Top Ten!

Because my last Tokyo post was so long and Stevhan and I had such a bitchin' time while he was here, I've decided to narrow it down to the top ten moments of his visit.

For those of you not in the know, Stevhan is my main squeeze who came all the way to Chicago to cook me breakfast every morning and throw out the Gokiburi Hoi-Hois.

So, without further ado (and in no particular order):

1. Park Hotel Tokyo- When we got to our swanky hotel, we spent a few hours scoping out the amenities, drinking champagne, getting chocolate all over the sheets (the maid probably thought we had colitis), and doing...other stuff. When we ventured out of room for dinner, we could totally hear our neighbor down the hall going buck wild. She was screaming and gasping and straight up shouting (Could've been his name, could've been her favorite laundry detergent. I don't know. I don't speak Japanese) We don't know what our Japanese businessman was up to, but clearly he was taking care of it. It was a great omen for the week.

2. Tsukiji Market- One of the benefits of Stev's jet lag was his ability to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn and drag my ass up as well. At 7:30 in the morning, we went to Tokyo Central Wholesale Market, where 90% of seafood consumed in Tokyo comes in (about 2,400 tons). Unfortunately it was closed that day, so we went to the back streets of Tsukiji to sample some of the catch.



I had the best sushi I'd ever had in my life, although my experience was totally ruined when I saw Stevhan stab his sushi with a chopstick, slosh it around in soy sauce and gobbled it down, getting soy sauce and rice down his shirt. At the next sushi bar, he was forced to wear a bib and was not allowed to touch chopsticks.

3. Ghibli Museum- Hiyao Miyazaki has his museum in a lovely, tree-lined suburb of Tokyo and even the bus we took to get there had some of his characters on it. We got to see a short Ghibli movie and see adorable kids play on a fuzzy cat bus. The whole place was so fun and neat, you'll just have to go there and see for yourself.



4. Stevhan at school- Once we got to Kozu, Stevhan quickly became the island heartthrob. Much to his chagrin, I let everyone know beforehand that he is the model for John Constantine, the Hellblazer comic's anti-hero. All the students asked him about the movie, but it was fun watching them try to describe their favorite scenes. Suddenly, I was much cooler with the boy students and the girl students wanted to know if we were really boyfriend and girlfriend. Their reaction when I said yes: "EEEEHHHH??!!!!!"



Even the ladies of the island were smitten. A chorus of moms at the Kozu store: "Hello, Ste-ban!!!"
It was awesome.

5. Getting drunk- Seeing as Japanese can't hold their liquor for shit, it was nice to tip back more than a few with someone who could drink half a bottle of whiskey and still hold my hair back. Maybe.

While he was drunk, I got him to eat a snail.


"Gross!!" He cried like a bitch for the rest of the night.

6. Akasaki- The nice thing about September is the lack of tourists at all the cool spots. Akasaki Bay is the place for snorkeling and swimming and it was still warm out for both. We had the whole place to ourselves and it was like having the coolest fort to play in without the nieghbor kids busting in or your mom nagging you to come in for lunch and don't track any dirt into the kitchen, I just mopped.




7. Karaoke- Finally, a night of J-pop, Styx, and Britney Spears. With a little room, some beer-u and an amazing book of songs, we rocked the mike. Much to Stevhan's embarrassment, I blew everyone away with 'Domo Arigato, Mr Roboto.' Soon they will crown me Rock Queen of the Island.


8. Spider- This guy wipes out any fears I have of cockroaches. Now I'm afraid this three-foot bugger will fall on me while I'm taking a shit, making me flip out and fling poo everywhere. A bizzare fear, but still very real.



9. Love Hotel- On our second stay in Tokyo, we stayed on Love Hotel Hill, although it was such a bitch trying to get a room because nobody wanted to deal with foreigners. After about two hours of searching ( and me fuming), we finally found this blacklight gem of a room. Best thing about it: a Vin Diesel movie was on.

From this


To this!

10. Asakusa sushi bar- On our last night, we went to a tiny traditional sushi bar. There were tatami platforms, a beautiful sushi bar made of some kind of Japanese wood and the perfect atmosphere. After a while, we were the only ones there and we got to 'talking' (trying out a word or a phrase from our phrasebook) with the proprietors.


They ended up giving us miso soup and grapes, a little cherry blossom bag, a gourd toothpick holder, and teacups with the restaurant name in Kanji. They were so kind and wonderful, we were blown away. To be so nice to a stranger, and making the effort to communicate with us dopey gaijin. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Honorable Mentions:



I have no idea.



Friends in the ultra-cool Harajuku neighborhood.

I should also say that trying to get back to Kozu when there was a typhoon raging was horrible. Both plane and boat were cancelled and I had no money, only a credit card (which little help in a cash-based society). I was stranded at the pier, trying not to let everyone know I was bawling, when a woman appeared asking me what was wrong. With my broken Japanese I told her that I couldn't get home because the plane tommorrow was cash only and the boat (which took credit card) was cancelled for two days. This total stranger listened to my pathetic story and then handed me twenty thousand yen (the equivalent of $175) saying she would lend me the money to get back. I was blown away. I tried to take her out to lunch, but she ended up paying for that too. We spent about an hour together and then we went our separate ways, with her address and phone number in my bag.

The kindness I have experienced from her and many others is an inspiration to me. It makes my heart feel bigger and it helps me to think twice before getting frustrated or angry because I'm not being understood or getting my needs across. Their goodwill inspires patience and understanding. They make me love Japan.