20th November 2002

My plane landed at cloudy Narita International Airport. It was one of the emptiest airports I had ever been to. There were no shops, no people except those on my plane. I got past customs and got my luggage in less than 30 minutes. Now, I faced a problem. I had bought a Japanese phone card but I didn't know how to use it. I tried to ring Hiro (my good Japanese friend) from the airport. But I couldn't because I hadn't snapped off one end of the phone card. So I just took the airbus to Yokohama station (3500yen=NZD$58), which was the place where I was supposed to meet Hiro. The bus ride took 2 hours. I got to the terminal and didn't find Hiro waiting there; I felt a bit lost. But all the training in problem solving back in New Zealand kept me cool. I walked inside the bus station and found a public telephone where I could use my 'latest Japanese phone card'. I read the instructions (all in Japanese) and figured out that I needed to snap off one end of the card; then, I tried to come to grips with the Japanese telephone area code system. Eventually, I rang Hiro and – thank God - he picked up the phone (I was afraid that I had to speak Japanese to be forwarded to him). He was surprised that I was already at Yokohama station. So he said he would rush to the station to pick me up. I just waited there, seeing everyone meeting his or her friends and leaving the waiting area while I was sitting there, listening to my music.
While my head was down trying to find something, suddenly a Japanese guy came up and said: "Waszzup?" I looked up and was surprised to see "HIRO" with a new hairstyle. I said: 'Wow, this is a photo I have to take.' So I took a photo of him with my brand spanking new digital camera. Right at that instant, I knew that that's Hiro (kind of shy of photos). After he had broken a strip of my bag, we walked past a shopping centre and got on a local train. It was already dark, so I couldn't really see much outside. We thus focussed on inside the train, talking about the types of people you can always find on Japanese trains. There were people who were having a little nap, there were girls who were putting on their make-up, there were people who were sending emails to their friends using their mobile phone, and there were people who were reading books, magazines, and newspapers. Hiro and I were the only two who were talking. Just like at Railway - once you started talking, time flew and we got to Hiro's station within a second it seemed. After a short walk through some shops, there was the killer slope. Luckily, I had been walking up hills from Railway to university everyday. Then finally, we got to Hiro's house. It was a two-story tall modernized Japanese house. I greeted Hiro's mum and sister. Hiro showed me my room. I was really surprised as it was a Japanese style bedroom with "tatami" flooring, a small table, some seats and my bed in the middle of the room. But everything else inside the house was very modern. I don't know if any of you have heard of smart toilets. The kind of toilet which washes your ass after you have shit. I have seen one at Hiro's place. Don't ask me how it feels like because I didn't try it out.

21st November 2002

After a wonderful Japanese style breakfast prepared by Hiro's mum, Hiro and me headed for Isezakicho (in Yokohama). Isezakicho is the biggest red light district in Japan. I could see lots of adult entertainment businesses on the second or third floor of each building. Past the Yokohama stadium was Yokohama's very famous Chinatown. It was so tidy and clean everywhere that it didn't really give me the feeling of being in a typical Chinatown. Another thing was that I felt completely safe even in the back streets. After visiting a few shops selling Japanese-Chinese combined gifts we headed off for the waterfront – Yamashita-koen. A must go for couples. The seaside park was very nice, you could see the Yokohama tower, Hikawa Maru (a retired passenger liner) and the Yokohama landmark tower (tallest building in Japan). We walked northwest along the seaside. There were the renewed red brick buildings which were old portside stores. Now, there is a museum on one side and restaurants and shops on the other. Because we needed to meet an important friend in Tokyo at 1pm, we rushed past the Minato Mirai 21 Complex and got to the Sakuragi-cho station. It was my second time taking the train in Japan, and this time it was daytime. I could see the train infrastructures which I could only see in games or on TV before.

At exactly 1pm, two Asian guys (one Japanese, one Hong-Kongese) were standing right in front of the famous Shibuya station dog (Hachiko Statue) waiting, waiting for a girl. Finally, guess who turned out 10 minutes late, Kumiko. After a bit of the usual greetings, the three of us started to stroll around Shibuya. Shibuya is a youth-oriented shopping district with lots of fashion shops and gift stores. Hiro guided us away from all the built-up area to a park, Yoyogi-koen. It was a big park (53.2 hectares) in the middle of Tokyo city. The highlight of the park was a Japanese guy practicing ball juggling, he was juggling 5 balls at one time!
Through Yoyogi-koen, we got to Meiji-jingu (Tokyo's biggest shrine). And that was the place where I bought my "Safe travel" charm. I am telling you this charm really worked for me; it gave me so much luck. And I also saw a cute little girl dressed-up in kimono going to the shrine for the 3-5-7 celebration.
The next stop was Takeshita dori. A sea of young people – that's all I can say.
Instead of taking the subway, we decided to walk to Shinjuku. Along the walk, we got to a place of huge contrasts. On the right hand side of the street, there were only expensive, high-class shops. But on the other side, there weas a row of old, dirty apartment buildings. We walked past Kumiko's university (United Nation University) and got to Shinjuku. Shinjuku at night was crowded, very crowded according to my Japanese friends. But as to me, I really liked it. It gave me a feeling of being in a big city.
We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant. Then, Hiro led us to the biggest red light district in Tokyo, Kabuki-cho. Kumiko kept on saying that she didn't like this area and didn't feel safe. Ha! Ha! But I id, I don't think any Japanese would have attacked me. 10 minutes passed as we were passing all the massage parlors, love hotels, peep shows, porno-video booths and strip shows. Again, it was getting late to go home (Tomioka-nishi, Yokohama). We said goodbye to Kumiko at the station. And there we were, two Asian guys together alone once again. On the way back home, we were talking a lot, a lot about people and relationships. We got home at around 1.30am, ate supper and slept at 2am. How wonderful was that? Just like Railway.

