Tokyo weekend & Foo Fighters gig report (part 1)
Greetings readers for another hopefully mildly entertaining instalment of my blog. At least I’ve got something of note to report this time - my long overdue trip to Tokyo. On Friday evening I headed up to Tokyo for the first time since I arrived in Japan, way back in August 2004. The flight was on time (very impressive for a flight to/from Okinawa) and even arrived a few minutes early - maybe a sign of good things during my trip. From my arrival at Haneda airport I headed by monorail to Hamamatsucho where my German friend picked me up. We went to her place in Roppongi where I’d be staying for the weekend but then she had to head back to an enkai so I had the rest of the evening to myself (it was around 11:15pm at this time).
Decided to orientate myself at this point and head out for a wander into the big city. First thing I realised is that Roppongi has many gaijin, and I mean MANY gaijin! The bars there had the clientèle like a bar in the west, which was pretty disconcerting for a little while. I’m used to seeing military around and about in Okinawa, but they definitely seemed to be the majority here. Had a drink in a couple of bars, bought one waitress a drink as it was her first night working, and then headed back. It had been a long week at school writing and marking tests, and I was pretty worn down. The highlight of the evening was walking back to my friend’s place though. Got to a crossing and was waiting for traffic to stop when I glanced at the guy to my right. I had to double-take before I realised it was Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters!!! Very briefly introduced myself and said I’d be going his gig on Monday, he said a brief hello and thanks before heading off. As soon as he’d gone I realised I had a camera attached to my phone and that I should have taken a photo. Ah well, my hindsight is 20/20, and I was glad to have met him anyway.
Saturday was a touristy day, although there are much more interesting sights in other places of Japan (e.g. Kyoto) than Tokyo. But I was determined to see what I could of the big city. Headed over to Shinjuku and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Went to the top of that - some 51 floors and 243m/802ft high. There are some great views to be had, and on completely clear days you can see Mt Fuji from here. It was sunny when I visiited, but there was a little haze meaning I couldn’t see quite that far. What I could see was an urban sprawl as far as the eye could see in almost every direction. Now I’ll admit that I’m easily more at home in the country - Yaese-cho and Okinawa is hardly a metropolis, my island in Maldives had only 300 people, and my home in England is fairly rural in location. To be just surrounded by buildings was pretty sad, especially considering my love of the ocean.
New Japanese hosiery collection, named F*ing Motesto”!!!
The Japanese designers, in a constant struggle to amuseEnglish speakers with their crazy lingo, have set a new benchmark. Last night I was watching some random Japanese TV show about gravure idols (aka グラビアアイドル, or Japanese bikini models), then there was an ad break. My eyes and ears suddenly pricked up when I heard some Japanese voiceover saying “F-ing Motesto”. “What in the name of all things sacred?” thought I. being sure it was just my eyes and ears playing tricks, I looked it up on the net and, sure enough, there is a new line of hosiery called F*ing Motesto. What an awesome name! I have absolutely no idea if the general Japanese population know the meaning of that first word, but I may enquire with some of my work colleagues later on in the day. For now, here’s a picture of models Moe Oshikiri and Yuri Ebihara, modelling some F*ing stockings in a chapel!
See more at http://www.fukuske.com/brand/f-ing/index.html, and get your loved ones some F*ing hosiery this Christmas!