Tokyo: Day 10

On Sunday morning, I woke up to an apartment full of hangovers. We were all bleary-eyed and headachey from the night before, but it was already almost time to say goodbye. We sat around watching a TV programme that seemed to be explaining in some detail the entire plot of the movie The Hangover, which was perhaps appropriate. I popped out to the supermarket to buy some last-minute gifts (some sweets and a bottle of saki) and then it was time to say farewell to Noriko, who had to go somewhere for work.

The rest of us started to go on our way to Shibuya, first stopping off at Freshness Burger, the other Japanese burger chain I’d been told about all week. After a mix-up involving teriyaki sauce, I enjoyed it but not as much as Mos Burger, by now a firm favourite. Perhaps it was a good thing I was leaving before developing an addiction. After lunch, we caught the local train to Shibuya so I could catch the Narita Express from there to the airport. After getting my final look at the famous crossing, we went to the ticket office and discovered that there was an earlier train than the one I’d booked. After a little negotiation, we managed to swap the ticket before realising that we’d have to run to the platform to catch the train.

After dashing through what seemed like the longest train station in the world, we got there just in time. I said my goodbyes to my friends and expressed my gratitude for the amazing way they took care of me all week. I had only expected to be shown around once or twice, but in the end I only spent one day by myself. It’s wonderful to have friends like these and I thought to myself as I sat down in the air-conditioned carriage and waved to them through the window that I will have to see them all again soon.

It seemed that I was at the airport in no time. There were about three hours to wait until I had to board my flight, so I spent a little time in an Internet café so I could let people know I was on my way home and spent my last bits of Yen on some final goodies to bring home, including some green tea Kit-Kats that would prove very popular.

By the time I was on the plane, it was dark outside. I put on my headphones and started to listen to Bowie’s Hunky Dory album on the in-flight entertainment system as we taxied, with the chorus to Life on Mars kicking in as the plane soared into the air. It felt perfect, but perfectly sad. I looked down to the lights below, everything getting smaller and smaller until there was just the dark black sea with the occasional pinprick of light from a boat.

There was some unfinished business for me, though – I finally got to finish watching Shutter Island, and really enjoyed it. After that, it was Shrek 4, which was OK, and a couple of episodes of Family Guy and Futurama before I found my eyes getting heavy and (a real rarity for me) managed to get some sleep on the plane. When I woke up, it was time for breakfast, although it was only 2am Dubai time. Although the food on Emirates was generally good, I don’t think I was especially hungry.

The stopover at Dubai was around four hours, but felt twice as long. There was just as much to do there as before, and I had saved a few Dirhams to get something to eat, but I think I was just a bit too tired to do anything. It had been an exhilarating week and although it would be great to be home again and there were people I was really, really looking forward to coming home to, there’s always something depressing about the end of a holiday and having to return back to reality, and an airport full of Brits, Americans and Australians as well as every other natitionality in the world was a clear sign that I was now in a different place and on my way home. It probably didn’t help that the airport was incredibly crowded, even at 4am, and despite getting to my gate over an hour in advance, I had to sit on the floor.

The sun rose over Dubai and it was eventually time to board the enormous Airbus A380. As we took off, we flew past the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, which was brain-meltingly huge, ridiculously dwarfing the ordinarily tall skyscrapers around it and seeming to be close to the aircraft even at a high altitude. It really was an incredible sight, and a fairly terrifying one.

As the flight continued, I selected the formulaic-but-watchable Predators and then the very funny fourth series of the IT Crowd from entertainment system. I was very sleepy but couldn’t quite sleep. As we were flying over Europe, I went into the toilet cubicle and as I blew my nose, it started to bleed. Since I was I child I’ve always had nosebleeds, maybe once a year or so, but being in an aeroplane about to prepare for landing made me panic more than usual. I felt as if the thinner air was making me bleed more and for longer than usual, but eventually after a few minutes of pinching my nose with my head back the flow started to cease and I was able to get back to my seat in time for landing, as if nothing had happened.

Finally, I landed in Heathrow. It was cold, it was grey, but it was home.

