A Full Golden Week for not having plans...

The rest of Golden Week was much fuller of adventure than I had anticipated (I never had a good answer ready when people asked me if I had plans). On Wednesday, Kosuke’s mom took me to the Kirin Factory. You can only visit there by appointment now, since the homeless started going to the tour for the free beer at the end. I admit that I didn’t understand most of the audio-visual tour, full of short videos and accompanying exposition from the tour guide, but I did get to see the factory itself, and that was neat. And I mean NEAT. The place was so clean, seen from our glass-walled vantage-point, and there were barely any workers. I guess a lot of modern factories are like that, run mostly by machines, but it seemed so eerily empty. After the tour, Kosuke’s mom and I enjoyed our free beer and discussion about tattoos and why Japanese people are so afraid of them. I mean, I know plenty of Japanese rockers with tattoos, but this woman does not hang around that element, so to her, they still represent Yakuza and the occasional foreigner.

I coasted through on my 2 beers (I only used one of my two beer-tickets because I participated in a taste-test conducted in the Beer Village. I made the proper answer that of course the beer in the glass tastes better through the thick foamy head than from a can, and was rewarded by an extra free beer. Honestly, there wasn’t much difference, but I made a considering face and supplied the correct answer) into the evening (OK, I bought one more at the supaa to go with dinner), when I took the kids to meet Jeff and Josh at Club Lizard for my first Buzz Attitude party in awhile. The usual faces were there, to see Shell Rockets, some other bands, and Boogie Boy Something, who was a solo bluesman with a huge sound. The kids had fun with Kyotoro. We let them go to the store to buy treats (they love the freedom they get here!), and D proudly showed me that he now knows how to blow bubbles.

Thursday, I spent dancing and cleaning because I had the unexpected boon of Kumi’s mom asking if the boys could play. They were gone most of the day, except for a brief intermission in which D came home with a couple band-aids on his head and M followed soon after to accept anticipated punishment for hitting his brother in the head with a Frisbee. Josh came over for homemade tempura dinner, which I managed to scrape together with little cash, due to the Post Office ATMs being closed for the holidays.

Friday, the boys and I met Helen and her sister Amy in Shibuya for lunch at Pizza Express, which I am told is a British-owned chain. Pretty darned good pizza, actually, with interesting toppings that included neither corn nor tuna. We also shopped at American Apparel, which is Japanese. Part of the ‘staple wardrobe’ trend I see at Muji and g.u, they have basic jersey skirts in various lengths, knit tops of various sleeve lengths, plus comfy pants and all kinds of accessories, all in several coordinated colors. Great stuff.

We walked to Harajuku and Yoyogi Park, which is where I would’ve hung out instead of Coventry if I had been a teenager in Tokyo and not Cleveland. On the way in, there was a guy playing air-guitar to a boombox, just rockin’ out, and a loud, speedy band that had a front-row crowd of girls all banging their heads in unison. It was so cute. Helen noticed a girl that would alternate her head-banging with finger-combing her bangs.

The park was crowded, but I didn’t mind, as it was great for people-watching. People were walking their various pets, including a prairie dog. I may have to get one of those. They are like giant rodents, but apparently very playful and trainable, without the smell and vicious teeth of ferrets. Every time an unusual animal would be led by, like said prairie dog or a passel of puppies, hoards of girls would converge to tickle them and squeal KAWAIIII! at them.

We played some Frisbee and attempted to blow some bubbles (this did not work as well, due to cute but impractical squeezy-animal pipes), hung out and looked at the other people playing badminton, twirling things, or practicing instruments.

On the way out, Helen took advantage of the Free Hugs signs being held up by the usual Harajuku denizens in their punk-cosplay finery. I don’t know what was with the free hugs, but Helen dove right in while I stood back and took pictures. We noticed the same guy still wailing away on his air-guitar.

See more pics of Yoyogi Park, etc., here.

