Japan: Sick

For Saturday, October 29, 2011

Tokyo

My throat still felt sore, so I let myself sleep in. Then I checked out of the Anne hostel and checked into Backpackers Hostel Ks House Tokyo. Using their wifi, I researched more into Japanese culture I might want to experience. I was still feeling under the weather, so I didn’t want to do a lot of strenuous walking, so I decide to check out one of the many gardens in Tokyo. I rode the subway to Rikugien Garden, a beautiful, peaceful garden that looks small at first glance, but has many meandering paths through woods away from the central pond. There’s something about the foliage that gives everything a soft, smooth look that’s soothing. I returned to the hostel and met my roommates. Since it was the Saturday before Halloween, it was the night that most young people would go out to celebrate with costumes, which is what they were planning to do. They invited me to come along, and I figured it would be a shame to miss Halloween in Tokyo no matter how sick I felt, so I accepted. I went out and searched for over an hour for a costume store, but no luck. For the third time during this trip I entered a store thinking it was one thing (in this case, a Halloween costume store), and it turned out to be a sex shop. I can’t read anything posted on the windows or doors, and of course they don’t put graphic things near the store entrance where passing children can see them, so without any context, I seem to be in store for many such surprises. I returned to the hostel feeling exhausted, and told my roommates that I wasn’t in any shape to go out all night. I grabbed a cup of noodles and a sandwich from a nearby 7-11 for dinner. I met Chris (from Australia), Stephan (from New Zealand/Canada), and Tina (from Belgium) at my hostel, and they invited me to join them for a couple beers in Shibuya. We’d be back around midnight before the subways closed for the night, so I agreed, figuring that wouldn’t be too hard on my body, and off we went. We found a stand-up bar and ordered a few rounds of beers and a few appetizers and chatted for about an hour, then wandered the streets with beers in hand, purchased from a nearby FamilyMart (ubiquitous in South Korea and Japan). We stopped at a KFC to use the toilet and we ordered a bucket of four pieces of chicken. We decided to stay out a little later because we were having a good time, so at the end of the night we had to take a taxi back to the hostel, which cost about 1000 yen per person. We got home at about 2 AM. In my room, I spoke with a guy who had been traveling abroad for nine months and had just come from Vietnam, having spent forty days there. We spoke a little about Vietnam, since I would probably be going there in the next month or two. I went to bed exhausted.