OK, here we go, Tokyo as quick as possible.
I flew up to Beijing on Thursday night so I could fly with Rich (the bachelor we were celebrating) on Friday morning. Very early. Like way too early. So we did that, and he had no clue where we were going until we got to the airport and checked in, so that was fun. I chose Tokyo since we met in Japan, he loves Japan, and Tokyo is the best. These are all good reasons, I think. So he finally knew we were going to Tokyo, and then I ruined the next surprise accidentally with a slip of the tongue while waiting for our flight. Surprise #2 is that it was more than just us. I let it slip that our friend Santana was also coming. Luckily I did not let it slip that our friend Ben was also coming, so we landed and go to the AirBnb and were waiting for our "host" to come let us in, and then Ben, who lied and said he was in Taipei, walked up and let us in. That was fun. Friday after that was pretty chill. We didn't make too big plans for the afternoon, but we went out and about for a walk, bought Rich some video games in Akihabara, and then made our way to Shinjuku to meet up with some Japanese friends. After a couple hours of drinking at a random izakaya, I tried to take everyone to this great whiskey bar that my friend Lizzy found last time we were in Tokyo, but it was closed. So instead, we headed back to our neighborhood and drank at a darts bar that our friend Tama took us to. Then we went home, with an impromptu Miley Cyrus dance number literally in the middle of the street by Ben.
Considering the Miley Cyrus and street dancing, we were actually home earlier and soberer than you'd expect. That's because day 2 held the next round of surprises (I'll just tell you now - there were lots of surprises. Everything was a surprise. Rich had no clue what we had planned for him. All he could do was follow us.). The idea was to go down to Kamakura, a city about an hour and a half south of Tokyo, which has tons of famous temples and is also famous for shojin ryouri, traditional Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. Since Rich was a vegetarian since he turned 19 (now he eats fish) and loves hiking, we figured we'd combine the two and chose Kamakura. I found a few of the vegetarian places, but only one temple that served it. The rest were all random restaurants specializing in it, which is still nice, but it's not a temple. So obviously I had booked the temple. I expected to walk in and go to the temple restaurant and eat at a table in a canteen or something. Instead, we walked in, they let us into the main shrine, and there were our place settings, set up in the middle of this 13th century shrine which they had reserved just for us. It was absolutely nuts. Even Santana, who pretty much refuses to eat any meal without meat, said it was one of the best meals of the weekend. Not cause it tasted the best - the food was great - but because of the setting. It was amazing. Totally nuts. If you go to Tokyo, definitely go to Kamakura, definitely go to Koumyouji, definitely eat the vegetarian meal. Nuts. So after that we walked a lot, around the temple down to the beach, up to another temple to see a huge Buddha. Not hiking really, but we chose the beach walk instead, which was really nice. And then after the Buddha we had to rush back to Tokyo because we also had dinner plans.
As I mentioned, Rich now eats fish. Which is very exciting. And we've had sushi together a few times, but he's never loved it. So I though, we're going to Japan, why not get him the best sushi he's every had at a place that will definitely be amazing before he decides to stop eating fish? So we booked a Michelin star sushi place (sadly we couldn't get into any of the 3-star ones, so had to settle for one star) and took him for a nice dinner. And boy was it nice. So nice. So delicious. Really like the best sushi I've ever had. Of course. What was really interesting was the way he did the rice. The chef explained that he leaves the rice loosely packed because it makes it better. And you know what? I think he's right. You could taste the fish so much more. And the rice, too. And you could feel every grain. It wasn't just like a big lump of rice. It was fantastic. So dinner was a winner. Winner, winner sushi dinner. And then, the stereotypical bachelor party ensued.
I can't tell you too much because I actually don't remember. The plan was for Rich not to remember, but also I don't. I guess that still counts. Anyway we wanted to start at this club I found back in Shinjuku, but got there and were told that it was for Japanese only. Luckily a very nice, English speaking guy on the street found us and took us to a strip club. Only topless, but really entertaining. And excellent service. I'm not even kidding. We did all you can drink for an hour (plus we had to get Rich a few add-ons, obviously), and the waiters not only spoke great English, they just brought us more drinks before we even finished ours. Didn't have to ask once. And the girls were so nice! Not at all sketchy like at home. One of them even had some really ridiculously good moves on the pole. We were big fans, even the ones who I have been to strip clubs with before who hated them. They are converted. At least in Tokyo they are. So from there, it was kind of downhill. We thought about going to a club, decided not too cause it was too crowded, had ramen, and I don't remember much more. Then we got home when the sun was coming up. I think the forgetting happened because we assumed the drinks at the strip club were weak and drank them really fast. But they were not weak. And we kept drinking from convenience stores as we went. So also that didn't help.
