Teresa's Birthday Adventure Part II: The Twilight Hours

...And now that we had gotten Teresa her 21st birthday drink, we had the whole night ahead of us. The trains had stopped and now it was time to find a place to settle down and get out of the cold. But where to go and what to do?

What to do indeed. It seemed that the option at the top of our list was karaoke. At the beginning of the night, we had a man approach us about an izakaya where we could stay till 5 a.m. with unlimited drinks for 20-odd (or 30-odd) dollars, but we had declined, thinking there would be better prospects. As it turns out, that was probably a pretty good set-up. When we stepped out of the izakaya we shall never return to, another man approached Teresa about a karaoke bar. This one we also turned down. We were feeling pretty good at this point, confident that we'd find a cheap karaoke bar, cheaper than what these guys were promising anyways. But, some of us were also feeling kind of tired and really just wanted a place to sit.

So after some walking, searching and another tranny sighting, a bathroom stop was needed. We stopped in a Cafe Aya and Mia and I pretended to peruse the menu while Teresa made a quick run to the restroom. I think they were pretty pissed when we decided to leave soon after without buying anything, but we didn't really want to spend a couple of dollars just so one of us could use the bathroom.

After a while, the cold began to seep into our bones and finding a place, whether that was a karaoke place or a Denny's (I kid you not, we mentioned the word and this guy passing by just started going on and on about Denny's in this really stereotypically hip-hop accent) was a top priority. Many plans were put forth, many were shot down and finally we decided to stay the night in a McDonalds. Now, this was no McDonalds like you'd see in the States. This was two floors of clean tables and warmth. There were also a lot of people there, sheltering themselves from the cold and waiting for the trains to start again, just like we were. Unfortunately, about 10 minutes after we got there, the McDonalds started to close. And we were booted out again on to the streets.

The warmth of the McDonalds had undid us, however, and we quickly found another Cafe Aya to settle down in. We whiled away the twilight hours by playing never have I ever, Nintendo DS and, intermittently, taking cat naps before the cafe employees came by to wake everyone up. And even with two cups of coffee in me, I was still tired.

Eventually, 5 a.m. drew nearer and we all decided to make our way to the train station for our last leg of the night: We planned to go to Tsukiji, a Japanese fish market. The scene to the station was like a frame right out from Shaun of the Dead or some other zombie movie. Tons of people made their way as one towards the train stations, tired from their nights out and some still a little tipsy. We filed in with the masses and boarded the train.

Now it was time for Tsukiji and we were all more than ready for it.