FORT90

Day 6: Shinjuku

The next day, I decided to check out all what Shinjuku was all about.

Shinjuku is major center of commerce, with huge department stores and malls everywhere, as well as home to the busiest train and bus station in the entire world. Never did a place define hustle and bustle, even more so than Times Square and various other parts of NYC. Though what truly sets itself apart from the Big Apple was how finely tuned everything is, like a supremely well oiled machine. Almost immediately I got the sensation that I was walking around the very definition of a ?modern city?. Yet one of the first things I came across was this temple that was on a side street…

Aside from all the futuristic looking buildings, it?s pretty amazing how the Japanese are able to balance industry and nature so well.

Much like Kawasaki, Shinjuku was remarkably clean. There was seriously no trash to be found on the ground anywhere, and the wild thing was that there zero trash cans to be found either. Which was kind of a pain when you had something to get rid off (as Ben, the sax player from Murphy?s Law, ?It?s funny how [the Japanese] are constantly giving you tissues, with no place to throw them away!?). Also, no stupid looking graffiti on the walls. Sometimes you?d see a sticker, but it was never anything retarded.

Some may have seen this already when I posted it at Zedge last week, but it deserves a re-post; saw some girl with the craziest looking, personalized cell phone ever and I just had to ask for a picture.

Yet another place to get haircuts…

A real life cat-bus! And it?s used to transport animals around, though there was none at the time.

My first real stop was Takashimaya Time Square. There?s a Tokyu Hands there, but unlike the one in Suzuki which was just one floor, Shinjuku?s was like twelve floors or something. Which meant twelve solid floors or crazy shit like this?

I almost got this Famicom clone since my top-loading NES has video connection problems, though I could never figure out if it could play NES games, and didn?t feel like blowing $35 to find out.

Almost got this too: basically it?s a pair of undines that are wearable on your head and that are connected. Yeah, I know…

Plus, I?m kicking myself for not getting the raccoon puppet. At the very least, I could have given it to MK?s mom.

Though I did pick up all these lovable postcards starring bears…

A look down, from one of the top floors, to a bridge that goes over the trains; the train station is right next to the mall.

Yet another thing the Japanese have up on us: malls. Especially the food court. Theirs looks like some five star restaurants found in the States.

A popular snack was these crepes stuffed with assorted fruits, ice cream, or even meat, then wrapped and served like an ice cream cone.

Stopped by HMV real quickly. Quick quiz: does this look like something for kids or adult?

If you said kids, what do you think after this? Is that the Pedo Bear to the lower right?

American stuff was pretty popular, like Twiggy…

In the U.S. it?s called Bubba Hotep. In Japan, it?s Elvis Vs. Mura!

Even funnier was how The Prestige was advertised: Batman vs. Wolverine!

Was tempted to pick this up; its nothing but just a collection of Rube Goldberg devices?

At the book store, here?s a bunch of Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys books (I think)…

Here?s another food court from another shopping center that was situated on the roof, which offered this spectacular view of the area…

See that park down there? Apparently, Joe and June got lost in there that day for like two hours!

A look at the train station from the street level.

Okay, another quick question: what are these people waiting for?

Donuts!

I thought all the people were waiting for a train or something, but no, it?s for the first, and only, Krispy Kreme in Japan.

To Be Continued…

2 comments

Day 5: Flying Into Tokyo

Sunday, the morning after the first Magma fest show was fairly pleasant. Enjoyed the wonderful breakfast buffet courtesy of the hotel once again, watched some more Japanese television…

The first is a scene from a Power Rangers show, in which all the bad guys, after getting their asses beat by the good guys, commiserate at a diner. The second is some forest creature going to another forest, which is why he has the camera. Upon seeing this, MK simply said “Oh God, I now NEED to go to Japan!”

