Back to Life, Back to Reality, Back to LA.

We missed out on the fish market on Monday morning because of the night prior and those microwave burgers. We had a train to catch at 3 and a flight to catch at 6:45 back to LA. We hung out in Harajuku with our downtime and picked up doner kebabs and some last minute souvenirs and stuff. The day was kind of drag because we knew we had to go back. Japan has been too good of a place to us physically, mentally, and culturally. 9 hours later we were back in LA and feeling like shit from the plane ride. There was a rude ass family in front of us with a baby that wouldn't shut the fuck up. Excuse my language, but the baby wouldn't shut the fuck up THE WHOLE WAY! Once we touched down, Rob was nice enough to swoop us from the airport. We took the guy to lunch and had some awesome burgers at Rush. Medium rare, mmm. Jet lag sucks and I'm still feeling it, but at least I'm waking up early now. The trips not over in my mind, and there's definitely more footage. We filmed the whole thing, just gotta edit the clips. Also check out thejapanplan (Nate and Robs blog for the trip) for more photos and footage. I ♥ Japan. Till next time. Check out the last of it.

The Final Showdown!...In Tokyo.

We got back from Fukuoka, and the placed FUK'ed us up. We didn't do much that day but take our 6 hour train ride back to Tokyo that Saturday. As soon as we arrived we didn't do a thing. Checked in at the Villa Fontaine again then went on a Mos Burger food binge. We also picked up some Family Mart chicken on the way out. As tempting as the legs were that night, it wasn't a wise decision to go out, so we rested up for the next final day in Tokyo. We hit Shibuya station bright and early trying to scramble for the last of what we could see in this wonderland, which was quite a bit. Massive crazy crosswalks in that area and more shopping on acid. It was Sunday so Yoyogi park was poppin, saw a hip hop show, some dancing 50s, and some freaks along the way. Made our way towards Harajuku to pick up a doner kebab, pay a visit to Ken, visit some bike shops, and pick up some last minute gear. Later in the evening we hit the Hard Rock in Roppongi because we had to wait on our seats at the udon joint across the way. Headed back to the Hard Rock after dinner where we met Nick, an Aussie traveler whose extended his trip twice because he was having to much fun. Don't know how he did considering he was rolling solo. Nick joined us for a beer at this pirate burger joint after the Hard Rock. Between the walk of both places, we were offered two be rubbed off on two seperate occasions, and the typical Nigerian slanging titties. It was a good night and how else would it have ended with out some Family Mart chicken. The shit hit the fan that night at 3am when we hit two different Family Marts and the chicken was no where to be found. We ended up one Family Mart and settling on microwavable burgers and strange burritos, that we would later regret the following day. We also managed to stick around the dirty mag. section in the Family Mart and would say weren't the most reserved tourists at 3am. The register dude probably wanted to kill Nate and I. Apologies Family Mart register dude. Here are the pics.

Fish Market, Canal Craziness, and Broadway with Louis.

Yesterday was another long one. We tried going to the fish market in Fukuoka, but they sell out of their catch really early and we were a little to late. Plan B came quick and we headed to Canal city to check out more shops and the Ramen Stadium for lunch. "I love Ramen" says the host who welcomed us into the ramen joint because he knew we were American, props to the ramen dude. We chilled in Canal city most of the day just checkin out the shops, because its pretty apparent that Japan is a mecca for shopping and shopping. EVERYTHING is dope, really, everything. Although there's a price to pay for dope, I did not leave with a crazy alarm clock as much as i wanted one. Kristin was nice enough to send us home with DTorso cardboard sculptures. Hell yeah. Got to try a melon soda float, which is like a root beer float, but with melon soda instead. It's way better. In the evening we had dinner at a bar called Broadway which was around the corner from Mystays where we were staying. The bar was cool, it was owned by this guy named Louis. He was from NY and told us he had been in Japan for 20 years. He was a student in China, but came out to Japan for vacation and never left. How awesome is that. The food and drink were great. Then he took us to his friends bar across the way for some Jameson. It was a low key Irish pub that pretty interesting. It felt like cheers, and everybody knew eachothers names. We called it a night around 3am cause checkout was at 11am the next morning and we needed to be on that train back to Tokyo. Peep.

