Fun times in Tokyo and Nagoya

On Wednesday the 20th, after having decided to go with the apartment in Ikebukuro, me and my Couchsurfing host Kyan met up with a friend of him in Jiyuugaoka for dinner. We originally planned to go to some spicy Vietnamese place, but ended up walking into the smallest restaurant I've ever been to. A tiny, tiny Yakitori bar. I hadn't actually eaten Yakitori in Japan before, so this was a good opportunity to cross that off of my to-do list.
The tiny bar had about 9 seats, most of which were filled. After about 30-45 minutes Kyan's friend's friend also joined us. The Yakitori was easily the best I've ever had, but that's not saying a lot, because I've only eaten it twice at Bincho in London. It was some juicy meat though and I liked it.
I think everybody(besides me of course) was drinking and soon the atmosphere started to become very jolly and happy. Except for a couple in one of the corners, everybody was talking together. This made it quite hard for me to fully participate in the conversations, because while I rarely have trouble talking 1-on-1 with people, talking in group situations, especially with multiple conversations going on and background noises, is extremely difficult and all I understand is some random words. Fortunately enough Japanese people are some of the friendliest in the world and especially Kyan constantly took time to translate certain things for me. And when someone was talking directly to me I usually understood and was able to reply. To master Japanese in these kinds of situations will take quite a while longer, but I'll keep on improving and hopefully get better and better.
One old man in the bar was celebrating his birthday. I don't know who it was, but either he or the owner treated everyone to Cake and Champagne. I passed on the Champagne, since I don't drink, but the cake was really cool. It further heightened the mood and all was good. :) Here's a picture we took:

 Left to Right: Kyan's friend, Birthday guy, Kyan's friend's friend, Kyan, me

Afterwards Kyan, me and the 2 girls went to an even smaller bar with some Italian snacks and wine etc. We talked for a while longer and eventually not wanting to be on the last train with drunk, obnoxious people(apparently they do exist in Japan...) we went homewards.

On Thursday, I didn't do a whole lot. I was expecting to go and sign a contract for the apartment, but eventually got an email I should come to Ikebukuro on Friday to sort things out. In the evening I met up with Robert again and we ate some solid sushi in Marunouchi. A restaurant which we had eaten at together twice before already last year. It delivered solid sushi yet again.

Friday during the day I finally got a chance to go down to Ikebukuro. It turned out there was no contract that needed to be signed, but I did let them copy my passport and we talked about payment options. Afterwards I walked around Ikebukuro a bit more and was really happy I chose the Ikebukuro apartment. I still very much am! I actually like the area a lot more aswell than Shinjuku, which maybe is a bit too busy. Walking around, I decided I'd explore Ikebukuro station. It turns out there's about 100 places for food inside the station and 100s more in the direct vicinity. I ate some so-so sushi and afterwards checked out the supermarkets. Not only is there a supermarket in 1 of the 2 department stores, but as in most of them in Japan both have an entire floor with takeaway food. Both supermarkets have about 20-30 stands where you can get takeaway food, lunch boxes, sweets and bread. There may be a little bit too much to choose from :)
Friday evening me and Kyan went out. Kyan, being a working man, said he likes to start of the weekend by going out and drinking, so after getting some supercheap, but surprisingly good Chinese food around the corner, we first went to an international party in Harajuku. I had been to these international parties before last year and especially the first one was a lot of fun. This one was allright. A little bit warm and cramped at times and not as nice of a location as the first one in Shibuya last year, but it was a good opportunity to speak some Japanese nonetheless(which I don't do with Kyan, he's Chinese and mostly grew up in Canada and his English, if possible, is even better than mine, so we speak English). We also met some interesting people. Especially one Chinese looking girl was quite funny, because she was a little bit oversocial and took literally 15 identical pictures of people and got more phone numbers from people than anyone else at that party I'm sure.

Afterwards we met up with a few friends of Kyan in a Latin Dance bar in Roppongi. I don't particularly like the atmosphere in Roppongi, but apparently there's a lot of nightlife and it's close to Kyan's house, so oh well. The crowd in the bar/club was mainly 30+. So I didn't talk to a lot of other people. However, it was good fun, mostly talking with Kyan's friends and dancing a little bit. I went home somewhat early, because I didn't want to be in bed too late, since I had to travel to Nagoya the next day.

Saturday, I packed my stuff, said goobye to Kyan and took a Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagoya. Less than 2 hours later I arrived. Especially the fastest Shinkansens cross Japan in astonishing times. A great way to travel! I went to the house of my next host, Rod, a Filipino guy. He had invited over 2 other Couchserfers, both Germans, that evening. We ordered pizza and talked together. One stayed the night aswell. The following day I talked a bunch more with the guy who had stayed the night. His name is Greg and he's been trying to find a job in Japan to get a visa, but has been unsuccessful in the past few years. He's giving it one last shot and has a few more months to make it happen. Good luck to him!

