 |
| had i known that direct
flights to narita airport were impossible out of oakland, i
would have opted to fly out of sfo. instead, i was forced to make
a short stop in bill's town.
|
|
 |
| some 13 hours later, i
stumbled into a small yet surprisingly comfortable hotel room in the
tsukuba dai-ichi epochal hotel. the room was highly intelligent and
anticipated my every move, turning on lights as i moved about and even
flushing the toilet as i approached it. i almost expected it to start
speaking to me in japanese in the voice of a 16-year-old girl. it
didn't. :)
|
|
 |
| the aforementioned highly
intelligent toilet. note the little control panel on the left. |
|
 |
| oh so many choices . . . instructions,
located directly on the wall within the sitter's line of sight, provided
hints on how to use this. |
|
 |
| my bed which saw very little usage.
it was pretty comfortable though.
|
|
 |
| i'd heard that things in tokyo
are expensive so i took some cash along with me. cover at the clubs runs
around 2000-3000 yen which is around $20-$30 usd. it seems a bit high
compared to the us. however, it usually also includes tokens for a few
drinks so i guess that makes up for the difference. |
|
 |
| while waiting around in my room
at various times, i listened to trance music while enjoying the spectacular
visuals of sonique. |
|
 |
| same program, different visual. |
|
 |
| franck cappello from the
universite paris-sud also attended wgc2000,
which btw was my official reason for being in japan :). here,
he tries not to grimace as he imagines the ridiculous caption i will
attach to his picture on my web page. :)
|
|
 |
| rajkumar buyya and franck cappello
hanging out near the entrance of the building where
the real world computing partnership (rwcp)'s lab is located.
|
|
 |
| when the japanese government funds you
and allows you to drop $3000, $6000, etc. on round trip tickets for your workshop
participants, you can work in an impressive building like this. |
|
 |
| the rwcp people were already holding
an open house for people to view their labs on friday, so on raj's suggestion,
we wandered down the street a bit to a museum, which it turns out appeared
to be oriented towards 8-12-year-old children! |
|
 |
| the vending machines in japan
are the best. you can get anything in these things and they are, unlike
the overly hyped small computing devices of today, ubiquitous. :) |
|
 |
| a friendly robot whose
function remains unknown to me. |
|
 |
| she spoke in japanese and i
didn't understand anything. nice outfit though. |
|
 |
| holograms of some sort. |
|
 |
| and more. |
|
 |
| later that day, i attended
the poster session. topics ranged from metacomputing systems to process
migration to service discovery. the highlight, though, was undoubtedly
the playstation 2! :) |
|
 |
| with the poster session out
of the way, i began to plan my all night adventure to shinjuku! the
last train back runs at 11:30pm, far too early to see anything interesting.
thus, i decided that i would just go clubbing all night until the sun was
up and trains were running again the next morning. it was well worth it! |
|
 |
| i'd heard and seen on matt's web page that
shinjuku is filled with bright lights and a scene that sort of resembles
this one. this is shibuya though. it's rumored to be another fun
place to party.
|
|
 |
| shibuya train station. i should
have known. |
|
 |
| hopping back on the yamanote
line, i eventually reached my destination! shown here is the map i
used to find my way around. yeah right! |
|
 |
| just as hansel and gretel dropped
breadcrumbs, i took photos to find my way back. bits aren't quite as volatile
as breadcrumbs when hungry birds are flying overhead, but in my (later)
inebriated state, the probability of my camera disappearing probably
resulting in a comparable risk factor! |
|
 |
| err, i have no idea what
the heck this was. it's a jigger bar. hmm . . . |
|
 |
| getting ready to hit the heart
of the city! my destination tonight: club
code! or as it's described: tokyo's newest diehard club for
hyperactive kidz. incremental directions from people on the street pointed
me in the right direction.
|
|
 |
| a friendly girl told to go under
this bridge, then take a left. she and her pals looked like they were
ravers, but i wasn't sure. they definitely knew the place! :) |
|
 |
| things got brighter as i approached
the action. |
|
 |
| and even brighter. |
|
 |
| densely packed restaurants, bars,
clubs, arcades, and everything else allow you do pretty much whatever you
want. |
|
 |
| i was getting very close at
this point. these two girls provided some excellent directions on the
final stretch to club code. it's too bad i didn't get a shot of their
shoes! |
|
 |
| crossing the street,
i passed through what seemed to be a red light district of sorts. club
code, is located in an area called kabukicho, which is rumored to
be the most dangerous part of all of tokyo. :) |
|
 |
| heading towards the action,
the music from the various clubs in the area started to become audible. |
|
 |
| the cab drivers basically
ignored me. it was the twentysomethings that provided the most help. |
|
 |
| during my first night
(wednesday) in shinjuku, i ended up going to three clubs. when club
code closed at 3:30am (just wednesday. on friday, i stayed until
5:30am and they were still rocking with 1000+ people!), i ended up dancing
upstairs at this place. it sounded rather d&b like.