Happy Cock & Bye Bye Rob.

It's been a crazy few days out in Fukuoka the day before last was Rob's last dad here. We hit a comic book store in the morning and more departments stores. Uniqlo took another hit on my part, shits nice and cheap. Headed back to the hotel for a minute before heading out for Rob's last night. Ran into this store called Loveless, it's pretty kinda really dope. Its hard to explain cause i couldn't take pics inside. Took the a cab to a developing area near a beach just to check it out before dinner. We had dinner at this joint that was pretty nice. It seemed like we were the anomaly considering we weren't wearing business suits. The cuts of sushi were great, but the light was really cold. It seemed a little to sterile. From there we went back to the happy cock to play a game of pool. We met some locals along the way, this dude Alex who teaches english out here and some of his Japanese friends. They were cool, they told us where to go as far as what were looking for and what Rob was looking for was dudes (JK Rob). Anyway the night was fun at the Happy Cock unfortunately Rob and I ended up burning out around 3am and again "that night some chicken saved my life" thanks FamilyMart (They got the best chicken on the planet). Check it.

Temples, Geisha's, and 1950s.

We got at more temples on another long ass walk to Kyto station yesterday to pick up our train tickets to head out to Fukuoka today. The station was nice, and crazy in elevation. We actually saw a poor old lady fall down some marble stairsd...eeek. We also checked out a department store called Setan, funny considering there competitor or we'd like to think Mylord. Had some squid balls and donuts while we were there, and headed out after that. Later in the evening we had trouble finding food, and the bars we were looking for. Considering there's a holiday going on out here some things are closed. We did find Kento's though which was an interesting find. It's a 50s & 60s live music bar, with a Japanese cover band that charges 3500 yen for all you drink, with purchase of a food item. NICE! They were nothing short of AWESOME those guys. Zombies covers and all. While we were there we actually saw a geisha. Crazy to see them in public amongst the regular people. There was no photography allowed but i was kind of able to pop a shot off of the band and geisha's in there somewhere. Enjoy.

Super Awesome Temple Time!!!

Yesterday here in JP time we hit some temples and rock gardens up. Things were amazing looking, they were the things that "fake" were replicated after. As usual I'd say we walk about 5 plus miles a day including utilizing every form of public transportation Japan has to offer. After the day of temple hopping, we ended up back at hotel taking a break from life and emerging ourselves in beer from vending machine across from our room. After the shenanigans were over we headed over to the Shakey's we couldn't find the night prior and indulged ourselves in all you can eat pizza and beer. Shit was crazy and the pizza and beer killed us. Period. Peep the album below.

Landing in Kyoto.

I woke up yesterday morning feeling horrible. I could barely think and we still had to figure things out on getting to Kyoto. We figured stuff out and took the bullet train to Kyoto. We got there and figured out we didn't know the name of the hotel we were staying out and got horribly lost. We ended up at the police station after a cab ride with a guy we could not communicate with whatsoever, we suck. Thank you Kyoto police for helping us find out where the Village Kyoto Hotel is. We finally got there, and decided to go on an adventure to find the nearest Shakeys pizza. AGAIN we got lost and a gang of gas station attendants helped us out so we flagged down a cab and had an interesting conversation with the dude that picked us up. He told us we had japanese souls and basically wished us luck and told us we were awesome. Hell yeah! Fuckin Shakey's was closed, whatever, and we ended up at another conveyer belt sushi joint. It was doper this time because when we ordered this mini bullet train would come to our station and give us what we ordered. I ended the night with this delicious waffle ice cream thing with blueberry filling, what a night. I'm exhausted from walking miles everyday, but it feels great. YEEEE!!! Check it or click an image below.

