We have gone past Shinjuku many, many times on the train bound for other destinations, but the other night we made a trip out of it. Holland, Bret and I had not yet had the pleasure of having a Tokyo excursion together, so she came over and we looked up quirky districts we wanted to see. There was a specific area on the map of Shinjuku we wanted to see, so Bret scribbled down a rough rendering and we headed out!
When we got there it was already dark, and Shinjuku is one of those areas with lots of tall buildings, lights and big screen tv billboards. The train station exit led to a bridge over the central street, and it was really pretty looking down onto the entire city--very colorful.
We wandered around but could not seem to find the particular area we were looking for. In fact, there weren't many signs of nightlife or things we could do anywhere. We kept walking around and trying to read the confusing streetsigns, but finally I spotted a Tully's and we went in to ask for directions and to use the bathroom (one of the annoying things about Tokyo is that they're not really big on 2 things: putting out public garbage cans (there are RECYCLING cans everywhere, but no trash cans) and access to public restrooms. I got a short matcha latte and Bret asked for directions. Holland and I sat down and watched as Bret spoke with the barista, who was a tad on the afeminate side. About 15 minutes later Bret still hadn't been able to procure directions. I came up to him and asked him what was going on. He said that the barista had taken his map and gone to the back room with it. We could hear about 3 of them muttering behind the door. By this time we just wanted our dumb map back and to get out of there, but they wouldn't come out. When they finally did, they had a mapquest printout for us, but were still scratching their heads. They said one of the roads on the map Bret had given to them didn't even exist. They said something to Bret in Japanese concerning directions and we left. We walked up the street and finally found one of the cross streets the website on Shinjuku had told us about.
The streets are pretty broad, but there are a lot of windey side streets and alleys, and buildings are often 5-6 stories tall with a different business on each floor, so you have to rely on the little signs they hang on the corner of the building--most of which are in Japanese. We asked a few people for directions and one man dutifully took our map and escorted us to our destination. His English was pretty good and he told us his grandpa was a GI. "This is why I am so tall" he gestured. He was nice. Also, one of the only Japanese guys who is taller than Holland :)
One of the places we walked into was very small, and you couldn't see inside until you opened the door. Everyone inside looked at us and went quiet. Sometimes we would just close the doors of those kinds of places and run away, but this time we asked if they were open and if there was a covercharge. It felt like we were interrupting a ladies book club meeting. Everyone seemed to know each other. They said they were open but when they saw Bret they said that there were no men allowed. They wanted Holland to stay though! haha. We continued on.
Walking down the street, somewhat resigned to the idea of just going home, we spotted a sign that said, JET--foreigners and english speakers welcome. It was a small bar in the basement floor of the building, and it was empty except for the two male bartenders. One of them energetically greeted us and began making conversation. He told us there was a cover but since we were new, he would waive it. Lots of bars in Japan are traditional in that the bartender/owner sits and talks with you the whole night. The term for those kinds of bars is 'snakku' but not all bars label themselves as such even if they still generally conduct business the same way. The bar owners at snakkus are called 'mamas' (most often female) and people go there for attention, a drink, and someone to talk to. If you frequent a particular snakku it's traditional that the mamas will send you gifts on your birthday. Either way it's a good business strategy, because the mama at the JET bar was so talkative and welcoming that we stayed until we had to go for the last call train. He was gay, and very very entertaining. We talked about where we were from, what we'd studied/were studying in school and what we were doing in Japan. He was an economics student getting his master's degree and owned two bars in Tokyo! Pretty cool. We talked about music and he said he loved dancing and started doing the 'Vogue' dance from Madonna's music video. Then we sang some karaoke, which was hilarious becuase Japanese people get really into it and he was dancing flamboyantly all over the place. When we had to go to catch the train, we said goodbye and said we would try to come back next weekend. He walked us out and showed us the alley across the way where there was supposed to be a good dance club. It was a very fun night.
Oh, and the pictures of Bret and the random guys with balloon swords....they came out of nowhere in the train station and challenged Bret to a duel. They were all in the same group and the whole thing was quite random.
Also, on our way home, when we were going into Shinjuku Station, there were just mobs and mobs of people. It was nearing midnight, and the last train leaves at midnight, but there were just crowds of kids and young adults just hanging out in groups standing around. Also, this was a Sunday night. I guess that's just how they roll here.
No comments:
Post a Comment