Getting home as the sun came up means we slept late. Almost too late. We had a reservation at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon. I woke up at 1:00. Then I moved the reservation until 2:30 and we got across town to enjoy one of Rich's favorite pass-times, high tea (he's so British). I know he loves it, so we took him to the Park Hyatt. We were pretty much the only men there. It was very Sex in the City (I wasn't able to figure out which character I was, though. Partially cause I don't know their names). So that was a relaxing few hours at the top of the city, and then a bit of wandering, before we slowly made our way to Tokyo Tower, where we were having dinner. Rich, being vegetarian, likes tofu. I do too, but it's much more important to Rich's life. So we took him to a fancy, old tofu restaurant at the foot of Tokyo Tower. It was absolutely lovely, and set in this old mansion in a garden, and they make all the tofu right there and it's like the best tofu ever. So good. Also we did have fish with the meal, it was not vegetarian. Which was a relief. So yeah, ate there, wandered the grounds being generally impressed by them, and then headed home.
The next morning, Rich and Ben left early, then Santana and I had one more day. So we went to watch the Sumo guys practice, went to Tsukiji for sushi, and then wandered until we went home. And that was it. A great weekend. Hopefully everyone enjoyed. I know I did. Only thing missing was the Mario Karting (which is possible. I'm not even kidding. In Japan you can rent go-karts, dress up as Mario characters, and drive around the streets of Tokyo. Bucket list, here we come), but otherwise, it was fantastic. And I think Rich liked it, which is all that matters really. Next up I have to write a speech for this damn wedding....
Ok, I made it through. Now music. I could spend a lot of time talking to you about Radiohead who just suddenly dropped their album today (A Moon Shaped Pool. It is very, very good. I've only listened once, but I am impressed. Less electronic, more subdued and instrumental, maybe somewhere between the overall sound of OK Computer, but also some King of Limbs-y electronic bleeps and bloops and darkness and sadness in there.). I could also talk about James Blake or Ry X, both of whom dropped their albums last week. Or Moderat or Autolux, both of whom dropped third albums recently which are both fantastic and who I never heard of until their third albums but am now glad I did hear about. And I will talk about some of these artists in the coming days/weeks (at least now you know names and don't need to wait for me. Go ahead. I basically just named dropped because all of those albums are so exciting and you need to hear them.), but instead I'll talk about Space Captain because I found them first and have been meaning to. I found this band recently and fell in love with Two, the first song I heard. It is crazy good.
So that's the closing track on their first EP, In Memory. Good one, huh? Especially when you get to that breakdown around 3:00, and even more so when those handclaps come in 15 seconds later. And then it just blows up! I love it.
So this band is from Brooklyn. Judging by their Soundcloud profile photo, there are a lot of them. As you can tell, they are in the same vein as Hiatus Kaiyote or Jaala. So what's not to like? Well, maybe the fact they only have like 6 songs. But they're 6 damn good songs. Here's another example called Cosmos.
I flew up to Beijing on Thursday night so I could fly with Rich (the bachelor we were celebrating) on Friday morning. Very early. Like way too early. So we did that, and he had no clue where we were going until we got to the airport and checked in, so that was fun. I chose Tokyo since we met in Japan, he loves Japan, and Tokyo is the best. These are all good reasons, I think. So he finally knew we were going to Tokyo, and then I ruined the next surprise accidentally with a slip of the tongue while waiting for our flight. Surprise #2 is that it was more than just us. I let it slip that our friend Santana was also coming. Luckily I did not let it slip that our friend Ben was also coming, so we landed and go to the AirBnb and were waiting for our "host" to come let us in, and then Ben, who lied and said he was in Taipei, walked up and let us in. That was fun. Friday after that was pretty chill. We didn't make too big plans for the afternoon, but we went out and about for a walk, bought Rich some video games in Akihabara, and then made our way to Shinjuku to meet up with some Japanese friends. After a couple hours of drinking at a random izakaya, I tried to take everyone to this great whiskey bar that my friend Lizzy found last time we were in Tokyo, but it was closed. So instead, we headed back to our neighborhood and drank at a darts bar that our friend Tama took us to. Then we went home, with an impromptu Miley Cyrus dance number literally in the middle of the street by Ben.
Considering the Miley Cyrus and street dancing, we were actually home earlier and soberer than you'd expect. That's because day 2 held the next round of surprises (I'll just tell you now - there were lots of surprises. Everything was a surprise. Rich had no clue what we had planned for him. All he could do was follow us.). The idea was to go down to Kamakura, a city about an hour and a half south of Tokyo, which has tons of famous temples and is also famous for shojin ryouri, traditional Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. Since Rich was a vegetarian since he turned 19 (now he eats fish) and loves hiking, we figured we'd combine the two and chose Kamakura. I found a few of the vegetarian places, but only one temple that served it. The rest were all random restaurants specializing in it, which is still nice, but it's not a temple. So obviously I had booked the temple. I expected to walk in and go to the temple restaurant and eat at a table in a canteen or something. Instead, we walked in, they let us into the main shrine, and there were our place settings, set up in the middle of this 13th century shrine which they had reserved just for us. It was absolutely nuts. Even Santana, who pretty much refuses to eat any meal without meat, said it was one of the best meals of the weekend. Not cause it tasted the best - the food was great - but because of the setting. It was amazing. Totally nuts. If you go to Tokyo, definitely go to Kamakura, definitely go to Koumyouji, definitely eat the vegetarian meal. Nuts. So after that we walked a lot, around the temple down to the beach, up to another temple to see a huge Buddha. Not hiking really, but we chose the beach walk instead, which was really nice. And then after the Buddha we had to rush back to Tokyo because we also had dinner plans.
