July 4, 2025 - Does the Gay Accent Piss Off MAGA?

A travel day. Hooray! Back to the SHINKANSEN! (I can’t state it enough, a truly civilized way to travel).  Honestly reflecting on the 4th of July, I’m a little grateful to be out of the country for the festivities. I don’t feel much like celebrating with all that is happening in the country. No amount of patriotic flag waving is going to make me feel better about the grifting of the poor and the downtrodden at the hands of a few billionaires making themselves even richer.  For the time being I’ll look toward Japan for a few more serendipitous moments before returning to the negativity and selfishness of my home country.  

In honor of the 4th, after dinner we decided to try a gay bear bar in our new area of Tokyo, Ueno. Since many bars are literally just counters with bar stools many are very specific about the clientele they will allow in ( i.e. 0nly 20-30 year olds, those dressed in leather, etc.) Luckily we fit the bill for the bear bar with no age restriction. We went to Zun-Guri bar. We had an incredibly good time with the patrons and the staff. They really made us feel welcome and all enjoyed comparing the differences between San Francisco and Tokyo gay culture. Lots of laughs, lots of camaraderie, and more than enough affordable drinks. Matteo Lane, a hilarious gay comedian, says that every country no matter the language has those that have the gay accent, it is a universal.  Japan is no exception. One of the younger bears definitely spoke gay fluently, we may not have understood the words…but…giiiiiirrrrrrrrl, we understood the accent. 

If in Tokyo, and more specifically, Ueno, visit Zun Guri. You'll have an amazing time.

Well gentle readers, I’m not sure which would piss off MAGA idiots more, American gays in a Japanese gay bar…drinking Japanese beer and Korean soju…I, for one, am not sure there is anything more patriotic than that! 

July 5, 2025 - Ueno Nightlife

Ueno, often when Tokyo is depicted it is of alleyways, through tall building lined streets with bright lights,signs, paper lanterns, and small food vendors or restaurants - that is the part of Ueno we stayed in. We stayed pretty close to a major crossroad with bars and restaurants on all four corners. As the dark comes, young people are hired in front of the restaurants to convince people to come in carnival barker style. The bars and restaurants have outdoor seating completely full on the weekend nights we were there. Many of these places will have all you can drink specials for a few hours. We saw so many young hammered mostly men puking in the streets at the end of the night, certainly a contrast to seeing the salary men and women during the daytime with such reservation and composure. Another thing we are unused to is often the bars, restaurants, and cafes allow smoking. 

Ueno nightlife...very active weekend fun. 

One of many alley ways in Ueno.

Shout out to my home town, one of the cool jeans shop had this retro shirt from my hometown of Ventura, CA...small world to be sure. 

Most of the day was actually spent in the neighborhood of Ginza shopping. First stop, the mega-Uni-Glo shop. So many floors and so many people! We also went to a really cool Bumpodo art store and gallery.  It’s important to support local businesses too. When travelling it is important to rest, so my evening was spent eating 7-11 food and watching movies while the guys went to dinner.  

In the lesson learned category, research your accommodations well. We switched from our first hotel to the one next door because the rooms were very small, the bed was hard springs, the walls were dingy, and there was only one small pillow to sleep on. I know I’m sounding like a typical Bougie American, but honestly it was not a good situation. An expensive lesson to be sure, but we have done fairly well with accommodations and activities considering making plans from 5,000 miles away.  

July 6, 2025 - Claw Machine Undisputed Champ

 Akihabra - the electronic shopping capital of tokyo. Hundreds of multi-storied buildings with video games, video game merch, claw machines, collectibles, role playing games, pachinko machines, and everything the international nerd would love. We went into the largest multi-storied building to get our nerd on…lots of really good stuff and alot of things of which I was unfamiliar.  We had lunch at a Tomoyaki place, basically a savory egg pancake with meat, veggies, and noodles all cooked on a griddle in front of you. It was very good although the mochi and kraft American cheese one was a little far out there for our tastes. 

The streets of Akihabra, multi-story electronic and gamer stores. 

