Tokyo...the city that never sleeps!

Our last night(s) in Tokyo promised to be as exciting as we hoped our last night in Japan would be! Entirely relaxed from our Onsen experience, we boarded the train at Kinosaki station with a heavy-heart - onwards to Tokyo. We were so amazingly relaxed (to the core) that the long and tiring train journey (we apparently got onto the wrong Shinkansen and had to get off somewhere else, waited for 45 mins for our next train - by the time we got to Tokyo main station, it was already 5 hours since leaving our blissful spa paradise.

Luckily (and cleverly), we had the foresight of booking a hotel directly opposite the Tokyo train station. Of course, we didnt quite know this when we put ourselves through an hour of queueing in the harsh cold winds at the station - only for a 5mins taxi ride. *douh*


The hotel was really good....nice room, good location and coin laundry on the same floor! Perfect! / Das Hotel was sehr gut....schönes Zimmer, gute Locatioin und eine Waschmaschine auf dem selben Stock




Once we settled into our 5-star matchbox room (so small that we hardly had space to open our luggage), we went to explore the streets behind our hotel. Much to our pleasure, these streets are lined with lots of Japanese Sushi bars, little Izakayas (japanese bars) and standing sushi bars.


Since it was Friday night, it was heaving with lots of Japanese - and hardly any tourists. We decided to follow our noses and step into a really busy and crowded (not to mention smoky) Japanese Izakaya - where everything was in Japanese with not a single foreigner in sight!


After being pushed into and around the back corner of the bar (we finally got the hint that we were supposed to wait outside- in the cold), we finally got a table....next to two middle-aged Japanese men who were clearly quite drunk (from the tell-tale red face). Ordering was left to finger-pointing at some Japanese characters (no picture menu here!) and Mishell asking the guy in broken-Japanese for his recommendation.


Crowded Izakaya place for dinner / Es hatte viele Leute im Izakaya wo wir unser Abendessen hatten

Menu and everything in Japanese....how to order? / Menue und alles war in Japanisch...wie sollen wir bestellen?

There were lots of young workers going out for their afterwork drinks on Friday / Es hatte viele junge Professionals welche zum Afterwork Drink am Freitag ausgingen

The place was super crowded, smoky (yes, you are allowed to smoke in Restaurant in Tokyo) and loud! / Die Bar war sehr voll, verraucht (ja, man darf in Japan im Restaurant Rauchen) und laut!

Mishell ordered a pink-looking drink that most ladies seemed to be having, and Pasci opted for something called 'Hoppi' - which we found out later is some form of cheap Japanese beer....not very good without Sochu (cheap Japanese rice-wine)! Our food arrived, and it looked fairly safe, if not boring - so Pasci decided to "kampai" with the Japanese men next to us- and before we knew it, they asked Mishell what her favourite drink was - and 5 mins later, some Umeishu (Plum wine) turned up for us!

Mishell ordered a pink-looking lady drink / Mishell hat einen pinken Frauen-Drink bestellt

Another few "Kampais" later, after noting that we were clearly still hungry and struggling with the Japanese, one of the guys shouted for an English-speaking waiter (we only heard "Eiku...bla bla...eiku" meaning English)...and an English-speaking Japanese waiter turned up to help us out!

WOW..! After about 45mins of broken Japanese vs English conversation exchange (part of which included them telling us that Japanese men only wear their wedding rings at their wedding party, and never wear it afterwards), the guys said they had to leave...clearly too drunk to even stand straight anymore.

We suspect they only had about 3 bottles of this lightweight Hoppi drink. They kept insisting on telling us how drunk they were (which apparently allows them to 'misbehave'). We learned from a friend that as most Japanese men have their salaries controlled by their wives, they receive an allowance per month - they can only afford cheap beer. So they add cheap but strong rice wine, Sochu, to get drunk as cheaply and quickly as possible. Krass!

The guys on the next table were pretty drunk....but very friendly and chatty! / Die Jungs am nächsten Tisch waren sehr betrunken...aber freundlich und geschwätzig!
We quickly made friends with them and they invited us for a drink! / Wir haben schnell Freundschaft geschlossen und dann haben Sie uns auf einen Drink eingeladen!

By 10pm, most of the Japanese men were pretty much drunk or pretending to be heavily drunk. Saying goodbye ended up with a lot of "bye bye", some bowings and the guy giving Pasci his Buddhist prayer beads (which he came back for 5 mins later - to exchange for a 'protection Amulet').

