Drinking Wine
Mar. 25th, 2011 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astillarIf god comes whispering in my ear
'How do you like the wine?'
I would be just too happy
To offer him,
'Please have some'
Yesterday morning I went to Tokyu Hands, the department store that has a DIY section that lends itself well to cosplay. I got there an hour before the store opened so I grabbed some breakfast at a Family Mart (Famima). While there, I recognized a familiar face. I like to think she’s cheering me on. And her newest costume is holy-shit-badass! Anyways, I didn’t go to the main TH, just a satellite branch that was in my neighborhood. The costume/crafts section was just one corner of the hobby floor, maybe 400 square feet. It was pretty impressive, it had all sorts of stuff from leatherworking to jewelry-making; much more than any Hobby Lobby, all in one tiny spot. I can only imagine how much stuff the main store has. Then I went to the DIY Tools & Materials floor and I . . . . LOST. MY. SHIT.
I know most of you readers are cosplayers, but you’re probably not a 'hard' cosplayer like me so I doubt y'all would've been equally excited. That place had EVERYTHING (I am not exaggerating. EVERYTHING.). Stuff I’ve only seen on the blogs of professional cosplayers, or in 'the making of' documentaries from various movies, and much MORE. I was as happy as a kid on Christmas morning. I was touching, testing, examining, biting, everything. But after an hour of elation I became as sad as a Jewish kid on Christmas morning. I realized that none of these wondrous gifts were going to be mine. Even if I threw away my clothes to make space in my luggage and blew my remaining budget on the awesome materials and tools, there’s no way I could get it on the plane. And even if I did get it home and translated the labels and instructions, it would only last me for a short while. Then what? How would I get my next fix?
I dragged myself out of Tokyu Hands and chilled out on the roof for a while. No, I wasn't going to jump. Apparently many big department stores have these garden/parks on their roof. There was a tiny shrine hidden away up there too. And here's a long boring video of the view from up there. You can get a peek at Tokyo Tower, and I tried zooming in on my hotel down the road.
After that I went to a couple of clothing stores. The clothes were cool, but a little too hip and stylish for me. I’m too dull and old to pull off those looks. I headed back towards the train station and on the way I finally abandoned my tourist’s shyness and stepped into a restaurant for lunch. Again, I had to be all creepy and watch people for a while to figure out how things worked. I chose that place because they had their menu in pictures on the wall, with numbers so I thought, "Cool! All I have to do is say a number. I can do that!" But there was this vending machine thing inbetween me and my food. Put the money in, push some buttons, and it spits out a ticket that you then take to the counter. The place was tiny and no-frills. Just stools and a long bar, with chopsticks and pitchers of ice water. It was just a place to cram food down your throat as quickly as possible and get back to work. No menus, no appetizers, no small talk. Just hot food, fast. And boy, did those dudes whip it up quick. I have no idea what I ordered, but good god, it was delicious. My first hot meal in days. The whole experience was fun, though I’ll bet the locals think it’s the worst kind of dining possible.
Since I couldn't film my own fun, I had to settle for filming a stranger. Too bad the restaurant was too tiny for me to film in there. :[
Akihabara
I was going to meet Kelly (a friend from Texas) in Akihabara for dinner and drinks so I headed up there next. Ten years ago, I would’ve gone nuts in a place like that and spent all my money. It made me a little nostalgic for my rabid anime fan phase. Even though I’m no longer aware of the current anime and manga that’s popular, I certainly felt like I was in the right place. I didn’t buy anything other than a cheap wristwatch but I rooted through at least half a dozen stores, looking for that mythical Sechs figurine. I don’t think it actually exists since the author doesn’t whore out his manga for the money like some do (that’s right, I’m talking about you, One Piece! God, your crap was all over the place! What the hell?!?!), but I figured if it does exist, this would be the place to find it. This being Tokyo, all of the stores go up and down; each one had an average of 6 floors so I climbed a lot of stairs that afternoon. I didn't find Sechs of course, but I did see Gally again. I felt sorry for the girls standing on the sidewalks out front who were trying to talk guys into the maid cafes. They were wearing their little costumes (uniforms?) and so obviously freezing. But then they’d address me with that nasal, artificial 'cute' voice and I had a hard time feeling sorry for them.
