On Friday after my religion quiz, I went to Sweets Paradise in Harajuku for well deserved ke-ki-houdai (all you can eat cake). Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds... for people who like cake. I could only eat about a plate and a half whereas my other friends engorged themselves on 3, 4, and 5 plates of cake, creme brulee, and other various sweets and ice cream.
The thing I loved about this place was the fact that they anticipated having customers who had to eat something savory with their sweets. They served pasta, sandwiches and curry rice to combat that craving. I had 2 savory plates, which was probably the reason why I didn't go hog wild on the cake.
After that adventure in obesity, a few friends and I went to go see The Beatles at the Cavern Club in Roppongi.
Please forgive the shoddy picture, it was taken on my cell phone.
The Cavern Club was something I read about before coming to Japan, and I knew I had to see it to believe it. It's a club devoted to the Beatles, and Beatles cover bands. Friday featured the best of the cover bands... I think they were called the Beatles (or the Beatres). You can't tell from the photo, but the place was PACKED with Japanese Beatles fans who were singing, dancing and drunkily crapping, err-- CLAPPING throughout the set.
The "Beatles'" outfits represented the early 60's Ed Sullivan Show time period, but they played music from all stages of their career. The guy playing John was by FAR the best one of them all. He had the voice down, the least 'L' and 'R' confusion and was even sporting some high quality Beatle Boots! Talk about authentic! Paul hit the notes, but I'm pretty sure there are no Beatles songs by the name of "Ret it Be" or "She Rubs You." George's guitar skills were spot-on but Japanese Ringo sucked probably as much as regular Ringo during "Yellow Submarine."
Entrance fare was one $10 cocktail so I chose one called "Here Comes the Sun," which was basically crappy sangria. It's ok though because I also snatched this cool coaster from the place. That's what they get for making me pay that entrance fee!
We ended up leaving the Cavern Club at around 11:30, which was a close call to catch the last train. Too close in fact. The boys in our group had a dispute over which trains to take home while we girls were forced to tag along. We followed the stupid boys down to the Oedo line, but we ended up getting separated down at the tracks. We got off at a different stop, taking an alternate route that only got us as far as Ikebukuro, 5 stops before Heiwadai, where we live.
It was scary knowing that there were literally NO trains running and that we were stuck. We had 3 options, 1.) Walk 2.) Taxi or 3.) Wait in a 24-hour restaurant until 5am when the trains start running again. In an effort to save money, my two girl friends tried option 1 first. Big mistake.
I'd like to think that Japan is pretty resourceful and convenient in most aspects. However, their city planning has something to be desired. It would have been easy to walk home in theory-- it was only about 15 miles or so...(-___-) Unfortunately, Tokyo isn't built on a grid, it's structured like a maze to get people lost trying to find the Imperial Palace, so there's so such thing as right, left, up down, etc. As I said in a previous post where I got lost, unless you know THE WAY to a place-- YOU WILL NOT FIND IT. It also doesn't help that all the street maps (that are supposed to be helpful) are oriented in different directions and don't always point north, so it's even easier to get lost.
After 20 minutes walking in the completely opposite direction of our dorm, I told the girls we should just give up and pay for a taxi. Walking around the streets, we saw nothing but drunk salary men stumbling around trying to find their way home or to a McDonald's. It wasn't dangerous, but it was gross. I saw one guy peeing against a building, one guy puking against a building, and one guy just collapse on the ground in a drunken stupor... no thanks.
It ended up being about 円1000 each for the ride home, so I felt like it was completely worth it. I'm never missing the last train out again... or following stupid boys down a longer train route.