Two other guys replaced the empty seats quickly afterwards - and they were not as fun (or as drunk) as the earlier 2. So we decided to leave soon afterwards, smelling of smoke and high on cheap rice-wine & beer combination. ;)

The next day, we went to explore Shinjuku - a district of Tokyo famous for electronics, its skyline and...its crazy train station - which is used by about a 4million of passengers per day(!!). It has an underground arcade which has about nearly 200 exits (we got to find out how confusing that can be!).

Arriving at Shinjuku station.... very impressive! / Ankunft an der Shinjuku Haltestelle....sehr beeindurkcen!

Mishell was curious what we will discover today in Tokyo! / Mishell war neugierig was wir wohl heute entdecken würden in Tokyo!

There were some beautiful bakeries in the station! / Es hatte schöne Bäkereien in dem Bahnhof.

There were LOADS of people crossing here....scary! / Es hatte VIELE Leute die diese Kreuzung benutzen....beängstigend!

We basically let ourselves get lost around the many alleyways around Shinkuju station - coming across lots of random sights which included a newsstand that seems to sell very few newspapers but more porn magazines (in broad daylight), more Pachinko stores - with teenage girls that dressed up like the Anime characters, dodgy sex stores (see pic), Cat cafe (where you pay to put on surgical gloves and mask to stroke some cats)...etc.

What westerners do in shady corners you can do in Japan in bright daylight: Buy&read porn magazines! / Was man im Westen in einer dunkeln Ecke mach, kann man in Japan am hellichten Tag machen: Pornos kaufen und lesen!

Mishell was *shocked* and amused :) / Mishell war *schockiert* und amüsiert :)

Sex shops in Japan are also interesting...They sell lots of different versions of these plastic 'cans'. Hmmmm.....what are they for? Let's look at one closer..... / Sex Shops in Japan sind auch sehr interessant....Sie verkaufen viele verschiedene dieser Plastik 'Dosen'. Hmmmm...wofür sind die? Lass uns eine näher betrachten....

Seems like they have an opening at the bottom and are filled with some Latex/rubber kind of material with a hole in the middle. And depending which model, different colouring, hair etc. / Es scheint so, als ob sie unten eine Öffnung haben und gefüllt sind mit Latex/Gummi Material und ein Loch in der Mitte haben. Je nach Modell, verschiedene Farben, Haare etc.

In what section was this blow-up doll hanging? :) / In welcher Sektion hat diese Gummi-Puppe gehangen? :)

Next shop was full of these lucky draw machines....! Remember these things from my childhood! / Der nächste Laden war voll mit diesen Glücks-Roboter-Maschinen! Ich erinnere mich an diese von meiner Kindheit

In between we go hungry and went to some Ramen place for lunch. Since we were about to leave Japan we really savoured our last Ramen here!

Lunch time.....last Ramen in Japan! / Zeit zum Mittagessen.....letzte Ramen in Japan!

The streets around Shinjuku are super crowded....you basically just can see a forest of humans! / Die Strassen um Shinjuku sind sehr voll....man kann praktisch nur einen Wald voller Menschen sehen!

And of course...in Japan you do not have to hide if you are special! :) It's more the other way round.... / Und natürlich, in Japan musst du dich nicht verstecken wenn Du speziell bist! :) Es ist eher umgekehrt...

The crowds were plenty around Shinjuku station / Es hatte viele Leute um den Shinjuku Bahnhof herum

Close to Shinjuku station is also Kabuki-cho, the old red light and entertainment district of Tokyo. We came across not only the 'standard' KTV and entertainment lounges for straight men, but also lots of lounges with posters of men, or rather boys...not being sure if they were catering to women or err....men.

Needless to say, Pasci was not too keen on hanging around for long around this place.

Shinjuku is as well the place to go for gay entertainment... / Nach Shinjuku geht man auch für Schwulen-Unterhaltung

Lots of Japanese boys with funky hair styles / Viele Japanische Jugendliche mit ausgefallenen Haarschnitten

Does Pasci blend in???! :) / Kann sich Pasci angleichen???! :)

Some more funky XXX-shops in this area / Noch mehr ausgefallene XXX-Shops in dieser Gegend

Another Japanese bizarre novelty: A cat afe! You can go drink your coffee in the middle of loads of little kittens.... / Eine weitere bizarre Japanische Neuheit: Ein Katzen-Kaffee! Du kannst Deinen Kaffee in mitten von vilen jungen Katzen trinken

After exploring the more dodgy parts around Shinjuku station we now went to look at an area, that was quite old and consits of lots of small alleys where there are small restaurants joints squeezed in. Very cute.

