Moveable Type: Day 160 in Japan - It's the Most Lastest Day of the Year

We didn't really have many solid plans for today and one of them got ruined strait off the bat, when the man who works at the Ace Inn capsule hotel that we are staying in checked with the Tokyo Edo Museum to find out that it was closed for the whole New Year period. Instead, we walked towards Shinjuku to find some breakfast, caugt some subways to Akihabara, and nerded it up a bit. The boys went of to look at some electronics, while Fiona, jodes and I explored some of the anime shops. We got kebabs for lunch at a roadside stall, then went to a Maid cafe for dessert. It was called ぱぱぷれ or something like that. It was a little creepy - they stir your tea for you, and we listened to a few groups do some voice recording with the maids. Not in itself creepy, but the piece that was recorded involved the maid being late for something, and being out of breath and panting. By the fourth time we heard it, I couldn't keep a straight face anymore, and while we listened to the creepy panting and there was a girl stirring my tea for me I couldn't stop myself laughing (I think I confused the poor girl).

The next thing that we wanted to see was the last sunset of the year from Tokyo Tower. We were really lucky to have a lovely clear day, and watching the sun set behind Mt Fuji was pretty special. Particularly when we know that that is the last sunset of the year. We looked at the Battleship Yamato exhibition stuff at Tokyo Tower, and headed back to the hostel for a rest before heading back out for dinner, drinks, and to ring in the new year.

We headed out of the hostel at about 8 to meet some of Simon's friends in Shibuya. I got to see the scramble crossing and Hachiko. Simons friends were a couple from NZ - Abbey and Jamie. They were really nice, and once we had met up we all headed to the Aldgate English pub together. They had over 20 beers on tap, from Old Speckled Hen to Rogue Amercan Amber Ale to Harry Porter to Fucking Hell (so named for a town in Austria, and Hell, the German name for a blonde beer). I had a blast hanging around int he pub for a few hours, explaining the genital-resembling character Corridor from the Australian kids TV show Plasmo and eating "the best fish and chips in Tokyo".

We decided to journey out to the scramble crossing for new years, which was definitely a unique experience. It wa quite scary to be in sub a pushing, surging and totally crowded area. It was like a mosh pit without music. I ended up seeing in the New Year squashed up against a lovely lesbian couple from Norway and France and the wall. Afterwards, a Turkish family who live in Tokyo taught me to say Akememashite omedettou gozaimasu post midnight, instead of the Yoi Otoshio that you say to wish someone a Happy New year before midnight.

We walked up the hill with a stop for some Red Bull en route to get to the club du jour - Womb nightclub in Shibuya. Checked in our coats and spent a few hours dancing to mostly house, but also a little dubstep. Met a very wasted Japanese Olympis snowboarder in the bathroom, a bunch of random gaijin club buddies, and Rob owes me 1000 yen for betting that a Texan dude was British. It was quite fun, although it got very hot at times, and on the top floors the walls were quite damp. We called it quits at about 3:30 and walked back to Shibuya station to catch a taxi back to Akenonobashi. Got into bed at around 4:20. Lovely new year, with only one potentially deadly situation - WIN!