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Normally 5:30 AM is the time that Mike and Bone get outta bed. Four straight nights of partying and travelling had taken there toll. The boys rose around noon with heavy heads. But it was a new day in a New Year! So Bone made some coffee and the Boys took their time hanging it the 25th floor T-Cube pad enjoying the view of Central Tokyo.
Bone's Abode: The Tokyo T-Cube
The Emperor's Grounds from Bone's Abode
Finally, around 1:30 the Boys decided it was time for breakfast, and were able to head out towards the scene of the previous nights crime, Roppongi Crossing!
Looking for Breakfast in Roppongi Crossing
Heading outside it was a beautiful day with a bright blue sky, no clouds, slight breeze, and 72 degrees,,,,,, on New Years Freakin' Day!!!! No Dorothy, Tokyo is not Kansas nor Michigan in the Winter!
Uptown in Upscale Roppongi!
Walking through Roppongi it is an amazing area. There are four blocks of utter chaos in the wild-ass bar scene, then boom, some of the highest scale malls, shops you can find in a very Toney neighborhood. It was slim pickin's for the Boys, most of the City, heck the Country was shutdown for the Holiday, Fortunately, they finally came across heaven on earth, a Outdoor Restaurant!
Pizza and German Beer: Breakfast of Champions!!!
\As bizarre the last evening s Kamikaze's in a Bar called Geronimo's in Toyko, so was having breakfast on News Year Day outside in polo shirts eating flatbread Pizza and drinking Pilsner Urquel's in the 72 degree Sun! Oh man, that pizza and beers we dang good. They ended up have more than a few beers to wash away any remnant of the night before. Once more energized, Bone decided to show Mike the neighborhood he lived in. The first target was the center of attention last evening, the world famous Tokyo Tower!
Taking in the Tokyo Tower!
As Mike and Bone walked up to the Eiffel, oops! Tokyo Tower they found out that it is a communications and observation tower and at 1,093 Feet, it is the second-tallest structure in Japan.
The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired (?) lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations. Built in 1958, the tower's main sources of revenue are tourism and antenna leasing. Over 150 million people have visited the tower since its opening. The tower acts as a support structure for an antenna.
Originally intended for television broadcasting, radio antennas were installed in 1961, but the tower is now used to broadcast signals for Japanese media outlets such as NHK, TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting not Turner!) and Fuji TV. Walking by in the early afternoon, it was crowded with families enjoying the National Holiday. Mike and Bone chose to avoid the yelling and screaming and just walked the perimeter and a very cool little park with a Buddhist Shrine right next to it. Next the Boys decided to head back towards the T-Cube but by walking through a very nice neighborhood right next to Bone called Azabu-Juban!
Walking Around Azabu-Juban!
Mike and Bone wandered from Tokyo Tower into Azabu-Juban, which is a lively residential area in central Tokyo with a mixture of Japanese shops, restaurants and bars. The convenience of several supermarkets in a central location and the proximity of Hiroo and Roppongi make it one of the more trendy and sought after residential areas of Tokyo. The main street, a block away from a busy road junction, has a village-like feel with cobbled stoned paving in some places. This atmosphere is created by the narrow streets, slow moving traffic, and a mixture of stores operated by older owners. Even the McDonald's has been carefully designed to be architecturally sympathetic.
Walking those narrow streets Mike and Bone marveled on how clean the streets were, you never see papers flying around or garbage lying on the streets.
The Unassuming American Embassy
The events of the prior days and night started to wear on the Boys. As Mike and Bone headed back to the T-Cube they walked past the unassuming American Embassy complex which was right behind Bubby's Restaurant by Bone's pad at the T-Cube. The Embassy is kept intentionally benign as to not attract unwanted attention.
Bumming around Bone's
After the long walk the Boys were beat and hung around that afternoon watching the Blues Brothers and other DVD's Bone brought from the the States.
Tokyo Blues
Around 9:00PM The Boys were getting hungry and decided to go out for something to eat. Bone took Mike down two buildings from the T-Cube to of all things a bar that Joliet Jake and Elwood would go more than a Japanese Sushi place, a Blues Bar!!!
Walking in there is a huge poster of Robert Johnson on the wall and the place is always playing some sort of blues music in the background. The Bar is a "hobby" of a local parapalegic Japanese Attorney that loved the Blues so much, he had flown to Memphis several times just like Mike and Bone!
He served the Boys some free shots of Japanese Whiskey, while the Boys had some chicken wings for dinner and pretty good local IPA's. But the last 3 days had caught up with Mike and Bone, they had an early train ride in the morning to the last big adventure of the Trip, Kama Kura! So they retired uncharacteristically at 11:30.