My opinion changes often on this point, but right now I'm going to have to say that Himi is the bitchin'est town in Japan.

I'm not going to lie to you, despite the fun I had last time I went out there, I wasn't that pumped to make the hour and a half treck by train. I was feeling a little queezy from the night before, I had slept through dinner, I had forgotten to get out money before the ATM's all closed at the rediculously early hour of 7pm, in short, a lot of things were working against me. Not to mention the fact that when I purchased some soba noodles at a random soba shop in Takaoka, after I gave the worker lady a ticket that I thought was going to get me a coke and some change, she instead took my soba away from me, cracked a raw egg over it, and handed it back with a large smile on her face. (In all fairness, the egg was pretty good.)

The point is, the night wasn't boding well. However, as soon as I saw that little one-car train, all painted up in happy blues and yellows and greens, with little cartoons all over it, I thought to myself, "Brad, this could just shape up to be one hell of a night," and you know what? It did.

Himi has three main things going for it. The first is the PR campaign that the whole city tirelessly runs. Every season they put up little signs reminding you of how nice Himi is in said season, for instance, "Autumn... A Beautiful Season" was the one I saw this time. Also, the city has created and patented a series of mascots that they pepper the city with, things like fish with tophats, and manta rays with tophats, and octopuses with tophats, and flying fish with tophats. I think you get the idea. These little statues have motion activated recorded voice-overs, which I sure as hell can't understand, but which I appreciate nonetheless.

The second thing Himi has going for it is Manyo's, the sushi joint with pizazz. I forgot the name of the proprietor, but he speaks very good english, and has a rockin' hippy haircut. Also, he makes a spicy tuna roll that makes your mouth `asplode with flavor. He also throws in different, new, and exciting ingredients into every dish he makes. This time, he gave me some miso soup that had bits of a 100 dollar mushroom in it, a very famous mushroom, reknown (amongst those in mushroom circles) for its earthy aroma and flavor. How does a 100 dollar mushroom taste, you might ask? Well, just like every other mushroom I've had in my life, but don't tell him that. The soup, as a whole, was extremely good.

The last, but not least, thing Himi has going for it is Wyatt, a one stop bar, karaoke joint, eatery, and hip hangout. Adam and I stumbled into Wyatt totally by divine providence one night after hitchhiking into town at four in the morning. A nice guy picked us up in his pimped out minivan, we said we wanted to go to a bar, he obliged us, and we ended up at Wyatt. Wyatt doesn't really work on normal time, in fact, I would venture to say that the concept of "time" is totally foreign to the barstaff. Adam and I sang karaoke until 8 in the morning, looked up and saw the sunrise, and decided to call it a night. We apologized to the bartenders for keeping them up so late, but they just comped us free booze, laughed, said they were going to hit the pachinko parlors, and then come right back to open up shop.

Last weekend was another winner at Wyatt. People were a little hesitant to break into the karaoke until I did a rousing rendition of California Dreaming that (if I may say so myself) was like a shot of pure adrenaline to the crowd. We sang and talked and drank until the early hours of the morning. Settled up (our bartender was quite generous), said our goodbyes, and promised to return.

Himi is the kind of town I never would have seen if I had been thrown into Tokyo, or Osaka, or whatever, and not sleepy little Toyama. Places like Wyatt are the gems that remind me that one needn't be in a big city, in a famous district, or in a fancy-pants lounge to find good-times. In fact, it is precisley because Wyatt is none of the above that I jive with it so well. I must be careful not to overstay my welcome at that great place, "everything in moderation" and all that, but you bet your ass I'll be back before long.


Three cheers for Himi, don't you ever change.