Singing Away the Blues of
my Last Night in Tokyo...
January 28, 2006
Aha! I have outsmarted the ‘Tokyo City View’! I found something in a guidebook about a building in Western Shinjuku where
you can go to the top and see free views of Tokyo! So this was my first item of business for the day. See free view of Tokyo.
Now this was going to be a bit of a challenge. I was going to attempt to find this without getting directions from anybody. Just
using the map that I had in the guidebook. What made it more challenging was that Shinjuku just happens to be an insanely
busy subway station with about as many exits as there are people in Tokyo (okay…a big exaggeration here—but you get my
drift). It was now time to strap my common sense hat on. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) building is in Western
Shinjuku. 1. Can narrow it down to scoping out the ‘West’ exits. 2. There’s a department store on my map. Could then get more
of a grasp where I was once I found that. 3. My map shows a rather large street leading up to the TMG building. Find that
street.
So far all was going according to plan. Too much according to plan. There is every so often when you get a feeling that you are
just invincible—like you could take anything on at that moment. This was that moment. As I continued walking and saw that
the TMG building was just meters in front of me, all I could say to myself was ‘Jen, you really rock. Really. You do.’ No wrong
turns. No detours. No asking for help along the way. Just me and my oh-so-handy common sense hat that I put on.
After giving myself all of the well-earned praise, I found the entrance to the observatories (there are two towers and you can go
up and see the view from either of them). Being the clear day that it was, the city views just went on forever. On an extremely
clear day you can see Mt. Fuji. When I looked really hard I was actually able to see it. In all honesty, it looked a bit more like
the ghost of Mt. Fuji. It was white and just kind of blended in with the sky.
Soon after, I met up with Dave and Masayo at the Tokyo Station subway to go to the Imperial Palace (Masayo so sweetly gave
me a phone card the first day I got here so I’ve had no problem getting in touch whenever we need to meet up). We just walked
around the grounds. Nothing too fascinating but it was a nice (albeit windy) walk with traditional Japanese structures in the
middle of the concrete jungle.
From here, we ventured into Okachimachi. This consisted of a main pedestrian path. Almost like an alley. A long alley with
vendor after vendor after vendor. Selling everything from fish products to complete junk. To be honest, a lot of this was a blur
because back at the Imperial Palace I started to get hungry. By this point, the monster known as ‘Hungry Jen’ had emerged. I
do not like this person and nor does anybody else. I needed to find food. Immediately. I could have gone for anything at this
point—even the chicken hearts on a skewer. But luckily fate stepped in and low and behold, in the middle of all of the chaos
going in the alley and all of the side alleys, there was <gasp> a cute wine bar/café. I’m talking hip and cool. I’m talking they
served wines from Sonoma (e.g. Ridge). I’m talking they served their wine in Spiegelau glasses. Who knew there would be this
gem nestled between dried fish stands!? Once we sat, I was as happy as a clam. I knew I would get to eat. And drink. All was
good and Hungry Jen was a thing of the past.
In addition to great wine and atmosphere, the time had come for me to check out something else. It has become a habit of mine
to check out the toilets in the different establishments I go to. And I’ll have to say…this one ranked high up there. Upon
entering the bathroom, the toilet seat lid lifted up automatically. Talk about inviting! Unfortunately, Japan has the ability to
make a person a bathroom snob. For example, I’ve been places where there is nothing more than a hole on the floor. Literally
just a hole. It makes it so that when you find a toilet (even one without a toilet seat) you feel like you are lucky and blessed.
Even if there isn’t toilet paper, it’s not the worst thing because at least there was a semi-toilet. I was very low-
maintenance…though I do hate squatting. I just feel like it takes so much concentration. And the second you lose your
concentration is when it veers to the right or to the left and all down your leg. But I digress…Now that I’m in Japan, it’s a
different story. I will literally walk into public bathrooms that have a normal toilet, toilet paper and even seat covers and I’m
not satisfied. I want a bathroom with the fun functions. I have literally walked out of a couple of these 100% clean and sanitary
bathrooms in hopes of finding a ‘cool’ one. Dave and I even discussed the possibility of buying these to bring them home with us.
He told me he would know how to install one so that wouldn’t be a problem. But mark my words…when I buy a place, one of my
first purchases is going to be the fun toilet seat.
Mission accomplished upon leaving the restaurant. I had my buzz on. Between me saying ‘chin chin’ out loud (it refers to a male
part of the anatomy in Japanese) or using a pineapple skewer I bought on the street in a phallic way while eating it, it was clear
that the wine had clearly kicked in. So there’s only one thing to do at this point…drop our stuff off and get ready to go out! Dave
figured the way to really have me live up my last night in Tokyo was to go karaoke in Roppongi. I clearly have never sung in
front of him and that is why he suggested this. The way this goes is you rent a room by the hour. We had a small room since it
was just the three of us. Then you order drinks and food to be delivered to your room (via the phone that is in the room).
Masayo made me sound like Roseanne (a la her national anthem performance). Wait. I think I sound like that regardless.
Anyway, while she sang Japanese songs for us, I treated all of us to my renditions of some favorites like M.J.’s ‘Beat It’
(complete with dance and air guitar performance), ‘Step by Step’ by NKOTB, ‘It’s a Small World’ (that song always puts a smile
on my face—I think I’m still the only adult who chooses to go on that ride at Disneyland) and Wannabe (I have a whole new
respect and admiration for the Spice Girls—that is not a very easy song!).
So sad to think it was my last night in Tokyo. As has been the case since I got here, another kick-butt day in Japan filled with
fun, relaxation and new experiences.
| View from the top of the TMG building |
| Getting our karaoke on. |
