Back to Shimokitazawa with a new friend.

Last Friday was a day to remember. As it was the Friday of my midterms week, I was dying to do anything fun and enjoyable. My friend in America introduced me to someone who lives in Tokyo, and I thought it would be fun to go back to Shimokitazawa with someone who knew what they were looking at, and could help me find this damned bookstore that I'd been missing.

It turns out the book store I was looking for was right there the whole time. I actually DID see it, but it was not what I thought it was.

When I saw the sign that said "Exciting Book Store" I thought it meant porn. And the neon lights didn't exactly make me think of a place to get fine reading materials.

Anyways, we went in, and the place certainly lived up to it's sign. It had some really interesting signs and displays and crazy looking books. They didn't have that magazine with the Theremin kit in it, though. It turns out that not only are they sold out, but they're backordered until January. Seems like the Theremin is more popular in this country than I thought.


After a bit there was some light drizzle, but nothing to stop us from really enjoying ourselves. We did some walking and saw some stuff. I am truly amazed at how many of those painted metal gates they have in this town.

And not only that, but they are masterfully done.



Some of them were very cartoony and fun...

While others were quite elaborate and pretty spooky.

It was a lot of fun walking and talking. Then we headed towards my favorite antique shops for some clarification. I'm not sure, but I think the dragon head I posted about earlier is only around $250. I might be wrong, though.

In passing, I saw this really interesting shop filled with collectibles.

They didn't want pictures inside, so I didn't take them, but it was filled with all sorts of oddball collectibles from around the world, but mainly from Japan. I'm sure it was neither the biggest or the best collectibles shop in Tokyo, but personally, I like off the beaten path places better. I did get these two collector's cards. I know they're not rare, but they were incredible.

I want to use that one on the front of my main page, but I'm not sure how to do it.

Oh, and here's what I see around here sometimes, but I never get a chance to take a picture:
Yes, I know that's Osaka castle and not in Tokyo, but still interesting nonetheless.

As a side note, everytime I see this:

I still think of this:

Which is a bit silly, because I see Tokyo tower almost every day.

Anyways back to my Shimokitazawa...

After a while, it started pouring down rain. It was damned wet, so I spotted a sign around town which lead to many questions:

First off, what is this place? What is the "Hip Music"? What is the "Something"?

After proceeding down some stairs, we found out that STOMP was a really tiny and fun bar, and the "Hip Music" was actually really good blues and jazz and the "Something" was apparently alcohol and some damned good sashimi (slices of raw fish). I had a great time.

Unfortunately, as it got later, the rain only got heavier and once we got indoors we went to Shibuya, where in order to do something fun we would have to get out into the pouring rain which wasn't much of an option.

Sadly, the fun evening came to an end, but I learned a few things and made a new friend, so it was quite worth it.