Sleeping in the Shower (Still Stuck on Stupid alliteration)

5/3-

I woke up in the shower at around 9 a.m., tired and with a bit of a hangover.  Since I was already there, I took a shower then left the hostel through a side door.  Looking around for a breakfast place, I found loads of options but few that really appealed to me so I ended up getting something random.  On the way, I passed a brand new internet cafe.  The rates seemed high but I really wanted a nap and it was brand new, just opened in April, so I went in.  They didn't have free soda, which made me sad, but I had a very nice, actual room (about 4' by 6') to myself, instead of just a cubicle.  There was also a gorgeous, huge new flatscreen for a monitor and a sort of mat/chair that could fold down flat instead of a regular chair and it was more comfortable than my bed at the hostel had been!  I did, however, notice some things that were rather odd.

At the entrance to the cafe, they had some random things for sale.  This is normal, but it's usually something like snacks.  This cafe seemed to be selling vibrators.  I was surprised and looked closer to make sure I was seeing correctly, since the writing was all in Japanese and the women were in, let's say, compromising, position.  They weren't vibrators.  They were fleshlights (that is what they're called, right?), the, um, rubber/silicon/whatever tubes some men use to masturbate with to approximate a vagina.  I then realized that the library of what I'd assumed to be manga books (most internet cafes have large manga collections) were actually adult books and magazines and the DVDs available for sale were all porn!  Well, okay, that was weird, but I'd already paid, and it was like 10 a.m. so it wasn't busy at all and as bizarre as it was, it was totally clean and safe.

In the basket the guy gave me, there was: a clipboard with my bill, a pair of headphones, and two wet wipes.  Inside my room, besides the above mentioned, was a box of tissues.  I turned on the moitor and was immediately greeted by a naked Japanese woman moaning in a very squeaky annoying voice.  Apparently the monitor was also a t.v. and they had one channel of free porn, which, unluckily for me, had been the last thing turned to by the previous occupant.  Immediately, I turned down the sound, embarrassed, as I hadn't plugged the headphones in yet, and tried to figure out how to change it to computer use.  It seemed to take a long while, though it was probably only about a minute.  Finally, though, I got everything working and checked my emails and took a nice nap.

When I left, around noon, there were several people dressed up in traditional Japanese costumes, beating drums, marching and carrying a portable shrine which kept bouncing up and down as they jumped in unison.    Everyone seemed so happy and excited and as I walked away, I saw two other such groups with portable shrines.  I remembered that the next day was a festival in that area and assume they were all practicing, but it was still very cool to see.

I'd decided to try to check into a capsule hotel early to put my stuff down and then go sightseeing.  In Asakusa, there was one that accepted women, so I found that. It was a hugely touristed area, though with an admittedly very cool view of part of Tokyo's skyline, and bizarrely for a capsule hotel, they were already completely booked for that night!  I made a reservation to stay the next night, just for the experience and asked them if I could use their phone to call another place to see if they had room.  For some reason, they made this into a BFD and wouldn't left me, even though it was a local call and I'd wanted to stay at their hotel and had just made a reservation.  They told me where a payphone was, but I was really annoyed and felt their behavior was quite uncourteous. 

I did use the payphone to call my next choice, New Koyo Hostel, since it was sort of far out, but very cheap.  They had a single room available, so I said I'd be right over.  Using the directions from my POS Lonely Planet guidebook, I tried to find the place and ended up wandering around for about 45 minutes.  I asked one person for directions and they weren't very good so I ended up lost in an area that I later found out was called Soapland.  It was very strange- the buildings looked like love motels; I saw castles and harems, most with towncars and men in black suits with white shirts parked in front.  Even though they looked like love motels, they almost all had signs showing women in lingerie with prices that were far too high for an hourly rate at a love motel.  This all indicated that they were strip clubs. 

Later, I asked the hostel owner about it and he said they were actually brothels and the area was the original Red-Light district in Tokyo (though I read somewhere else that another area held this distinction).  Regardless, it was a sort of creepy area (though not terrible, I felt relatively safe and think it was semi-upmarket as far as brothels go) and I was glad I was lost only in the daylight and not at night.

Eventually I did find finding New Koyo and even though it was only late afternoon, I felt exhausted and discouraged and depressed from the difficulties, so I just stayed in, wrote, watched t.v. (both in Japanese, and online) and had ramen for dinner.