Also, finally took advantage of the hotel?s offer to try out traditional Okinanwa garb to pose for pictures…

Soon we were all packed up, ready to go to the airport, to Tokyo, as were everyone else. We had vans waiting for us, yet, none of them moved. Here?s a picture from inside, or drivers, clearly confused/bewildered/annoyed with their latest cargo…

And of course, these surly looking old dudes drive around in vehicles sporting cutesy characters…

Anyway, we kinda just sat there due to problems at the airport; apparently their computers had all gone down. Which meant a delay, and I was pretty bummed since I really wanted to touch down in Tokyo in time to see kids parade around in wacky cosplay like they?re known to do at Harajuku on weekends. Eventually came word that things were at least back online, so off our convoy went. Which meant one last chance to soak up the sights that Okinawa had to offer…

Also had a particularly stimulating car-ride conversation involving clones. I mentioned my idea for disposable clones (basically, I?d love to market a series of vending machines that contain the DNA of various celebs? put in your money and bam, you have the celeb of your choice, at least for three hours, till they melt away), but I guess the underlying intent behind the clones were lost in Keith, when he started talking about cloning people from one?s past, and I had to wonder why anyone would want to have sex with one?s grandfather.

… I forget if I’ve already gone into my proportia-pet concept, which along with the disposable celebrity sex slave clone machine that will secure my Nobel Prize, or my insight into our soon to be alien slave master, mucus suits and all (or as Katie likes to refer to them as “snot suits”, which I find a tad bit undignified). If not, I will very soon…

The good feelings came to an abrupt halt when we finally arrived at the airport and saw a line a couple hundred deep. But, instead of people yelling and screaming and total calamity all about, the Japanese simply took it in stride and overall, everyone was chilled and relaxed. Not the Americans punk rockers though; many were needlessly pissy. Eventually we were told of a possible window to grab tickets and fly out, so myself, Joe, and June decided to take advantage of the situation and do some exploring.

The airport at Okinawa was really nice (and totally blows fucking JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark out of the water, but I guess that?s not so hard), with tons of stuff to see and do. First up was the arcade, naturally, which had a bunch of shmups, as well as this bizarre game from Namco starring S&M cupie dolls…

Then there?s this Konami title which I guess has you making pizzas…

There were various redemption machines, and one of the prizes was this Chibi Jack Skellington, which was a new one in my book…

Plus they had a Taiko Drum Master, which I had always wanted to play, and I finally got that chance…

As did Joe…

And as you can see, Pokemon are still pretty popular…

The gift shop had some pretty awesome finds, with the highlight being the local wine, which are brewed with real snakes…

Here?s one of the cooler American musicians (again, not every single one of them was a douchebag, just most of them) nabbing a capsule toy for his daughter. Yeah… right.

One featured I believe a local personality. I saw him/her all over the place.

And here?s a pair of shots from the drug aisles…

… That poo is pissed!

Soon it was time, and we all boarded the plane. This time I sat between two of the punk rockers who talked to each other the whole time. Which was rather annoying since I just wanted shuteye. I actually offered to switch places with one of them, so they could easily chit-chat, but was turned down. But it somewhat became clear that most of their talk was just to impress me with their ?tales from the road.? Just awesome.

We arrived in Haneda a few hours past when we were supposed to originally. Considering that there was a major computer outage, being two hours late is pretty impressive. But all the other American musicians were super agitated for some stupid reason. Eventually we all piled into a bus, and? again, just sat there. One of the guys, the person that my party was perhaps the most annoyed with, decided to investigate. This guy (I don?t know why I?m withholding his name? I guess I don?t want to be sued for slander or something? its not like I mind the hate mail? I still get plenty of shit from this YouTube page) is the type to be all friendly and nice to you in your face, and talk shit about you less then ten seconds after you?ve left the room, which was the case with the Magma three (Taka, Hide, and G). And that was what was getting on my party?s nerves the most. Yeah sure things had been disorganized, and sure it was clear that they were kinda in over their heads, but there was zero reason to talk down to them or yell at them like they were children. The one dude was also one of the guys I had to sit next to on the plane ride there, and when he mentioned how he basically slapped his hands or beat on a car door once to command one of the Japanese guys around (not one of the three but one of the other volunteers, all of whom are just as nice and mean well) like he was a fucking dog seriously pissed me off.

It should also be noted that the guy brought his wife and child, and the kid?s like five year old boy, who in an effort to imitate dear daddy, liked to say ?grown up? stuff, like talk about getting drunk and bitches and shit like that. Which is cute when its coming from a five year old?s mouth (actually its not), but when he?s 13, watch out…

Anyway, this guy goes out and talks to Hide for a bit, and then comes back to report that the reason why we haven?t moved is that the bus driver refuses to budge an inch till he has the money, which Hide didn?t have. So he called a representative from the head office to bring some cash, which was what we were all waiting for. Pretty embarrassing for Hide and company, it goes without saying. Though not helping was pissy lead singer?s tone, which was meant to totally rile up everyone and make things even worse. All I could do is look at Joe, June, Keith, and Anny and go ?Jesus Christ?. We all just knew that things were going get even uglier very soon, and we?d be smack in the crossfire.