22nd November 2002

While Hiro was driving to pick Kumiko up, I was up quite early and got a chance to walk around Hiro's town. I found Tomioka (Hiro's town) quite interesting and finally got a chance to see what normal Japanese people do in their normal life. I saw kids in a schoolyard playing sports, elderly people hanging around in parks playing some special games. By the time I got back to Hiro's place, Kumiko was already there and all the three of us headed towards Tokyo to meet a very special friend of us. On the drive to Tokyo, Kumiko told us about how Hiro's mum had mistaken her for Roseanne, the 'very special friend of us' who doesn't speak Japanese. Hiro's mum had told Kumiko that she spoke very good Japanese (Well... she is a Japanese, it's only normal that she speaks good Japanese).
We saw Roseanne only after getting lost in Tokyo city (good sense of direction, driver!). So there we were, five of us inside Hiro's car. We travelled to the Imperial Palace (which was closed on that day), the Tokyo Station and a place which I forgot the name of. At that place, we visited a temple and we had dinner at a very 'Tokyo' style restaurant. The girls definitely had a 'fun time' learning how to serve traditional Japanese food. While theWhile the rest of us were laughing our ass off at how the owner 'taught' the girls. Man, I should have taken photos when she was teaching.
After the cooking lesson, we headed to Roppongi, the city of bars, pubs and clubs. We went to a few bars and finally settled down at a small restaurant. It was there that we met another friend, Yoko. That friend was a superwoman, she had traveled to China alone and she was hungry for more adventures. As I went to the toilet, Hiro and the others secretly bought me a birthday cake. Suddenly the lights dimmed and a cake was presented in front of me. And they all started to sing 'happy birthday' to me. I was really surprised and didn't know what to say. I wished for a safe trip before I blew the candle.
Hiro and I left Roppongi at midnight. On the drive to Yokohama, we saw dozens of road works and we started to discus about Japan's transportation and stupid road works. I can remember that we stopped at a convenient store to ring Kumiko about the plan for the next day. It was 1am and it was bloody cold!

23rd November 2002

Hiro and I both got up late, so we had to rush to the station to meet Roseanne. Luckily, we still got to the station on time. Roseanne, Hiro and I then went to Kamakura. We were quite early, so we decided to have a cup of tea and waited for Kumiko. I drank the best hot chocolate ever at a small cozy coffee shop. Kumiko finally turned up at 1pm and we started to stroll through this old capital of Japan. We went into many temples and tried many little snacks along the way. And I tried my first green tea ice-cream (didn't taste very nice).
We got back to Hiro's place for a little rest and then headed to Yokohama city. Hiro did a quick tour of Yokohama, but Roseanne was too tired and slept in the car. Finally, we ate dinner at New York Dinning, inside Yokohama World Porters. Fantastic meal. I remember that I 'got' some couple to take photos of the four of us outside the red brick building.
Back home, I enjoyed J-pop on TV with Hiro. What can I say? Some singers can't sing!

24th November 2002

On this particular Sunday I went to Shibuya again. This time, I saw the 'survivor' of Yamanba (dark suntans, also known as Ganguro). You've got to see one in real life, they will definitely blow you away! We continued our souvenir shopping with a few stops at 'condomania'. I learned about a typical Japanese university student from Hiro, while the girls were happily shopping in a big shopping mall in Shinjuku. We met Kumiko at 5pm, drank coffee and then, Yoko had to leave. The remaining four went to izakaya (Japanese style pub). We had some sake but were not very drunk when we left. Good old Hiro led us to the red light district, Kabuki-cho, again. 'This time is for Roseanne,' he said.
Never knowing that Roseanne and I would meet again on Mt Fuji (see 'Nagano') we said goodbye to each other and we all headed off to different directions. Again Hiro and I slept around 1.30am. Was this because of our usual habits?