Got on the flight for Japan and ended up next to what were probably the only other two swedes on the plane. I wasn’t planning on relying on people that knew a language I could speak, but to be fair, I’m pretty happy I did hook up with them as we just spent a pretty great night in Tokyo with their friends and I got myself some cheap accomodation in a pod-hotel in Asakusa.

obviously shit didn’t go down without problems. The hotel rented my room to some other guy while I was out getting drunk and after much misunderstanding I got a different one and I got my stuff back from the old locker.

nice streets.

I didn’t quite understand the fact that English is almost worthless here until I got here. I’m in Tokyo, so I’d think people would understand enough to get me by, but more often than not, being able to say even one or two words in Japanese has had to pull me by. I mean I’ve heard it said, but speaking to Japanese people online I thought it was an exaggeration. It really isn’t. Body language and guessing is going to have to get me far.

Daniele the Italian and Cyrus the Serbian (or something) were the other two swedes and they introduced me to their swedish friends in Asakusa. Together the five of us got denied entry to atleast 4 places, claiming to be closing, that were still open when we walked past on the way back. We weren’t rowdy or caused any trouble to the place that in the end wanted us to take a seat, but I get it. This sort of racism is sort of understandable. Maybe it’s more common than not that a band of 5 foreigners causes trouble. It’s really just a business decision to not let us in. The Japanese customers may leave, robbing them of business. I can’t really blame them for that.

The boy's back

We checked out some of the sights. A temple that was closed and a few pachinko parlours. Crazy places. People frequenting them must have serious damage to their hearing. They were loud.

Daniele won like 5 times his bet by being clueless at an arcade, hitting buttons at random, until we realised, after 15 minutes of trying to talk to the assistant, that the coins could not be exchanged for money.

the future boys

We also hit a karaoke-place for massive fun and screaming.

After all this we went to the hotel bath, had a wonderful bath, followed by a relaxing time in the sauna and then we took the balcony on the 9th floor, airdrying in the  nude, with a beer each. Probably one of the most manly moments of my life.

robe from the hotel

This little thing amused Daniele to no end. It was the cutest little toy ever, tied to a pole outside a combini-store, tirelessly walking around in circles, its only motivation being the unspoken promise that one day he would get to his destination. (that and 4 Alcaline tripple A batteries)

~Here come the future boys!