epic Tokyo weekend #63462 - a birthday in need of an introduction. Laurence turns 25 and isnt afraid of ghosts.

I took an early coach down to Tokyo with Yukiko on Saturday.

We had a great weekend ahead of us.

oh yes.

Area A:  snapchats. "this is how you ......X.... in Tokyo Motherfuckers!" 

X = [pet a dog] [cross the road] [etc].

-The tempura restaurant up the road from our usual stay hostel - where John Dicks and Hana found us. They were on their way back from an Ikebana show... how motherly.

-Laurence is found on the side of the street looking particularly dapper. About to even look moreso - as he was then to embark on a trip to the hairdressers.

-A longer than planned stop at the hostel. Some play on tinder keeps Dyar and John occupied. Zara showers and puts on a new catsuit. We get ready and go.






Department B:  We arrived at the event in Shibuya at around 7pm. Strangely the night was on between 5 and 11 PM. A small club playing very good music, something Laurence had found online. I thought the Canadian DJ was particularly attractive until I started talking to him and realised immediately that he most definitely had social problems. There was an artist making an image of a fox. Apparently it was to be sold for... hmm, 50,000Yen was it? I forced him to dance and offered him a handshake and a kiss on the cheek in exchange for the piece. As expected, this offer was turned down. We stayed at the venue for around 4 hours, each more enjoyable than the last - until the level of fun peaked and we poured out onto the street. We were a group of around 6 or 7 by this point. 

-we got something cheap and delicious to eat. Laurence had a funny little Londoner friend with him- so, as you do when you come across other people from your hometown somewhere foreign, we reminissed about things from home. conversation that would seem so obvious and generic at home is the most comforting and exciting thing abroad.









Compartment C: We hung around Shiubya station getting lost and found and lost and found looking for drinks at combini's, having lipstick kiss fights and generally being messy. We lost Dyar and John. We gained Tiffani. We gained a friend of Laurence's called Cameron. And then we lost Tiffani. By the time we got moving there were 5 of us.
On the metro I befriended a 15 year old scandanavian boy who I forced the name Sven upon. He seemed to adopt it quite naturally. He was wearing summer clothing on a winter night. He was shivering and couldn't find the party he was looking for. I tried to persuade everyone that our next move should be to a 15 year old birthday party. This suggestion was met with hostility. We didn't go.
We were in Roppongi. We stopped for a while on the main street. More snapchats. One comes to mind with the tagline "this is how you make friends in Tokyo".
We went for a drink at a bar called "The Hub" - an underground English style pub with a depressing atmosphere. Me, shmooks and hana started chatting to a pretentious photographer from New York/LA. It was lame. We made a swift escape.


Section D: We went to Propaganda. The cheesiest most embarssing foreigner bar in the whole area. I wish by this point I knew of good clubs and had failsafe venues around Tokyo for a night out- but I don't. Propaganda makes me feel as though I am in a piranha tank. You can smell the desperation from half way up the stairs. The music makes me feel depressed. Commercial rubbish - music made for piranhas to make their kill.
Despite the odds - I found a way to enjoy myself. I befriended the club photographer who was having a hard time getting people to pose for him. I decided to help him out by forcing everyone to pose with me and then by pulling a stupid face at the last moment. Yes I realise now that I ruined every shot - but it was worth it for my own enjoyment.
After we left the place we attempted to go for karaoke - the traditional way to end a night out in Japan. However, karaoke places around Roppongi are painfully expensive and we decided against the idea.

Then of course, the only way to properly finish a night out is by greasy fast food. We went to Wendys, an American burger place. I've never been before - my expectation were low. I must say I found it to be fantastic. As we sat upstairs in the Roppongi Wendys at what must have been around 2.30 in the morning, I enjoyed what was left of the night laughing my head off with Yukiko, Laurence, Hana and Cameron. On the cab ride back Laurence googled "inappropriate jokes" and recited them to me and Yukikoooo like poetry. Apparently a disproprotionate amount of inappropriate jokes found on the internet are aimed at Ethiopians.  What dya know.
We got back with the intention to stay up. by this point we had been out for around 9 hours. I passed stone cold out in my capsule hostel bed.








SUNDAY ^ the morning after the night before.
cameron left us in the morning.
I spent the day with Laurence, Shmookiko and Hana.
We had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant in Shibuya. I thought I might throw up as my body has forgotten how to digest carbonara. We had a final kampai for Laurence's birthday.
We went to watch the St.Patrick's day parade in Harajuku. I liked it. JJ and Tiffani had met up with us by this point. We also bumped into some of shmukikooos friends outside of a TGI Friday. They joined us for a while but then made thier excuses and left.
As it was the first nice, sunny day all year, we embraced this by drinking ale in Yoyogi Park. Josh from Tskuba joined us on his bike. The guy is crazy - he cycled 3 hours to get into Tokyo and then 3 hours home. This is regular for him. I took the bus back to Mito with Yukiko.