Tim’s Ramblings

One last little post about a product in Japan.

And before anyone runs to any conclusions…no…this is NOT about the Hello Kitty vibrator…I mean…*ahem*…the Hello Kitty MASSAGER. Yeah…

So, on Friday night, mom and I were supposed to meet dad at the train station but he got held up at work so we had to pass the time one way or another. Since there wasn’t much to do, we ended up at the local 100Yen Store. It’s the same thing as the US dollar stores but unlike the US ones, these are really really good. You’d be amazed at some of the stuff you can get for 100 yen!! These are really really good quality stuff.

But anyway, as I was browsing around, I found a small Hello Kitty section. Yes. Even the dollar stores have a special section just for that damn white cat with no mouth.

As I was looking through the stuff, there were the typical licensed items like pencil cases, notepads, wallets, coin purses, etc.. Then my eyes fell on what I believe is, next to the vibrator of course, licensing gone too far.

Behold. The Hello Kitty Toilet Paper Roll!!!

Now, I have not opened it. I have no idea what is actualy printed (though I suspect it’s what’s on the outside wrapper) but come on….toilet paper? I know some people want to go all HK with the toasters and the TV and the fridge and etc… But toilet paper?

Then it got me thinking…perhaps this is NOT for the Hello Kitty lover! It was in the HK section but maybe it’s for the true true haters of HK!! Kinda like the Osama Bin Laden TP’s that came out after 9/11. It’s for people that, every time they finish their business in the bathroom get’s juuuust a final extra bit of satisfaction wiping up on the face of HK.

Now THAT is dedicated hate against a drawing of a cat!

But anyway…I only bought 1. I have a feeling this may end up popular. I have only found thais at the local 100 yen store by my parents and no where else so far. Think I can resell this for more than a buck? :)

Man, this was a long trip. Actually it was shorter than most of mine due to the typhoon and all but it just FELT long. Last week seems like a month ago and even earlier this week seems like so long ago. Not sure why. I did travel all over Tokyo for business and it was sweltering hot so it sucked all my energy out…so maybe that has something to do with it…but not sure.

Anyway, I am not back at the lounge in Newark. Wooo. I have such a love hate relationship with this place. But it’s nice and more quiet than the concourse and the drinks are free, alcoholic or not.

1 more hour ’till I head to the gate. Won’t get back into Cleveland until about 10:30pm. Wooo. Gonna cab it home tonight though. Wonder how hot my apartment is going to be? …woah…that was weird. As soon as I wrote that sentence I got a txt message from my sister telling me that she turned on the AC in my apartment for me so it will be nice and cool when I get back! Awesome!

Anyway, not much to report. Went back to my parent’s place Friday afternoon. In the hottest time of the day. In my dress shirt and slacks. With my luggage that was far far far far too heavy. Hooooly crap was it heavy. I think I went a bit overboard with the gift purchases this trip. Individually they’re not too heavy but combined? Damn…. So this trip, I actually left all of my undershirts and underwear and socks and such at my parent’s place along with my laptop bag (I travel with a laptop backpack) to make some room. Even then I checked my suitcase which came in at juuuuuust under 50lbs. and my garment bag that had a bunch of stuff stuffed in it too. My backpack is the usual stuff (games, books, etc…) but I also have a red duffel bag that has all the candy and such that is surprisingly heavy….

Ah well. Had a nice dinner and dad went to work in the morning so had a relaxing morning with mom before heading to the airport. Flight was utterly uneventful. Sat next to a young pretty cute Japanese girl who was going to Boston for business. But that was about the extent of the conversation. She was reading the latest Harry Potter in English. The Japanese translation won’t come out for another year or so. She said that it was an easy read but still, she would read about 10 page and then fall asleep…then read another 10 and fall asleep… But if I was reading it in Japanese I would be doing the same thing too! Though recently with all the Japanese e-mails and such I’ve been dealing with it’s easier for me than before. But still…bravo for her trying.

Well, gonna go grab a drink and such. It’ll be good to be back at my apartment. The apartment is in a state of unbelievable messiness but it’s MY mess and no one else’s and it’s comforting. Like a big messy cluttered womb…. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

(^_^)

Warning…lots of whining ahead….lots….

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Today was hell… Not because of work. Work was long but it wasn’t as bad as some other days. It was due to the commute.

