But it’s not a surprise party.
After spending the bulk of my cash at the Apple Store, it was time to meet up with the friend I’d be staying with. We’d agreed to meet in Shibuya, and if you’re going to meet somebody in Shibuya, there’s only one place to do it:
Hachiko!!
For those who don’t know the story of Hachiko (and why there’s a statue of him at Shibuya station), you can read about him here.
As busy as Shibuya is, Hachiko truly is the best place to meet up with somebody, since it seems that everybody in Tokyo knows where he is. I met my friend with no problems and then we were off. After a brief walking tour of the area (lugging all my crap) we ended up at The Pink Cow. Unknown to us (until shortly before our arrival), that night was the night of a Tokyo Bloggers’ Party. That was cool, since I got to meet some people I hadn’t expected to meet. There were a batch of people there, some I knew from message boards, some from their blogs and some complete strangers. The sites of the people I remember are:
Gen Kanai
Mediatinker
Hunkabutta
Tokyo Shoes
There were more people there, but I was pretty shagged out from carrying my stuff all over town (and enjoying the wine) so I don’t remember everybody I met. If somebody I did meet reads this and feels left out, I’m sorry. Email me and I’ll put your link in here. My digital camera is pretty crappy, but it’s built like a tank and can usually do okay in low-light settings. It wasn’t quite up to the task of the interior of The Pink Cow, though. Observe:
Maybe I’ll have a better camera next time I go back. The party was fun, and meeting people was cool, but before we knew it it was time to head back to the station. We just barely made the next-to-the-last train out of town. We settled in for the long ride back to Yokohama, then took a short drive to my friend’s place.
Thus endeth day one (21 January) of my Tokyo trip. Stay tuned for updates detailing days 4-5!