I made a quick trip back to the hotel to take a short break, and regroup.In the process, I ran into one of the visiting pro baseball teams checking into the hotel after their game.
Even more amusing was that on my way out, I saw the wall of photographers and journalists waiting for players to come back out.Anyway, I had wanted to make it out to one of the larger scenic views in Tokyo at night. For this, I made my way to Roppongi Hills to hit up the Mori Tower and it's wonderful City View on the 52th floor. Now Roppongi did not have the best reputation as far as areas go. The character has certainly changed with the introduction of Roppongi Hills as a restaurant, shopping and entertainment destination. More on that in a little bit. Here's the wiki and wikitravel links. In my opinion, only Shinjuku has skyscrapers in Tokyo that rival this one. At night, it was quite an imposing sight.
Previously, Tokyo Tower used to be the largest structure in Tokyo. 
I think it's prettier to look at Tokyo Tower at night, rather than be inside it. Once the Sky Tree is complete, it will be interesting to see which of the three structure people would prefer. 
And away we go up to the 52th floor!
If you want to see the museum, you'll get free access to the City View. I made it past those hours, so I just did the City View. 
What can I say? Unbeatable views of Tokyo.
I wasn't the only one having a field day taking multiple pictures at multiple angles. One thing that may bug you is the fact that the you'll get a small bit of reflection from the dim lighting in the room. Fancier cameras I suppose will be able to get around this. I had to press myself against the glass to minimize the effect. 
This is what the observation deck looked like:
By the way, did I mention that Tokyo Tower looks fantastic at night? 
It may not be clear in my previous photo, but there are some benches that you can sit and relax at. A portion of the City View has a bar from which you can order drinks, and just enjoy the view. 
Well, one last picture.
Enjoy the full set here: Since I was in Roppongi, next up was doing a little bit of exploring, and a little bit of food hunting. At this point, I already had favorite areas which may be obvious now. I already had a feeling that I wouldn't quite like Roppongi, and my exploration only served to confirm that feeling. Traveling alone isn't such a big deal in Tokyo. In fact, I somewhat can blend into the general populace if people aren't trying to decipher whether or not I'm a local. Later at night, there are a lot of options for late night eats, but it also brings out the people with...ahem... let's say services to offer, and the people that would introduce you to such folks or establishments where you can avail of these services. Now in other neighborhoods, these middlemen were almost always Japanese, usually asking in Japanese. Occasionally, one would pick up that I wasn't a local and ask me in broken English. In either case, it was pretty straightforward to dismiss them in either case since a certain number of Japanese aren't comfortable having to speak in a language they aren't confident in. Also, a good "kekko" worked too. When I did the scouting for Roppongi, which is already known for catering to foreigners, people already mentioned to be wary of Roppongi's unique middlemen. What's the difference you may ask? Well, instead of having Japanese or even Asian middlemen, they oddly had some folks of African descent working the corners. (Maybe Nigeria or elsewhere.) This was a huge issue for the following reasons:1) They immediately detected me as being a foreigner. In fact, from distance I could see their eyes light up as they identified me as a new target.2) Instead of being able to scare people away with the language barrier, we now had a fluent language to communicate in. Once I left Roppongi Hills and hit the first street level corner, I was immediately approached by a fellow that already had a rapid set of questions to determine "how I was doing" and "if I was looking for some fun tonight". Good grief man, I just want to find some FOOD! With a quick response that I was in a hurry, I scurried off. But it got me thinking, how can I explore, look for a decent place to eat, and not get hassled every 3 minutes. (Believe it or not, they were saturated in the area every 100 meters or so.) *Light bulb*Even though I didn't have a phone that I could use in Japan, I still carried around my cell phone in case I wanted to use it over wifi. It came in really handy in this case. I immediately took out my phone, and began my "phone conversation" as I walked the streets. Just to give myself another layer of protection, my fake conversation was in my broken Japanese. I alternated using the following phrases/snippets:Ee / Hai - (Yes)
Wakaka - (I understand)
Sou desu ka [sounds like soo des ka when I say it] - (Is that so?)
Uso! - (You're joking / lying!)
Koko - (Here) Let me say that it worked out pretty well. A number of folks approached, only to turn away when they saw I was "on the phone". Finally, I was able to do some exploring and food hunting in relative peace (and I suppose work on my Japanese pronunciation at the same time.) Oddly, I would only have sushi twice on this entire trip. Other that having sushi at the sushi making class, this was the second and last sushi of my trip.