Tokyo: Day 9

Saturday was one of the days I was most looking forward to, the visit to the Studio Ghibli museum. Noriko and I met Sumi and we got the train to Inokashirakoen, where we walked through the scenic Inokashira Park with its beautiful lakes. The walk through the park was longer than I think any of us had expected but would have still been very enjoyable if it wasn’t for the worry about getting to the museum on time – each ticket, bought months in advance, has a specific entry timeslot. Soon enough, though, we arrived at the gates, greeted by a large Totoro and swapped our paper tickets for special collectable ones made from strips of film. We all stopped for a moment to look at them through the sunlight and try to work out which films they were from.

The Ghibli museum was amazing. Not particularly huge, but it was clearly made with love and is packed with interesting stuff. The building itself is a delight to explore and get lost in, with hidden treasures at every turn, from the stained glass windows to the detail on the sink taps and the huge robot statue in the rooftop garden. The most memorable exhibits included a remarkable three-dimensional zoetrope where it appears that models of characters from My Neighbour Totoro come to life and a mock-up of the animator’s rather untidy studio, where we were able to flip through storyboards for films such as Spirited Away and Kiki’s Delivery Service. There were also many exibits relating to The Borrower Arrietty, the latest Studio Ghibli film which probably will take a while to arrive in the UK.

We decided to have lunch in the museum café, The Straw Hat Café, which was a very good decision. Fitting the location, the food itself appeared to be so perfect that it must have come from a cartoon. The sandwiches were made from huge, doorstop-like slices of freshly baked bread with mugs of tea that appeared to have come from a giant’s kitchen. I chose to have a slice of cake, which was probably the biggest and one of the most delicious I’d ever had, along with what the menu described as Looking up at a Clear Blue Sky in the Field Cream Soda – even with that description I wasn’t expecting anything as wonderful as a tasty blue drink with a big scoop of icecream.

There was also a cinema screen which rotated through about eight short films (so you’d have to make that many trips to the museum to see them all). Luckily on this day they were showing Mei and the Kittenbus, a mini-sequel to Totoro. Before we left, we had to visit the gift shop, which was as much of an attraction as anything else. Full of toys and merchandise, it was really difficult to reign in my spending, but I still think I bought around half of my gifts there, everything from a fluffy kittenbus to a box of cookies.

After the museum, we met up with Nahoko, Mari and Aki and had dinner in nearby Mikata. We found an American diner, which seemed a pretty good place to get food and drink. Missing my favourite drink from back home, cider, I decided to give apple beer a try and instantly regretted it – it tasted of beer mixed with apple juice, not very nice. Still, it was my choice, and the food was good – with my burger being so huge it had to be served between two slices of toast.

The drinking continued around the corner, in a place that looked like a more modern, smaller version of the Golden Gai, a grid of alleys with various themed bars. We hopped from one to the other at first before staying at a wine bar with a very friendly Bangladeshi waiter who kept bringing more and more bottles to our table. It slowly dawned on us that this was my last night in Japan, so we decided to make the most of it.

But it was soon time for the bar to close – we seemed to be the only ones there for most of the evening. While it was time for Nahoko to head home, the rest of us decided to continue the party at Noriko’s place. We were pleased to have caught the last train before realising that it only went four stops. A few slightly tipsy ladies wanted to argue with the train driver, but eventually it was decided that the five of us would get a cab back.

We stopped off in the supermarket on the way, to stock up on supplies. The rest of the night was a haze of wine, Pringles and lots of fun. I’ll miss this place, and I’ll miss my friends.

Tokyo: Day 8

At the end of the previous post I mentioned that I wouldn’t have a great deal of Internet access for the rest of my trip, and so it proved. I’m writing this and the subsequent posts in the future, but am still using the dates on the posts from when the things actually happened. Sneaky.

On Friday morning, the weather seemed to have improved. It was overcast but there was barely a hint of rain, so I decided to go to Roppongi Hills after checking out of the hotel but leaving my luggage there to pick up later. Strangely, after being in Tokyo for a week, this would be my first time to use the Metro system (all the other lines I had used were Overground-type trains). It was, like all of the other times I’d used transport in the city, very easy to use and I found myself in Roppongi in no time.

