Day 5

We started the day early and headed over to work. The Google office is on the 26-30th floor of the Mori Tower, a famous building in Roppongi. I guess that the building is built on rollers in case of earthquakes, but that would freak me out. We walked in the reception area and go figure - I see a former Ann Arbor Googler who is now in NY and was there on business. We grabbed breakfast with her before Dave took off. Breakfast was a combo of American-type food and Japanese. There was beef and lots of fish for breakfast, but also eggs and fruit type items. I tried out the green tea white chocolate bagel. (Sadly, it tasted just like a bagel). I also had some fresh lox and some eggs. Dave tried out some of the beef which he said was delicious!

He headed out to Krav, while I met with my sister team here and learned about the advertising landscape in Japan. It's so different! I guess they've only been in the market for about 2 years, so already making a ton of traction! Pretty soon after, I got an email from Dave saying that he went to the wrong Krav place and they weren't open, so he met me back at the office for lunch. We tried some beef, chicken, and a few others things, and a really delicious pizza! They don't really have many snacks in their micro kitchens, but they had vending machines throughout the office (all drinks) where you can get anything for free. Dave tried the corn drink since he's from Nebraska and figured it was a necessity. We have a video we'll need to download.

After working a bit more, we headed over to the Sumo tourney. Tickets were sold out even though it was a Monday. We bought tickets in a "box" on the B level. For seats, you can either buy ring side (um, this is where guys can fall on you!), boxes on A, B, or C, or chairs on A, B, or C. A typical box has four pillows on the floor and you cram 4 people into them. It's possible to have less people, but you have to pay for the full box. We bought special tickets where we had a box for 2 people, but room for 4. This way we didn't have to sit cross legged all day. We were really happy with the seats because no one told us that it's basically a big party! Everyone brings in their own food and drinks (we missed that memo!) and they share/trade with people around them. We had a nice couple from Melbourne, Australia next to us that were great. In front of us were a bunch of really drunk businessmen. One of the guys loved Dave and kept giving him sake (which tasted like lighter fluid, as least I'd imagine). There were a ton of matches and the crowd really got into the later ones since those were the better guys. The current champion had lost the day before and lost again today. Everyone started throwing their pillows up toward the front in disgust.

Once the tournament day was over, we went for dinner. I had read about a place called the Lock-Up that sounded fun (but very kitschy) so we decided to give it a go. When you enter the restaurant, there is a dark hall with rock-like walls. Then you come up to this cage and some haunted house type of guy (think it was a zombie) starts screaming/shaking, etc. Made us jump! When we finally made it inside, they put a handcuff on Dave and took us to our table. We were in a small cell with a door and everything. The menu was pretty large, but we weren't expecting any great food. The drinks all looked pretty cool, so we each ordered one. We were waiting for our waiter to come until we noticed an orb-like thing on the table. You press the button and the waiter comes! We ordered some food, which wound up being mediocre (as expected), but we did have some amazing fries (go figure!). I went to the restroom and there was a super creepy girls' voice over the toilet. Let's just say I didn't go in there again. There was also a point when the lights went out and strobe lights went on along with a screaming soundtrack, but that was about it. We got our bill and left and came back to the hotel to plan the next day and crash.