I'd love to see all of this at night, next time for sure!

Godzilla display...way cool. 

The Pokemon Center...all things Pokemon. 

Tomoyaki straight from the grill...the waiter was lots of fun too. 

Gentle readers, I am obsessed with claw machines, who knows why. It is the only game of chance I can truly get behind as it requires a bit of skill. I went into a claw machine store and threw my 500 yen into a machine with Pokemon stuffed animals…I won on my first try! I still had four tries left but no dice…or no more stuffed animals, video games, or figures…one can win…

Undeniable proof of my championship claw machine abilities!

My winnings! Pikachu! 

What do nerds like besides gaming? You guessed it, a multi-storied building of naughty adult sex toys…we popped into the Love Merci five story building to check out the wares of sex toys, lubes, sex dolls, fetish wear, and other devices.  The top two floors were designated as men only floors and I was interested in what could possibly be there to offend the delicate sensibilities of the fairer sex. Sex dolls, pocket masturbation toys, videos and fake boobs - maybe I’m jaded by being in the bay area but it was hard to see anything that would warrant calling this the largest and most risque adult sex toy building in Japan. It all seemed so Frederick’s of Hollywood and and not so much Mr. S Leather. I’ve seen more explicit things on the sidewalks of the Castro just on a Sunday afternoon…

Another Akihabra oddity was the maid cafe. It’s a cafe with the servers dressed in maid’s outfits. Several of the maids were standing outside handing out coupons. Tempting...but we did not go in as I don’t understand the attraction but to be fair I don’t understand the attraction of Hooters either.  

Unless these maids actually clean my house I'm not interested!

Definitely need to checkout Akihabra at night next time and enjoy the crazy sites and sounds of this electronics paradise.

July 7, 2025 - Touching the Tokyo Sky

 We headed to the neighborhood of Shibuya to go to the top of the Shibuya sky. It’s the tallest building in the area and has a wonderful almost park like roof that for a fee one can enter. The views, despite the summer haze and humidity, were stunning. OK, time for the crochity old man rant, the Sky had lots of “influencers” dressed to impress looking wistfully over the skyline while taking twenty minutes of arranging clothes, posing, and finding the perfect backdrop just to seem contemplative and natural. This really is an emotionally manipulative and completely fake “candid” photo for instagram. I’ll take the selfie of myself, disheveled, hot and sweaty, but with a genuine smile on my face.  Contemplative moments are private to me, but the joy of seeing the skyline puts a real smile on my face and that is instagram worthy to me. 

Shibuya Sky - view of the whole wide world!

Shibuya crossing from 43 floors up. Shibuya crossing is the most heavily crossed intersection in the world!

Here we are at the top of the world looking over the amazing urban sprawl that is Tokyo, the most populace city in the world.

After the sky, off to Yokahama to see the Cup Noodle Museum. Yosiell opted to sit this one out but Rusty and took the train to what we were sure would be a kitschy but fun museum. When we got off the train, it turns out there was a sky tram to save us the twenty minute walk to the museum. Pricey ride but worth it to save us from a hot and humid late afternoon walk. 

Yokahama tourist fun. The sky tram was random but very much appreciated to avoid a tweny-thirty minute walk in the heat and humidity.

Excellent view from the tram.

The museum was interesting but not only for the story of how Cup Noodle was developed but the museum really highlighted the innovation aspect and encouraged innovation around the world I think had this been an American museum we would have seen a much bigger emphasis o the rugged individualism of the inventor and not as much on how innovation can help the community. Good times at the museum and at the end I have a greater appreciation of instant noodles. 

Step 1 design your own Cup Noodles container. Wonderful artists for sure. 

Step 2: Conveyor belt puts the cup over the noodles upside down. 

Step 3: And turns it right side up before pushing noodles into the cup. 

Step 4: Add ingredients, seal, and shrik wrap. I'll update you on how mine turned out with the choosen ingredients. 

Step 5: Over packing for international transport! 

Taking. abreak from making our own Cup Noodles for a snack and some drinks. Cute multi-cultural cafe in which one can order different style noodles from around the world.

