Traveling In Japan On A Hundred Dollars: Day 5 五 A Lesson in Generosity

Today i woke up around 2 pm even though I went to asleep at 11 the night before, I figured my body must still be in relaxation mode from the bath house yesterday. It was another rainy day here in Tokyo, this day was raining especially harder than the last, I got up and walked across the street, sat down at the café and enjoyed a nice Japanese pastry. Once again I had know prior arrangements for the day, but while enjoying my café au lait I decided I would go see akihabara. Akihabara is known as geek central. I took out my umbrella and made my way there on the heibia line. Upon arrival I was a little uneasy, I didn't know where to begin so once again I wandered the streets. The first place I ended up in was a gigantic electronics store packed with the most up to date technology from brands such as sony, Mac, windows, and more. Then from there I dropped into an arcade, it was 6 levels tall, each level filled with a different type of gaming. First and second level consisted of prize games, one that involved a claw. I walked around these floors for 30 minutes and not a single person won a prize, I saw someone try over 15 times and still not get a prize, the hooks here were very different than in America and definitely did not grab even half as hard as ours do (which is still very little by the way). I was happy to be an observer in this situation rather than prey for the machines. I walked up to the third floor, it consisted of shooting games. The fifth floor held more button pressing oriented games, ones I simply can not properly describe to you because I did not try the games and I had never seen anything like it. All I can say is they were stand up machines with control pads made up of 5 rows of 5 squares each and the were pressed rapidly to light up the screen in a plethora of bright colors. The sixth floor was just your average gambling machines with a dash of Japanese media intertwined in them. After that I walked into a store selling anime, for those of you who don't know it's a stylistic Japanese cartoon. I perused the first floor for 15 minutes, the images were a range of cute and bold all cover art was intricately designed in its own original way it was like walking through an art gallery. I hiked up the ad covered staircase to the second floor where people were playing intense card games at table similar to Pokemon and yugioh. Giant showcases of cards stood on the right side of the room, displaying hundreds of cards with an assortment of anime characters and monsters. The third floor was empty the walls were just covered in posters, but I when I got to the third floor I was shocked and a bit embarrassed to see porn everywhere. I quickly turned around and went back down stairs. I began to walk the streets in search of a restaurant. The delicious smell of Japanese food flooded the streets of akihabara, the choices were endless. I almost walked into a maid café, a place where the waitresses dressed up in somewhat comical French maid outfits and served the customers with cute smiles and tried to be as animated as possible. I felt bad for all the maids standing on the freezing cold streets in such small outfits just to try and draw in clients, but I decided I wanted a real sturdy meal so I kept walking. As I crossed the street a women next to me asked are you English, I replied American. She explained to me that this was her first day in japan and she didn't know anyone here, she came alone, similar story to mine. I offered to show her around but first I needed dinner so we began walking together. Turned out she was 26 and from England, we got along really well and it turned out that she too read Haruki Murakami, my favorite author from japan. As we passed by a yakitori, grilled chicken on skewers, we were called in by a group of old Japanese men that were drinking. The place had a very friendly atmosphere so I decided I would try it out. Another customer who spoke a tiny bit of English helped us order, we started of with chicken and leak skewers, a beer for me and a wine for Mary (my British friend). As we were eating an Australian man with a broad build walked in and was happy to see fellow foreigners there, so he began ordering for us, he explained that this was his favorite restaurant in all of tokyo. The skewers kept piling up on the table as two old Japanese men from the table next door migrated over to the table we were standing at. They began to order us sake and we all yelled Kumpai as we swallowed down our drinks. The food here was delicious, like none that I've ever had before, it all had its own unique Japanese flavoring to it, there was chicken wing on a skewer and then minced chicken on a skewer and then even little Japanese sausages on a skewer that had crispy skin with an inside that melted in your mouth. The Japanese men kept trying to teach us Japanese and I was doing my best to follow along while enjoying this amazing meal and moment. The Australian man told us stories of his country and the giant animals that inhabit it. Two Japanese men and three foreigners that had never met before enjoying spectacular food and drink, the entire scene felt as if it were taken right out of an anime. The mood never slowed down, it felt as if the world were moving at a break neck pace with us standing at the center in a still moment watching the rapid action of the Japanese streets fly by outside. The Australian man offered to take us out for another drink at a near by pub, we obliged. As I asked for my bill the waiter told me it had already been paid by Wata-chan, the small 60 year old Japanese man who spoke only a little English, he even had two kids of his own around my age, he was the first to start eating with us, my jaw dropped. I had never been treated with such kindness from a random stranger, it was so unexpected, I am eternally grateful for the generosity of Wata-chan. The group made its way over to the pub in the freezing cold, Wata-chan, Ben (the Australian), Mary, and I. I enjoyed a pint of beer and Mary ordered another wine, we filled the place with laughter and conversation once again. The food here was a Japanese take on British food, Ben ordered us thick cut bacon and pizza. The pizza consisted of thick, light fluffy crust with cheese and basil, it was also my first time trying thick cut bacon, the flavor blew my mind. I checked the time, it was 12:20, I left in a hurry to reach my train, but I was unsuccessful. I came back to the pub with my held hanging low, but I was met by the warm comfort of my new friends who cheered me up and promised to get me home safe. We enjoyed ourselves until the pub closed. After the pub shut it's doors Wata-chan, once again, treated us to a 24 hour Japanese seafood shop. In the front we picked out the shellfish that we wanted to eat and the water brought the plump shells to our table and laid them out on the miniature grill in front of us. Wata-chan ordered a full plate of a diverse spread of different sashimi on a beautiful plate, and Ben ordered us some more beer. Wata-chan and I delicately ate the sashimi together as our shells cooked, Ben and Mary didn't really take a liking to seafood so it was just the two of us eating while the others drank to their hearts content. I found out that Wata-chan lived a simple life as an engineer for mistsubishi, this only made me more impressed with his generosity. We finished our meal with full bellies, I embraced Wata-chan as we said good bye, I had never met such an amazing man in all my life. Ben took Mary and I home in a taxi. When I got to my place it was 2:30 am and then bottom floor door was locked but the cafés lights were on up stairs. I climbed up the side of the building to the balcony of The Basketball Café, I was met by Restin's smiling but surprised face. I made pleasant conversation with Restin and then passed out in my bed.

If you ever meet a small old Japanese man in Tokyo please show him my gratitude. I learned so much about generosity from this man, and I will use it to guide my life. The people in this city are the most helpful and caring people you will ever meet in your life and we should all take after there example.

I'm sorry for not posting a day late but as you can see, I've been caught up in the fast pace life style of Tokyo, the city of that never sleeps.

A small glimpse of akihabara

Anime shop staircase

I thought this wall of cards was Kawaii!!! (Cute in Japanese)

The men that joined our table and brought us endless laughs. Wata-chan is on the far left. Mori-chan is on the far right, he treated us to a plentiful amount of sake and acted as out translator