Tim’s Ramblings

These arcades with the crane games are going to be the death of me. Or at least it’s going to suck away all of my cash. Saying that I’m supporting the Japanese economy isn’t really going to help….

See…I blame the fact that I’m here away from home without my usual asortment of diversions. If I’m HOME, then I have plenty to do and I have no desire to go out and find entertainment for myself. But since all i have is what I have in the hotel AND I have to leave the hotel for at least 3 hours or so every day if I want room service with fresh towels and such…well…I gotta do something right?

Some of you may then say that I should just call downstairs and tell them I don’t need room service and stay in. And honestly, I wouldn’t mind that BUT in the morning it gets frickin’ HOT and stuffy in the room. Really really stuffy especially since I can’t open the windows and after taking a shower it’s just a sauna in the room. Since it’s so small, even with the short showers that I take, it’s just plain nasty. I HAVE to get out.

So I eventually find myself wasting time window shopping, browsing for fun stuff, and also trying to win stupid crap at the arcades.

Now, if I was with someone, I would either get embarrassed at what I’m trying to win or worse, even more embarrassed spending so much money on whatever it is I’m trying to win. So I will eventually just go “um…yeah…screw it” and leave. Either that or, depending on who I am with, they will curve my spending habits with a few choice statements including but not limited to:

“You WANT that crap?”

“WHY are you even spending money on this???”

“You DO realize that you’ve spent 2/3/4 times the worth of that toy right?”

“I’m leaving….”

“I’m bored…”

“You’re embarrassing me”

“Stop it….”

“Do you REALY NEED that thing?”

You get the point….

But without anyone around to say anything remotely close to that…well…then why stop? Right??

Last trip it was that Gundam Head Speaker. This trip, up until today, it was just that Mario Mushroom. Today…well…I got lucky.

Oh…don’t get me wrong…I’m pretty sure that I spent more than the worth of at least some of these things but the 2 figures more than made up for it.

To see the stuff that I won just because I was killing time and I didn’t REALLY want, well, click on the link for the pictures :)

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With all the stuff about cherry blossoms yesterday, I forgot to post 2 pictures I took later in the day in Ginza! Ooops.

So here we go.

This is Kabukiza. NOT to be confused with Kabukicho. 2 very very very different things….

Kabukicho i sin Shinjuku and is the adult entertainment district. Kabukiza, here, is in Ginza and is the home of Kabuki theater.

Impressive eh?

You really can’t see this place when you’re walking down the street and it just kind of pops up out of nowhere. And it’s really big. Hard to see from the picture but it’s a good size building. Packed too because we got there just when people were lining up to get into the theater for the late afternoon show. Had no idea what they were performing but it must have been good.

Here’s a closer look at the impressive entrance and the crowd.

Apparently if you want, you can pay to see just one act too as long as tickets are avialable. I have no idea how expensive or cheap it was but there was a pretty damn big line for that too.

Maybe next time :)

So there you go. Kabukiza in Tokyo, right in the Ginza district.

Hakuho won!

He did the same thing that Asashouryu did to win his 13th match. It was actually kind of funny because even the championship match ended in less than a second.

Just like Asashouryu did in the previous match, Hakuho jumped to the side as Asashouryu charged forward and drove his hand down onto his head causing Asashouryu to put his hands down.

Even Asashouryu smiled as he walked off.

Of course, with an unexpected win, the zabuton (cushions that the people sit on in the front section) went flying as people started flinging it towards the ring.

Anyway, it was a fun season. Most of you won’t care but trust me…you had to be there. (^_^)

We have a sumo-off of sorts.

Hakuho won today with a record of 13-2. But then in the very last match, Asashouryu won his match in, I swear, less than a second. His opponent rushed forward an in a blink of an eye, surprising for someone his size, he hopped to the side, drove his hand down onto his opponents back of the head as he rushed past and threw him out of the ring.

It was impressive to say the least from a speed point of view. It wasn’t your typical sumo match with two big guys crashing into each other. More like a bull fight with Asashouryu as the matador.

I’m sure there will be Youtube video of this shortly :)

Now to wait a bit and watch the final match. Looks like a late dinner tonight. (^_^)

Personally rooting for Hakuho (^_^)