Sunday evening, I met up for dinner with an old friend from last year, Mika. She's quite easily the one who's helped me improve my Japanese the most. Last year, we talked for about 25 hours over the course of 4 days, 95% in Japanese. Up til that point I had not spoken much more Japanese than a few simple 30 minute introductions and ordering food in restaurants, so with her help I improved tremendously! We also became good friends last year.

We went for some sushi and afterwards went to a really cool cafe called monkey cafe, that we had been to last year too. We basically caught up and talked until I had to go not to miss the last train.

Monday the 25th, I met up with Mika again for dinner. This time for a special occasion. One of her friends, Kohan from Taiwan, who had lived in Nagoya for 6 months was leaving and there was a farewell party for him. Kohan also brought a friend, Akiko. And although she was a little late, I also saw Midori again, whom I had also become good friends with last year. We went to an Izakaya, Yama-chan. The food was pretty basic, but the company is what matters when you go to an Izakaya and I had no complaints in that regard. Again it was sometimes a little bit hard to follow conversations with 3 Japanese people and lots of background noise, but Kohan wasn't quite fluent yet either, so I understood almost all of what he said and because the 3 Japanese girls are all very good at English(better than me and Kohan at Japanese), so there was some talk in English aswell.

Tuesday, I moved to a hotel I had booked and afterwards met up for dinner with a Couchsurfer I hadn't met before, Ai. Ai brought a friend Joshua. Joshua's a Korean who grew up in Japan, so he has 3 names, an English, a Korean and a Japanese one. We went to an Izakaya again and talked about a bunch of topics. Joshua, just like me, is interested in starting businesses. He actually already owns and runs a bar in the town where he lives in his spare time. So it was interesting talking to him.

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were relatively uneventful. I walked around Nagoya a lot, did a bunch of shopping, watched a few movies, ate at a few restaurants etc.

Thursday was somewhat more eventful. Mainly because of 1 absolutely amazing meal and 1 also very cool, good meal. The first one was probably the 2nd best meal I've ever had. Sushi in a department store next to Nagoya station:

http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2013/02/sushi-in-nagoya-station-areanagoya.html

The second one was a type of restaurant I had never eaten at before. An Unagi(Eel) restaurant. Of course I've eaten Unagi Nigiri Sushi before, but never before had I eaten at a restaurant specializing in Unagi. I went together with Mika and Midori. Mika had never eaten Unagi Hitsumabashi before either.

http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2013/03/unagi-in-sakaenagoya.html

Being in Nagoya this last Sunday was some amazing timing. Mika plays in an orchestra that performs once a year, which this year happened to be last Sunday! I obviously had to take this opportunity to go and hear her perform. It was a bit far out, but certainly worth the trip. The orchestra wasn't professional, but nonetheless a lot of people had come and the music they played I definitely liked. Brahms' 4th Symphony and Schubert's unfinished Symphony, with the Radzetzky March as an encore. Afterwards we ate dinner together at Nagoya Station.

Today, Monday, I ate lunch in Sakae(Nagoya's city center) and then spent nearly 5 hours in a Starbucks studying Japanese Kanji. The complicated Kanji characters intrigue me and it was fun being productive again for a change. Afterwards I decided to reward myself with a return visit to the amazing sushi bar, but was disappointed by the fact that the counter seats were taken. Nonetheless had a good meal there, but it's shocking what a difference 5 minutes make when it comes to the quality of sushi. Having them all delivered at your table instead of eating them 1 by 1 at the counter, makes all the difference in the world.

Right now I'm back in my hotel doing some laundry and getting ready to fly to Seoul tomorrow. I'll first take the Shinkansen to Osaka and fly from Kansai Airport to Seoul. In Seoul I'll spend my first week Couchsurfing, meeting tons of people, sightseeing, eating Korean food etc. The 2nd week I'll be participating in the APPT Seoul, hopefully binking a win, maybe killing the cash games too. And I'll be going to the Pokerstars VIP dinner to which I can take a guest. I haven't decided yet who, but I'm sure I'll meet someone awesome in Korea whom I can invite. Unfortunately enough IF I decide to go to the dinner, I will have to pass up on the AMAZING concert that I have a ticket for, because it's on the same day. I'll probably go to the dinner, but I'll be very sad missing the concert which is some of my favorite music done by my favorite director+orchestra in the world. The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing Beethoven's 7th Symphony and Beethoven's Triple Concerto.

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this blog, I'm sure I'll make up with the next one from Korea, which should contain a ton of them. As always if you want to read about more food I've eaten check out:

http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/