Home

I think this was actually the longest I've ever been away from Philly. It was about a month longer than my semester in Paris in college. For some reason, even though a lot has happened the past few months it didn't feel like I was gone for long.

Since I was home, I didn't do anything terribly exciting. I spent time with my family and friends including 6 kids (4 of them are under a year old and 2 of them are under a month old). I think everyone I know is having a baby, it is crazy! Other than that I went to Old Navy three times to stock up on clothing to bring back to Shanghai and took multiple trips to various banks so I could transfer money from our Chinese bank account back home. I also went to most of my favorite restaurants - Peace of Pizza, Cafe de Laos, Cheesecake Factory, Blue Sage, Jones, Continental, Delancy Street Bagels, Morning Glory, Chat n Chew. I may have gained a few pounds... oh well.

I said we should invite some family to have a casual dinner and my mom planned a party with 20 people and a large welcome home sheet cake. I was happy she is doing well and was up for company, although the party was a bit much. My friend Gina helped organize a really nice dinner at Blue Sage with some friends from Drexel. I also got to meet a few friends throughout the week and went to NY to see my nieces. I felt like I should have made more effort to see everyone but it was a really short trip and I wanted to spend time with my parents. I'll be back for longer in the summer anyway. 

Since I've been seeing people at home I found myself inundated with a wide variety of questions about life in China from how's the weather to are you happy there. People who regularly read this blog in particular said I don't sound thrilled a lot of the time. I was a bit stressed out about some things happening at home which I feel much better about now that I've had the chance to visit. Overall things here are pretty good though.

Truthfully, I've always been a bit of a cynic. My favorite drawing teacher in college had a running joke about my dark side. I have a tendency to look at the negative side of life in my drawings and apparently it also comes through in my blog. I really have nothing to be cynical about, I live overall a rather privileged life, especially compared to the locals in China that live 12 to a room or carry around 10 foot high stacks of boxes on carts attached to their bicycles. I'm working on being more of a glass half full type person... I'm much better about it than I was in college at any rate. Danny is a good influence on me since he's the most optimistic person I know.

Being home really made me reflect on life in China. While I was on Skype with Danny he asked if I missed anything in China, aside from him of course - which is the main thing I missed. I didn't have much of a reply at the time but there are things I would have missed if I didn't go back. When I lived in Paris for a semester in college by the time I got home I was nearly ready to kiss the ground the way immigrants did at Ellis Island. In retrospect there are a few things I really liked about Paris but I don't miss it enough to want to go back. I really did want to return to China, even if it was mostly because I missed Danny.


If we were to leave China now I also would miss:

1 The chance to learn about a history and a culture I learned very little about in school.

2 The opportunity to visit cities and towns I never even heard of before.

3 Our proximity to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, etc. and the ability to take trips there inexpensively. (So far we only made it to 2 of those countries but we have 1 and 1/2 or 2 and 1/2 years left.)

4 The people we met.

5 Pizza and movie nights with the grad students.

6 How cheap everything is (transportation, restaurants, haircuts, ect.)

7 Daily maid service in our apartment.

On the other hand I won't miss:

1 Being so far from friends and family (aside from Danny).

2 The Great Firewall.

3 The slow internet.

4 Not having a dryer or an oven.

5 Chinese banquet meals.

6 Depending on Danny to communicate (it is getting better now that I've learned a few words of Chinese).
7 The personal hygiene habits of some of the locals.

Chinese New Years

So, Shoshana's left me all alone in Shanghai for Chinese New Years. However, I managed to meet some friends for a movie today and we went out to a nice restaurant for dinner. The office has been nice and quiet recently so I've been getting some work done, and I can goof off in peace without distractions as well! Anyways, in case any of you wondered how the Chinese in Shanghai celebrated Chinese New Years, they have huge family dinners and then this happens...

Tokyo Day 5 Observations - Tuesday, January 17

Our last day in Tokyo we didn't do much. We packed up and then wandered around the Asakusa shrine area again to do some shopping. Danny left for his flight to Shanghai and I spent another hour shopping before I headed off for my flight to the states. I was a little sad I wouldn't see Danny for two weeks but I was happy I could go home and spend some time with my mom.

During my last few hours in Tokyo, I shopped and bought really cute wooden shoes that look like the ones Geisha wear in movies. I saw a few women walking around in traditional kimono throughout the trip. I think it is really cool that people still wear traditional clothes in Japan sometimes. People never do that in Shanghai. Afterwards I found my way to the airport pretty easily. Since it was daytime I got to see some nice scenery on the train to the airport.

