This is the last of my Japan randomness trilogy (get the LOTR reference??? hehe): Japan may not have guns or other American-esque social problems as far as I can see (it took me over a week before I saw a bum sleeping on a park bench). But it does have to contend with the evils of...Pachinko Parlors. I cannot see the appeal of a game where all you do is to twist a knob to flick little beads up the machine. I was this close to having a seizure just standing there for a few minutes in front of all the flashing lights to watch JC try his hand at this nonsense. Nonetheless an entire country is addicted...One Tuesday afternoon, I went looking for Yoshitomo Nara merchandise at this store called
LammFromm in Tokyo. I got off at the Yoyogi Park station on the Chiyoda subway line and walked in every which direction trying to locate this place. My GPS and the little map I downloaded from the website were of no help. Eventually, after almost two hours of wandering thru every side street near the station, I finally spotted the place. And guess what? There was a camera crew filming inside the store. I went in anyways to browse around, and the camera guy started speaking Japanese to me. I replied that I didn't understand. The shop girl then came up and said I can continue shopping if I don't mind being filmed. I did mind, but damn, it took me two hours of sweat and tears to get here, so I wasn't leaving. The whole time though, I was so freaking self-conscious with the camera on me that I really wasn't concentrating on shopping. After an awkward five minutes, I ended up grabbing a little stuffed doll, paid and got out of there...I really liked strolling around Asakusa in Tokyo. I particularly liked the sweet potato wedge fries (which were actually sprinkled with sugar instead of salt) and the really dark green tea drink I bought from the food stands...I am going to state the obvious, but the bullet train is, uh, really fast. Just stand on the platform and feel it swoosh by you...
It's quite a sight to see the deers run wild and rabid in Nara. Supposedly here the deers are considered sacred and therefore are allowed to go about their business undisturbed...In Japan, they sold Haagen Dazs milk tea-flavored ice cream. I think I ate at least three of these during my last few days in Tokyo. It was needless to say yummy. I remember a few years back I had honeydew Haagen Dazs ice cream in Hong Kong. Asia gets the best/more interesting Haagen Dazs flavors. America just likes its vanilla, chocolate, maybe cookies & cream. So freaking boring...Let me once again praise what Asia definitively has heads-and-shoulders over the US: public transportation. Like the HK MTR, the Japan railway/subway system is super efficient and convenient. Although I have to say, I did avoid the commute hours so I did not experience the thrill of being pushed into a packed train...I found my Reac miniature chairs at both BicCamera and Tokyu Hands. I ended up buying eight chairs for less than thirty dollars. I was a very happy boy...This was a wonderful trip. Japan is a great country with lovely people. I sincerely appreciated their friendliness and politeness. Everything is presented with such beauty and attention to details (you should see the box that was used for my rice take-out!). And I met some really nice people on the tour and hopefully have made some friendships that will last. In some way it was hard to come home, back to my mundane American reality. It's not that I want to stay in Japan, but I would like to take Japan back home with me. I am sitting here thinking about Adam in Afghanistan. If coming back was somewhat hard for me, what must it be like for him? How do you go from buying Godzilla action figures and eating sushis back to dodging bullets and sleeping in a tent in the middle of the desert? I want to end this with a wish - the wish that Adam can return home safely to his mother and his family and friends. I wish he gets more chances to buy more Godzillas and we can talk more about zombie movies and Hard Gay and South Park and all that good stuff.
This is the last of my Japan randomness trilogy (get the LOTR reference??? hehe): Japan may not have guns or other American-esque social problems as far as I can see (it took me over a week before I saw a bum sleeping on a park bench). But it does have to contend with the evils of...Pachinko Parlors. I cannot see the appeal of a game where all you do is to twist a knob to flick little beads up the machine. I was this close to having a seizure just standing there for a few minutes in front of all the flashing lights to watch JC try his hand at this nonsense. Nonetheless an entire country is addicted...One Tuesday afternoon, I went looking for Yoshitomo Nara merchandise at this store called LammFromm in Tokyo. I got off at the Yoyogi Park station on the Chiyoda subway line and walked in every which direction trying to locate this place. My GPS and the little map I downloaded from the website were of no help. Eventually, after almost two hours of wandering thru every side street near the station, I finally spotted the place. And guess what? There was a camera crew filming inside the store. I went in anyways to browse around, and the camera guy started speaking Japanese to me. I replied that I didn't understand. The shop girl then came up and said I can continue shopping if I don't mind being filmed. I did mind, but damn, it took me two hours of sweat and tears to get here, so I wasn't leaving. The whole time though, I was so freaking self-conscious with the camera on me that I really wasn't concentrating on shopping. After an awkward five minutes, I ended up grabbing a little stuffed doll, paid and got out of there...I really liked strolling around Asakusa in Tokyo. I particularly liked the sweet potato wedge fries (which were actually sprinkled with sugar instead of salt) and the really dark green tea drink I bought from the food stands...I am going to state the obvious, but the bullet train is, uh, really fast. Just stand on the platform and feel it swoosh by you...
It's quite a sight to see the deers run wild and rabid in Nara. Supposedly here the deers are considered sacred and therefore are allowed to go about their business undisturbed...In Japan, they sold Haagen Dazs milk tea-flavored ice cream. I think I ate at least three of these during my last few days in Tokyo. It was needless to say yummy. I remember a few years back I had honeydew Haagen Dazs ice cream in Hong Kong. Asia gets the best/more interesting Haagen Dazs flavors. America just likes its vanilla, chocolate, maybe cookies & cream. So freaking boring...Let me once again praise what Asia definitively has heads-and-shoulders over the US: public transportation. Like the HK MTR, the Japan railway/subway system is super efficient and convenient. Although I have to say, I did avoid the commute hours so I did not experience the thrill of being pushed into a packed train...I found my Reac miniature chairs at both BicCamera and Tokyu Hands. I ended up buying eight chairs for less than thirty dollars. I was a very happy boy...This was a wonderful trip. Japan is a great country with lovely people. I sincerely appreciated their friendliness and politeness. Everything is presented with such beauty and attention to details (you should see the box that was used for my rice take-out!). And I met some really nice people on the tour and hopefully have made some friendships that will last. In some way it was hard to come home, back to my mundane American reality. It's not that I want to stay in Japan, but I would like to take Japan back home with me. I am sitting here thinking about Adam in Afghanistan. If coming back was somewhat hard for me, what must it be like for him? How do you go from buying Godzilla action figures and eating sushis back to dodging bullets and sleeping in a tent in the middle of the desert? I want to end this with a wish - the wish that Adam can return home safely to his mother and his family and friends. I wish he gets more chances to buy more Godzillas and we can talk more about zombie movies and Hard Gay and South Park and all that good stuff.
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