After a 3-hour bus ride from the coastal countryside to the city, we were eager to check-into our hotel: Citadines Shinjuku! We got into Tokyo around 6pm and spotted our first Starbucks and first-in-Tokyo (of many) 7-11. Too bad none of the convenience stores or Japanese banks accepted our debit cards here either :( we can pay for a hotel room but not ramen :( We took the subway to Shibuya to meet M's friend Yuki. The subway was eerily quiet. And everyone was on their cell phones. Did I mention clean, too? I bet the toilets are nice. The best are the posters that tell you what to do and not do when someone falls into the tracks. All observations = opposite of everywhere in the US!
When we got to Shibuya, we tried a few more banks with Yuki. We got to a Citi and finally we were able to get yen! We had been in Japan for over 24 hours without any money and no one seems to take credit cards! Finally, we could eat on our own dime and not like ruuuude people.
After we got cash, we tried to get a table at Uoshin Shibuya, which is supposed to be one of the best izakaya. There was a 30-minute wait so we did some exploring in between. We decided to use our time to do a Purikura session! Purikura at Club Sega was a revelation! It's like a fancy photo booth that costs ¥400 per session and makes your eyes wider like anime and your skin lighter. It was ridiculously fun. Girls around us were taking it so seriously, too.
Uoshins izakaya restaurant was very cool. And it proved wise to go with a local because the real menu was only in Japanese. We had some beautiful sashimi. The remnants of a sweet shrimp is below. We also took part in some boiled clams, sushi, and karaage, which is Japanese fried chicken. Of course we had nihonshu with our meal, but also a cocktail with grapefruit juice. Some locals who were seated next to us started asking Yuki where we were from and one kept saying he was in the mafia and the other said he knew daft punk. Strange conversation that may have turned out differently if we werent with a dude. But K was again falling asleep at the table.
We went home a bit early (around midnight) so that Yuki could catch her train and we could catch some sleep. We are planning on heading to the tuna auction at Tsukiji fish market at 5am! Good night friends!
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