I'm supposed to talk about Tokyo today. But I'm in Sri Lanka at the moment and exhausted. I just spent the entire day biking around, getting very dehydrated, looking at temples. But I'll make a go of it.
There was a holiday weekend in China, and I intended (for once) to actually stay in Shanghai. But then Rich needed a short, quick trip to renew his airline status for next year. So he convinced me to go to Tokyo. Which, let's be honest, is not difficult. The idea was originally to get in on Wednesday night, go hike up a mountain overnight on Thursday and Friday, then come back to Tokyo for a night out and for Saturday before heading back. That stayed more or less the same, but thanks to a terrible weather forecast we had to cancel the hike. But we did manage to do the two things I had wanted to do for Rich's bachelor party that we didn't get to.
We still did get out of Tokyo on Thursday, though, and headed to the same area where we originally planned. The idea instead was to stay at a hot spring hotel and do a short day hike or something. We did accomplish those things, but the day hike was not very exciting. Unfortunately the majority of it ended up being along paved roads, and while we were still in rural areas and surrounded by mountains and trees, it's not quite the same when you're walking along a paved road. We did try to get off into the woods for like the second half, but apparently a bridge had collapsed and they had to close the trail. So in the end we only spent about 30 minutes in the woods, hiking to a from a really nice waterfall, and the other 3-4 hours on the road. So really it was like a long walk more than anything. But I guess still nice to be outside in the fresh, non-polluted air. And the onsen was great.
The next day we had to start early to get back to Tokyo, because we'd booked ourselves into the tour of the Hakushu whiskey distillery, which is very close by, and the first of the two things we wanted to do for Rich but didn't get to during the party. The tour fills up quickly, it seems, so we were only able to get on the first tour of the day, at 10:30 am. Which means that by noon we were already a bit tipsy, because you do the tour for about 40 minutes, looking at the fermentation rooms and distilling rooms and warehouses, and then move on to the tasting room for 40 minutes, where you get to try a few different Hakushu whiskeys. And then, because of the train schedule, we had to stay for another couple of hours, so we had lunch at their restaurant and then went to the bar and drank more whiskey. The bar only serves 15ml tasters though, so we were not wasted or anything for the ride back. Just drunk enough to pass out. We did get to try the Hakushu 25 year and the Hibiki 30 year (in addition to the Hakushu 18 year with lunch) which now means I've tried all the Hakushus and all the Hibikis. And I have to say, Hakushu is probably my favorite of the famous Japanese whiskeys. I still love Akashi the most, though.
After that it was back to Tokyo for some bar hopping. Tokyo has all kinds of themed bars, and Rich got it in his head to go to a train themed bar. So I started googling to figure it out, and found so much more. We did start with the train bar, and then we had dinner at an izakaya, followed by a Jesus themed bar (which was more like a creepy, Gothic castle than anything, but they did have a lot of Jesuses all over the place, and plenty of other Christian iconography. Plus bats and skulls.). I thought it was pretty exciting, but then I had like 2 friends tell me they'd been there so I'm not sure why I never heard about it before. This was followed by a quick trip to the batting cages, which was a lot more fun than I expected, and finally on to the best part of the night: PENGUIN BAR! Yes, a bar with penguins. Real, live penguins. They're in a chilled area with a pool behind glass, so you can't touch them or anything, sadly, but they are still there and amazing and hilarious and follow you around if you go up to the glass to say hi.
Saturday started with the other activity which we did not get to do for Rich's bachelor party: Mario Kart! In real life. There are 2 guys in Akihabara with a bunch of go karts which you can rent and drive around the city in. Dressed in a costume. Most of the costumes are Mario themed, but not all. We of course went for Mario, though. Rich was Luigi and I was Yoshi. And then we followed our guide around for an hour, while all these people looked and pointed and filmed and laughed. My favorite part was when we were stopped at a light, and a biker on a Harley with a bunch of tattoos pulled up next to us, and then saw us and laughed. We actually did get a mini tour, which was really nice. I thought we'd just drive around, but the guide (who is not mandatory) took us past the Sky Tree, Ueno Park and Kaminarimon, so we got to see a few of the major Tokyo sites. I assume if you did two hours or more you could potentially see the whole city, which would be awesome too. Anyway, highly recommend this activity.
That was originally our only plan for Saturday, but as it turned out our friend Yasmin just happened to land in Tokyo on Saturday morning for a business trip, so we met her and our other friend Sarah in the afternoon for a few beers (and iPod shopping, which I'll talk about another time) before I went off to the airport. Sadly Sunday was a workday, so I had to get back on Saturday. Boo stupid Chinese holiday policies.
While in Japan I was obsessively listening to Shapeshifter, the debut album from New York band IAN SWEET (actually they might be an LA band. I'm not 100% sure). I heard #23 a few weeks ago, and I think it might be one of my favorite tracks of the year.
I honestly can't tell you how many times I've listened to that song. Jilian Medford, the vocalist and mastermind behind IAN SWEET, has put together a great collection of introspective, melancholy (there's that word again) songs. And backed with her bandmates, they've created a fantastic grungy sound that I normally wouldn't like, but really do in this case. I also love the way her voice squeeks. 2soft2chew, the track that comes next on the album, is another tune.
I sure do love me some lady rock. Not as in rock for ladies, but rock by ladies who rock. Which IAN SWEET is a perfect example of. Other good examples would be Sharon Van Etten, or today's other band Big Thief. They also put out their debut album, Masterpiece, earlier this year, and it is more great rock music from a great lady (and friends). And since I heard it and got it around the same time as IAN SWEET, and since we're talking about lady rock, it's in today's blog, too. So enjoy Real Love.