Someone requested I compare Beijing to Tokyo. These are just a few random observations in no particular order. They are not as much about Beijing in particular as China compared to Japan:

Japan feels much more modern and is more heavily influenced by western cultures than China. This is probably because China's government kept them so isolated from the rest of the world for so long.

Although I don't know much about the Japanese government it feels a bit freer in Japan. I can access websites without worrying about a firewall and I don't have the "big brother is watching" feeling looming all the time.

This isn't as much in comparison to China but in comparison to most countries but the Japanese seem to be really unusual in their views about sex. Our hotel's channel guide had really graphic porn in it and I was sort of shocked. The red-light district with hostess clubs and other establishments also seem to have a much bigger presence in Japan than in most countries I've visited.

It is a lot easier to get by on English in Japan. My perspective on this may be slightly skewed by the fact that we only went to touristy places in Japan. In touristy parts of China you can sort of get by on English but cab drivers hardly ever speak a word of English. I found it much easier to communicate everywhere we went in Tokyo. I kept wanting to try to speak to people in Chinese for some reason though, oops... I finally learned a few words and I've gotten used to it, I don't know.

In both countries people kept talking to Danny in the local language because he looks Asian. The languages have some written words in common but not spoken. I thought it was pretty funny though. I also have noticed, I got so used to asking Danny to translate that I accidentally asked him what people were saying when they spoke Japanese a few times. He kept making fun of me for it.

Tokyo is ridiculously expensive compared to Bejing. In China we can pretty much buy whatever we want and not worry about money, in Tokyo everything we buy is a splurge. Shanghai is actually the most expensive city in China and things are still dirt cheap compared to Tokyo. Transportation in particular is insanely expensive in Japan. Also, in China labor is dirt cheap and in Japan people are paid decently. People's living conditions seem to be much better in Japan than in China.

The people are dressed much better in Japan. A lot of the locals in China are just sort of dirty. The working class dress very poorly. They carry stuff around in old rice bags. A lot of people wear t-shirts with comical English typos. In contrast, people in Tokyo look incredibly fashionable. It actually made me feel slightly grubby by comparison. The girls in Japan all have such cute outfits and do their make up so perfectly. This may sound weird but the school children look like they just stepped out of an anime movie in their cute little uniforms.

The people in Japan are incredibly polite. They have much better manners than in the states and dramatically better than in China. By comparison Shanghai, and Beijing have a "me first" mentality and people just push to get what they want. In Japan people wait patiently in line and stay to the proper side on the sidewalk so people can pass them. Taiwan actually is a bit similar to Japan in that respect. I think at times Japan may go a bit overboard on following rules and regulations though. Apparently even regular bikes have registration and can get ticketed like cars. Even the homeless in Japan are polite and quietly keep their distance, in China they follow you around and try to grab you hoping if they annoy you enough you will give them money.

I'm sure there a tons of other differences I could point out but those are the most glaring ones at the moment. I really enjoyed visiting Japan, it is a place I always wanted to see. I can't wait to go back and see the Kyoto area.

Tokyo Day 4 - Monday, January 16

For our last full day we tried to see the rest of the sites Ru had listed to check out in Tokyo. We had booked tickets in advance for Ghibli museum at 12:00. It left us a few hours free in the morning so we started out by going to a street called Takeshita Dori. It was a really cute street that reminded me a bit of St. Marks in NY or South St. in Philly when it used to be good. Unfortunately we went at around 10:00 when stores were just starting to open and we didn't have much time to look around before the museum. We bought some really yummy crepes at a shop for breakfast and did a quick stroll along the street. I wish Shanghai had crepes like that, for some reason the Chinese never want to put enough chocolate in their crepes. They don't tend to eat many sweets. The main desserts I've seen in China have sweet red bean paste or taro paste rather than chocolate. They just have very different taste than me. You can still find western desserts in China but I like sweets much better in Japan.

Next we quickly walked over to Yo Yogi Park to check out the Meiji Shrine. The park was really nice. We only got to take a quick look as we raced over to the Shrine.

They were in the process of taking down a display of ice sculptures and lanterns that probably would have been really pretty if we had gone to the park the day before.