As I mentioned, Rich now eats fish. Which is very exciting. And we've had sushi together a few times, but he's never loved it. So I though, we're going to Japan, why not get him the best sushi he's every had at a place that will definitely be amazing before he decides to stop eating fish? So we booked a Michelin star sushi place (sadly we couldn't get into any of the 3-star ones, so had to settle for one star) and took him for a nice dinner. And boy was it nice. So nice. So delicious. Really like the best sushi I've ever had. Of course. What was really interesting was the way he did the rice. The chef explained that he leaves the rice loosely packed because it makes it better. And you know what? I think he's right. You could taste the fish so much more. And the rice, too. And you could feel every grain. It wasn't just like a big lump of rice. It was fantastic. So dinner was a winner. Winner, winner sushi dinner. And then, the stereotypical bachelor party ensued.
I can't tell you too much because I actually don't remember. The plan was for Rich not to remember, but also I don't. I guess that still counts. Anyway we wanted to start at this club I found back in Shinjuku, but got there and were told that it was for Japanese only. Luckily a very nice, English speaking guy on the street found us and took us to a strip club. Only topless, but really entertaining. And excellent service. I'm not even kidding. We did all you can drink for an hour (plus we had to get Rich a few add-ons, obviously), and the waiters not only spoke great English, they just brought us more drinks before we even finished ours. Didn't have to ask once. And the girls were so nice! Not at all sketchy like at home. One of them even had some really ridiculously good moves on the pole. We were big fans, even the ones who I have been to strip clubs with before who hated them. They are converted. At least in Tokyo they are. So from there, it was kind of downhill. We thought about going to a club, decided not too cause it was too crowded, had ramen, and I don't remember much more. Then we got home when the sun was coming up. I think the forgetting happened because we assumed the drinks at the strip club were weak and drank them really fast. But they were not weak. And we kept drinking from convenience stores as we went. So also that didn't help.
Getting home as the sun came up means we slept late. Almost too late. We had a reservation at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon. I woke up at 1:00. Then I moved the reservation until 2:30 and we got across town to enjoy one of Rich's favorite pass-times, high tea (he's so British). I know he loves it, so we took him to the Park Hyatt. We were pretty much the only men there. It was very Sex in the City (I wasn't able to figure out which character I was, though. Partially cause I don't know their names). So that was a relaxing few hours at the top of the city, and then a bit of wandering, before we slowly made our way to Tokyo Tower, where we were having dinner. Rich, being vegetarian, likes tofu. I do too, but it's much more important to Rich's life. So we took him to a fancy, old tofu restaurant at the foot of Tokyo Tower. It was absolutely lovely, and set in this old mansion in a garden, and they make all the tofu right there and it's like the best tofu ever. So good. Also we did have fish with the meal, it was not vegetarian. Which was a relief. So yeah, ate there, wandered the grounds being generally impressed by them, and then headed home.
The next morning, Rich and Ben left early, then Santana and I had one more day. So we went to watch the Sumo guys practice, went to Tsukiji for sushi, and then wandered until we went home. And that was it. A great weekend. Hopefully everyone enjoyed. I know I did. Only thing missing was the Mario Karting (which is possible. I'm not even kidding. In Japan you can rent go-karts, dress up as Mario characters, and drive around the streets of Tokyo. Bucket list, here we come), but otherwise, it was fantastic. And I think Rich liked it, which is all that matters really. Next up I have to write a speech for this damn wedding....
Ok, I made it through. Now music. I could spend a lot of time talking to you about Radiohead who just suddenly dropped their album today (A Moon Shaped Pool. It is very, very good. I've only listened once, but I am impressed. Less electronic, more subdued and instrumental, maybe somewhere between the overall sound of OK Computer, but also some King of Limbs-y electronic bleeps and bloops and darkness and sadness in there.). I could also talk about James Blake or Ry X, both of whom dropped their albums last week. Or Moderat or Autolux, both of whom dropped third albums recently which are both fantastic and who I never heard of until their third albums but am now glad I did hear about. And I will talk about some of these artists in the coming days/weeks (at least now you know names and don't need to wait for me. Go ahead. I basically just named dropped because all of those albums are so exciting and you need to hear them.), but instead I'll talk about Space Captain because I found them first and have been meaning to. I found this band recently and fell in love with Two, the first song I heard. It is crazy good.
So that's the closing track on their first EP, In Memory. Good one, huh? Especially when you get to that breakdown around 3:00, and even more so when those handclaps come in 15 seconds later. And then it just blows up! I love it.
So this band is from Brooklyn. Judging by their Soundcloud profile photo, there are a lot of them. As you can tell, they are in the same vein as Hiatus Kaiyote or Jaala. So what's not to like? Well, maybe the fact they only have like 6 songs. But they're 6 damn good songs. Here's another example called Cosmos.
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