A guide map once described Tokyo in the summer as a “sub-tropical hell hole”. They’re not kidding. Oh…my…god…

By 9am this morning when I headed out to an office about a 45 minute commute way, it was already upwards of 85 degrees (max today was 88) and incredibly humid. So humid that the air was hazy and actual hard to breathe. Anyone who has been to Florida in the middle of the summer knows what its like. Now…imagine wearing a suit and tie (black suit to boot…) and carrying a relatively heavy laptop bag. Ugh….

Then as I went down to the train platform and it was PACKED. There were a few accidents this morning and not only were some trains stopped but others were delayed and it was a mess. So, what do we have now…opressive heat, humidity, and now throngs of people all generating more heat and humidity. Ungh…..

Finally got on the crowded train and I was jammed in with tons of other people. Thankfully they had the AC going or otherwise I think people would have died… As it was, it was still incredibly hot.

I got to the first station where I had to transfer to the subway and as I was waiting at the subway platform, I look up and realized that the next train that I was going to transfer to has stopped entirely due to a different accidet. Aaaaaaa. By this point I’m hot, sweaty, tired, and exhausted and it’s only been 25 minutes since I left the hotel…

I figured out an alternate route and I finally got to the final station where I walked up the stairs to the surface where I was greeted with a blast of humidity. I rememberd then that I had a relatively long uphill walk without much of a shade to speak of…in a suit…with the laptop bag… The temperature continued to increase as did the humidity. I think I was close to heat stroke…as was most other miserable people in suits walking along with me. I almost went “screw this…I’ll come back in the winter!!!” …almost…

By the time I got to the office, my shirt was soaked in sweat (thank god I use deodorant…not that I have much of a BO to begin with but still…), I was exhausted, and I real close to feeling ill. Thankgod they had the AC going.

Of course I had to go BACK to Kawasaki once I was done. Then back to the partner’s office only to go back out again around 3 to an different partner. At least this time they told me ahead of time to leave my jacket and tie behind. Thaaaankyou! Still…hotter than hell though. I mean, it’s 7:30pm when I fiished and headed out to the Sanrio store and just walking down the street at night I can feel the heat still as if it was the daytime. The city truly does generate heat. It’s all the concrete and such that just continue to eminate heat most of the night.

So yeah…hot. Horribly hot. And tomorrow it’s supposed to be even hotter. 90 as the high but within the city it’s going to be closer to probably around 95 due to the effect I just described. Oh, and it’s going to be humid too. Oh, and I have to head out at the HIGHT of the heat at like 1pm for a meeting. Then I’m heading to my parent’s but I have to carry my luggage there…in a suit….

Oh yeah, it’s past 9 and I have to pack still. And this trip I seem to have bought a buttload of stuff…. Fun….

For anyone that things I’m lucky to be here…yeah…maybe I am but this time of the year you can HAVE my luck….

…But first! Something totally totaly unrelated to the post! Just saw this on TV.

Apparently there is a 700m long (.43 miles) haunted house in Japan at the Fuji Q Highland amusement park. It’s an old hospital that has been converted to a haunted house and it is in the Guiness Book as the longest haunted house in the world. It’s also considered one of the scariest in the world too. 2 stories. 60 rooms. It’s an actual hospital with actual equipment. The people in there are actual actors hired to scare the hell out of you. And since it takes up to 1 hour or longer to get through it all, you have the option to retire at any time and get out. Apparently 10% of people leave early because they just can’t move forward anymore.

They showed the footage (the band that plays the TV show’s theme song went through it) and it is downright scary. The whole hospital setting doesn’t help. Sounds of crying kids and screams from the operating room. And actors that move like the weird characters from Jacob’s Ladder or even House on Haunted Hill (the remake). Worst is, you can actually SEE the characters in the room. You know they are going to move. And you have to move towards them. But there’s nothing you can do…

It’s not right…not right at all….

Oh, the final room is a kicker. You have to go through this one room…just one. But you have to go through it alone. But they wouldn’t tell us what the last room is. It’s the morgue though…. Eeek…..

—

Anyway, on to the point of the post.

For some reason I found this product name downright hillarious. It’s…it’s just not right. It’s a new product from McDonalds and I believe it is ONLY available in Japan. I think.

