Time in Tokyo

Two years ago one of my best friends from my high school days was studying abroad in Tokyo, and I was able to convince my parents to let me go as a birthday gift for 10 days. As a preface to this story, keep in mind that I spoke not a word of Japanese, and had not been to Asia at all for that matter! I went in June while he was still in school, which meant I would be navigating the city mostly on my own during the day.

It is strange to arrive somewhere when traveling where you have absolutely no frame of reference as a westerner. The language and the writing were completely alien to me, I could understand literally nothing that was going on around me. While terrifying at first, I came to actually like being completely out of my element, because it forced me to adapt in ways that I had not had to utilize before. I am still particularly proud of the fact that I made it through customs, rented a cell phone, and navigated the subway system to my friend’s neighborhood all by myself.

My 10 days in Tokyo were spent exploring on my own during the day, and drinking with my friend and all his Japanese buddies at night. Everyone was very friendly to me as the gaijin goofy guy, and some of the girls my friend knew even told me I was cute. The highlight of the trip was singing karaoke, which is a whole other beast in Asia. We had a private room, drink service, a disco ball, and a huge .mp3 library of songs to sing, including all the American music I could think of! They definitely know how karaoke should be done over there!