Eugh! Tokyo started off as such a hot mess and a big contrast to my experience in Japan thus far. From getting bounced out of the hostel I booked due to an email error (side eye at Booking.com) to paying stupid premium rates for a mixture of hostels and hotels for 6 nights during peak season, I was just done with the city already.
With my tails tucked between my legs, I booked a bed to bunk at for the night at Emblem hostel and met my new favorite German travel mate till date, Sophie. We were bunk mates and it was her first night in Tokyo too.
Both our travel plans were pretty much different, so we swapped contact information and became dinner buddies for the 3 nights she was in town.
The next day, I met up with my friend, Lucia, who happened to be in town with her UCLA MBA class, so I got to hang with a fellow naija babe and her friends for the day.
While she and her crew went off shopping, I decided to get into Ameyoko district to try out some local dishes.
Lucia later invited me to her school’s party in Roppongi for that night and mehhnnnnn, I don old oh. Spending a few hours in a dance club felt like way too much effort. Definitely, gone are my partying days.
Anyway, I gave the Tokyo dance scene a grade A* effort and by 3 am, I was ready to bounce back to the hotel I’d moved to earlier in the day.
Sadly, the subway gets shut down till 5am and I was not willing to spend 2 more hours fitting into the party scene so splurging on a taxi ride was the way forward.
Here in comes the wahala; I got to experience my first taste of racism/racial bias in Japan while trying to flag down a cab a few blocks down the club.
It took 30 minutes of walking in the cold towards my hotel and dealing with several taxi cabs refusing to let me in after getting a good look at my face, then driving off. Or maybe I just had a terrible mug that morning. #leSigh
When the first cab drove off in haste after seeing me, I was confused (he actually stopped, bent low to look at my face well, shook his head then moved on). After the 2nd, 3rd…7th one did the same, I just felt defeated and disappointed. It was a 3 hours walk to the hotel, and I just was not in the mood for a hike.
After 30 minutes of walking in the direction of my hotel, I found myself in a different neighborhood and a non discriminating taxi, I almost shed a tear in relief and exhaustion.
Luckily, I had something to look forward to, the AnimeJapan exhibition! And I was not going to allow a 48hr crappy experience affect my time in Tokyo so I brushed off my murky experiences and went to make new ones.
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