Tokyo Day 11

The walls are thin in Japanese hotels.

I never should have disparaged drunks, because at approximately 3:30 last night, three of them returned to the room next to mine where they spoke (in English) for about half an hour and then proceeded to pass out with the television on. I know they were passed out and not just sleeping because I called their room and let the phone ring 20 times before I gave up. The movie they bought finished around 5:30, so it was then quiet enough to sleep.

I am prayingthey went back to whatever expat hole they crawled out of today.

By way of comparison, the room on the other side of me was occupied by two Japanese revelers who returned at 4:00 AM. I heard a very brief exchange, the bathroom door open, and then nothing.

I got up around 9 and met Kevin for breakfast. I went with him to observe a Japanese New Year ritual for him; visiting temples. I am surprised that a young man of Kevin's impeccable moral fiber feels it necessary to "cover all his bases" by going to Japanese and Chinese temples during respective new years, but I certainly understand his perspective.

I forget the names of them, but they are two of the 5 major temples in Tokyo. The first was the biggest, I think. It's the Meiji emperor temple. We walked along paths full of people, and we washed our hands and tossed Y10 coins in the [place where you toss coins] and said a quick prayer.

I think mine was along the lines of "I know I'm going to hell, but please don't put me next to Woody Allen"...

We did the 'shake a stick and get a piece of paper that tells all about your life' thing. But I can't read Japanese. I also bought a 'must win' lucky charm so that I can kick even more ass at mahjong. I can't wait for Chinese New Year to test this thing out. Kung Fu Mahjong 4, here I come.

We then went to a smaller temple, apparently popularized by the Andy Lau/Sammi Cheng film Needing You. Something popularized it, because there was a monster line. Kevin and I waited dutifully in the cold for our chance to wash our hands, be "knighted" (in Kevin's words) by what I guess was a priest waving a branch.

I mean this in the best way, but he looked just like Brigitte Lin inThe East is Red . Think of that outfit, but a sort of off-white, simpler version.

Apparently, this temple is a major destination for single women trying to luck their way into love. I told Kevin this was probably the next best pick-up spot after an abortion rally.

I lined up dutifully to buy my own charm that will supposedly ensure the discovery of my true love, or whatever version of that you get for Y600.

I was tempted to get two and tie them together to see if Fate would send me two bisexual women who would love me to death (literally and figuratively), but I really hate Woody Allen.

It wasn't until I was too deep into the line that I noticed I was the only guy in it. Oh well, too late. Now I have a lovely pink charm that will hopefully deliver the love of my life.

I wonder if it only works in Japan. Maybe I need to get a domestic one at Wong Tai Sin.

Or maybe the love of my life is in Japan.

Maybe I already mether.

And maybe George Bush has a 3-digit IQ and maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.

Hey, we can all dream...

Not about the monkeys, you f#$%.

Afterward, we headed to Shibuya to catch up with his brother and his girlfriend. She wanted to show us something that Kevin's brother got in a particular shop: "Do you want to see Dennis' Beaver?"

I managed, somehow, to stay silent. To say nothing. To fight a nearly overhelming urge.

To certainly not say "Not half as much as I'd like to seeyours ..."

We ate lunch together and then split into obvious pairs to go shopping. Dennis and his Beaver and his girlfriend went one way and Kevin and I the other.

You'll be proud of me; when asked if I wanted to go shop at the Gap, I didn't reflexively blurt out "F#$% no!!!"

I just thought it.

So Kevin and I went to look for used CDs. We also decided to see a movie, so we got tickets, then killed time shopping for used CDs. Yes, I meant to repeat that. I found some more CDs, namely the Shaka Labbits new record and a couple of Tak Matsumoto solo discs. I haven't bought so many CDs in over a decade. I really like Japan's music industry. It has diversity.

But don't get me started.

Having found these treasures, Kevin and I toddled off to the theatre. Japanese cinemas are different. They have a LOT of previews. But they're all pretty short. And interspersed with public service announcements. The best one came after the trailer for Takashi Miike's Crow Zero II. The movie is a sequel to a film about high school gangs. The PSA was filmed by Miike, I guess, because it used the cast of the movies to make a point about disruptive behavior in cinemas. It was very funny and a lot less offensive than Jack Black channeling Mickey Rooney for the Kung Fu Panda PSA about smoking in theatres that I saw in Singapore.

After about 15 minutes of this, we got to the main feature:

I don't know why they bothered to make an Englsih poster as the film had no English subs... K-20 is, as best I can tell, a story set in a fictional 1949 Japan in which WWII never took place. A masked villain frames a circus performer, who becomes a superhero who fights to get the girl and save the world, all the while causing cotton-shrouded humidity among the female cinema goers since he is, after all, Takeshi Kaneshiro.

I enjoyed the film, even though I understood virtually none of it. Except baka, which I know means dummyor something equivalent.

After the movie, Kevin and I went for dinner. We decided we wanted okonomiyaki, or 'Japanese pizza.' It looks like this.

At least it does when professionally prepared. This place makes you fix your own, but we managed to create something edible.

I dubbed thisokonobukkake. " Sean, youtotally f@#$ed up the mayo. How can i eat this sh*t???"We also had soba noodles and something Kevin quite naturally referred to as 'vomit.'

It tastes a lot better than that name allows. But it was fun to have a mouth full of noodles and have Kevin ask me:

"You want some puke?" After dinner we took a short walk and got on the Ginza line to Akasaka-mitsuke station, where we parted ways. He'll be back in HK soon enough. I'll be back tomorrow night.

I walked back to my hotel, listening to some of the new music I bought on this trip and feeling very sad at the thought of leaving.

But I'm out of clean clothes, so I guess it's all for the best.

I'm glad I conscientiously blogged this vacation, because as you notice I tend to take pictures grudgingly and try my best to avoid being in them. So at least I have a record of having been here. I guess the sign of a good vacation is not wanting to go back, and if that's true, then this was a great vacation.

And not just because I met you-know-who.

Hopefully the hole in my spleen has closed up (a little) and I can manage to maintain some civility through the coming semester. I sure hope so.

Just like I hope my asthma doesn't play "Prison Shower" with me the same night I get back.