Day 9: Tokyo Tower and Shibuya

Not only was today the first day since my parents' left (I'm pretty sure they got home safely, since we called Danny, and he was driving around the airport grumbling about having to pick them up), but I also had the stunning realization that my Japan trip is rapidly coming to an end.

And I still have things left on my list.

Among those was to sing karaoke.

But we'll get to that in a little bit.

One of the Japanese cuisine experiences Shane insisted I have was yaki-niku. Apparently, there were a ton of these places in his mission, but none were as high quality as the one we went to. We went there for lunch, when it was cheaper. Yaki-niku is where you get several thin slices of beef which you cook yourself on a griddle at your own table. It is marinated in sauce and served with rice, and it was pretty darn good.
Here's Shane cooking with one hand and holding Brooklyn with the other hand.

And they give you bibs.

Shane and Maria are rapidly ending their time in Tokyo, as well, as Shane's internship finishes next week, and they will be spending some time touring the southern parts of Japan where he served his mission. So when Maria said she wanted to see Tokyo Tower, it sounded good to me.


So here I am in front of Tokyo Tower.

Inside Tokyo Tower was, of course, another market-like set of stalls selling assorted Japanese souvenirs. I am quickly learning that there are certain items you can find just about anywhere in the country. As much as possible, I try to shy away from those kinds of things, but it's pretty hard if you want to bring back souvenirs from Japan for lots of people without spending a ton of money. Anyway, I was wandering around these souvenir shops when I discovered something awesome and mildly disturbing:

Just in case the visual doesn't get my point across, let me try to say it with Seinfeld. Two episodes come to mind. The first is the one where George's fiancee Susan has the doll that looks like George's mother, and it is so disturbing to both him and his father because they continually hear her voice when they see it. Eventually, Frank destroys it. I'm not saying the little people inside the box talked to me, but I have kept them wrapped up.

The second episode is the one where Elaine finds a mannequin in a store that looks exactly like her, and she can't figure out where it came from and why it resembles her. That was sort of how I felt when I saw this tiny little box with the two figurines that looked like my parents. How did a box with my tiny parents get all the way over to Japan? I almost bought it right there, but I couldn't read the characters, and I was afraid they said something offensive (I could write a separate blog on offensive Japanese souvenirs, but I'm not going to) so I grabbed Shane. He saw the box, started laughing, and explained that the approximate translation of the writing was, "Always live a long life, Mom and Dad." At that point, we knew we had to buy it. So, I did. I'm contemplating whether it would be funniest to give it to my parents as a gift at Christmas, or to anonymously mail it to my brother Danny, who is still living with them and never reads this blog.

We contemplated going up on one of the observation levels of the tower, but the wait was about 50 minutes, which is too long for a baby. So, instead we went to Cold Stone. Yes, there is a Cold Stone in Tokyo, and, after walking through the rain, it was a welcome sight. That's Shane and Maria outside, finishing up their treats.


Cold Stone in Japan is exactly like it is in the States, down to the jar that says, "Will sing for tips." Nowhere else in the entire country is anyone receiving tips, but, at Cold Stone, if you put money in their jar, the high school-age people behind the counter will sing songs in English about ice cream. I had another Seinfeld experience when, after paying my bill, I put money in the tip jar, only to have none of the employees notice. I wasn't about to pull a George Costanza and pull the money out so that I could put it in again when someone was watching, so I put more money in. And they sang:

"Zip-ah-dee-do-dah
Zip-ah-dee-ay.
My oh my, what a wonderful day.
Plenty of ice cream heading my way.
Zip-ah-dee-do-dah
Zip-ah-dee-ay."

It was great. I wanted video them singing, so I waited inside the shop for someone else to tip them. Shane pointed out that only Americans would tip them, as tipping is truly a foreign concept in Japan (there were many American dollars in the tip jar), and he put money in himself so they would sing, I could video them, and he could get on with his life. So, here they are:



We also thought about going to the top of the Mori building, which is huge and has a great view, but they were charging $15. Plus, it started to rain.

Here I am, doing a Gene Kelly pose at last, in front of a statue of a giant spider at the Mori building:

After that, we headed home to rest up for karaoke in Shibuya.

A word about Shibuya: It is busy.

In Yotsuya, the part of Tokyo where we are staying, it's very slow-moving. Most of the people I see on the street are elderly or middle-aged. There's not a lot of nightlife. It's a good place to live.

Shibuya, on the other hand, is home to much of the Tokyo nightlife. It houses the busiest intersection in the world. When the light changes, people start crossing from six different directions, some going horizontally, some vertically, and some diagonally across the giant intersection. It is full of young people, many dressed in traditional Japanese yukata, others dressed as French maids, and others in funky clothes with crazy tights and shoes.

Here's a video of the people in action. It was still pretty early when we were crossing. I'm told it gets busier.



We stopped at the statue of Hachiko for a picture. The link is actually for a YouTube video of clips from a movie based on this story. Hachiko was an Akita dog who belonged to a professor at the University of Tokyo. He would meet his master coming off the train every day at the Shibuya station. When his master died, Hachiko continued to go to Shibuya station at the same time every night until he died. This is why there is a statue of him at the station, and the University of Tokyo has his remains. It is a very popular meeting place in Shibuya.

Here I am in front of the statue. As you can see, there were people meeting behind me.

Then we made our way to the karaoke place called Shidax. I think this is a play on the English phrase "she rocks" as all of the floors were themed with a different female fairy tale character, but I could be wrong.

In the US, karaoke is usually done in a bar on a stage, in front of many drunken strangers. The bar and drunken strangers aspect of the karaoke experience is what initially prompted me to buy my own machine.

In Japan, it's a little different. There are several huge complexes in Shibuya alone that rent out private rooms by the hour for groups to come do karaoke. You program the machine yourself for the songs you want (and they have several huge catalogs of music in several languages other than Japanese), and you can order food by phone. If you like karaoke and have money to spend, you could easily be here for several hours.

Here is the front desk of Shidax:

We were given a room number on the fourth floor, which was Mermaid Princess-themed.
I'm not sure if this is the story of the Little Mermaid, or if it is a Japanese fairy-tale. I am posting these pictures for everyone else to decide.


The hallways were all somewhat trippy like this. I have decided that, if I ever open a karoke establishment, I am going to do it with the exact same decor. I was a little disappointed, though, that the rooms were just rooms.

Some of the other themes included Snow White, Cinderella, Alice, and Kaguya-hime. I include a link to the Wikipedia entry of Big Bird in Japan, as this is where I first learned the story of Kaguya-hime, when I was about 8. It is one of the few Japanese stories I know, and like most Japanese stories, it leaves me feeling sad.

But what doesn't leave me feeling sad is karaoke. We signed up for one hour, not anticipating that it would take us 20 minutes to figure out how to get music going. Don't laugh. It was pretty complicated, even with Shane being able to read all the characters. Plus, I think Shane and Maria were a little overwhelmed in deciding what to sing. In the end, we all got to sing at least 3 songs. Shane and Maria did a couple of duets together, and I hit some of my favorite karaoke songs:

"Copacabana"
"Somebody to Love"
"Your Song"

Were we any good? Well, the karaoke machine scored us after each song, and there were a few songs on which we scored BETTER than the average. And, to prove it, I added a video of Shane singing "I Believe I Can Fly." Unfortunately, when Shane found out about it, he made me take it off. He actually stood and watched me to make sure that I did it. Sorry everyone. I guess you'll just have to take my word that he rocked.