Japan Day Seven
Day Seven was a solo day and I went exploring in Ebisu/Daikanyama. I was on a mission to find the bracelet I had bought two years ago and lost in LA. It meant a lot to me when I got it — one of the only physical object reminders of my trip in 2008. I found the shop I bought it at instantly, like a bird on a long 2 year migration. They didn’t remember me but I knew exactly where the bracelet would be if they still sold it. To my delight, they did and they had even added another color. I was encouraged to buy shoes. I bought the bracelet, debated getting a backup, and then headed down to Naka Meguro again. Slightly addicted to the area.
I went back to Be My Self, shopped a bit at RipVanWinkle, and then sat down. I was experimenting with how long I could just sit and think about nothing. I see old men doing it a lot down there, so I figured I would try it. It was easier than I thought and eventually I decided to move on. I guess I was expecting to get bored or something. Turns out ‘sitting’ is quite nice. I’ve gotten used to moving as fast as possible at all times. No clothes fit but they looked awesome when they weren’t on me. I was afraid I might break some of them if I tried them on, One shirt I couldn’t fit my head through the head hole. Whenever I try on pants they always say, “OH you don’t have to cut!” Referring to the fact that I won’t have to alter the length of the pant, which apparently is quite unusual.
Made it back to the hotel where we listened to Calvin Harris on Youtube and drank Asahis from a vending machine. The plan was to go to Roppongi and go out, which we hadn’t done yet. I like it in Roppongi, even if it does catch a lot of heat for being trashy and/or filled with foreigners. I typically have a good time there, so we made our way, looking for a small “nouveau” style restaurant I had read about in TimeOut. It seemed normal to me. I got a little steak and a shrimp spring roll. We outlasted everyone in the restaurant and started talking to the waitress as we left. We invited her out with us and went to Havana Cafe to wait until she got off at 11:30.
We met the waitress at Havana Cafe and walked to Gonpachi. There was no one there either but we hung out for a few hours talking about whatever we could given the language barrier. My total conversation length in Japanese has been reduced to about 30 seconds, so we stuck mostly to English. We investigated different Japanese drinks and determined that Heartland was not as good as everyone had been telling us it was. I suspect this is because it is put out by Kirin.I wanted to go to Alife but Roppongi was beyond dead, so we called it a night and headed home.