It just so happened that the sushi place that I ended up may very well be the same chain of sushi places that created the sushi school that I took the class at. I'll hunt down the receipt and update this post if that turns out to be the case. Since I was eating well after typical hours, and even past when salarymen and office ladies would come after work, it wasn't a big deal to get a seat. Although you can get regular rolls, most of the menu is devoted to sushi and hand rolls, as you can see above. Ordering is pretty straightforward, as you'll indicate your preference using the paper menu. I know people associate sushi with the crazy and special maki combinations you tend to see in the US. Personally, I have always been more of a sashimi person. Give me a great cut of fish and I'll be ecstatic. I wasn't sure how to ask for sashimi, so I just stuck with the sushi selections on the menu. One type of sushi that I don't think I'll ever like is Uni / Sea Urchin. Here's what I got:
Note that I got mostly tuna. In particular I went with some yellowtail, and some medium fatty tuna. Alert folks will notice that I did try the same mackerel that we made in class, which was quite tasty! It doesn't look like a lot, but I was quite satisfied by the meal. Well, that's it for Day 12 finally! Only two more days and I head back home. I hope you've enjoyed reading along if you've been keeping up (or catching up). Feel free to drop a comment if you'd like. -- Day 12 end --
Even more amusing was that on my way out, I saw the wall of photographers and journalists waiting for players to come back out.Anyway, I had wanted to make it out to one of the larger scenic views in Tokyo at night. For this, I made my way to Roppongi Hills to hit up the Mori Tower and it's wonderful City View on the 52th floor. Now Roppongi did not have the best reputation as far as areas go. The character has certainly changed with the introduction of Roppongi Hills as a restaurant, shopping and entertainment destination. More on that in a little bit. Here's the wiki and wikitravel links. In my opinion, only Shinjuku has skyscrapers in Tokyo that rival this one. At night, it was quite an imposing sight. Previously, Tokyo Tower used to be the largest structure in Tokyo. I think it's prettier to look at Tokyo Tower at night, rather than be inside it. Once the Sky Tree is complete, it will be interesting to see which of the three structure people would prefer. And away we go up to the 52th floor!If you want to see the museum, you'll get free access to the City View. I made it past those hours, so I just did the City View. What can I say? Unbeatable views of Tokyo. I wasn't the only one having a field day taking multiple pictures at multiple angles. One thing that may bug you is the fact that the you'll get a small bit of reflection from the dim lighting in the room. Fancier cameras I suppose will be able to get around this. I had to press myself against the glass to minimize the effect. This is what the observation deck looked like:By the way, did I mention that Tokyo Tower looks fantastic at night? It may not be clear in my previous photo, but there are some benches that you can sit and relax at. A portion of the City View has a bar from which you can order drinks, and just enjoy the view. Well, one last picture.Enjoy the full set here: Since I was in Roppongi, next up was doing a little bit of exploring, and a little bit of food hunting. At this point, I already had favorite areas which may be obvious now. I already had a feeling that I wouldn't quite like Roppongi, and my exploration only served to confirm that feeling. Traveling alone isn't such a big deal in Tokyo. In fact, I somewhat can blend into the general populace if people aren't trying to decipher whether or not I'm a local. Later at night, there are a lot of options for late night eats, but it also brings out the people with...ahem... let's say services to offer, and the people that would introduce you to such folks or establishments where you can avail of these services. Now in other neighborhoods, these middlemen were almost always Japanese, usually asking in Japanese. Occasionally, one would pick up that I wasn't a local and ask me in broken English. In either case, it was pretty straightforward to dismiss them in either case since a certain number of Japanese aren't comfortable having to speak in a language they aren't confident in. Also, a good "kekko" worked too. When I did the scouting for Roppongi, which is already known for catering to foreigners, people already mentioned to be wary of Roppongi's unique middlemen. What's the difference you may ask? Well, instead of having Japanese or even Asian middlemen, they oddly had some folks of African descent working the corners. (Maybe Nigeria or elsewhere.) This was a huge issue for the following reasons:1) They immediately detected me as being a foreigner. In fact, from distance I could see their eyes light up as they identified me as a new target.2) Instead of being able to scare people away with the language barrier, we now had a fluent language to communicate in. Once I left Roppongi Hills and hit the first street level corner, I was immediately approached by a fellow that already had a rapid set of questions to determine "how I was doing" and "if I was looking for some fun tonight". Good grief man, I just want to find some FOOD! With a quick response that I was in a hurry, I scurried off. But it got me thinking, how can I explore, look for a decent place to eat, and not get hassled every 3 minutes. (Believe it or not, they were saturated in the area every 100 meters or so.) *Light bulb*Even though I didn't have a phone that I could use in Japan, I still carried around my cell phone in case I wanted to use it over wifi. It came in really handy in this case. I immediately took out my phone, and began my "phone conversation" as I walked the streets. Just to give myself another layer of protection, my fake conversation was in my broken Japanese. I alternated using the following phrases/snippets:Ee / Hai - (Yes)Wakaka - (I understand)
Sou desu ka [sounds like soo des ka when I say it] - (Is that so?)
Uso! - (You're joking / lying!)
Koko - (Here) Let me say that it worked out pretty well. A number of folks approached, only to turn away when they saw I was "on the phone". Finally, I was able to do some exploring and food hunting in relative peace (and I suppose work on my Japanese pronunciation at the same time.) Oddly, I would only have sushi twice on this entire trip. Other that having sushi at the sushi making class, this was the second and last sushi of my trip.
It just so happened that the sushi place that I ended up may very well be the same chain of sushi places that created the sushi school that I took the class at. I'll hunt down the receipt and update this post if that turns out to be the case. Since I was eating well after typical hours, and even past when salarymen and office ladies would come after work, it wasn't a big deal to get a seat. Although you can get regular rolls, most of the menu is devoted to sushi and hand rolls, as you can see above. Ordering is pretty straightforward, as you'll indicate your preference using the paper menu. I know people associate sushi with the crazy and special maki combinations you tend to see in the US. Personally, I have always been more of a sashimi person. Give me a great cut of fish and I'll be ecstatic. I wasn't sure how to ask for sashimi, so I just stuck with the sushi selections on the menu. One type of sushi that I don't think I'll ever like is Uni / Sea Urchin. Here's what I got: Note that I got mostly tuna. In particular I went with some yellowtail, and some medium fatty tuna. Alert folks will notice that I did try the same mackerel that we made in class, which was quite tasty! It doesn't look like a lot, but I was quite satisfied by the meal. Well, that's it for Day 12 finally! Only two more days and I head back home. I hope you've enjoyed reading along if you've been keeping up (or catching up). Feel free to drop a comment if you'd like. -- Day 12 end --