The Food:
One of these things being obviously the top tier food that can be found almost on any Japan streets. On the first night of our arrival we immediately went for what we REALLY went to Japan for, RAWWRRMEN!!!!! (ramen). We went to this ramen shop called "Ichiran", a ramen franchise, one of Japan's best (not including the independent ones).
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| The eating stall at "Ichiran" |
The restaurant had a unique design where all customers are seated facing the wall, with wooden dividers on the sides so each customer has completely privicy in their own little stalls (of course, you have the option of folding in the divider in cause you're there with your friend or something (pretty cool design, consider the Japs are all rediculiously shy, whoever thought of that is a smrt man). The order is placed thru this little window/screen in front of you.
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| If Jesus was a dish. This would be it. |
The ramen there is easily one of the bestEST I've had (I've been to Japan around 6-7 times now, so I've had ALOT of Japanese noodles :p).
You have to purchase your order at a vending machine out at the front of the store, so you do not have to speak a single word throughout the whole experience.
Brilliant, right?
You sit down at a stall and then you will see a sheet that you need to fill out. It's basically a multiple choice sheet of exactly how you want your noodle to be made... how heavy of a soup you want... how thick you want the noodles... how spicy.... etc.
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| My "extra noodle" meal ticket, given to me in a metal tray. Badass eh? |
After the noodle is served the server will close the blind in front of you, leaving you to eat in peace in this tiny square cubicle. It was kinda weird at first but once you have the first taste of their noodle you will want to be left alone until you finish it. Yes, it is that good, and I am a picky eater.
Oh, they also have the most badass washroom evar! It is super spotless clean just like most other Jap washrooms. When I walked in I was kinda suprised to see about 20-30 toilet paper rolls attached tot he wall, each folded perfectly at the end for you to pull out, of course the usual stand bunghole washing toilet seat which I did not have the chance to use at that time. Out in the sink area there is this sink where the water tap (the piece where you turn to get water out) is located right at the middle of INSIDE the sink, and the water would come out a couple feet on top of it, having the water run back down to the tap, perfect for those people who get all paranoid about touching the tap after with their clean hands. Genius design. (I'm easily impressed)
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| Excuse my non-wide-angle phone camera. But here is part of the epic TP wall. |
The Commute:
On our daily travel to and from the game station and home, we would be taking the train. In such a densly populated country there are always people on the train. From the first train at 5am to the last one at whenever, these trains are always filled with people. I like to people watch when I'm not doing anything in public Since its a very different country where people act so differently, I like to check out random Japanese people and see how they act differently.
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| Tamaplaza, our train station. They have these drummers here to perform everytime we walk by. Yup, thats how they treat pro gamers. :p |
Japanese people are extremely shy creatures most of the time. They will try and avoid eye contact with others at all cost when waiting for the train, or waiting to reach their destination. 99% of the people will just face the outside of the train with their faces buried into the screen of their cell phones. We often catch them checking out themselves and other people using the reflection of the big windows on the side of the trains. Sneaky ninja eyes!
After a while me and Kenny "Air" had came to a conclusion that it is completely untrue when people say that "Japan has so many hot girls". Not true at all. In fact, we only have visually encountered very few "1st floor material". However, we are aware that in certain parts of that country, mostly in tourist areas, are haunted by large sums of pork chops (pronounced "ju-pa" in cantonese, means pork chop.. girls. You get the idea :p). They are VERY good at dressing up and doing their makeup though, so when you think you are seeing a hot chick in Japan guys, TAKE A CLOSER LOOK, it could be scary shizzle underneath that makeup!!
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| The famous "Hachiko" street crossing, outside Shibuya station. Many movies have scenes filmed here. |
On the weekends our last train home were usually guarenteed to be PACKED with people. Alot of them are trying to get home from partying and drinking or whatever, the train would be completely stuffed with people. Sometimes it gets so packed in there that it feels like you're in the front rows of a giant rock concert (minus the mosh pit) and you're all up close personal with all these strangers people. This is where Kenny always tells me he would get molested by an old rich Japanese man who will take him home afterwards. (let the "Air is Gay" rumour spread some more in N. America! Muahahahahaha!)
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| A fully packed Japanese train |
We were so bored on these daily commutes that we eventually discovered a game. I would pick out a pork chop of random choice, usually a A-Tier or stronger (just to make things interesting), and it would go a little something like this....
Me: Yo, 50,000yen.
Air: Which one?
Me: Behind me, with the pink bag, sitting down.
Air: *peeks over my shoulder and sees this fat chick*..... dude she looks like a gorilla!! 80,000yen!
Me: But you have to hold hands, go on a date with her, take her out to a nice dinner, and the full package afterwards. A full day event :p
Air: *thinks for about 10 seconds* 100,000yen and I'll do it.*and then we have a deal*
Now we know in this situation, how much Air can be sold as a manwhore (approx 1,000cad in this case). I know, we are going to hell for being such assholes. *troll*
It may sound dumb, but it has caused us alot of joy and random outbursts of positive (for us) energy on these boring and long'ish commutes, also Iphone and Windows Phone games have accompanied us, we do have lives, you know :p.
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| Females only train. Only from 5am to 9am. |
Anyways I will leave it at this for now, since the sun is coming up as I'm finishing this post. I will continue in the next post with more details on our trip!
Cheers!
- le Supadonkie