I’d read that the station was very close to the Roppongi Hills complex, so was surprised to find myself emerge in a typical bustling Tokyo street, rather than the clean, modern centre I was expecting. It turned out that it was a short walk down the road and, since I had lots of time to spare, I decided to have a little wander around the area. I quickly found myself in a very residential-looking district, feeling a little lost and like I was going too far in the wrong direction when I suddenly came across the The National Art Center, a beautiful rippling curved glass building housing exhibitions of modern art.

I walked back towards Roppongi Hills itself, up an escalator to the courtyard by the entrance to the imposing 54-story skyscraper. I instantly recognised Louise Bourgeois’ giant spider, just like the one that had stood outside Tate Modern, a little reminder of home that perhaps I needed by now. Inside, I bought what the guide books recommended as the best value ticket, allowing me inside the Mori Art Museum which sits at the very top of the building and the Tokyo City View viewing gallery below. I decided not to go for the open-air roof deck, thinking it’d be a step too far for my acrophobia. Stepping into the lift, it was hard to believe it was moving at all as it silently and swiftly took us 50 floors up. The museum was fascinating, featuring a variety of modern art pieces, including many very large installations as well as smaller pieces, including a great Indonesian rock video animated from hundreds of carved pieces of wood, which were all displayed alongside the screen.

I went down to the 52nd floor to enter the viewing gallery and panicked when I realised I couldn’t find my ticket. Luckily, the staff were fantastic and let me through anyway, so I began my slow walk around all 4 sides of the building, looking out at the stunning views of the city from my vantage point near the iconic Tokyo Tower I’d seen so many times in my youth, normally being knocked over by Godzilla or Mothra. Despite my fear of heights, I was mostly fine, perhaps because everything looked too small to be real and I never got the sense I was climbing so high in the lift. Once or twice I pushed myself a little harder and got close up to the windows and looked downwards, which made me suddenly feel dizzy and sick. For most of the time, though, I just sat by the windows and looked out at the city I had completely fallen in love with, seeing for the first time how all the places I had visited connect together, from Odaiba in the bay to “home”, Shinjuku, towards the north. A wave of sadness washed over me as I looked out across the buildings and cars below, realising that I would soon be saying goodbye. The skies were too cloudy to see Mount Fuji that day, but what I did see was just as beautiful.

I made my way to the lift to take me back to the ground floor but before I could get to the exit I found myself walking through, of course, the gift shop. I decided to pick up a set of Yoshitomo Nara postcards for Noriko as a thankyou for looking after me. Still feeling melancholic, I was cheered when I walked behind the building to find the brightly coloured headquarters of TV Asahi.

I made my way back to Shinjuku the same way I had come. As I had some time to kill before meeting up with Noriko, I decided to see if I could walk to Shibuya. It seemed a fairly straightforward route, past the railway tracks to Yoyogi. From there, it would be easy, I thought. And it was – I had managed to get a complete handle of the geography of the area, even walking down streets in Harijuku that I’d never gone down before and knowing where I was going. Yes, I was feeling a little pleased with myself, and I even made it to that traditional gift shop, which was now open, where I picked up a few samurai and tea-based trinkets.

With more time to kill, I also spent some time in a very large Tower Records store. I felt a rush of nostalgia as soon as I walked through the doors, with Tower having closed down its stores in the UK some time ago, and it was great to be able to go from floor to floor, listening to lots of new albums and be in a bustling record store for the first time in a long time.

I was going to meet Noriko at a gig in Shibuya, which I was quite excited about. I try to see bands in London quite often, so I was interested to see if there are any differences with the gig-going experience is like in Tokyo. It was mostly the same sort of dimly-lit room you’d find above a pub in Camden, although we had to go up in a lift to get there (as I’ve travelled to various places I’ve found that we’re the unusual ones for only having high-street shops and restaurants on the ground floor) and I was pleased to find that my ticket included the price of a drink. The line-up was a little unusual, starting with a Frenchman who drummed along to chiptunes, followed by a remarkably good swing/jazz band who I really enjoyed despite not especially liking that genre of music. It was pointed out to me that Japanese musicians are almost always of excellent technical ability, but it was exceptional to find a band that was as charismatic as they were. One major difference between London and Japan, though, is that the room was foggy with cigarette smoke. I’d completely forgotten that this unpleasant smell was the norm in our clubs just a few years ago and was hard to get used to again, but it was in fact Noriko and her friend who first wanted to leave because of it.

