Last night i went to Shibuya and did some social networking … the old fashioned way, in a crowded bar with a few beers under the belt.
It’s a great night out at Shibuya and certainly a hive of activity for the early 20’s to late 30’s crowd … carefully worded so i can still justify getting out that way.
I went to a bar suggested to me by Glenn, it’s a standing bar that gets going early and gets going well.
There’s no shortage of Gaijin in there on a Saturday night but not like Roppongi, it’s a much better crowd. Unlike many bars in Roppongi, there’s quite a few native Japanese speakers in there too so all round it’s a winner of a place for me.
Beers are 300 yen, food is cheap and plentiful and the conversation in free …. plus they open at 5pm which is right up my alley, early in and early out … none of this 10pm start malarki.
Other more modern methods of Social Networking are the ever increasing internet based sites that, depending on how you use them, can add value or at least a form of entertainment to your life … you might even make a few Friends.
Here’s a list of the sites i use and my profile on them should you want to connect with me.
The 2nd stop for me of the 29 Stops on the JR Yamanote Line is Ebisu, it’s 3 stations from home so an easy one to get too. Prior to today i’d only been out to Ebisu once and that was for an afternoon at the Ebisu Beer Hall with the other members of the language school i was attending.
Ebisu, formally Yebisu before the ‘ye’ was dropped for just an ‘e’ also happens to be a popular beer in Japan and it was actually the beer that named the town and the railway station, not the other way around as many would imagine.
As a place Ebisu would best be described as a quiet place located in the Shibuya ward. Ebisu is conveniently situated next to Shibuya and Roppongi so it’s only a matter of heading on the Yamanote Line or Hibiya Line for a few stops to get into the thick of it. Having said that, there is no shortage of bars and restaurants all with their own individual style which can keep you occupied for many a lazy evening.
Ebisu’s main tourist attraction tends to be centered around the newer Yebisu Garden Place and the Westin hotel area. Accessible from the Ebisu Station East Exit via the “Yebisu Skywalk” covered moving walkway, it features the headquarters of Sapporo Breweries, The Beer Museum Yebisu and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.
Yesterday afternoon, on the back of a big night Saturday night, i went to see a few bands at an outdoor music festival. A possie of 6 of us headed out about 30 minutes on the train from our local haunt. One of the most difficult things about days like these is not kowing the `plan`. The Japanese do things very differently to what i`m used to and i guess if my Japanese was better i`d be able t ask the necessary questions or at least pick up on their comversation better. No need for examples, it should be clear shortly. A buddy bought 12 beers and off we went to watch the band. We get to the stage and find a spot, then he gets up with the 12 beers and drops them down to the band in which his buddy plays guitar, Stevie Wonderful. I expect it was clear to the rest of them who the beers were for but not me. I will point out the Friends i was with are the owner of the bar, 2 staff and 2 other patrons, so they all love a drink, although it would seem, not so much into drinking during the middle of the day. I managed to slide a few beers down, nothing excessive then after a few hrs and as the sunset we decided to move on to Roppongi for some darts and beers.
