Tokyo, Japan--Day 50

Today we woke up only to find it pouring outside. Luckily we got umbrellas and were able to borrow one from the hotel and set off to find a good view of Tokyo, which probably wouldn’t be that good since it was raining so much. We took the subway over to a government building that we could have gone up, but found that it was closed since today was a national holiday (who knew!). So we walked back down to a hotel that Sonja and Valerie had stayed at when they first arrived in Tokyo and headed up to the 47th floor to find a good view. The view was good, but it was very cloudy and raining so it wasn’t the best, plus we were getting some not too happy looks from the staff up at the top so we decided to go back down.

We spent the day sort of walking around Tokyo and shopping, with Sonja buying a neat little digital camera. It was just nice to have them to talk to and walk around with, so I didn’t mind just shopping. After a good and rainy afternoon we headed back to the hotel where Valerie stayed while Sonja and I went to a traditional Kabuki theater. We bought tickets and were told that there was standing room only, which wasn’t going to be a problem since we only bought tickets to one act (which was about an hour and half) and opted not to go for the entire 5 or so hours that it was going to be playing!

We got up to our seats and were able to get English translation headsets which were quite cool and useful and then were able to get some seats. The kabuki theater was really neat, and I guess is THE place to see kabuki in Tokyo. The play was great and I was of course thoroughly impressed with it all, especially when I learned that the females were played by males. It was really a great experience to watch.

After the act was over, we went back to the hotel and met up with Valerie again and then set off to Roppongi, which is this area of Tokyo attracts a lot of Westerners. After much debate as to where to have dinner, we found a great sushi restaurant which was really fun, and Sonja and I had quite the time picking up various interesting looking things and trying them out. Raw octopus isn’t that bad! After dinner and several glasses of Japanese beer later, we headed to find some good desserts and drinks, then had some more fun at an Australian bar nearby, then a slightly more sketchy bar after that. We had quite the time with the people there and danced the night away, making it back to our hotel fashionably late.





(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.