So, we returned to Noriko’s home, my first taste of suburban Tokyo, much more sedate than the centre of the city but still with a certain electricity in the air even late at night. I, of course, removed my shoes as soon as I went inside the door and then was introduced to Noriko’s flatmate Aki. We shared some wine and watched a bit of TV before deciding to get some sleep – it’d be a busy day tomorrow.

Tokyo: Day 7

I’d made a few plans for places to visit today, which would be my only day here spent without meeting any friends, but in the end those plans were blown away by the wind and rain. Watching CNN later, I learned that we should be grateful for the storm over much of Japan today, because its presence diverted a typhoon which would otherwise have been headed in our direction. That wasn’t a huge amount of consolation when I was walking through Shibuya, though, feeling as if I was about to drown.

I mostly retraced the steps I took on Saturday, with a few diversions. I headed to the Tokyo Hands department store to get a few gifts. It was difficult to find as I made my way through Shibuya’s back streets without daring to open my bag and get out my guide book, which would be instantly soaked. I eventually found the store and dripped my way in, slowly drying off as I made my way up and down the buildings many stairs, finding a few things to bring home.

When I left, the rain was still pouring, and I found a nearby manga and toy shop called Mandrake. After going through the door at ground level, I had to go down several flights of stairs, fairly deep underground – after a while it felt like I was going somewhere I wasn’t supposed to, but then found myself at the entrance to the busy, cluttered store, full of shelf after shelf of comic books, divided into many sections such as action or supernatural and a section for girls, where all of the books seemed to be about guys kissing each other. The toys were mostly action figures, everything from characters from the latest videogames to old favourites like Godzilla and Mothra, along with a few random American toys dotted around the place. It was a good diversion to escape from the rain but after a while I decided to head back to the surface to see if the weather had improved.

The rain was still falling very heavily, I decided to move on anyway so put up my hood and walked up towards Yoyogi park, where I stopped for another Mos Burger, the local chain I’d completely fallen in love with yesterday. While I was here, I noticed that the rain had stopped outside. Obviously, once I’d finished eating and left the restaurant, the rain started again. I walked past the headquarters of NHK, the licence-fee funded broadcaster which modelled itself on the BBC and whose building reminds me of Television Centre as well.

From there, I walked to Harijuku, where the brightly dressed girls had been replaced by a sea of umbrellas. I had a browse around Kiddyland, the large toy store, where I picked up a few more gifts. I then walked up to a shop I’d been told about which sells more traditional Japanese gifts, but it was closed. It was still raining very hard and by now, despite wearing a waterproof jacket and hood, I was pretty much soaked to the bone. I gave up and got the train back to the hotel to dry out and spend the rest of the evening relaxing.

Tomorrow, I check out from the hotel and stay at my friend Noriko’s flat for my final weekend here. I’m not sure how much time I’ll be able to spend online while I’m there, so this might be my last post until I return home. The plan for tomorrow is to check out of the hotel at lunchtime and then hang around Shinjuku until Noriko finishes work. I’ll then join her for a gig in Shibuya. Saturday will be one of the highlights of the trip, a visit to the Studio Ghibli museum followed by dinner and drinks with all my friends here. Finally, on Sunday, I’ll be catching my flight home. It’ll be nice to be back home and see everyone there again, but I’m going to really, really miss Tokyo.

Tokyo: Day 6

Today was undoubtedly the least busy day I’ve had since arriving in Japan, but I really needed a rest after four jam-packed days.

