Saturday, October 12, 2013

Big In Japan Part 1

For my 40th birthday I went to Tokyo with my friends from Las Vegas. The reason we decided upon to go was attending the Tokyo Game Show, it is the largest video game convention in the world next to E3.
We stayed in Shibuya which is known as one of the fashion centers of Japan, particularly for young people, and as a major nightlife area. It has the busiest subway station in the region and is bustling with energy.
didn't know what to expect when I got off the 11 hour plane ride, where I rode in coach, in the middle seat facing a bulkhead. I was however pumped up on adrenaline from the excitement of visiting a new country, so I let my cramped conditions slide. I had chased the sun all day leaving at 9:30am PST and arriving at 2:30pm JST +1 day. It was slightly misting on the limo bus ride to the hotel.
The streets were noticeably narrower than in the USA, it made me wonder why we have 6 lane interstate style roads in Las Vegas with 45 mile per hour speed limits. You can literally land a plane in a residential area here.
When I finally met up with my friends we went to a restaurant called the Lock Up, I had no idea what to expect from the sign indicating it was located in Basement 2, however we went downstairs as it suggested, excited to see what it was all about.


The entrance was extremely dark and followed haunted house maze like winding hallways, a cold rush of air hits you with cackling and screaming sounds around us. We inched around the corner slowly, hoping not to fall or crack our head open on one of the low ceilings (it's one of the many lawsuit waiting to happen and this restaurant would never exist in such a litigious country like America, but more on that later) suddenly, a man strapped to an electric chair, rocks back and forth screaming with strobe lights flashing.
We find the hostess, a cute maid type girl dressed in a cop’s outfit and she swiftly escorts us to the cell. The menu is odd but amazing; it looks like a mix of sanitarium with death metal writings. Like most all restaurants in Japan, there is a picture next to the dish so you can eat with your eyes first. The drinks came in test tubes and beakers, there was even an eyeball made of gelatin in one.



We ordered a few dishes; one had squid and fish flakes and the other they lit on fire. Like I said this place could never exist more than a month in the USA without a serious lawsuit on its hands.


While we were eating the wait staff would turn out the lights and run around in costumes, opening doors of the cells and frightening the people eating inside. Brilliant, needless to say after being up for almost 20 hours it was time to get to bed and ready ourselves for the big gaming show.


More to be revealed in part 2,


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