Living la vida Tokyo

Sarah and I arrived in Japan on March 4^th after our honeymoon in Hawaii.  We had decided to live for the first month in Metro Tokyo while we looked for a more permanent place to live for the rest of our stay in Japan.  The place we settled on was a small apartment in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo’s “Koreatown” neighborhood in the Shinjuku Ward.  I think small might be generous for the place we rented, because this place was tiny!  It was 16 square meters or 172 square feet.  I knew the size going in but didn’t think that quarters would be as tight as they turned out to be.  The apartment had one “large main room” which was the living and sleeping area, a small room for the toilet, another small room that served as a combo sink and shower, and a short hallway that served as the foyer, laundry room and kitchen.  The main room didn’t have much space to consider a living area, as there was a Western-style bed taking up most of the room.  The very small kitchen area had a one burner stove, a sink and a tiny beer fridge.  We cooked about three quarters of our dinners here on the one burner stove during our stay and got very efficient at preparing food with no prep area.  Probably the thing I am most proud of during our one month stay in this apartment is that Sarah and I were able to coexist in such a small place and did not get on each other’s nerves being in such close proximity.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic when we moved to our “palatial” 440 square foot or 40 square meter apartment in Zushi.

Being Tokyo’s Koreatown, Shin-Okubo had numerous Korean restaurants that served traditional Korean food as well as interesting street foods.  My favorite street snack was the Korean hotdog/corndog.  These are usually made with a hot dog wiener and are coated with a flour batter instead of the traditional corn batter, then deep fried.  From this starting point, things start to get interesting.  You can order one with chunks of potato mixed in with the batter, and it’s like eating a corndog coated with French fries.  You can also choose extra filling by adding cheese in with the hotdog wiener or enjoying cheese all by itself.  If plain old, ordinary cheese just seems mundane to you adventurous eaters, fear not, you can get one with rainbow cheese and imagine that you are eating a unicorn-flavored cheese stick.  Along with all the culinary treats, Shin-Okubo has numerous make-up stores and shops devoted to K-Pop singers and groups.  Fans can buy CDs of their music, plushy renditions of the musicians, and large fans with pictures of their favorite members face printed on them.  It felt like all the teens in Tokyo would congregate in Shin-Okubo every afternoon.

To the south was Kabukicho, Tokyo’s red light district, which we walked though whenever we had to get to Shinjuku train station.  Kabukicho is home to Robot Restaurant and the Golden Gai, a small neighborhood with over 200 tiny bars that seat at most up to 12 people.  Kabukicho is also host to the local adult industry, which includes host and hostess clubs. We were fascinated by the local advertisements for these clubs, which line the streets.  Shinjuku Station is the world’s busiest train station, and was our main station.  Shinjuku Station has a tremendous amount of shopping and food surrounding it, which we started to explore, but I doubt that we even scratched the surface of what this area has to offer.

In Japan, the government did not declare a state of emergency until April, so Tokyo, being the largest metropolis on Earth, remained very active in March.  The trains were still running, local restaurants and shops were still open and people here were still out and about at that time.  Although businesses remained open, there were numerous closures and suspensions of events.  Local museums, schools and other places where large crowds can gather were closed.  The Japanese Baseball, Football (Soccer) and Rugby leagues suspended their seasons, and the Spring Grand Sumo tournament was held without spectators.  

I came here wanting to learn more about sumo and was tremendously interested in seeing the spring tournament.  The apartment we rented did not have access to TV channels and I was unable to watch the Sumo tournament from home,  so I found a local izakaya at which to watch it.  I was there almost every afternoon watching the tournament broadcast live.  I adopted a favorite rikishi, Enho Akira, who is the smallest competitor in the main division.  He is 5 foot 6 inches tall and 211 pounds.  He relies on speed and technique to win matches and it is fun to watch him fight other rikishi who are almost twice his size.   

Harutaya, the izakaya at which I watched sumo, became my local watering hole.  Communication was a small issue at first, as I didn’t speak any Japanese and the staff didn’t speak any English.  Luckily, they had an English menu and I was able to order food and drinks.  This is where I discovered Hoppy.  Hoppy is a beer-flavored, almost nonalcoholic beverage that is mixed with shochu and has fewer calories and carbohydrates than beer.  It has become my go-to beverage whilst I partake in libations.  Hurutaya primarily severed Kushiyaki, meats and vegetables grilled on skewers, as well as small plates of bar foods.  I tried many items on their menu, including chicken heart, neck and liver, but usually favored more traditional cuts of chicken and seafood.  My favorite item on the menu was the pork belly kaarage (deep-fried pork belly).  As I became a fixture at the bar for almost two weeks straight, I think I grew on the staff and they seemed to adopt me as a regular.  I met a few people who spoke English while on my barstool and ended up befriending a local, Hashimoto, with whom I have reconnected with since moving to Zushi.

With my utter lack of ability to communicate with the staff at the izakaya, it quickly became obvious that my plan to just learn Japanese on a barstool was probably not the best course of action.  Sarah was right, I needed a more structured learning environment, so we decided to hire a teacher.  We found Masa-san from an online advertisement and both Sarah and I have been receiving lessons from him in-person and online.   When we started out, I was miles behind Sarah.  Prior to leaving the US, Sarah spent much more time than I learning both Hiragana and Katakana, two of the three “alphabets” for Japanese, I wasn’t surprised.   She is still much more advanced with the language than I am, but I feel like I am starting to catch up.

Coming Soon:  Adventuring in Tokyo (Pre State of Emergency Edition)