Travelin Monkey

In Tokyo, it is 6:00 pm on 2/20/05, but I have no idea what day it is supposed to be for me! Today was, for lack of a better word, spectacular!! I awoke at 7 am to a magnificent sunrise over the river that runs next to my room. I quickly set off to make the most of the truely single full day I would have in Tokyo, and boy did I ever!

The one hour subway ride to Tokyo proper went smoother than expected, considering I had no idea how to get there when I left for the Asakusa station. All I had at hand was a Tokyo metro guide and a quick reference book on certain zones of Tokyo. I couldn’t have asked for a better morning when I exited Nijubashimae and headed towards the Imperial Estate. I quickly found the bridge to the main entrance, then slowly began making my way around the Estate to the East Gardens. The morning haze swimming through the Bonzai trees made the perfect clash with the monolith skyrises of Tokyo proper. The Edo-style architecture seemed to complement the morning weather, as if the place would soon be attacked.

I arrived at the 3rd Gate to the garden, and luckily, unlike the first two, this one was open! The garden was enormous, but unfortunately, there isn’t much to enjoy in the dead of winter! Today was 5 degrees celcius, a whopping 1 degree warmer than yesterday! At least it was a dry day

After strolling around the gardens, I made my way to the Science Museum. I had a lot of fun because 90% of it was interactive toys. Most of it was geared towards children, but at a level I thought advanced for the age group I came in contact with. Not surprising though.

There are, I think three different ways to travel around. One is the JR line, which is like the SF muni. Another is the subway line, similar to Washington D.C. subway system. The third is a system that sort of connects the first two. All trains have seats that warm your butt and lower back when you sit on them. All the lines differ on how they tell you which station is next. The only problematic one is the Keisei line, which tends to be important since that is the one that goes to Narita airport!!

After the museum, I heeded towards Shinjuku, also known as downtown Tokyo. My map here was completely useless. I was basically lost, trying to make sense of the entire place using buildings and signs as landmarks. Wow, do these people have the most slot machines I have EVER seen!! AND ARCADES!! One machine that we use to win stuffed animals had stewardess and french maid outfits up for grabs. I walked around, went into all these odd small shops, and some mall. They have amazing technology here.

In the US, I have seen 1.2 megapixel 3 CCD digital camcorders for $600. Here, they had 4.0 megapixel 3 CCD camcorders for $400. Our cell phones barely have 1 megapixel cameras, here they all come with 2.0 megapixels STANDARD!! Everyone is ALWAYS on the net with their phones, watching movies, even live stream chatting underground in the subway! Their flat screen TVs are out of this world, and the game consoles are ridiculous, including games that will probably not make it to the US for a while.

From Shinjuku, I went to the red light district called Kabukicho. They don’t have strip clubs, rather they have sex clubs. You walk into a room with pictures of all the ladies, what they do and how much they charge. From there, you head on to the hotel or mysterious stairs that I didn’t have the balls to climb.

The “DVD” stores all sell porn and only porn. They are usually 5 to 6 levels plus a basement. The 1st level has your typical porn, Cinemax style. The next level gets a tad more risque`. Once you start reaching the upper levels, that is where the trouble starts! Anemageddon (anema to the face), bestiality (red rockets to the mouth), pregnant women getting fisted, 100 females in a urinal, girls urinating, lactating, crapping in each other ’s mouths. Women with dicks getting ass rammed while they give blowjobs. You name it, it was there. They had used, stained knickers for US$35 and even kiddy-porn manga. These people have no limits and most of this stuff is disgusting.

But WOW, when I got to the basement! Anime manga, but they also had a section of 12-17 year old girls doing porn. Voyeurs at high schools & junior high’s, 15 year old girls playing twister in bikini’s, the most disgusting things in the world. I always thought bestiality and kiddie porn was illegal EVERYWHERE ON THE FACE OF THIS PLANET. Japan, you’ve proven me wrong!

After enough of this sight-seeing,? I decided it was time to venture to Akihabara, the electric city. Amazing. That is the MECCA of the latest electronics in the WORLD. Words can’t explain the things I saw, the beautiful, highly advanced gadgets. Naturally, I couldn’t resist, so I bought a digital camera for $189. It is pretty awesome, my first one too!

So, now I find myself resting a bit. In a while I will head out to Ginza for dinner and in hunt for some night life. Tomorrow, I plan on waking up early and heading to the fish market and hopefully a public bath. I’ll probably come back, check out, and spend ther restof the trip in Ueno before heading back home. One day I will return with more time and money. Hopefully by then I would have figured out this menu problem so I could EAT!

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