We took a really quick look at the Shrine. It was a pretty simple wooden structure which looked beautiful against the lush park. I wish we had more time to appreciate the area as well as Takeshita. It would have been a great place to spend the afternoon. We didn't plan well, if the morning tickets hadn't sold out for Ghibli our timing would have worked much better.

At any rate we rushed over to the Ghibli museum next. It was a really cool place. Ghibli is an animation studio that produces a lot of really cool movies. I think people in Japan think of it the way Americans think of Disney. Ru is an exceptionally talented animator and since she recommended the museum I had really high expectations. I made Danny get a bunch of Ghibli films so I could watch them before we went. I hadn't seen very many previously. The museum was really cool and worth the trip. The only thing I didn't like was it was a bit small and the gift shop was sort of lame. I was really excited to check out the museum shop and was surprised a place as inventive as Ghibli didn't sell more unique items. I was also sad they didn't let you take any pictures inside. Despite that, the place was awesome. There was a film playing which hadn't been released elsewhere. It was a 15 minute movie about mice that were sumo wrestlers. It was adorable. The movie tickets were little mini film negatives. The museum had life size scenes from some of the movies like a cat bus and various displays of unique forms of animation.

After the museum we had a late lunch at one of those revolving sushi restaurants. The food moves around the restaurant in a little conveyor belt. They have them in Shanghai and elsewhere but it was fun to try one in Tokyo. It was really cheap, about a quarter the price of the place at Tsukiji fish market. The waitress had them make my vegetarian rolls without a problem. All the restaurants in Japan and in Shanghai have photos on the menus which makes it easier. They also usually have very realistic plastic displays of the food.

We decided for the evening to go back to Roppongi so we could see the Mori Museum and the observatory. It was located on a high floor of a shopping mall. Now that we got to see the mall during the day while it was opened, we saw that it was a really nice area with random pieces of public art. The work exhibited at the Mori Museum was beautiful. They didn't let me take photos but I ended up buying a really beautiful book of Kuniyoshi's work. Afterwards we hung out in the observatory and got some sorbet at the restaurant there.

After Roppongi we were so exhausted we decided to go back to the hotel for the night and just have dinner at the restaurant next door. We didn't plan to do much else but when Danny checked online at the hotel he found out his friend Kevin who lives in Tokyo had written him back so we arranged to meet him for dinner next door. I think it is always really cool to meet someone who lives locally when visiting a foreign country. I had never met Kevin before but he was a really nice guy and he had some interesting insights into living in Tokyo. After dinner we went for a walk with Kevin to look at the Asakusa Shrine. He pointed out to us that the Japanese words at the bottom of the lantern in the middle of the Shrine say brought to you by Panasonic. He also told us that in Japan it is legal to drink outside on the street so we proceeded to buy a beer at the convenience store and have a drink on the way back.

Tokyo Day 3 - Sunday, January 15

Our third day we headed to Ueno Park. It was a pretty park and we looked around briefly and got pizza at a little shop there. The Park is the location of the Tokyo National Museum amongst other sites.

Danny read on lonely planet that if you only see one place in Tokyo it should be the National Museum. I strongly disagree. The museum was ok but not exceptional.

They have a decent collection of art, samurai costumes, swords and other historical items. I was pretty tired by this point of the trip and would most likely have been a bit more excited about it if I had more energy and it hadn't been built up so much by the lonely planet description.

Next we walked over to a shopping street called Ameya Yokosho. It was pretty close to the museum and directly next to the subway stop we had used to get to Ueno Park. As we were walking we saw posters about Falun Gong. Danny wanted me to take a picture so he could show one of his co-workers who he had tried to tell about it. In New York you see people complaining about the Chinese government persecuting followers of Falun Gong all the time. I never knew much about it but Danny's parents went to a workshop once. It basically is a spiritual meditation thing that is a bit cult like and has a system of trying to get the followers to give all their money to the organization. China does persecute the followers as far as I know though, much like it does anyone who tries to get Chinese citizens to practice an organized religion.

Anyway, Ameya Yokosho is a bargain shopping street that runs next to an above ground subway line. Since Japan is really expensive (way more so than Manhattan) everything was still somewhat pricey compared to Shanghai. We didn't end up buying anything except for a few snacks as we wandered around. Danny was really excited to find this fish shaped pastry thing that was filled with cream. They sell them in Shanghai too but he says it is a Japanese food. I thought it was only ok.

