{"id":8805,"date":"2015-05-12T20:58:36","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T03:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/?p=8805"},"modified":"2021-05-14T00:08:37","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T07:08:37","slug":"tokyo-trip-report-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/2015\/05\/12\/tokyo-trip-report-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo Trip Report: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Back to Tokyo!<\/p>\n<p><b>Thursday, 2\/19<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Sebastian&#8217;s birthday! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo30.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo30.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>We all did our own thing in the morning (I went shopping at Tokyu Hands &#8211; very important!) but we met up for lunch at&#8230; SIZZLER! LOL. It was across the street from our hotel so we&#8217;d been joking about going at some point during our trip. Sebastian&#8217;s birthday lunch was the perfect opportunity! It was better than I remember. Plus, the cheese toast was so NOMMY!<\/p>\n<p>During the planning for our trip, we would randomly get together to discuss things to do. We happened to watch <a href=\"https:\/\/munchies.vice.com\/videos\/exploding-sake-for-breakfast-al-kee-hol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this video<\/a> where the hosts visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tamajiman.com\/english\/top.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ishikawa Brewery<\/a> while sake tasting in Tokyo. Since sake tasting was also on our wishlist, I got in touch with the brewery to set up our own tour of the grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Our tour was at 3pm and since the brewery is about 45 minutes away from Shinjuku, we headed over there right after lunch.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo31.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo31.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>The grounds of the brewery.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo32.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo32.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Our complimentary tour started in the storehouse. Oh man, when we walked in, the smell of alcohol was so strong. I don&#8217;t even like alcohol but it smelled so good!<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo33.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo33.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Our guide walked us through the facilities while telling us about the history of the brewery. Above is a cauldron that was used to make beer during the Meiji period.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo34.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo34.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>This is the spring water well that runs under the brewery&#8217;s sacred tree. Up until 50 years ago, this water was the main source for sake brewing.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo35.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo35.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>At the end of the tour, our guide took us to the sake cellar where we tasted 4 different varieties of sake. The plum variety was my favorite because it was smooth and incredibly sweet. Yum!<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo36.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo36.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo37.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo37.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>There are two restaurants on the grounds &#8212; one Japanese (Zougura) and one Italian (Fussa no Birugoya). We were ready for a snack and since the Japanese restaurant was closed that day, we shared pizza at the Italian restaurant and the boys shared a pitcher of sake.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo38.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo38.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for your hospitality, Ishikawa Brewery!<\/p>\n<p>We didn&#8217;t have any set plans for that night and since we&#8217;d been tossing around the idea of going to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shinjuku-robot.com\/pc\/?lng=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robot Restaurant<\/a>, we decided to head over to Shinjuku to see if there were tickets for any of that night&#8217;s shows (depending on the season, there are 2-4 shows per day).<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo39.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo39.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Robot Restaurant is located in the Kabukicho, which is the entertainment and red-light district of Shinjuku. It&#8217;s not unsafe but it&#8217;s definitely more seedy than pretty much anywhere else we visited in Tokyo. Rob was even propositioned by a pimp (?) who asked him &#8220;Sex? Sex?&#8221; LOL.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, we lucked out and got tickets to the next show!<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo40.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo40.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>We waited in the lounge where there&#8217;s live entertainment and a bar.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo41.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo41.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s so over the top and insane in there. I loved it!<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo42.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo42.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo43.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo43.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>We enjoyed some refreshments before the start of the show.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo44.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo44.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Shortly before show time, we were ushered to the performance area. It was smaller and more intimate than I expected. But that just meant we were much closer to the action. AND we had front row seats!<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo45.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo45.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo46.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo46.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t really know how to describe the show. There&#8217;s no linear storyline to speak of. It started out on a serious note with tribal drums and traditional dancing. Then it just proceeded into&#8230; insanity &amp; awesomeness. Seriously!<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo47.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo47.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>See what I mean?! These dancers look like they came straight out of the movie Tron.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo48.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo48.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>The stagehands put up a chain link fence around the stage for the EPIC battle between giant animals and equally giant robots! I particularly enjoyed this panda.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo49.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo49.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Even more robots came out on stage along with this enormous snake.<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo50.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo50.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo51.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo51.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>CRAZINESS!<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo52.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo52.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>These vehicles reminded me of light cycles (again with the Tron references).<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo53.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo53.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo54.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo54.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Towards the end of the show, they passed out glow sticks to the audience and the dancers were carried out on these huge fembots.<\/p>\n<p>It was seriously TONS of fun. I smiled and laughed the entire time because it was all so surreal and bizarre. But all in a good way! It&#8217;s well worth the admission (about $58 per person) and I&#8217;d say it&#8217;s a &#8220;must do&#8221; for any tourist because it manages to capture the quirky side of Japanese culture. I would totally go again!<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tokyo55.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/temp\/tn_tokyo55.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Yay for the Robot Restaurant! It was a spectacular way to spend one of our last nights in Tokyo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back to Tokyo! Thursday, 2\/19 Sebastian&#8217;s birthday! \ud83d\ude42 We all did our own thing in the morning (I went shopping at Tokyu Hands &#8211; very important!) but we met up for lunch at&#8230; SIZZLER! LOL. It was across the street &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/2015\/05\/12\/tokyo-trip-report-part-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[222,286,117,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8805"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8805"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9103,"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8805\/revisions\/9103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ever-lasting.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}