I had a very long lie-in before waking up in the afternoon and deciding to have a walk around Shinjuku, the area around my hotel. It was another very warm and humid afternoon and although I was only walking from a couple of hours, it was very tiring. I was trying to look for a place to buy some toys and gifts, but looking through the department stores and streets which seemed to be full of clothes stores like Gap and Topshop, I couldn’t find any. I was glad, though, to be indoors as long as possible, staying out of the heat and taking advantage of the air-conditioned stores. The gift buying, though, would have to wait for another day. After my walk, I went back to the hotel to catch up on emails and wait until it was time to meet up with my friends.

Tokyo: Day 5

Today was a pretty spectacularly busy day.

It all started in Akinhabara Electric Town, a district once known for its many electrical stores but now better known for being the home to anime, manga and videogame geeks. I met Sumie at the station and we had a look around the various comic book and action figure stores, looking to get some merchandise relating to some obscure manga or other as a gift for my brother.

Tokyo: Day 4

This morning, i needed to wake up early to meet in Shinkjuku at 10am, so I set several alarms for 8:30 including the a wake-up call on the hotel phone. It did the trick and I managed to wake on time, got ready and caught the train. I was surprised that, as you can see on the right, there was a window at the front of the train so that you could see in to the driver’s cab. I arrived in Shinjuku and waited by the statue of Hatchiko and met Sumie, Noriko and their friend Mari. We made our way to Kamakura, changing trains at the port city of Yokohama along the way – although I couldn’t tell where Tokyo ended and Yokohama began.

Tokyo: Day 3

For my second full day here in Tokyo, I met up with my friend Noriko and we went to have a look around Odaiba, an artificial island with lots of interesting looking buildings. We arranged to meet at 1pm, so I set my alarm for 11am to give me plenty of time to wake up and get ready. I was woken at 1:05pm by Noriko, I’d slept in – panic! Luckily she wasn’t calling to ask where I was but to let me know that her train was delayed so we agreed to meet at 2 o’clock instead.

Tokyo: Day 2

Today was a very busy day. Probably won’t be able to write too much about it, because it’s almost 2am and I need some sleep.

I went to meet my friends Noriko and Nahoko in Shibuya. I really surprised myself by negotiating the train system successfully and finding the meeting spot without anything going wrong. The closest I came to making an error was when I went to the platform and hung around, waiting for the train as I would in London, before slowly realising that people were lining up in front of where the train doors would be and queued up behind them. When I got to Shibuya, I saw the statue of Hachiko (right), the dog who returned to the station every day in case his deceased master would come back. I then walked across the world famous Shibuya crossing to meet my friends:

Tokyo: Day 1

Hello! I’m on holiday in Tokyo and decided it might be an idea to blog about it while I’m here. I’m not quite sure how interesting it’ll be to you guys, but at the very least it’ll be a nice way for me to remember what I did each day.

Edinburgh Comedy Preview

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been filling my boots with stand-up comedy as the best comedians from around the country and beyond prepare for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In June and July, you can see some fantastic acts for unbelievably good prices as they preview their shows. It’s all a bit rough around the edges, as they test out material on audiences and often have to read from notes, but it means that you can get to see lots of very funny stand-ups for less than half the price you’d usually pay.

My favourite venues have included the Hampstead Comedy Club in Primrose Hill, a small, intimate venue above the Pembroke Castle pub where I’ve seen the likes of Stewart Lee and Kevin Eldon for a fiver each, or the amazing value of The Good Ship in Kilburn (a favourite haunt of mine) where I’ve been able to see two full shows for just four pounds.

Anyway, I’ve not just been doing this for my own entertainment, oh no. I’ve written a few reviews so that any of you going up to the Fringe know what to look out for. In a nutshell, do make sure you see Lee, Herring, Eldon, Long, do anything you can to make sure you see Daniel Kitson and also keep an eye out for the excellent Addy Van De Borgh. You can read my reviews over at Frost Magazine:

Part 1 | Part 2

Glastonbury: Day 6

On Monday morning I woke up bright, early and, for once, not feeling too hot. I don’t know if there was a change in the weather or I had just woken up earlier than usual, but it was a refreshing change. It’s always strange when you unzip the front of your tent on the Monday morning to find that the field, previously packed tightly with hundreds of tents, is now half empty.