JAPANEXILE

And finally part two comes, been having too much fun lately to do an update, but just back from the nursery and am exhausted after all that running around so seemed like a good moment to do something productive.

So, day two of our Tokyo induction course begins! We were scheduled to meet Mai at Shibuya at 12.30pm who was then going to take us to the Bonzai-kan, aka the Earthquake centre. So show to our initiative we thought we make a brief visit to Akihabara - Electric City. It was a 40minute train journey away but totally worth it. Every shop, every stall is selling electronic gadgets of some sort, some of you may know I’m a bit of computer geek so this place was like a wet dream for me. Unfortunately with so little money I couldn’t indulge my addiction s instead we headed to the SEGA Game centre, a 4 Story high arcade! All of us had an absolute blast here, playing some obscure Mortal Combat type game none of us could understand, I was rather proud to have made it to the seventh round and only losing by indescribably small amount. In the end what mattered was that I had bested Ben, who was knocked out by a Japanese player on the other side of the room…After getting rather hot playing this drumming game with Craig we had to head out to meet Mai. Despite the short time there was so glad we went, perfect way to spend a morning!

Mai first took us to Yuki’s office for the actual induction part of the course, wasn’t too strenuous, brief explanation of the rules, the plan for the day, then finished by giving us 10,000Yen to take care of ourselves for the days we were there. So not too bad for 30mins of my time! After that we met with Satomi and headed for the Earthquake centre!

Seems this place is designed to teach yo what to you should “The Big One” strike anytime soon. Let’s hope it doesn’t as its likely we’d all perish in the flames of burning gas lines - not being able to understand a word which was being said. First task was using a fire extinguisher on a video of a video on the wall. Despite our initial confusion we made up for out lack of understanding with enthusiasm, easily besting the firefighting skills of the Japanese people there.

Now the highlight of the day, the Earthquake simulator! All go into a room which is made up as a traditional Japanese kitchen. Then…the earthquake strikes! As instructed I dove under the table to protect myself from falling objects with speed any athlete would have been proud of. After the initial shock wave we were to turn off the gas and open the door to ensure our escape route was clear, then brace for the after shocks! After all the excitement I then videoed a Japanese family in the simulator, unfortunately in my haste I forgot to press save - rather annoying as I went to great trouble asking permission from everyone to make it in the first place! We then had a series of long talks about earthquake safety. As before, probably would have been more interesting if I had understood it. One interesting fact I did pick up tho, over 1000 Earthquakes a year hit Japan! Next up was escaping from a Smoky corridor, I volunteered to lead our group through this ordeal. It wasn’t that hard, the guy running the day gives you directions…

After our afternoon at the Earthquake centre it was time for some tourist behaviour. Apparently Sunday is the day to Harajuku, for one reason only. Its when for reasons unknown people come out and behave rather strangely. People dressed as video game characters. Check. Men wearing School girl uniform. Check. Man with fishbowls hanging from his ears complete with fish. Check. Needless to say it was a great time for photos. Also got a great video of me dancing with some random guy on the bridge. Didn’t have the stamina to match him tho as he kept going for hours. Harajuku is apparently the Knightsbridge of Tokyo with designer shops and expensive restaurants on every corner. And rather out of place was the shop Condomania. Selling an impressive selection of novelty condoms and other such items. All of us were starting to get a little fatigued by this point so went to have some ice-cream for lunch/tea. After that it was off to meet Yuki for dinner.

Shabu Shabu! Thats what we went for for. And with that I had found my new favourite food. In the middle of each table is a pot of boiling hot oil (two types) You get given a nice selection of beef and pork pieces, some vegetables for good measure. Dip until until cooked, sprinkle with sesame (or bitter orange…) and enjoy!

But of course the night was not yet over. To the Arcade! Some Half Life 2 for good measure, then did purica again Just because we can. Only a brief stay there before doing some late night shopping in…well I’m not really sure what type of shop it was. Seemed to have everything that you immediately want when you see but in reality will just throw in a drawer as soon as you get home. One thing I couldn’t help but laugh at was ‘Billy’s Bootcamp’ Workout video by some American I guess. Looked ridiculous. Besides, Japanese people don’t get fat…

And the finale for the evening was the classic, Karaoke. Karaoke here is a very serious business. The place we went to had 7 floors, each packed with individual rooms for your party. You order drinks using a phone in the room, which is a great system, and resulted in us going through several pitchers of beer and a bottle of Sake. After 11pm you pay for a room for 6hours, not a typo. Apparently that’s how long people stay. We of course thought “How ridiculous, we’ll only need an hour” How wrong we were. Without realising it we spent all night there. Its just “One More” each time, then you think of a classic song to do and can’t help but add it to the playlist. Mike and Craig did a stunning rendition of ‘Barbie Girl’ to start us off. Followed by my solo of ‘Livin’ la vida loca’! And so it went on, had a great night. Hoarse and exhausted by 5am we got a Taxi back to the Hotel. Part 3 coming up. Click here for a link to the photo album for the day.