Shinjuku

After Harajuku we met up with a friend of a friend who lives in Tokyo. He brought his wonderful and gorgeous friend who is from Kyoto. So the four of us met in Shinjuku under the huge video screen of Studio Alta. This is a perfect hang out for young people: flashy lights and noise, shopping, food, drink, close to public transit, and there's a big screen TV. After meeting and exchanging hellos we wandered down to yakitori-cho, an alley filled with small yakitori shops, each seating about 8 people. Apparently at places like this it is rude to order water without also ordering alcohol, so I tried a sake that was quite tasty and smooth, wish I'd written down the name.

After our tasty little meal we walked a few steps out of yakitori-cho, turned the corner and walked into a little cafe. The lighting was dim, the furniture was wooden and everything inside was proper and slightly smaller than one might like. =) It seemed like the kind of place you would go to write dark but polite poetry. My housemate and I both ordered toast (cinnamon and caramel respectively). This tickled our hosts friend who chuckled on and off for quite a while about us ordering breakfast for dessert. The coffee and tea were apparently delightful, I personally like my cream and sugar too much to be able to tell. The toast was perfect, thick and with a light spread of salty sweet caramel.


Next stop? Drinks of course. We wandered down a couple streets and eventually into a dark labyrinth of alleys. Each door was heavily decorated and belonged to a miniature bar, about the same size as the yakitori shops. If you pick a theme you can wander this area and probably find the corresponding bar.  The door above was probably decorated for some kind of wild west theme. We sat down at one with a Love and Peace theme where the two bartenders were very friendly and interesting to listen to, even if I didn't understand a word they were saying.  While we sipped drinks sitting on that coasters that read "Love and Peace" we watched a rather gruesome Tarantino flick.  Then, just before rushing off to the train, we watched the "A Whole New World" scene from Disney's Aladin.  There are absolutely no contradictions in Japan by the way.  None.

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