Side note: Cup O’ Noodles was actually developed by the original inventor of instant noodles (Nissan Foods) Momfuku Ando in 1973. This was an effort to expand into the American market. Americans would most likely not eat instant noodles if they had to put it in a bowl and use chopsticks, so Cup O’ Noodles were invented to meet the criteria of the American consumer. 

Historical Cup Noodles. Very 70's,

My favorite instant noodle packaging.

August 25, 1958 the birth of Instant Noodles.

The Nissan foods product timeline.

So many products from so many countries. Who knew when I was eating Top Ramen in college all those nights that I was a part of Japanese History and Innovation.

After a long day, we returned to Ueno, had dinner and some shaved ice and got ready for a long trip home coming up the next day. 

The Kanji character for shaved ice...the best shaved ice? Matcha with sweet condensed milk and with sweet adzuki beans. 

July 8, 2025 - Long Travel Day to Home

One last trip for random stuff at the Donkey - it seems tradition for everyone to go to the Donkey on their last day for last minute postcards, souvenirs (or bikes, cameras, Kit Kats, liquor, luggage, and anything else you can think of…As I’m sitting on the plane I’m reflecting back on this weird, wacky, and wonderful trip filled with many beautiful and poignant moments always when least expected. I’m exhausted and refreshed at the same time. 

Between Rusty’s retirement, my upcoming 60th, and Yosiell’s 46th, there was alot to celebrate and Japan helped us do so in style. For the hospitality, there is only two things to say: Arigato Goza ee Masu and Syonara Japan.

 
I kept a list of observations, of challenges, cool things, or just differences that I found interesting. This is in no way meant to be judgemental rather observational and from my Western perspective only.

 

Flight home in extended leg room seats...pay the extra for the extended leg room fool!

Final Japanese sunset from 30,000Feet.

A few observations, challenges, and a little advice:

• Businesses and restaurants can be difficult to find. We spent lots of time trying to figure out where things are, and often they were underground or up a flight of stairs. Google Maps and Apple Maps were helpful but not infallible. Still finding stuff turned into an adventure.
• The large train stations are simply mad. Shinjuku station is the busiest station in Japan. Rusty and Yosiell became experts at navigating not only the train schedules but what exits we should be taking out of the stations. This was amazing considering the amount of exits, platforms, train companies, and trains with which they had to contend.
• Everyone was polite, if not always particular warm. (caveat: several times people offered us assistance when we looked confused or lost…that was very un Bay area).
• The trains are quiet, hotels are quiet, most streets are quiet, department stories are quiet, etc. Ueno barkers are loud, the Donkey and several department stores are loud (with videos playing on the shelf with products), Akihabra video game stores are loud, but the people in general ere exceptionally quiet.
• Annoying American tourists aren’t the worst, I saw several people from Europe and China that were way more annoying (even one Eastern European dad giving the store manager a Karen moment at the Pokemon center). Amazingly the Brits had kids ore annoying and entitled than the American kids we saw.
• Everything is small and cramped: Hotel rooms, tables, chairs, drinks, etc. coupled with massive amounts of people it can be claustrophobic at times.
• Unsolicited advice:
• Learn a few phrases in Japanese, it goes a long way with the locals.
• Bring a small towel everywhere because lots of bathrooms don't have hand dryers, and many restaurants don’t offer napkins.
• 7-11 is your everything store, including quick decent meals (alsoATM’s)Pack super light in summer. I never wore the pants I brought nor the light jacket I brought.
• Surprising things:
• Raw horse and whale on the sushi menus.
• Train crew bowing as they left the train car.
• There were homeless people and/or drug addicts/drunks on the streets of the most populous city of the world. Not many but more than zero.
• Smoking in cafes and restaurants. Not a fan. Most places advertised smoke free but many had smoking sections or small smoking rooms.

That’s about all the news that is fit to print gentle readers, Our time in Japan provided us many opportunities to learn about this modern yet ancient culture. Will we definitely return? Yes, sooner rather than later…but for now Sayonara.