Its 4 in the afternoon and I’m still recovering from my Saturday night in Roppongi, so I figure I should knock out a little more:

Fashion

The Japanese are really funky/snazzy dressers.  (Unfortunately, I tried to buy some clothes out here only to find that shops basically don’t carry clothes in my size.  I have honestly never felt as ripped/huge as I felt when trying on a “large” Japanese shirt.)

Like I said before, I noticed a lot of English on t-shirts.  First, it is hilarious to see people wearing shirts with phrases that make no sense in English.  Below is an annoyingly blurry picture of a teenager asleep in the subway with a machine gun and Jewish star on his hat and a phrase that was borderline offensive(wish I could remember what it was).

Exhibit 291-I doubt this guy is actually anti-semitic. 

I also began to notice that people were wearing a lot of shirts that didn’t seem like they would be sold in Japan.  Like worn out athletic t-shirts from obscure US universities or event T-shirts.  And then, in Harajuku, I realized why–there are a ton of “Used clothing” shirts that are apparently frequented by normal people.  Which explains why my Japanese friend suggested bring some extra t-shirts to sell in Japan.  I’ve heard some interesting stories about used underwear being a huge craze here also.  Yikes.

Exhibit 307-Unwashed used underwear anyone? 

Food

Oh my.  I had no idea.  In America, we have sushi, some terribly prepared noodles and some gimmicky stuff like hibachi representing Japan for us.  But I have never had yakitori, proper soba noodles, quality ramen, kaiseki, and my new favorite–okonomyaki unti I came here.  (I’m asking, nay begging you–if you know of a good okonomyaki restaurant in New York or Boston, tell me where it is.)  Taka, a friend of a friend who I met up with out here, claims that the Japanese are such picky eaters that its impossible to find bad restaurants in Tokyo.  Ridiculous claim but I might agree. 

    There is a joke about Konkani people (which is what I am) that whenever we get together we basically only talk about food because we are obsessed with it.  I think that explains why I took pictures of almost every meal I’ve had out here.  (Yes, I was that weirdo in every restaurant) .  Be warned, if I corner you to show you pictures from this trip, I will spend an inordinate amount of time talking about the food in Japan.   

 

Exhibit 431-Full Kaiseki dinner included with my stay at the ryokan (traditional Japanese inn–you must stay at one if you are here).  The only bad part–eating a fish basically served as is (see bottom of pic).

Exhibit 434-Okonomyaki is actually Japanese for “ridiculously good”

Exhibit 571-Two separate noodle entrees? No problem. Fatty hungry.

Exhibit 613-Sushi, meet an Indian’s four favorite words: all you can eat.  Oh and in case you were wondering, crab brains taste as terrible as they sound.

Kyoto nightlife

While touring the temples during the day, I met this random German girl in Kyoto and convinced her to check out the nightlife with me.  We hit up a bunch of spots, a few notes:

-Kyoto has a ton of little standup bars as big as New York living rooms.  I’m talking capacity of the whole bar is 8-15 people MAX.  When we went, most bars only had about 2-3 patrons each.  These bars are also hard to notice because they are on higher floors and tucked away in buildings, which makes it pretty cool to find.

-We walked into one of these bars to find that the only other patrons were a Yakuza (Japanese mafia) and his two drunk female companions.  You can spot the Yakuza because a) they have tatoos, and b) generally look like bad mofos.  And no, I didn’t take a picture of one.  We sat down and tried to avoid eye contact, but one of the girls became OBSESSED with my German friend.  She kept saying “so cute” and waving at the two of us, which of course got the Yakuza more annoyed.  At one point she walked up to the table, her face about two feet from Christine (the German), and started staring at her like she was a furry zoo creature with a huge smile and a drunken “soooo cuuuutee”.  When we got up to leave, she literally followed us out.  We just smiled and waved.  No yakuza fights for me, at least not this trip.

-The bartender/owner at another place called Sam Rai was a character and a half.  He kept asking us each awkward personal questions and then visibly gossiping to the other patrons.  But he was a really funny dude (pic below).

 

Exhibit 476-Say chees-u.

-When I got back late that night, I had to call my ryokan to make sure they were going to let me in.  I ended up getting chided by the hotel manager — “you are soooo late”, but overall, staying at a ryokan was amazing.  The service was amazing (they just decided to polish my shoes without me noticing and gave me an umbrella when I lost mine), the food was great (breakfast and dinner were served in my room and included with the bill), the room was unique (tatami mats on the floor, pic below), and the experience felt very authentically Japanese. If you splurge on one thing, (besides, of course food), you should splurge on your night at a ryokan.

Exhibit 126- My room.  No joke–at night, they clear the table away and give you these mats to sleep on in the room.  No shoes, and you are asked to wear a yukata within the hotel itself.