(Yes, I did type this up on the plane)
Wednesday: Back in Tokyo. I had by now concluded that my and
kjersti’s holiday schedules are a bit different. I like to get up, do stuff, come back in the late afternoon for a few hours of relaxation/shower/change and head out for the evening. Kjersti likes to faff until late morning, then go out and stay out until late at night. Basically just take a normal day and do everything three hours later. So my thought was that instead of waiting (more or less) patiently for Kjersti to be ready to go out, what I could do is head out early and see the things she’d already seen or wasn’t interested in. Good plan, but Wednesday morning I was a bit tired and decided instead to have a catch-up-with-work-emails few hours. And Kjersti wanted to see Mount Fuji, which sounded like a good half-day excursion. We took the bus to Lake Kawaguchi, the largest of Fuji’s Five Lakes.
Because of the scorching heat in the city I would have expected hordes of Tokyoites to have flocked to this nearby rural escape, but it wasn’t the case, so Kjersti and I had no queues at all for the lake boat trip or funicular up the mountain where we were able to see Mount Fuji peeking out from behind clouds. I was surprised to see that it isn’t snow covered all year, as I had thought. The downside of it being low season was that all the restaurants were shut, so we grabbed some quick grub at the bus station and then went back to Tokyo.
Wednesday was our night out on the town. We took in four different places:
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Decadence / Deca Bar – the "goth" bar in Tokyo. It wasn’t goth at all, not even Lolita goth. It was painted in day-glo colours and was playing candy rave. A couple of the patrons were dressed in black punky attire, that’s about as goth as it got. The blue-haired, European owner welcomed us personally, which was nice, and apparently typical of the Golden Gai bars in Shinjuku which are just as tiny as the guidebook says. Forget Gossips, Deca Bar was about the size of Slimelight’s upstairs bar.
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Christon Café, downstairs from Deca Bar. This space was amazing and I wished I could have been there on a goth or, even better, fetish night. It had all sorts of religious and profane icons, gargoyles and crucifixes, massive stained glass ceiling fixtures, plush sofas and a cocktail menu like the London Stone’s. Kjersti’s cocktail came with glowing blue ice cubes, and the food menu looked excellent as well. This was the first place that gave us free bar snacks with our drinks.
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Advocates Bar – From here we headed toward the Ni-chome gay district in search of the Kinswomyn lesbian bar, which Kjersti had unsuccessfully searched for once before. We didn’t find it, but we were close enough to have stumbled across a different gay bar, Advocates Bar, with outdoor seating. This bar was big enough to seat four or five, as well. We had a drink there and then asked the barman for Kinswomyn. It turned out it was just round the corner so up we went.
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Kinswomyn – For the best known lesbian bar in Tokyo, this place was about two-thirds the size of my lounge. It was really nice though, with a rounded bar and a small but attractive clientele, and another owner who personally welcomed us and gave us snacks. Kjersti and I noted what a refreshing change it was to be in the company of women who weren’t dressed like little girls. There was seating for maybe a dozen, and room for three or four people to dance if they didn’t flail about very much. We had a drink there and collected some flyers, then caught a taxi home, where we discovered much to our surprise that it was 2 in the morning.
ThursdayI had entertained the idea of getting up early and going to the Imperial Gardens, but by the time I woke up it was no longer terribly early, and Kjersti, surprisingly, was keen to get up and out as well. We first went to the Edo Tokyo Museum for some history of the 1600-1868 Edo period. This museum was very comprehensive and English-speaking friendly, with lots of exhibits and large models of towns, etc. It didn’t shy away from the lives of prostitutes in the "pleasure quarters" of the period; apparently the poor girls had a lifespan of just 22. The shoguns paid their warriors in rice which they exchanged for money. Isn’t that fascinating?
Overloaded with information, we then went to a lesser-visited neighbourhood for some shopping and exploring, but again it got very hot. Our final stop was to hop a taxi to Roppongi Hills, an ultra-modern and upscale mall which was frankly a relief after the heat of the city streets. We had a delicious late lunch and did some shopping. Unfortunately, the only store in the complex which sold lingerie was Diesel. But of the dozen bras they had for sale, one of them fit. Hurrah! I am a Japanese size A! Sadly it was cotton and pink so I didn’t buy it.
We then headed up to the top of the Mori Tower for a 360 degree view of Tokyo, including Fuji in the distance. It was impressive indeed and by now I could identify some landmarks. They had a roof deck as well, so we went up as the sun set and the lights came on across the city. This was cool enough, but on top of it they had some Disney celebration going on so that every 15 minutes clusters of mirror-balled Disney characters would come to life, a laser light show would come on and dance-pop versions of Disney tunes would play. This display truly epitomised Tokyo, really. After dark we headed downstairs to the Mori Modern Art museum, which WAS modern art and featured new works from the Arab world, and then a final meal of top-class sushi in the Tsujiki fish market district near Kjersti’s place.
FridayLast chance to do anything in Tokyo. I once again failed to get up in time to visit the Imperial Gardens, but Kjersti said they’re boring anyway, and I had to fulfil my bucket-list ambition to go bra shopping in Japan -–
( Boring bra stuff behind cut )And then it was back to Kjersti’s to collect my bags and head to the airport, where I got to the counter with no time at all to spare, but was very pleased indeed to find they had oversold the flight and therefore I got a free upgrade to business class. Result! It’s Korean Air, so despite my being a numpty and forgetting to reserve a vegetarian meal AGAIN, the meal choices have all had delicious fish. What a great way to conclude the most expensive holiday I have ever taken in my life.