Ren's Footprints: Dustin’s Birthday Party and New Years Eve

Dustin’s Birthday Party and New Years Eve (0)

10:45 PM by Ren , under Japan, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Tokyo Tower

Saturday night was my friend's birthday party. The night was fun and consisted of great food, drinks, and fun. A friend that goes to San Francisco State University who is visiting for the winter also tagged along.

Most of us at the party

Roomies Justin and Dustin of the 2nd Floor

Show me the money. Scott, the football star, and Justin

New Years Eve was a whole lot of fun in Tokyo. Most Japanese spend the holiday with their families, sort of like we do with Thanksgiving, so us foreigners with lots of time and no families are left searching for something fun to do! I did a lot of research and watched many YouTube videos of random peoples' past New Years celebrations in Tokyo but all of their clips were really crappy so I decided not only to party, but to make a video for the world to see.
My friend Justin, who is roommates with the previously mentioned birthday-boy, has his sister in Town so around noon we headed to the usually busy Shinjuku area of the city. Our destination was the Tokyo Metropolitan Building because it has a free observation deck up really high. However, it was closed for the holiday so we couldn't enter. The combo of it being a legal holiday, and that holiday being one where few leave the house made Shinjuku seem like a ghost town. Here is a picture of that building and some others in that vicinity:

This one is especially beautiful and construction is almost finished:

We then were in in search of some lunch and decided to put our trust in this guy holding a sign for an Indian restaurant.

We all really enjoyed the meal and would happily go there again.
Next we went to Takadanobaba which is near where we live. There we decided to head the "Hub" (the most popular bar among Waseda students). We had drinks at 55% off with the combination of my friend's members card and it being happy hour. We played a game we call "Moose" (a good name because the word is the same in Japanese and English). In "Moose" the rule is simple, if you touch a glass with your right hand and someone sees you they will yell "moose" and you have to drink everything in the class immediately. I only had three drinks at the bar but the second one was really strong and was made with an alcohol too strong to be sold in the USA. Unfortunately for Justin, he was Moosed as soon as we got those stiff drinks and was caught on video making that drink disappear.
There was K1 (high profile kickboxing) on TV and more friends showed up so we had a blast.
The time came for me to go to Tokyo Tower to meet Miho so I took off on my own and hung out with her for the rest of the night. The train was so empty on the way there. It was like nothing I had ever seen. On the way from the station to the shrine we hung out with we stopped at an AM/PM and I saw this "Bacon and Eggs" flavor of potato chips:

The shrine was so beautiful with the futuristic Tokyo Tower in the background. People blew up large, biodegradable baloons and wrote wishes on them and let them loose right as the clock struck midnight. It was so beautiful!

We ate fried potatos and Okonomiyaki which is a mix between stir-fry and an omelet. They were sold in traditional Japanese festival fashion by street vendors powered by propane and generators. It was delicious.

As the countdown approached the night seemed to keep getting colder. We got to listen to some live, traditional New Years music while we waited. The anticipation grew in the last thirty minutes and the atmosphere became electric. The Tower began to sparkle and change colors and before I knew it there were thirty seconds left. We counted out loud with everyone and watched as the Tokyo Tower turned a beautiful whitish-blue at midnight and shined lights that read "2008". The colors eventually returned to orange and we decided it was about time for us to return home as well. I had a blast, check out the video.