Next we headed to Akihabara, the electronics district. I wasn't really that excited to see it but Danny loves technology. We had a hard time finding the area once we got off the subway. Once we found it I decided that since I was really tired we should sit down and eat before we looked around. We found a Tapas place, the food was pretty disappointing but they were nice and made something vegetarian. We looked around the big electronics mall briefly. It had a lot of gadgets which Danny liked and I wasn't that interested in. Danny said he had really been hoping the electronics malls in Shanghai would be more like this one where you could just walk around and browse. In Shanghai the sales people hassle you constantly asking if you want to buy something and follow you around the store. In Tokyo they don't do that but it is really expensive, more than in the states. We didn't end up buying anything and headed back to the hotel after about a half hour.

I was so tired I was thinking about staying in for the night but after a nice rest we decided to try to figure out where Golden Gai was located. Last time we mistakenly went to Kabukicho, which was also an interesting neighborhood. This time we found the right neighborhood after walking through Kabukicho on the way. Golden Gai was a really cute area filled with tiny independent bars. Unfortunately since it was a Sunday night the streets were sort of dead in both areas. After looking around a bit we had some sake at a bar called Champs. It was tiny like all the bars in the area and had karaoke and random kitschy decorations. We got some cheap Indian food at a little place around Kabukicho before we headed back in time to catch the subway to the hotel.

Tokyo Day 2 - Saturday, January 14

The second day of our trip mostly focused on visiting places that Danny was really surprised I agreed to.

We started off at Tsukiji Fish Market. Even though I am vegetarian and had no interest in eating raw fish, I was sort of curious to see it. We didn’t wake up at 5:00 am to see the actual bidding on giant fish. By the time we arrived at 10:30 people at the actual fish market were packing up for the day. The market was very crowded with workers who were running around moving fish to trucks for numerous restaurants. They generally preferred not to deal with tourists and you sort of feel in the way but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

We mostly walked around the general market area and the nearby shops where people sold sushi and sushi related equipment like knives. The sushi there was really fresh but expensive. Danny was debating about getting it because it is sort of a tourist trap but I insisted he should try it so he ate while I walked around and shopped. I bought some pottery for serving sushi and looked at some interesting new fish related kitchen gadgets. I thought about buying kitchen knives but I had no idea what makes them good quality and everything was really expensive. Danny ended up sort of disappointed that the sushi wasn't any better than sushi from other locations he's tried but we agreed it was worth tasting. I had an egg salad sandwich from the convenience store and some pastries from a bakery and was really happy with my food that morning.

After the market we headed to the Sumo Stadium. Japan holds tournaments for its national sport, Sumo six times a year. Three of the tournaments are held in Rogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. I’m not generally a sports fan but sumo is a pretty unique sport and I was curious to see it. I mostly wanted to see all the costumes. Also, I read a description of a Sumo match in Memoirs of a Geisha a few years back and it sounded really cool.

The stadium itself was a large building with a gold top. The wrestlers all wore traditional clothes as they walked around. I read on wikipedia that the athletes are all required to wear them whenever they are out in public. It also said they aren't allowed to drive because one time a wrestler got into a car accident. It sounds like the athletes lead a very structured life and go through quite a lot to wrestle professionally.

The stadium was like any other sports arena. It sold tons of souvenirs. They sold lunch boxes named after wrestlers featuring their favorite meals. They also had french fries and ice cream. We bought sumo shaped chocolates for my dad. I wanted to buy a beach towel with a drawing of a famous wrestler but Danny didn't like it. We also planned to get the English audio set which announced what was happening in the game but we had trouble converting our money into yen so we were short on cash and weren't sure if they would take credit cards so decided not to bother. I'm pretty sure we got the gist of things anyway although it would have been cool to know a bit more about what was happening. There was also a little museum inside the stadium with photos, drawings and old costumes of the wrestlers.

We got the second cheapest tickets for $40 each and sat in the second to last row in the stadium. The cheapest seats are about $20 each and sell out quick. The expensive seating in the front looked really uncomfortable, you sit on cushions on the ground and there wasn't much space. In the front row there was a judge on each side. One time the wrestler got pushed out of the ring and landed on top of the judge. It seems like a scary job, some of those guys are giant!

If you know nothing about how the sport works, like me, it is actually fairly easy to follow. The day starts out with the most inexperienced wrestlers and progressively higher ranked athletes wrestle throughout the day. We made the mistake of getting there way too early. We were better off arriving closer to the evening and just watching for two or three hours like most of the audience did. We planned it sort of poorly and at the last minute though so we got there around 12:30 and just stayed until the end. It was still interesting to see how the matches got better throughout the day. It was like watching the wrestlers progress through their careers.

