conbini run, part 3

What did I say about the technology getting better?

New Discoveries

Went on a walk today with H around Shinjuku, and then kind of randomly decided to take a train to the east side of Tokyo, where we did some more walking and then ended up in Asakusa, where we had some pretty delicious tendon (that’s tempura and sauce on top of rice, not body tissue, although both are pretty easy to come by in Tokyo). The walk, especially around Asakusa, provided a goldmine of wacky camera phone pics, the winner of which is posted above. Maybe I’ll post some of the others later, but this one deserves its own little space for sure. I’ve never really hung around in Asakusa before, but I intend to make it my new summer hangout, as there are tons of homely little izakayas (Japanese pubs) with seating areas that spill out onto the street. Finally, a place in Tokyo to enjoy a beer outdoors!

Recovery Time

Just want to say thanks for those of you who came to our H’s party last night. It was a lot of fun, and I apologize to anyone I subjected my drunken rambling to (that means anyone I spoke to after about, oh, 7PM). And by the way, if anyone wants to stop by this week, I will have that crab rangoon ready to go!

For those of you who are not in Japan, we had a quite a scary earthquake yesterday afternoon during the party preparation.

Lots of Parties

I’ve been doing way too much partying recently. This weekend alone I went out and saw Jeff Samuel DJ (was a great show, BTW), and then yesterday, whether you believe me or not, I attended a wine-tasting party. The wine-tasting was really pretty cool. I think I can get into activity that is centered around drinking (after the tasting, we did some drinking, of course). Now I need to get some stuff done!

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kickin off another friday.

Just Another Day In Shinjuku

It was good weekend, but hardly productive. Friday, H and I met some friends near the gay bars and decided on a quick Indian curry dinner. Then we proceeded to this popular little bar (really more a street corner than an actual bar) where me met up with a friend we haven’t seen since last year (he had gone back home to London for a while). That was a drunken good time and I ended getting quite a bit of attention (well, for me, anyway), which is always nice. Saturday was worthless. Today, we walked to Shinjuku to run errands, basically, but H somehow talked me into seeing Dreamgirls (quite a gay weekend, eh?), which was OK, but really pretty boring, in my opinion. It just wasn’t for me. Oh, and it’s a musical. That American Idol girl is quite the singer, though.

Again

another, this time from the bathroom.

Chinese Food

from my favorite chinese place.

Beer With a Free Prize

There are sometimes wonderful beer promotions here which I can’t imagine interesting any beer drinker but myself. I must have more in common with the average Japanese person than I think. Last night (during the conbini run) I spotted some free miniature toys attached to the top of cans of Sapporo Draft One (a pretty nasty, not quite real beer, though), so I quickly snatched up a couple. The photo is of the winner of the bunch — it’s the torii at Itsukushima Shrine near Hiroshima. This series of toys, by the way, is themed around Chugoku, the region where Hiroshima is located.