New year in Tokyo (part 2)

For new years eve itself, we decided to go to Shibuya as it's always crowded at the best of times, plus it's famous for it's massive TV screens which we assumed would have something countdowny on them. On the way there, we met up with two of Kari's friends and another teachers - Sorrell - who had an entire rugby team of Aussies with him. The logistics of manoeuvring all those antipodeans seemed insurmountable though, so we trotted off by ourselves to get some food and booze.

Around half past 11, crowds were starting to build at the Shibuya crosswalk, and we started to think it might be a good idea to have some alcohol to throw about once midnight hit. On a mission, me and Kari dashed off to find a kombini - it was all very 24, with the timer counting down and us yelling instructions at each other about which direction a store might be in. What was less Jack Bauer though was when Kari suddenly started tugging at her shirt and screaming "I've lost my support!". Turns out strapless bras don't hold out too good on beer runs. My shoelaces came undone too and were flapping about threateningly, so we both must have looked like we had some kind of musculo-skeletal disorder when we lopsidedly shambled into the store.

With minutes (about 15) to spare, we arrived back at the rendezvous which was now rammed with people (mostly annoying white folks) and pointed ourselves at the screens in anticipation of the countdown which we were sure would appear. Ten to.......five to......still nothing.......at about 11:58 by my watch, it became apparent that NOTHING was going to happen, and that we'd have not even a whiff of when 2008 officially started. With 20 seconds to go, a coach advertising a new Japanese band surreally went by with a digital display on the side counting down, but it drove off into the distance leaving us and the rest of the crowd counting down at our own pace until everyone just shouted happy new year and went mental. Meanwhile Team ECC looked bewildered at each other and asked "was that it?!"

Not to be stymied by this awesome anticlimax, we made our way to the Shibuya branch of our favourite karaoke parlour, stopping on the way to stock up on drink (again). Two hours of belting out the hits later (including the newest addition to the repertoire, a song entirely in Japanese) we went back to Kari's plush hotel room in Shinjuku with twin beds, unwilling as we were to go back to our hostel and the loud South-African girl contained within. Long story short, I ended up sleeping next to Thom, but we kept all our clothes on and it was above the covers so it's only a little bit gay - about as much as much as using the word "chilly" to describe cold weather by my count.


On our final day, we found out that the Emperor was doing an extremely rare personal appearance at the Imperial Palace, and that was well as seeing him, you'd get to see a little bit more the area than you normal can (which by all accounts is one tiny corner of the vast buidling). So we wandered along, and after a couple of pat-downs by the security guards (mine was female - score) we stood outside the viewing area, me clutching my Japanese flag that I was handed. Thom and I had a brief discussion about exactly what you should do when the Emperor comes out - do you cheer, or just look on in hushed awe? Any indecision we had was then laid to rest by the shout of "banzai!!" from several ardent royalists when he appeared. There was also some serious flag waving. As well as the Emperor, there was his wife, and I think his son and daughter. He did a little speech, but the only thing I caught was "everyone" and "happy new year". Then they all did a little bit of waving and went back inside.

And that was Tokyo! I was going to try and write a bit more, but it's already far too far in January to be writing a new year post, so I'm going to stop!