of evil spirits. I must have worked since I drew the luckiest of all the fortunes from the temple. For those keeping score, this means from both a Shinto Shrine and Buddhist Temple I have pulled the luckiest fortunes twice in two pulls. What can I say? I’m lucky. I got the walkthrough in the process of how to pray after an offering, bought some incense, and we ducked out of the rain for a short spell.


I was gracious enough to warn my generous host that I’d be in full tourist mode for the day and she would have it no other way. Despite the Tokyo Skytree looking us in the face the entire day, we decided to visit its predecessor the now obsolete Tokyo Tower. On our way we stopped at a shrine that was putting on a Taiko performance - which we watched for a bit. Then we approached Tokyo tower. Not before resting to eat crepes. Tokyo Tower was quite the view. The day was rainy and overcast so we couldn't see forever but it was still beyond impressive. I’ve been to large cities before but Tokyo goes on in every direction as far as the eye can see. The view from the tower was 360 degrees and there wasn’t anywhere which wasn’t urban sprawl. What really surprised me, is that Tokyo Tower is like a mall. It even has its own gym. Unknown.

At this point it was time for dinner and drinks. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. This means we were off to get some official Tokyo grub - Monjayaki. This took us to Tsukishima Street in Chuo. Talk about capitalism at its finest. This entire street is all Monjayaki restaurants, right next to each other, on both sides of the street. I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. Even stranger, they all had people in them. How do you choose? I just picked one that had a wooden rabbit statue in front of it - I’m only human. At the restaurant you order a few Monjayaki and pay for different toppings for them. The tables have flat-top grills on them. You’re handed the bowl and make it yourself. After being shown the process, I made a few of my own - I still have it. Despite eating a ton of cabbage, they were each pretty good.

Along side several beers and good conversation, this was the end of my first trek to Tokyo. We passed an underage kid getting arrested for being drunk, jumped on our the last trains towards our respected locations, and I started the hour long ride back home. Fun fact, the justified famous anime Evangelion starts June 22, 2015. My first trip to Tokyo, the place where Eva takes place (Tokyo 3), was the day before where the show starts. Pretty groovy. I didn’t see any Angels. Probably a good thing.