Konichiwa, Arregato, Sayonara!
Haven’t posted in a while but what better time to update my blog with an occasion as special as leaving Beijing and arriving in Tokyo.
Beijing is raw, Tokyo is refined. Beijing is full of counterfeits, Tokyo is the real thing. Beijing is the frontier, Tokyo is the big city. Beijing pulsates on potential, Tokyo has been realized. Beijing doesn’t know how to bill you, Tokyo will open a hole in your wallet. Above all, Tokyo is the epitome of cool. I have a new found respect for the Japanese people and the magnificent city they’ve built in Asia, and I’m honored to partake in the adventure that is walking around Shibuya, Tokyo, Akihabara, Ginza, Ueno and Asakusa.
Today was electronic sensory overload in Akihabara from 7 floors of coin-op video games to 7 floors of electronic gadgets followed by a compulsory visit to the Apple Store in Ginza and split nicely down the middle with a conveyor-belt style sushi restaurant cheap enough by LA standards to be considered all-you-can-eat (and I just about ate all I could eat).
Yesterday was an adventure in getting lost trying to find a driving range sandwiched between two pro baseball stadiums highlighted with a vehement argument between Bill and I as to whether a particular fence in the distance was part of a baseball stadium or the range (turns out, both).
The adventure continues tonight as I have convinced my plain-hamburger-eating, lactose-intolerance-faking, diet-coke-in-the-veins-drinking buddy Bill to eat Japan’s signature dish: sushi. Although I’m confident there will be a KFC or McD’s chaser, I will at least get him to eat 1 sake sushi and post a video for those of you who would be amazed at such antics. To his credit, he did eat a whole shrimp 3 nights ago, tentacles, legs and all.