Off to the Blue Corn for dinner, where we were soon joined by Jeff, Josh, and Wilson. The kids, after they ate, found some like-aged Japanese kids to run around with outside while we listened to Toshi. Josh loved him, and Wilson loved the Blue Corn. Our party dwindled down to just Helen, Amy, Josh, and I. Josh indulged in the on-tap Guiness, and I decided that next time I go in, I’m going to start my own setto of Maker’s Mark and soda. I am apparently able to drink a few good whiskey-sodas without much ill effect, so I may have found my drink for while.

Josh & I left fairly early for a BC night (1-ish, I think), because Jeff said Macky, Toru, and some others were going to after-party at our house. Macky showed up with Hiroku and some people from Shimizu, one of whom was a tattoo artist (can we say ‘networking’?) with some great art on his own skin.

Saturday, Boys' Day, dawned, but we all got up around noon (except Jeff and the boys, who apparently got up much earlier) and went crawdad-fishing. Except Josh. He was regretting the 4 Guinesses on top of his scotches and was having a difficult awakening. It was such a hilarious sight and, I’m sure, terrifying to the Baba-cho locals, to see this motley crew clustered by the creek, dangling dried squid at the end of a string, or sticking their hands in a free-styling it. I think 16 were caught by the time they finished, but all were released except for 4 (one for M to eat, one for Josh, and 2 for pets for D. These remaining four were actually released the next day, because of lack of interest and presence of smell).

More pics of cray-fishing here.

Then it was on to the best hangover food we know: ramen at the Rokkakubashi ramen-ya. I am really learning to love that stuff. Josh was upset that he couldn't finish his giant bowl and take the rest with him. There is no ramen take-out!

The 5 of us (Davises plus Josh) decided we were going to a donated park in Motomachi with an old house and garden, but we hadn’t really been paying attention to the hour, and it was closing by the time we found it. Instead, we had a serendipitous wander through The Bluffs, which is the old Foreigner Section of Yokohama. There were cool views from Harbor View Park, nice walks down paths that led us past cool earthquake ruins of foreign mansions, secret-looking archery practice, and the Foreigner’s Cemetery.

The streets in this area are impressive, too. It didn’t feel like Japan. Huge Western-style houses and people walking huge dogs, and French restaurants. Somewhere in here, we also stopped in at a store in Motomachi to grab warmer shirts for me and M. We had thought we only going to ramen, and thus were wearing tank-tops and weren’t dressed for adventuring. Jeff had remembered the store from another night out, because they’d had a Kiss/Panda t-shirt in the window. Which he now took the opportunity to buy and loan to M. Turns out the guy who runs the store knows all about the Mojos and Boogie Café and Macky Ramone. More photos of The Bluffs here.

Being in the neighborhood, we had the idea of going to the theater at World Porters to see Spiderman 3. The next show was sold out, and the later show, which started at 9 something, was unavailable to us. Apparently you have to be 18 to attend these movies. The kids were pissed, but I made Jeff buy tickets for the next afternoon.

Good thing we did. We dropped Josh off at the train station so he could head back to Seattle, and went back to World Porters. HUGE line and most of the shows sold out. Fortunately, movie theaters in Japan have assigned seats! And though the ticket prices are a bit nuts, the concessions are far more reasonable than in the US. We got the biggest size soda and popcorn for less than $10. Amazing. Anyway, the movie was pretty good. Peter Parker wasn’t quite as likable in this one, and frankly, I’m sick of seeing MJ-as-bait dangling from something high in the air, almost falling to her death a hundred times. But, that said, it was worth seeing on the big screen. And we saw previews for the next Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter movies, which will probably be the only other movies we’ll see in the theater here.

Whew. Made it through Golden Week without losing my mind or sticking the children in postage-paid boxes to the grandparents. Stay tuned for the next too-lengthy installment, in which I roadtrip to the Izu Peninsula with Helen and her sister.