Tokyo I

After a nice flight through blue skies I arrived at Haneda airport 羽田空港 (the mainly domestic airport of Tokyo) around 6 p.m. and continued to go to my hotel (Listel) in Shinjuku, one of the busiest sections of Tokyo. Nice spacious room (unlike japanese hotels) with a couch and nicely decorated.
Had to meet Bram, a fellow student from Leiden University who is studying at Waseda for a year at around 7 p.m.. Bram took me to a place in Shinjuku san chome 新宿三丁目, (Shinjuku's 3rd quarter) where we had beer and the great Japanese vegetable (or whatever you like) omelette called okonomiyaki お好みやき , covered in brown sauce and mayonaise and topped off with bonito flakes (fish that is!). Bram loves it there and apart from taking language classes he is also attends some political lectures...the only snag is that it's a lot more expensive in Tokyo then in Nagasaki..but hey, you get a lot more.
Went through Kabukichou, a sort of maffioso neighbourhood north of Shinjuku, where Yakuza rules and the gambling parlours and "love hotels" abound. You can book them by the hour (called 'rest') or for the night (called 'stay'). They're sort of tacky looking ... expensive but totally wrong. Chandeliers and guilded furnishings so to speak. We even entered one to have a good look around. Went looking for a Korean Isakeya (watering hole) with beer and kimchi (hot korean cabbage) but couldn't find one..so ended up in GB's.