|
|
 |
| the final stretch. i keep
saying that, and that's exactly how i felt. it took me a while to finally
find this place! |
|
 |
| more shinjuku. |
|
 |
| and more. there was simply
too much going on to be tired of walking around this place! |
|
 |
| and, at last, my
final destination!
the djs were spinning house on this particular night (mostly trance on friday).
the club was rather empty -- well, compared to friday at least -- but it
was still a really good time. i brought my glowstix with me and the staff
was freaking out! later, i learned, that they try to keep people dancing with
glowstix on the perimeter of the dance floor. i have no idea why . . .
|
|
 |
| after staying until
closing at club code, staying until closing at another club after that,
and taking the train back, i eventually rolled into the first day of
the workshop at around 10am the next day. :) on thursday, i recovered
and just hung out. (my talk was the next day too!) on friday, i was
back in shijuku! :) |
|
 |
| yes, japanese women at work
frequently dress like this. |
|
 |
| at night, while partying, they
wear shoes like this! check out that height! :) |
|
 |
| with the shoes, matching outfits
are needed as well. shown here: two very fashionable girls, of which there
are a multitude of in shinjuku and other areas. |
|
 |
| the turbolinux guys showed me around
for a bit on friday and so they took me to this area called roppongi. it's
where all the foreigners hang out, which is exactly what i didn't want, but hey,
who am i to argue with a native of the scene. this gas panic place is a total
tourist trap. |
|
 |
| the music is largely from the us
and consisted of mostly top 40 type tunes. the crowd, though, was really
into it. i've never seen people dance like that to livin la vida loca! :) |
|
 |
|
me hanging out with lee-choong
liew of japan's turbolinux.
|
|
 |
| non-japanese dancing to non-japanese
music with a non-japanese dj. this is not what i came to japan for, but
i did have some drinks there and those were ok. after going to those clubs
in shijuku on wednesday, this scene was not going to cut it! :) |
|
 |
| japanese girls wanting to escape
the tokyo club scene. |
|
 |
| more of that. |
|
 |
| this girl could dance! she
saw me with my digital camera, walked over, and started dancing right in
my face. too bad i didn't get a shot of the back of her outfit! |
|
 |
| more of that girl and one of
her friends. |
|
 |
| gas panic was ok for getting
lubed up, but eventually i recommneded we head back to club code since
it was friday and they were playing epic trance, whatever that is. :) |
|
 |
| on our way there. |
|
 |
| this, i'm told, is currently
the most popular game in japan. |
|
 |
| and here it is in use. |
|
 |
|
finally, back to club code!
it was insane, insane, insane!! a hybrid of wonderful trance music, a
fashion show, and, just as they put it, hyperactive club kidz!
glowstix were everywhere (photons and other things still haven't
reached japan yet apparently), the music was pounding, and people were
still dancing when i left at 5:30am. highly recommened if you're in tokyo.
|
|
 |
| after dancing for some six hours
having stayed up for over 24 hours, i was completely dead. i walked out of
the club and saw the sunrise. |
|
 |
| another girl from the club
exiting and walking back to the train. |
|
 |
| brrr. |
|
 |
| getting on the yamonote line.
people on the left. |
|
 |
| and on the right. tokyo is
such an incredibly dense city but yet there is complete order. a city
like san francisco seems chaotic in comparison. |
|
 |
| tsukuba, i.e., the science
city, is in the middle of nowhere. you have to take the bus to get there
after getting off the train. |
|
 |
| time was ticking away. 7:30am
and i was still in tokyo with a flight to catch later that day! :) (my
things were in tsukuba, hence the need for a trip back there.) |
|
 |
| somehow, someway, i eventually
found my way to back to my hotel. in the elevator on my way to check
out, i bumped into one of the girls who had been working the
arrangements for wgcc2000. she seemed unimpressed with my all night
adventures. her sister frequents the clubs. perhaps she secretly does
as well?
|
|
 |
| and finally, on my way back to
the us. i definitely need to come back here again. :) |
|
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index
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