Saturday, November 11, 2006

In Spite of the Expense, Tokyo is One Fun City

This is my second trip to Tokyo and my sixth or seventh one to Japan. I flew over yesterday to see John Mayer in concert at Yebisu Garden Hall. And, yes, in spite of the expense of Tokyo (not the show), it was worth it. I went to a good show, met some fun people and am on a much needed weekend vacation.

My boy looked tired, but it was the last night of a tour that he's been on since August. He played and performed well. He also engaged the crowd, and that is always fun. The venue was small, so unlike home in the States where Mayer plays these huge venues, relatively speaking, everyone was up close. Honestly, I don't think I'd bother with going to a concert of his in the States. I'm just thinking it would be mayhem with all the rabid fans. It was bad enough last night when he tossed some guitar picks into the crowd. It was like he was tossing bread to the starving. At the concert I met one girl who was just intent on meeting him. As it makes for good story telling and funny photo ops, I chose to hang with her after the show. It was fun to trail someone else around and let them make all the decisions. Yes, I've got a funny 'Friday night in Tokyo' story. Eventually, she gave up and we met up with a guy we'd met at the show. She left early, but I ended up staying out drinking and talking until about 4am.

Today's plan was to take advantage of free admission through someone else I met to Tokyo Disneyland, but I woke up to pouring rain. That was good as the plan was to get to Disneyland early, so I got some well-needed sleep. I spent the day exploring Shibuya and wandering around my favorite area of Tokyo, Harajuku. I fell in love with the district the first time I visited Tokyo because it's the fast track to a shopping orgasm. As I've not had time to follow fashion and what the designers are putting out there, I was happy to see that my accessories (Ugg boots and dangling fur ball earrings) were all the rage in some of the Harajuku stores I visited. That helped my fashion esteem because with my schedule my uniform has been a supply of athletic pants, Converse All Stars, and baggy t-shirts. It's a more of a haggard student look than fashion forward look. I upped my clothes a notch this weekend and dusted off the accessories I'd been not bothering with because, if anything, the Japanese love their fashion and I wanted to match.

I've got one more day here, and I'll fly back to Seoul tomorrow. I'm telling you, if you ever get the chance to come to Tokyo, do it. It's huge, overwhelming, easy to get lost in (and I tend not to get lost), but it's worth every moment of madness because it's a great city with some interesting people.

Over and out...it's time to hit one of the 100 yen stores and then figure out what I'll have for dinner.

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2 comments:

  1. Congratulations! You made it. I know how much you were looking forward to seeing John Mayer. Enjoy your your time in Tokyo. I look forward to hearing all about it.

    LB

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey LB! Thanks again for the comment!

    Yep, it was my first Mayer show, and he was good but damn did he look a bit tired. It showed in his attitude too. It seemed like he really wanted to finish and just go home. I mean it wasn’t a negative thing, but that’s what I saw (well, maybe felt more than saw). What was also good was what I've discovered is, if you can get past the masses of chicks that swarm to his shows, he’s got some pretty nice fans.

    That means there is a good vibe amongst his fans. That was clearly the deal at the show I was at. I met some real nice folks, both male and female.

    Anyway, I just got back to Seoul, and it’s time for bed.

    ReplyDelete

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