The Longest Day of My Life in Japan.

So the day before last was day three of this Japan extravaganza and damn it was long. We started the morning off by heading over to Yo-yogi park. We took the subway as usual and noticed alot of people seem to sleep while there on it, but know where there at when there stop comes up, kinda cool. We got there and roamed around for a minute saw some people chillen on benches and some model photo shoots. We also got a chance to rent some bikes and ride the course of the park. From there we decided to stop at a place called Tarlum for some desserts and a glass of wine, it was bomb. All of it. After the deliciousness we headed back to Roppongi, and met up with my buddy Jack who lives out here. He took us to a Ramen joint near his work at Konami. During our meal we decided that he should take us around Akihabra which he definitely recommended. Place was crazy, loaded with people and electronics alike. Auctions were going on and every shop on the block is a competitor. Didn't pick up anything, but the experience was crazy. After the craziness, we went back to the hotel to chill for a minute picking up some japanese whiskey along the way. BAD NEWS, is the stuff crept on you. We chatted with Besty for a minute before meeting up with Jack again later to head out to some bars. We hit a sports bar first where we had some beers, and some nachos that were made with Doritos, eee. We met some strange chicks that were living out here for some reason, one from south africa, one from canada, and the other from holland. We played a drinking game at the bar not in my favor that sent me in a course for the worst. Damn you Jack. We left with the girls to head to another bar, but the team didn't agree so we had to dismiss the situation. We headed to Geronimos after that where I was feeling horrible without knowing. I met an aussie chick that insisted that the way I buttoned my shirt was not cool, fuck that bitch. Anyway, the bar felt like PB in SD, not my cup of tea. The next bar we hit was a Brazilian bar dont' remember the name. It was packed like sardines and started to notice that Japanese girls like to dance on the bars. Hmmm. There was a bar tender who was blowing fireballs upstairs, which caught me off guard, but it was pretty dope funny actually. After those shenanigans we hit a bar called Wall Street, same deal with the feel of it, I ended up heading in early cause Jack killed me with the game played earlier in the evening, and I wasn't feeling the bar. Here is the photo journal of the Day 3 or click below.

Shop Everything.

Didn't sleep and had a continental breakfast at 7am. Passed out for two years and we were off to Shibuya. The place is DOPE, it's pricey when it comes to shopping but it's kind of endless and theres to much good gear. We stopped at some spots like Neighborhood, Supreme, BBC, Beauty&Youth, Manhattan Portage, Carhartt, UNIQLO, Comme Des Garcons some fixie shop and some others. At Carhartt I ran into a japanese kid I met back in LA last year, names ken, cool kid. Small world huh? Had a turkish Doner that was ultimate when it came to spice, although it was a bad combo with the hot weather. Shibuya is packed with people and your pretty much shoulder to shoulder with people shopping in the store as you. We were walking all day and my feet are pretty much raw. We took a break back at the hotel and raced over to Shinjuku where we had conveyor belt sushi which was pretty damn good at a good price. Then went to Yodobashi Camera where I was supossed to pic up a camera, but ended up not do the fact that the english version is $300 more. Nanana. Saw a mall called "mylord", and pondered that for a minute, got burnt out and decided to head back. Unfortunately my camera wasn't writing the photos to the card I had, and only have the day time part of the day. No food pics and pretty lights at night :( gotta go back tomorrow. In the meantime heres what was of Day 2. Click any pic below to go to album.

Touchdown!!!

So I took off today, much thanks to Becky for the ride to LAX. Thank you pretty lady! Met up with Nate.we touched down and it was 90's out and humid as hell. We trecked from the Narita airport through the crazy train stations and subways. Took the wrong subway within Ropongi and walked about a mile with our bags, we showered in sweat. Hungout for a minute hit the city and got harrassed by Crotations selling us stripteases and hookers...fun times. the night is to be continued, but this is what we got so far. Click on any pic below to see the album.

Business first.




















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