Night in Shibuya

Hello all,

Last night my brother's friend Sean called me who has lived in Japan for over a year now. We hung out. I took a train to Ikebukuro which was no big deal. I can do that well but I had to take another train to Shibuya and I had no idea where to go. Everything was written in Kanji (crazy japanese characters that they stole from China) and there was no english or easier Japanese to read. I called Sean and he didn't really give me any other information except to ask someone.
I went to the ticket office and in Japanese explained that I wanted to go to Shibuya and asked where do I go. I got my ticket and found the right train! Praise God. That's not the highlight of the story though so keep reading. : )

I got out of the train station and found Sean. We went to a music record shop and also got some pictures of a billion people walking around in one section. It's seen in the movie "The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift". It was really cool. CD's are on average 25 to 30 dollars. I bought 2 :( It was an early birthday present to myself. They are in Japanese which is cool.

Later we walked around Shibuya to find some food. Sean explained that there is A LOT of sexual immorality in Japan. Shibuya is where all the young people hang out, but there is also Love Hotels and prostitution. Most Japanese don't think twice about it and think its perfectly normal here in Japan. People with a family or a wife will go to a prostitute company or whatever, before he comes home. I said to Sean "What is the point of that if you have a wife anyway." That really made me sad. Sean also explained that a lot of Japanese cheat on their boyfriends/ girlfriends/ spouses and doesn't even think that's a big deal. Scary.

WE walked around more and he showed me a special restuarant that was a scary, halloween type. I've never seen anything like it. This one that I went to was underground, all dark, with things popping out of the walls. The waiters and waitresses are supposed to dress up in zombie costumes and stuff and then serve your food. I don't really see the point of this but it's the hip thing!

We ended up going to YakiNiku. It's korean style where you get raw meat and then cook it yourself over a mini grill on your table. I decided to try something: Pig tongue. O no!!! I have the Swine Flu now!!! Just kidding. I cooked it well and tried it. It had less flavor than regular meat and was more chewy but was not bad. We got ice cream there and headed home.

ON the way back, I offered my train seat to someone because he was talking a lot to his co-worker. I thought it would be nice if they sat together and talked rather than just one standing and one sitting down. I offered my seat in Japanese and he said "no it's ok" in Japanese. But this sparked a whole conversation with this one guy. We spoke in Japanese for the most part! This is really unique because people on trains usually never talk and keep to their own business. It was nice to talk to someone for the 40 minute ride. Later he switched over to English and I was amazed. It was really good and he understood my English too. Most Japanese know English but they are too afraid to use it with anyone. That's annoying!!! I think that's why we talked in Japanese for the first 10 minutes. Anyway, he helped me get off the right stop. I was very happy that I am now seeing how I am coming along in the Japanese language.

Also, jumping back above. Sean is an English teacher. He said if anyone get's a college degree they can come and teach and make about 2,500 dollars a month. I might have to do this when I graduate college!

I got off my train back in my town, bought two colas, listened to my new music and went home.