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Tokyo Non Mon Amour
Dec. 4th, 2007 09:47 amThis weekend I went to Tokyo to meet up with my friend Ayumi. It's always odd to meet up with people out of context.　Ayumi used to be one of my students in London, and having spent so long in England is more in love with potatoes than any person rightly should be.
We went to Takodanababa where I swapped up 13 books for 3 (David Mitchell's "Black Swan Green", China Mieville's "King Rat", and Patrick McGrath's "Martha Peake"), and then off to somewhere south of Shinjuku to wander about the shops. It reminded me very much of Brighton with its small streets and trendy shops. Eventually we headed back to Shinjuku and had coffee next to the Shinjuku Spring Leaves Band, who Ayumi took a disliking to. We were heading off to Ikebukuro when I spied an advert for a bowling place in Kabuki-cho so we turned round and headed off to go Fantasy Bowling:
My first score was 123, a personal best with three strikes in a row. If Fantasy Bowling is anything to go by, it seems I may be better at it than most Japanese people, though maybe that has something to do with no being able to see properly under the black light.
After seeing our scores plummet in the next game, we went to an izakaya near the bus station where a noisy man was shouting and dropping his trousers in the booth next to ours. December is bonenkai (sic) (office party) season, so much merriment takes places. (In fact, Joe and I went out to one last night. Joe ended up drinking too much sake and started to think hitting me on the arm was a good idea. So I hit him back. So hard in fact, that Mikio came and sat between us to prevent any more assaults. I hope he has a stinking headache this morning - Joe, that is. I'm sure Mikio does anyway.)
Ayumi and I said farewell at Shinjuku bus station and I spent the next 3 hours on a bus with leg cramps from all the walking and the cold, and sitting next to a fidgety salaryman. I like Tokyo, but I'm fondest towards it when I'm leaving. And you know what, I went to Tokyo and I didn't get given a single pack of free tissues.
We went to Takodanababa where I swapped up 13 books for 3 (David Mitchell's "Black Swan Green", China Mieville's "King Rat", and Patrick McGrath's "Martha Peake"), and then off to somewhere south of Shinjuku to wander about the shops. It reminded me very much of Brighton with its small streets and trendy shops. Eventually we headed back to Shinjuku and had coffee next to the Shinjuku Spring Leaves Band, who Ayumi took a disliking to. We were heading off to Ikebukuro when I spied an advert for a bowling place in Kabuki-cho so we turned round and headed off to go Fantasy Bowling:
My first score was 123, a personal best with three strikes in a row. If Fantasy Bowling is anything to go by, it seems I may be better at it than most Japanese people, though maybe that has something to do with no being able to see properly under the black light.
After seeing our scores plummet in the next game, we went to an izakaya near the bus station where a noisy man was shouting and dropping his trousers in the booth next to ours. December is bonenkai (sic) (office party) season, so much merriment takes places. (In fact, Joe and I went out to one last night. Joe ended up drinking too much sake and started to think hitting me on the arm was a good idea. So I hit him back. So hard in fact, that Mikio came and sat between us to prevent any more assaults. I hope he has a stinking headache this morning - Joe, that is. I'm sure Mikio does anyway.)
Ayumi and I said farewell at Shinjuku bus station and I spent the next 3 hours on a bus with leg cramps from all the walking and the cold, and sitting next to a fidgety salaryman. I like Tokyo, but I'm fondest towards it when I'm leaving. And you know what, I went to Tokyo and I didn't get given a single pack of free tissues.