Eventually (not too long after to be honest), the money person showed up, the driver got paid, and we were finally off to hotel number #4, at least for myself. I knew I would have to miss out on the crazy cosplayers (and I had specifically worn my Rodney Greenblat shirt for the day?s planned excursion to Harajuku, since I know all the kids in Japan love PaRappa and Rodney Fun), but at least the ride was nice and pleasant. Rolling down the highway totally felt like the nighttime city tracks in Gran Turismo and Ridge Racer. I really wish the pics I took weren’t so blurry…

But the true turning point of the trip took place at the hotel, during check in. At the airport, one couple had gotten so impatient for the bus to leave that they decided to take a cab to the hotel. So they asked Hide for directions to give to the cab driver. Well, when the bus arrived at the place, those two were no where to be found, even though they should have beaten us by a good half hour. As room keys were being handed out, those two finally arrived, and the wife was super pissed. I?ve also heard that in the hardcore world, the women do all the yelling and screaming, and it?s the men who go in and does all the clean-up. And that the women are nothing more than ditsy groupies that the rockers banged on the road and either fell in love with or got pregnant and decided to bring on the road. Regardless of the situation, almost all of them invariably begin to exhibit Yoko Ono traits and act like they?re part of the band. Anyhow, this one particular board starts yelling and screaming at Hide, right in his face, for not passing along good enough instructions since their cabbie got lost and went to the wrong hotel. And yeah, it?s annoying and all, but her scolding was totally uncalled for. Watching Hide look on the ground was simply painful, and at least one person in my party couldn?t take it anymore. So June stood up for Hide and suggested that the angry chick to chill out, and all hell broke lose. Not some big brawl for all, just a very heated argument in the lobby of the hotel, but still. The attempt to help Hide and the rest of the Magma guy?s face was not entirely successful, but something had to be done. Though it would have repercussions later down the road…

The worst had to be the look on G?s face; here they were, his rock idols, acting like a bunch of fucking children. It was pretty pathetic. For a bunch of ?hardcore? dudes, many were simply whiney bitches, period.

Afterwards my party regrouped and had dinner. It was mentioned how we were in a precarious situation, and how we might be in some sort of danger. Some folks in the bands have violent paths, some of whom had been rumored of killing kids at shows, like stomping them to death in the pit at shows. So all of sudden, the trip had taken a grim turn? June felt bad afterwards, though she totally didn?t need to. It had to be done, the five of us had long grown tired of watching a bunch of spoiled ?rock stars? call shots like they were the fucking Rolling Stones, and to be honest, better her say it since I probably would have said something, and I most definitely would have gotten the shit beat out of me or killed. To was then agreed that it was for the best that we just stick to ourselves, which wasn?t exactly all that different from the original plan. The next show was six days away, so we?d just keep ourselves entertained, which again would not be some great task, do what we were brought on-board to do, and that?s it.

It was late, but all of us were pretty wired from the events of earlier in the evening, so myself, June, and Joe decided to explore the surrounding area. We were in Shinjuku, near Koreatown to be exact, and that?s where we poked around.

Most things were closed, but there were still many sights to soak in, like this done for the night pet store…

I guess a sign for a hair salon?

For an amusement part?

For some bacon?

For some political candidate?

Remember, watch your kid!

Of course there were a few arcades. Didn?t spend too much time in them, since I was with Joe and June and I didn?t want to bore them to death, but I just made a quick scan and took a few pics, like this Half Life 2 arcade set-up…

And what I believe is some sort of Brain Age-like arcade game from Konami…

I just made mental notes when I came back, though I did nab some saucy capsule toys (they sell the more pervy ones at arcades as opposed to department stores or on the street).

As previously noted, you?ll always find tons of cool artwork under bridges…

Here?s yet another cartoon me found that night!

And to round out my batch of pictures from that night, here?s what hotel room #4 looked like…

To Be Continued…

No comments yet