The matches are really short. The two guys stand in the ring and the first one to fall on the ground or out of the ring loses. Once in a while when it is hard to tell who lost all five judges meet in the middle to confer and make a decision. The loser has to bow to the winner. There are all kinds of rituals and chants that get progressively more elaborate for the more senior wrestlers. At points they throw salt into the rink to purify it. I didn't understand what they were saying but the chanting sounds very spiritual to me and reminds me of the tunes they sing at synagogue. The most interesting part for me was the costumes. Danny mentioned something about the actual sport being interesting too...

Anyway, the wrestlers' belts are kind of gross since they show everything but I like the thing they wear during the ceremony. It is sort of like a towel the put over their belts. They each have their own intricate decoration. It said in the program they have a whole bunch of ceremonial dances but mostly they just walk out and stand in a circle and wiggle the towel thing a bit. They also have some guys march around holding various banners, which I couldn't read since they are in Japanese. The Yokozuna, the highest ranked wrestler, has a really special white and black belt. The judges' outfits are the coolest. Most of them just wear solid black kimonos but the head judge wears a really pretty colorful kimono. The head judge switches pretty often and they each have different colorful kimonos. I thought the whole thing was really cool even though I know very little about the sport.

After the match we took a nap at the hotel and then headed to a neighborhood called Roppongi. We found a restaurant called Gonpachi which claimed to be the basis for the restaurant in Kill Bill where everyone got killed in the sword fight. It looked slightly similar to the movie and had a framed photo of Quentin Tarantino with the waitstaff. They also had a wall of celebrity photos with pictures of several really well known stars alongside the restaurant staff. Normally, I don't care much about celebrities. I tend to feel that it is somewhat idiotic the way our culture treats a bunch of random actors like some sort of gods. I have to say though, it felt slightly surreal seeing a bunch of American icons had been to this restaurant on the other side of the world. Shanghai feels so removed from the rest of the world. Coming to Tokyo in many ways felt like a return to civilization. Also, I sort of like Quentin Tarantino movies.

The food was really yummy. It was a traditional Japanese restaurant with a western twist. It clearly catered to tourists and expats. The waiters spoke English and were really nice about giving sightseeing advice. They were also very accommodating of altering dishes to make them vegetarian. My favorite dish we tried was avocado and Camembert tempura. Obviously it wasn't a traditional dish since cheese is not part of Japanese cuisine but it was amazing.

After dinner we walked around the area a bit. There was a giant shopping mall which was closed for the day but we wondered around it anyway. There was a great view of Tokyo Tower and a museum inside which had a display of Ukiyo-e prints by an artist named Kuniyoshi. We discussed coming back to see it because I really like that style of artwork.

By the time we left the mall we were pretty tired and didn't have much time before the subway closed. I have to say for such a large city it amazes me the subway closes by 12:00. It closes at midnight in Shanghai too but cabs are dirt cheap so it doesn't matter. In Tokyo transportation is incredibly expensive. A cab ride from the airport to our hotel would have cost almost as much as our flight. The subway in Tokyo costs about as much as a taxi ride in Shanghai. Sometimes in Tokyo people sleep in cheap hotels to save money rather than taking a taxi home after the subway has closed.

Also, the subway in Tokyo is a mess. Instead of one subway system there are multiple privately owned lines that you have to pay for separately. I was told most lines have their station by a large department store, coincidentally owned by the subway line owners. Only recently was the Pasmo card created which lets you swipe one card at most of the separate subway lines. We bought Pasmo cards our first day and they were incredibly useful. You have to pay a deposit which you get back when you return the card at the end.

Anyway, since we didn't have much time before the subway closed we just took a quick walk around Roppongi Crossing. The area seemed to have a lot to do but we didn't try much and just headed back.

Tokyo Day 1 - Friday, January 13

We slept in the next day until 11:00 (10:00 shanghai time) and then tried to do some sightseeing. Our hotel was in Asakusa which for some unknown reason I kept accidentally calling Osaka, oops... We started off by walking 15 minutes towards the Asakusa Shrine. On the way we stopped in a tourist info center which told us the location of a vegetarian restaurant and about a free tour of Ueno that we could take. We tried to find out how to say vegetarian in Japanese but I don't think there is a word for it and they told us to just say vegetarian. The area around the shrine is really cute, there are tons of little shops selling food and little knick knacks for tourist.