There was a holiday weekend in China, and I intended (for once) to actually stay in Shanghai. But then Rich needed a short, quick trip to renew his airline status for next year. So he convinced me to go to Tokyo. Which, let's be honest, is not difficult. The idea was originally to get in on Wednesday night, go hike up a mountain overnight on Thursday and Friday, then come back to Tokyo for a night out and for Saturday before heading back. That stayed more or less the same, but thanks to a terrible weather forecast we had to cancel the hike. But we did manage to do the two things I had wanted to do for Rich's bachelor party that we didn't get to.
We still did get out of Tokyo on Thursday, though, and headed to the same area where we originally planned. The idea instead was to stay at a hot spring hotel and do a short day hike or something. We did accomplish those things, but the day hike was not very exciting. Unfortunately the majority of it ended up being along paved roads, and while we were still in rural areas and surrounded by mountains and trees, it's not quite the same when you're walking along a paved road. We did try to get off into the woods for like the second half, but apparently a bridge had collapsed and they had to close the trail. So in the end we only spent about 30 minutes in the woods, hiking to a from a really nice waterfall, and the other 3-4 hours on the road. So really it was like a long walk more than anything. But I guess still nice to be outside in the fresh, non-polluted air. And the onsen was great.
The next day we had to start early to get back to Tokyo, because we'd booked ourselves into the tour of the Hakushu whiskey distillery, which is very close by, and the first of the two things we wanted to do for Rich but didn't get to during the party. The tour fills up quickly, it seems, so we were only able to get on the first tour of the day, at 10:30 am. Which means that by noon we were already a bit tipsy, because you do the tour for about 40 minutes, looking at the fermentation rooms and distilling rooms and warehouses, and then move on to the tasting room for 40 minutes, where you get to try a few different Hakushu whiskeys. And then, because of the train schedule, we had to stay for another couple of hours, so we had lunch at their restaurant and then went to the bar and drank more whiskey. The bar only serves 15ml tasters though, so we were not wasted or anything for the ride back. Just drunk enough to pass out. We did get to try the Hakushu 25 year and the Hibiki 30 year (in addition to the Hakushu 18 year with lunch) which now means I've tried all the Hakushus and all the Hibikis. And I have to say, Hakushu is probably my favorite of the famous Japanese whiskeys. I still love Akashi the most, though.
After that it was back to Tokyo for some bar hopping. Tokyo has all kinds of themed bars, and Rich got it in his head to go to a train themed bar. So I started googling to figure it out, and found so much more. We did start with the train bar, and then we had dinner at an izakaya, followed by a Jesus themed bar (which was more like a creepy, Gothic castle than anything, but they did have a lot of Jesuses all over the place, and plenty of other Christian iconography. Plus bats and skulls.). I thought it was pretty exciting, but then I had like 2 friends tell me they'd been there so I'm not sure why I never heard about it before. This was followed by a quick trip to the batting cages, which was a lot more fun than I expected, and finally on to the best part of the night: PENGUIN BAR! Yes, a bar with penguins. Real, live penguins. They're in a chilled area with a pool behind glass, so you can't touch them or anything, sadly, but they are still there and amazing and hilarious and follow you around if you go up to the glass to say hi.
Saturday started with the other activity which we did not get to do for Rich's bachelor party: Mario Kart! In real life. There are 2 guys in Akihabara with a bunch of go karts which you can rent and drive around the city in. Dressed in a costume. Most of the costumes are Mario themed, but not all. We of course went for Mario, though. Rich was Luigi and I was Yoshi. And then we followed our guide around for an hour, while all these people looked and pointed and filmed and laughed. My favorite part was when we were stopped at a light, and a biker on a Harley with a bunch of tattoos pulled up next to us, and then saw us and laughed. We actually did get a mini tour, which was really nice. I thought we'd just drive around, but the guide (who is not mandatory) took us past the Sky Tree, Ueno Park and Kaminarimon, so we got to see a few of the major Tokyo sites. I assume if you did two hours or more you could potentially see the whole city, which would be awesome too. Anyway, highly recommend this activity.
That was originally our only plan for Saturday, but as it turned out our friend Yasmin just happened to land in Tokyo on Saturday morning for a business trip, so we met her and our other friend Sarah in the afternoon for a few beers (and iPod shopping, which I'll talk about another time) before I went off to the airport. Sadly Sunday was a workday, so I had to get back on Saturday. Boo stupid Chinese holiday policies.
While in Japan I was obsessively listening to Shapeshifter, the debut album from New York band IAN SWEET (actually they might be an LA band. I'm not 100% sure). I heard #23 a few weeks ago, and I think it might be one of my favorite tracks of the year.
I honestly can't tell you how many times I've listened to that song. Jilian Medford, the vocalist and mastermind behind IAN SWEET, has put together a great collection of introspective, melancholy (there's that word again) songs. And backed with her bandmates, they've created a fantastic grungy sound that I normally wouldn't like, but really do in this case. I also love the way her voice squeeks. 2soft2chew, the track that comes next on the album, is another tune.
I sure do love me some lady rock. Not as in rock for ladies, but rock by ladies who rock. Which IAN SWEET is a perfect example of. Other good examples would be Sharon Van Etten, or today's other band Big Thief. They also put out their debut album, Masterpiece, earlier this year, and it is more great rock music from a great lady (and friends). And since I heard it and got it around the same time as IAN SWEET, and since we're talking about lady rock, it's in today's blog, too. So enjoy Real Love.
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