Small alleys, interesting smells and cool atmosphere.... / Kleine Gasssen, interessante Gerüche und coole Atmosphäre...

There were lots of small food joints.... / Es hatte viele kleine Restaurants....

Then it was time for a break at one of the busiest Starbucks in town / Und dann war es Zeit für eine Pause bei einem der belebtesten Starbucks in der Stadt

After walking for about 4 hours, we decided to take a pit stop at probably one of the other most famously frequented Starbucks in town - at Shinjuku station - to people watch and rest our poor feet (not to mention that it was FREEZING then in Tokyo!).

Mr. Tourist.....well equiped with Lonely Planet and map! :) / Herr Tourist....gut ausgerüstet mit Lonely Planet und Landkarte! :)

Japanese love their Pachinko and Slot machines....they apparently spend hours in there! / Japaner lieben ihre Pachinko und Slot Maschinen....sie können anscheinend Stunden in diesen Spiel-Höllen verbringen!

We had to buy some present for our host in Shanghai....what better to bring from Japan than a nice bottle of Sake! / Wir mussten ein Geschenk kaufen für unseren Gastgeber in Shanghai...was gibt es besseres als eine gute Flasche Sake!

The Tokyo public transport is great....especially with a Japan Railways pass / Die öffentlichen Verkehrsmittel in Tokyo sind super....vor allem mit einem Japan Railways Pass

....hmmmmmm.......???!!!?

We decided to go for a Korean bbq as our last dinner in Tokyo...stinking of garlic and bbq afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for our last Blog before retiring for the night....for an early start the next morning: to the Airport - bound for Beijing. *sniff*

Korean BBQ as a meat treat before leaving to China, where meat is only a small part of the daily dishes / Koreanisches BBQ bevor wir nach China abreisen, wo Fleisch nur ein kleiner Teil der täglichen Ernährung darstellt

We barbequed a lot of meat....and some veggies...and of course garlic! / Wir grillierten viel Fleisch....ein bisschen Gemüse...und natürlich Knoblauch!

And we finished everything....hehe! / Und wir haben alles gegessen....hehe!

Before going to sleep.....writing some Blog! We already expected that Blogger will be blocked in China! / Vor dem Schlafen gehen....am Blog schreiben! Wir haben bereits erwartet, dass Blogger gesperrt sein wird in China

Whilst waiting for our train to the airport, we sat next to a (smelly) white-bearded, long-haired German traveller who spends at least 6 months every year travelling around the world. We wondered if that would be us..... probably not. ;-) The airport was amazingly quiet that day because all outbound and inbound European flights were cancelled due to the volcano ash in Iceland - which meant less queues. Hurrah for us!

Japanese for beginners......what could that mean? / Japanisch für Anfänger.....was könnte das heissen?

.....aha....... :)

...soooo early in the morning....the world was upside down for Mishell / So früh am morgen...die Welt stand Kopf für Mishell

Due to volcano action in Europe lots of flights to the old continent were cancelled! / Aufgrund Vulkan Ereignisse in Europa waren viele Flügen zu dem alten Kontinent gestrichen!

.....hmmmm.....will there be toilet seat heating in China.......?!! / .......hmmmmm......wird es in China auch Toiletten Sitz-Heizung haben......?!!

Some dude guarding the entrance to passport control / Der Wächter der Pass-Kontrolle

Everywhere in Japan you can find the plastic displays of the food....they look quite accurately like the food you'll get! Amazing.... / Überall in Japan sieht man die Plastik Ausstellungs-Stücke des Essens...sie schauen genau aus, wie das Essen das man serviert erhält! Faszinierend....

Let's have some soup..... / Ein bisschen Suppe essen....

And flush it down with some cold Japanese beer! / Und es mit einem kalten Japanischen Bier runterspülen!

Fantastic Plastic!

Not plastic but real..... the plane that should bring us safely to Beijing, China / Nicht plastik sondern echt....das Flugzeug, dass uns hoffentlich sicher nach Peking, China bringt

Time for boarding..... / Zeit um einzusteigen.....

As we took off into the air, we were both nervous of what lies ahead of us in China - addition to smelly toilets and loud spitting.....

Next stop: Beijing, China