TOKYO MEET!!! (...WASTED?)

[crispone]

I'm BAAAAAAAACK!

(So's PHREAK!)

Only have a MOMENT this AM to get something on the boards... gotta be at work in an hour, so here's a little TEASER..... (...never mind the JETLAG! )

OFFICIAL FIRST TOKYO MEET - photo op.



^^^ I'm "pretty connected" in the big city, so I picked up Phreak in THIS!



^^^ Here's a shot with some of Phreak's company personnel... I was fortunate enough to be treated to a nice ITALIAN meal in downtown TOKYO... (AMAZING COINCIDENCE, the second guy from the left works in Phreak's firm, and USED to work for a gentleman who was the VP at MY HQ in Detroit several years ago... actually the guy who "signed me on" just before he moved to another stint with an affiliated firm. Even in TOKYO, it's a SMALL WORLD!)



^^^ Here is the ITALIAN? appetizer.... (NO, these are NOT OCTOPUS BALLS!!! .....those are coming LATER! )



^^^ Here I am EYEBALLING our MAIN COURSE during a NIGHTCAP meal AFTER the Italian place...



^^^ Hmmmmm..... AMAZING resemblence to PHREAK! ...don't cha' think?


....more to follow.... gotta get to the office....



NOTE: This first set of photos "un-retouched" digitally.... hope they look ok...

-crisp

[Sebas007]

Nice pics !! haha

Did you really get a Phantom ?? (the car)

Octopus seems to be....discusting !

Your both fish imitation are unbelevably looking so true !
haha

[---CAMRAZY---]

HAHA, nice!!!

[PhreakdOut]

Great pics and nice ride! Too bad we couldn't get the driver to show us drifting skills in the Phantom! LOL

It was a great time. It was an odd dinner meeting. Chris' Japanese really surprises the heck out of the locals. In addition, his ability to translate during a conversation is very impressive. You've got mad skillz Chris.

First we hit dinner. Dinner was good. Chris destroyed the majority of the huge bottle of Shochu. I was doing my best to drink as much Japanese beer as I could before I return home. (Draft Asahi Super Dry and Kirin Ichiban are the best. They're not at all like the versions we get here in North America.)

We left my coworkers and headed to Roppongi. (sp?) We hit a place we thought was called Gas Panic but it was dead. (Like there were two persons in there.) So we bolted. We found the real Gas Panic bar and it was hopping. Live DJ and some outgoing bar maids. More beer and liquor, then we headed out for more adventures. We took some pics with the fisheys and ended up in another joint that was a total waste of time. Oh, if only our last night in Tokyo was not a weekday and pouring rain. Friday and Saturday nights in this district are off the hook.

Chris at the famous Gas Panic bar.



No, Chris is not reaching in his pants. LMAO!! It's a camera bag for the slick camera he just got. That camera is awesome!


After a while, I spotted a Gaijin Bar on the second floor of a building. We hit it around 1am and closed the place at 4am. We met some of the friendliest drunk folks in town. A group of three chaps from Oxford, UK who seem to know nothing about Cricket or Football (soccer). WTF do they do there? Just rowing? The bar owner and the hottie blonde bar maid were from New Zeland and the half past drunk chap below was from Sydney, Australia. Chris and I were from the most distant locations.



It was a tiny bar that could hold a couple dozen at max capacity. We all took turns buying shots for all ten persons there. After a short while, the Ozzie went down for the count and his GF has to prop him up. We acquired the shots he couldn't drink and downed those too. I completely lost track of how much we drank there but I know I got a hell of a deal for USD $112.

We had to catch the morning bus to the airport. Considering our condition at 4am, we were not in bad shape a few hours later. Chris recommended to get a bottle of Pocari Sweat (yes, that is the name. Some things are lost in translation.) It tastes like a Gatorade / water drink. It's good for rehydrating the morning after stupidity.

Chris on the airport bus.


Our "drinking motto" on this trip is:
"If you're going to be dumb, you've got to be tough." No laying out the next day and whining about hangovers.