By the time Kelly arrived, my legs were on their last legs. We went to a family restaurant and I had another delicious hot meal, this time with wine. Yay, alcohol, I’ve missed you so! Hot food, alcohol, and a chance to speak English to another human being. It was fantastic. As we were leaving the restaurant, a tipsy woman came up and in clumsy English, told us that we were a beautiful couple. Ha ha ha. After dinner we strolled through Akihabara for awhile. I wasn’t interested in going back into those same anime/manga stores so we went into an ‘adult amusement’ store for shits and giggles. After all the crazy Japanese porn I’ve seen, that store did not disappoint. Eight floors of toys and gear. You lucky girls, you get the funnest toys.
Our wine buzz was wearing off by this point so we hopped on the train and headed to Kelly’s neighborhood, Ueno, to find a bar. We found this place called the ‘Hub Pub’ and were curious to see if was really a pub. We were pleasantly surprised! There were white people there and one black guy too! The Japanese girl with him must feel like she won the jackpot. Good for you girl! We had a few more bottles of wine and I had this liter of beer; it's in a graduated cylinder so it’s smart beer. We had lots of fun, though we started to get rowdy after a few hours and one of us started knocking stuff over. We had to get out of there. I’m glad I don’t remember everything, because I’m sure I’d be embarrassed if I did. But it turned out to be good timing. It was almost midnight, so I said a quick goodbye and headed out to catch the last train. In hindsight, I’m impressed that I was able to find my way through a strange neighborhood to the train station, get on the right train, and then walk back to my hotel, all while fairly drunk. All in all it was a great evening.
'How do you like the wine?'
I would be just too happy
To offer him,
'Please have some'
Yesterday morning I went to Tokyu Hands, the department store that has a DIY section that lends itself well to cosplay. I got there an hour before the store opened so I grabbed some breakfast at a Family Mart (Famima). While there, I recognized a familiar face. I like to think she’s cheering me on. And her newest costume is holy-shit-badass! Anyways, I didn’t go to the main TH, just a satellite branch that was in my neighborhood. The costume/crafts section was just one corner of the hobby floor, maybe 400 square feet. It was pretty impressive, it had all sorts of stuff from leatherworking to jewelry-making; much more than any Hobby Lobby, all in one tiny spot. I can only imagine how much stuff the main store has. Then I went to the DIY Tools & Materials floor and I . . . . LOST. MY. SHIT.
I know most of you readers are cosplayers, but you’re probably not a 'hard' cosplayer like me so I doubt y'all would've been equally excited. That place had EVERYTHING (I am not exaggerating. EVERYTHING.). Stuff I’ve only seen on the blogs of professional cosplayers, or in 'the making of' documentaries from various movies, and much MORE. I was as happy as a kid on Christmas morning. I was touching, testing, examining, biting, everything. But after an hour of elation I became as sad as a Jewish kid on Christmas morning. I realized that none of these wondrous gifts were going to be mine. Even if I threw away my clothes to make space in my luggage and blew my remaining budget on the awesome materials and tools, there’s no way I could get it on the plane. And even if I did get it home and translated the labels and instructions, it would only last me for a short while. Then what? How would I get my next fix?
I dragged myself out of Tokyu Hands and chilled out on the roof for a while. No, I wasn't going to jump. Apparently many big department stores have these garden/parks on their roof. There was a tiny shrine hidden away up there too. And here's a long boring video of the view from up there. You can get a peek at Tokyo Tower, and I tried zooming in on my hotel down the road.