We located the restaurant they mentioned thanks to Danny's amazing sense of direction and ability to read Chinese characters but quickly discovered it was not vegetarian at all and had nothing I could eat on the menu. We ended up going to a little ramen shop nearby for lunch. I got vegetable tempura which was pretty good and Danny got udon noodles with some sort of beef (*DANNY EDIT* chicken). The waitress was very nice, spoke excellent English and gave me a free rice ball to make up for not having shrimp with the tempura. After I bit into it I discovered there was Salmon in the middle and she replaced it with a seaweed filled one. People in Japan very rarely seem to think vegetarian means no fish, even when you say it specifically. I didn't actually end up eating fish so I tried not to think about it.

The meal was fairly cheap, only about 10 US dollars for Danny's and $12 for mine. As we finished up we debated if we were supposed to tip since we had neglected to look it up previous to arriving. In China you don't tip anywhere. One time Danny told the delivery guy to keep the change an extra 10 kuai ($1.50) and he was extremely happy, but usually they get confused and think you paid too much by mistake. We decided to just try tipping anyway and see how it went. The waitress chased after us and said we paid too much. So no tipping in Japan...

Afterwards we checked out Asakusa Shrine. They have these areas where you are supposed to make a wish and draw straws to pick your fortune. I got a really good fortune. It said my wish will come true and someone will recover from an illness.

We wandered around and tried a few sweets from the street fair set up around the shrine. My favorite was this thing that looked like a lollipop with fruit in the middle. It had the flavor of a lollipop but the texture of caramel and was really yummy. They give you a little dish to hold it over which is made out of some sort of sweet rice cracker.

Next we walked from there for about a half hour over to the Edo Tokyo Museum. On the way we stopped at a store called Lawson, a convenience store which they have all over Japan. We read online that you could buy tickets to the Ghibli museum there. Ghibli is the anime museum Ru had highly recommended. Even though we printed directions on how to use the machine off the internet it had no English and was hard to figure out so we had to ask the store clerk for help. They were sold out for the time we wanted but we were able to book tickets for an afternoon before we left.

The Edo Tokyo Museum was awesome. As we walked in it looked a bit like a shopping mall and was in a very modern building. We bought tickets to the permanent collection and headed up to the 6th floor to look around.

The museum focused on all aspects of Japanese history. It had lots of models of traditional Japanese towns including a life size kabuki theater. There also was a collection of woodblock prints which I fell instantly in love with.

As I looked at the prints I realized I forgot to pack my sketchbook. There was a time not so long ago that I didn't leave my apartment without a sketchbook and somehow I managed to go to a foreign city filled with art museums with no sketchbook. It made me really sad that I've started to really lose that side of myself.

 I spent 20 minutes doing a sketch of one of the prints on the back of my hotel reservations and felt a little better.

We ran out of time at the museum and it closed before we finished but we saw the bulk of the permanent collection. As we left we decided to try to stop by the Sumo stadium, Rogoku Kokugikan to see if we could get tickets. The office was closed, in keeping with our trip’s theme of poor timing, however the sign said they had plenty of tickets left.

We decided to try to get tickets the following day and headed back to the hotel. On the way we got a snack at a bakery where I determined I prefer Japanese bakeries over Chinese.

After a quick nap at the hotel we headed for a neighborhood called Golden Gai which lonely planet said was a popular bar district. We got off at the Higashi Shinjuku stop on the subway and wandered towards the area. It was a lot different then Lonely Planet’s description of narrow alleyways and rickety stairs and I wasn’t sure we were in the right area. Instead there were a number of sky scrapers with signs for numerous clubs, several of which offered some sort of “services” by the hour. We weren’t sure quite how they worked but assumed it was something like strip clubs. We wandered around a bit and ended up finding this random dart bar which served Mexican food for dinner inside one of the buildings.

We later discovered we had gone to Kabukicho (the red light district) rather than Golden Gai. Apparently, this area is famous for hostess clubs which offer companions, dancing and varying degrees of sexual favors. Hostess clubs are an interesting side to Japanese culture which I think in some small way stems from the Geisha culture, although I could be wrong. Almost all of the clubs have Nigerian men who stand outside and try to get you to come to their clubs. We had to arrange to see Golden Gai another night but Kabukicho was interesting.