Day 2:

Up around 10AM, waffles for breakfast. The plan for the day was to give Annica, Joelle and Marshall a quick tour of Shimo's thrift stores and then to Shibuya to meet up with Kevin, Cameron and Jonah at the Hatchiko dog memorial statue. Only way to contact them was by e-mail unfortunately and we didn't meet up with them. Nevertheless, I gave everyone a walking tour of Shibuya.

Went in the 109 Building, Annica and Joelle got a kick out of it. Later we walked up the left street of the fork in the road that the 109 Building entrance divides to just wander. Marshall knew of a fantastic tobacconist that sold Cuban cigars and had nice outdoor seating. Both of us bought small shorties figuring we wouldn't have all day to burn and they happened to be the cheapest offered. Upon sitting at the tables outside, the tobacconist insisted that we had to buy a drink or we couldn't stay. So out came two ice cold Kirin Ichibans. Plus my ankle was still bothering me and having a cigar and a beer was a great idea while waiting up for Annica and Joelle.

After the Kirin and Cubans, I took everyone down though the little sleazy side street where you can eat Kaiten Zushi (conveyor belt sushi, 2 rolls per plate usually a little over 100yen a plate) next to a porn store. Surreal as it was it's still cheap and amazing. We walked up past the Don Quixote store, past the Bunkanmura and on towards a small park I used to frequent with friends several years ago. Oddly enough we ran right into a matsuri. Lots of kids and people dressed in traditional garb all pulling a ceremonial drum towards the entrance to the park. Turns out local neighborhoods have their own mini matsuris.

Walked back the way we came. Marshall found a head shop that sold neat paraphernalia. He bought a piece that was disguised as a nut and bolt. They were also selling credit card shaped pipes which was cool too. Then the girls found a soap shop and I must admit they had some funky looking and smelling stuff in there. I actually had one of the shop attendants wash my hand for me, twice! Only in Japan.

We were getting pretty hungry so Kaiten-Zushi looked good. And it was back to the sleazy side street after not being able to locate one on the far end of Shibuya by the Outback Steakhouse. Then for shits and giggles we hit the porn shop next door that was in the basement. They were selling some weird product that was disguised as half a dozen eggs. Couldn't figure out what they were and left.

Lastly we went into Don Quixote, the jam packed variety store that sells just about everything. We walked up checking out each floor and finally crashed on the couch literally on the top floor which sold comfortable, low-to-the-ground Japanese furniture. Annica, Joelle, Marashall and I sat on this leather futon with a drop down armrest that could hold drinks for close to an hour. The futon had a backdrop of fuzzy cloth with was very cozy.

The afternoon ended inside Don Quixote and we eventually got up and left to return to Shimo so the girls could drop off their newly aquired stuff. Along the way in front of the shimo eki we got street caricatures done, saw a street band and a guy who was doing active storytelling of manga. The guy also looked like a Japanese version of Tommy Chong. We then were able to plan on meeting up with the rest of the guys in Roppongi outside Copastic next to Gaspanic. After some oden and pregaming at the family mart they found us and I took them all to Bauhaus with is a live bar that plays hard rock covers.

We very nearly didn't go to Bauhaus because of their high cover charge of 2,700 yen but after we lamented for bit and were about to leave, the staff agreed to charge us only 1,000yen covers. Not bad considering you never barter in Japan. So we ordered up and waited for the 1st set to start. I introduced Annica to the Moscow Mule (ginger ale and vodka.) Joelle who's a big Queen fan ordered a Bohemian Rhapsody which was kinda weird but not bad. All the more of a surprise, the band opened with Bohemian Rhapsody (I'm sure Joelle got a kick out of that too.) They played everything from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Van Halen, Kiss, and by then I was too buzzed to remember what else they played at the same time pretending to be a rock'n roll photographer with my Rebel. 3 or 4 or maybe it was 5 drinks later and cheese plate split with Annica I went up to request the band play some Zeppelin. They couln't do Black dog, Communication Breakdown, or Immigrant Song due to their original singer being absent that night but they were able to compromise on Good Times Bad Times. That pretty much made my night. I think all of us were throwing our arms and bobbing our heads to the loud, high voltage wail. For what the band lacked in pronouncing the lyrics right they made up for the more than stellar playing skills. In the middle of a Deep Purple song, the two guitarists traded fretboard hands and played each other's guitars whilst strumming their own. (Not sure of a better way of describing it.)

So much for the discounted cover charge. I think we spent more on drinks and t-shirts and they made their money off us anyway. Well worth it.
It was great! We left at 2am reeking of secondhand smoke with our ears ringing to catch two cabs back to Shimo.