After that I went to a couple of clothing stores. The clothes were cool, but a little too hip and stylish for me. I’m too dull and old to pull off those looks. I headed back towards the train station and on the way I finally abandoned my tourist’s shyness and stepped into a restaurant for lunch. Again, I had to be all creepy and watch people for a while to figure out how things worked. I chose that place because they had their menu in pictures on the wall, with numbers so I thought, "Cool! All I have to do is say a number. I can do that!" But there was this vending machine thing inbetween me and my food. Put the money in, push some buttons, and it spits out a ticket that you then take to the counter. The place was tiny and no-frills. Just stools and a long bar, with chopsticks and pitchers of ice water. It was just a place to cram food down your throat as quickly as possible and get back to work. No menus, no appetizers, no small talk. Just hot food, fast. And boy, did those dudes whip it up quick. I have no idea what I ordered, but good god, it was delicious. My first hot meal in days. The whole experience was fun, though I’ll bet the locals think it’s the worst kind of dining possible.
Since I couldn't film my own fun, I had to settle for filming a stranger. Too bad the restaurant was too tiny for me to film in there. :[
Akihabara
I was going to meet Kelly (a friend from Texas) in Akihabara for dinner and drinks so I headed up there next. Ten years ago, I would’ve gone nuts in a place like that and spent all my money. It made me a little nostalgic for my rabid anime fan phase. Even though I’m no longer aware of the current anime and manga that’s popular, I certainly felt like I was in the right place. I didn’t buy anything other than a cheap wristwatch but I rooted through at least half a dozen stores, looking for that mythical Sechs figurine. I don’t think it actually exists since the author doesn’t whore out his manga for the money like some do (that’s right, I’m talking about you, One Piece! God, your crap was all over the place! What the hell?!?!), but I figured if it does exist, this would be the place to find it. This being Tokyo, all of the stores go up and down; each one had an average of 6 floors so I climbed a lot of stairs that afternoon. I didn't find Sechs of course, but I did see Gally again. I felt sorry for the girls standing on the sidewalks out front who were trying to talk guys into the maid cafes. They were wearing their little costumes (uniforms?) and so obviously freezing. But then they’d address me with that nasal, artificial 'cute' voice and I had a hard time feeling sorry for them.
By the time Kelly arrived, my legs were on their last legs. We went to a family restaurant and I had another delicious hot meal, this time with wine. Yay, alcohol, I’ve missed you so! Hot food, alcohol, and a chance to speak English to another human being. It was fantastic. As we were leaving the restaurant, a tipsy woman came up and in clumsy English, told us that we were a beautiful couple. Ha ha ha. After dinner we strolled through Akihabara for awhile. I wasn’t interested in going back into those same anime/manga stores so we went into an ‘adult amusement’ store for shits and giggles. After all the crazy Japanese porn I’ve seen, that store did not disappoint. Eight floors of toys and gear. You lucky girls, you get the funnest toys.
Our wine buzz was wearing off by this point so we hopped on the train and headed to Kelly’s neighborhood, Ueno, to find a bar. We found this place called the ‘Hub Pub’ and were curious to see if was really a pub. We were pleasantly surprised! There were white people there and one black guy too! The Japanese girl with him must feel like she won the jackpot. Good for you girl! We had a few more bottles of wine and I had this liter of beer; it's in a graduated cylinder so it’s smart beer. We had lots of fun, though we started to get rowdy after a few hours and one of us started knocking stuff over. We had to get out of there. I’m glad I don’t remember everything, because I’m sure I’d be embarrassed if I did. But it turned out to be good timing. It was almost midnight, so I said a quick goodbye and headed out to catch the last train. In hindsight, I’m impressed that I was able to find my way through a strange neighborhood to the train station, get on the right train, and then walk back to my hotel, all while fairly drunk. All in all it was a great evening.
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-25 11:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-25 02:10 pm (UTC)Also, I have no idea where it is but you should try to go to the Panty and Stocking cafe. You can get Heaven Puddings *^*
no subject
Date: 2011-03-27 05:56 am (UTC)It was still a lot of fun to hang out and get all kinds of Texan rowdy!