Some other shots around Tokyo on the way to the airport. (Sorry, I was using a crappy old Canon Powershot SD200. I didn't pull out the Canon EOS SLR from my backpack. The SD is ok for quick pics but nothing of good quality. I missed a couple good shots because of autoflash defaults on when powered and autofocus is slow. So no Skyline pics on this trip.

City streets ...


An odd Police car with lights that lift up on scissor lifts. (Blurred)


Parking can be a pain in Tokyo. This must belong to a company or apartment. (Not public parking.)


It's a good thing the bus leaves after rush hour(s) or else the backup would have been far worse. (We sat here a while. It's a good thing we took an early bus before our flight.)



A wet morning drive to Narita Airport.


Chris spent a chunk of miles to upgrade to Business Class. (Dangit, I didn't have enough banked.) He was living it up some 15 rows ahead of me. After I had my plastic box of shrunk wrapped microwaved turds with gravy, I headed up front to check on Chris. He was enjoying his Bailey's after dinner drink and licking his lips from the three layer chocolate raspberry mousse cake. (Bastard - LOL!) I had to buy my first beer for $5 USD. I procured a few more after I found the appropriate cart left in the forward galley.
Ahh, my last Asahi's before the states. If I can't be comfortable, I may as well be drunk.

[SolaraBlue]

looks like a good time, crisp!!!
bring us back anything???

[**PoshPepper**]

Sounds like you guys had some fun. Good stuff!

[QuickSEV6]

Thats very cool guys. The first Solaraguy meet on the other side of the pond... in a country that never heard of Solaras. ha ha

Good pics guys. I'm jealous of the fun you guys seemed to of had. Maybe next time. ha ha

Maybe we should plan a Solaraguy cruise or something else special lie that.

[PXLpainter]

Damn - looks like you fellas had a great time! Cool you could meet up so far away like that!!

Thanks for sharing your trip and the pics!

[unbalancedwood]

I lived in Japan (Yokohama) for 2 years, I love Japan so much!

Tell me you really did eat some octopus or squid raw, that stuff is the sh*t!

Looks like you had fun, cant wait to go back there some time.

[rec]

i hope you guys got some mooshoo if you know what i mean

[indiglosolara]

Looks like you both had a great time and photos are awesome.....

BTW.. nice catch on the this photo of the bB in the back ground..

[crispone]

^^^ Airline food is "palatable"......... if you have some SKY VODKA to help WASH it down... (The UPGRADE to FIRST CLASS on the way HOME was GREAT.... comparably speaking... although it PALED in comnparison to the GREAT FOOD I had in Tokyo ALL WEEK LONG!)



^^^ OF COURSE, I chased it down with several BAILEY's and took a NAP afterward...



^^^ This (poor) pocket cam. shot at an OOOOOLD brewery captures some "unusual" snackels with the variety of fresh brewed beers and "Nihonshu" (Japanese ale... or SAKE!) that we savored... the American GM from one of our plants was with me and doesn't DRINK, so I HAD to take the HIT for the BOTH of us...

...Pictured BELOW! (Sake shots in BOTH hands and a tall pilsner close at hand...)




...needless to say... I felt good and TOASTY the whole time!




^^^ We were WINED and DINED everywhere we went, OF COURSE!



-crisp

[crispone]

^^^ Some things get LOST IN TRANSLATION sometimes...


...by the way, the PICTURED gal is a highschool friend from Tokyo who still lives and works there. She was IN the movie "LOST IN TRANSLATION"... (The "SEXY BUSINESS WOMAN" who chats with BILL MURRAY's character toward the end...)

We "hooked up" for some reminescing... and she SHOWED me the pictured SIGN in her apartment building. Funny thing is, she is the ONLY foreigner who LIVES there! (And apparently doesn't do her GARBAGE correctly....)

...she has decided that until they figure out HOW to TRANSLATE their "wishes" correctly, she's gonna PASS on the JANGLISH instructions...


FUNNY!


-crisp

[PXLpainter]

^^ Send her HERE: http://engrish.com

[rollaevo99]

nice pic's.......... now that's what I called TOKYO DRIFT!!!!! lol