A Night on the Town! Shinjuku--District of Lights!

Yesterday, we needed a bit of a break since we have been going like gangbusters for the past almost 2 weeks now. We kind of hung around Yokota for the day with the determination that we were going to have a great night out on the town (Tokyo). Decided not to do the big Kyoto trip because it is high season for Japanese vacations--all the kiddies are out on vacation. The bullet trains are booked solid with a just a few scattered seats available and strange tavel times. Anyway, since it was going to cost about $400 each minimum, we just decided to hit alternative cultural points.

For lunch yesterday, I had an amazing Japanese curry right at the Local train station. Came highly recommended. It was cheap and soooooo good! I make a good curry, but this knocked my socks off--and it was spicy hot as well. Mike didn't want to make the 10 minute walk to the train station so he missed out.

Last night was just a good time. We took the train to Shinjuku station--the busiest in Japan, which probably means the busiest in the world. The nightlife around the station is just amazing. Street after street, alley after alley of lights and shopping and clubs and restaurants. It was like 10 Times Squares all next to each other. We walked and people watched for the better part of 6 hours. Did a little shopping and had a great dinner. We ate a traditional Japanese dish called shabu shabu, and it was excellent. You sit around a stove with a pot filled with spiced water. They have bowls and bowls of different very thinly sliced meats and various vegetables. Basically they par boil the veggies and you dip-dip (shabu shabu) your meat into the broth. It cooks almost instantly and then you dip it into one of a variety of sauces. Eat with rice and a beer. Yummy. We got back late and straight to bed.

This am, I went early to find the old Tachikawa Air Base. It went away about 30 years ago, and I had heard that there was basically nothing left. I had to do some real searching, but I found it. Luckily, there was an old landmark that we as kids used to hang out at called American Village. Back then, it was old, dilapidated, uninhabited single family houses from when Tachi was much larger. Anyway, I definitely recognized it, but the Japanese had rehabilitated it. Very different for the Japanese, because they were separated, single level houses with yards. Anyway, I located the runway area that was at the end of our street. Most of the base was converted into a very large peace park, but the area near where we lived was a Japanese Defense Force area. Very interesting. Took a lot of walking to get to where I wanted. Learned the way to really work the buses and trains to get where you want to go.

Well, the Aero Club has a great deal. They fly 1 hour tours in little Cessnas over Tokyo. They take up to 3 people for the trip for a total of $90. I thought that was a bargain, so we head out about 3pm--in a couple of hours. Heading to get some lunch at the little Indian restaurant right off base. Talk to you later.

Ted