Japan Trip: Day 2; Shibuya and New Friends

Hello to all and welcome to new addition of my tales in Japan.

If you missed the first post and are lost, please refer to the link below:

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Thank you!

So in the last post I might`ve said I had some plans to go to a maid cafe but it was too late by the time I got ready to go so instead I started the night with a pretty lonely birthday. I wandered the streets of Asakusa for a while, bought some convinence store food and tried to find a bar to lighten up. After searching the streets for about an hour around 1:30am I didn`t find any really to my liking (there were plenty, just not what I was looking for). Finally around 2am I found a little corner bar with some happy locals. I walked in and got some odd looks at first until the cute bartender called her other cute friend who happened to speak english! So after I ordered a beer I took some time to selfishly sulk. However thanks to the 2 cute bartenders, Mari-chan and Yu-chan, I had little trouble forgetting my problems. While Yu-chan spoke english, she was usually busy running the other end of the bar. Mari-chan spoke very little english but put so much effort in trying to talk to me that I feel we both had a learning experience just trying to speak to each other. I even learned a bit more Japanese then I knew before. Around 4am I finally fell into bed.

Woke up the morning around 12pm and started to sort some personal matters. It wasn`t until about 4pm that I left. But I decided to stop through Asakusa and check out some of the local shops. I finally got on the train around 5pm and headed to Shibuya. But! not before reading up on my last post comments where I saw that a figure.fm reader, Ken_works was interested in meeting up in Shibuya! So right around 7pm after getting lost in Shibuya I managed to find him in the used manga/anime/figure store, Mandrake. Ken speaks surprisingly good english and was a wonderful guide around the numerous shelves of goodies. He then recommended we grab a meal at a local udon noodle shop that he frequents. After a delicious meal we spoke for about an hour and half before we headed to a nearby bookshop to check out and compare some of the new manga releases. We discussed our preferences for manga and anime. Ken is more into manga whereas I`m more into anime but we both agree that neither is truly better than the other. Both have their pros and cons, and many series look better in one format than the other. I think I`m more into anime just because anime is much easier to find than manga. Most book stores you find only the majors (Bleach, Naruto, etc.) and some of the newbies. But it`s hard to look through the backlogs.

But returning to the story: in the end, at the bookstore, I picked up a rare find for me, "Velvet Kiss". Made by artist Chihiro Harumi, I had been reading scans of this great series through Fakku. I felt it was only proper to support the artist and pick up the book. It is ecchi but the focus is not there, but rather more in actual plot.

Afterwards me and Ken parted ways and I went on my way home.

I would just like to take a minute and thank both Figure.fm and Danny Choo for making such a great community of people to talk and interact with. Of all the sites I frequent and post, I enjoy figure.fm and dannychoo.com the most. It`s thanks to this great system that I am able to arrive in a country where I barely know a soul, but still manage to make new friends.

On with the story...
After leaving the bookstore, I went to Shibuya station and watched a neat little rock group called "Three Star" play on the street, they weren`t half bad. I should have a video posted up too soon. Then I went into the station and got on the train. However, not before getting lost for 45mins in the Shibuya station... >_> ... Everytime I found signs for my line, it would just lead me to another exit! I circuled the building probably about 2 times before finally getting on one of the last trains of the day. Both Shibuya and Asakusa are on opposite sides of the line so after a long train ride home. I was glad to get home, pick up some noodles, onigiri, and beer for dinner.

You can find Ken`s profile here:

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One more note, not too many pictures tonight. I forgot completely half the time and other times, I just plain out couldn`t. I can`t help but regret not getting a shot of me and Ken together to show. Oh well, maybe next time