Anyway, here's what my hotel looks like in the daytime. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a central spot in Tokyo to travel from. It is super convenient and less than a block away from Shinjuku Station. Plus it was built in 2007 so everything is fairly new.
And if you do stay at Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku, there's this nice little Ramen place next to it. Japanese food just tastes better in Japan =P
Today, I spent pretty much the whole day in Shibuya visiting record shops, music equipment shops and hip hop boutiques. Also did some general dining and shopping. Shibuya is like 10min away from Shinjuku via the Yamanote Line (surface train). The fare is 150 Yen for a one-way trip.
Cigarette vending machine. ID scan required.
One of the biggest hip hop record shop in Shibuya is Manhattan Records. I was giving a 3SK CD to this DJ spinning on the 2nd floor, and he threw his hands up like he was starting some shiz... I felt like throwing the CD in his face but refrained... haha... I just told him it's new music from LA and he took it. The girl DJ downstairs in the main area of the store, on the other hand, was happy to receive unreleased music from one of the dopest hip hop groups from the states! jk... haha =)
The hip hop scene in Tokyo is not quite as big as I had anticipated. I was talking to a few shop owners and they all said the same thing: "hip hop isn't that big here..." or "hip hop records don't sell too well..." A majority of the stores I went to carried mostly vinyl, so I'm guessing there's a big DJ population here and maybe they buy most of the music? When I asked some random English-speaking people here about hip hop, they all told me that it's still relatively underground, but the fans are die-hard. I guess that's similar to the states.
By the way, this drink is super good.
I was strolling thru Tower Records and found my homie Enik's band Burning Tree Project on sale in the Rock section. Now that I think about it, I should have bought it... haha.
Later at night, Hitomi and I went back to Shibuya and hit up Club Harlem. It's pretty known as a hip hop club, although the main floor tonight was playing trance/house music and hip hop was on the top floor. I tried to bring CDs in to pass out, but the club manager said it's against policy. He said to give it to him and he will pass it along to the DJs. I guess taking pictures is also against policy, so I had to sneak this one in (not sure who those DJs are):
While we were walking to the club, we asked these two guys for direction. They were actually going to the club next door so we followed them. When we got outside, Hitomi was chatting with them a little and found out that they are from this company called United 36ers and that they are the Saturday promoters for Club 27Destiny (the one next door to Club Harlem). We exchanged biz cards and I gave them some music. They invited us to come by after we check out Club Harlem, so we did and ended up spending the rest of our night there... until 5AM. Seriously, Tokyo party people never stop... haha.
When I got back to the hotel, I saw this f'n stupid white guy peeing in the ice machine. It was late so I didn't realize what he was doing at first. But when it clicked, I doubled back and just gave him a "WTF" look. People who know me know that I get a little violent when I have too much alcohol in my system. I threw my hands up and just kept staring at this direspectful prick. Lucky for him, I didn't drink too much tonight. He apologized through the little glass door and I went back to my room. What I should have done is pull his ass out of the little vending machine room and drag him downstairs to apologize to the hotel. I mean if he was a young frat boy or something, I'd at least understand. But this guy was 30+ yrs old and still pulling stunts like that. *shaking my head* What an asshole!
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