Ladies and Gentlemen. I introduce to you. *ahem* The McPork!!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I can’t put a finger on just why the hell this amuses me so much… Maybe it’s the total straight forward naming. Maybe it’s the pig. Maybe it’s the combination of the name, the pig, and the fact that it’s at McDonalds. But…yeah…I had to try it.

Normal wrapping but yeah….it’s…it’s the McPork!!!

Oh…first off, the cut in the upper bun is due to my finger. No one will ever serve you a burger like that in Japan. Remember…this is the country where, if your order is messed up when you go through the drive through, if you call the store when you get home, they will apologize and actually DELIVER the food to you!!!!! Try THAT in the US!!!

But anyway, the McPork (goddamn it…it’s funny just typing it…). The taste…the taste was…different. Actually it had no taste. It wasn’t that it was tasteless. It was just totally utterly absolutely unremarkable. The texture was like the McDonalds breakfast sausage. But it wasn’t as oily or spicy. It had some sort of sweet/tangy sauce. Kinda peppery. Kinda garlicy. But really..in the end I ate it and I just didn’t know what I was eating. It certainly wasn’t the McRib!

But yeah…I love the name. Though for some reason, I can’t imagine that this name will ever EVER work in the US! Or maybe it will and no one else finds this funny… What do you think?

(^_^)

(Oh…on a separate note, if you look at the McPork wrapper you will see a 2D barcode right? It’s that square thingy with the black and white dots with the squares along the edges? That is actually contains the web page information for you phone. Most cel phones (…though not mine) in Japan has a feature where if you take a photograph of the barcode with your camera phone, it will then read it and take you to the web page so you can get more info about whatever, or in this case, the McPork. You find these everywhere, even at arcades. Crazy.)

…I kinda feel like the bird….

Not all the time mind you. Just…some of the time. And not all day. Just a few times througout the day. But yeah.

…tired…

Got back to the hotel room at 10:15.

Ugh…

Well…the title sounds more alluring than what this actual post is about.

Today while doing some searches on the web, I ran across one of those “…whaaa???” results that you get every now and then. I was searching for actual work stuff that had to do with some industry vertical applications in Japanese and for some reason, on the 2nd page, I ran into a post on Livedoor’s (a very large Japanese portal site) “research” site. This page allows members and such to post surveys and such. Kinda like Nintendo Wii’s “Everyone Votes” channel.

This one caught my eye though. The survey was “What do you do while doing your business on the toilet?”

Typically in the US it splits into the “I read” and “I don’t” camps. But in Japan, with everyone having cel phones, I guess the next thing is “use the cel phone”. At work this is pretty rampant…more than once I have heard the familiar taps on the blackberries coming from the stall. Or you’ll hear the vibration from a blackberry and then quickly hear someone take it out of the holster to read the e-mail while on the can. Honestly? I’ve done it too. But at least I haven’t TALKED on the phone while in the bathroom. I can’t say the same thing about my coworkers though… I mean, at home? Ok. Sure. I haven’t but I’ve talked to other people while they were going to the bathroom (typically she will tell me after the fact or I will hear the flush…..the person will go unnamed…) but at work? Come on. With a partner or someone? COME ON!!!

But anyway, this is about the survey. Here is the results translated into English by yours truly.

Read a Book 23.15%
Read a Magazine 17.08%
Use the Celphone 22.12%
Talk on the Phone 5.80%
Put on Makeup 1.49%
Clean your Ears 2.06%
Pick your Nose 11.61%
Pick out your Facial Hair 1.87% (…I don’t get it either…)
Cut your Nails 0.50%
Think About Something 31.50%
Daydream 9.61%
Cry 4.16%
Clean the Bathroom 11.04%
Eat or Drink 0.93%
Other 4.40%
Not Do Anything (Focus on the Task at Hand) 37.01%

4755 people participated

–

So….some comments.

First off, the people responding were asked to answer everything that they do and not just one so keep that in mind.

First off, the cleaning of the ears thing…yeah…I’m not going to go into the whole “Asians clean our ears” thing this time. But yeah. We do.

Clean the bathroom seems odd since unless you have an awfully tiny bathroom, I can’t imagine you can reach everything just sitting on the can. But then again, with the size of some of these Japanese apartments, maybe you can.

The eating and drinking is highly disturbing…. I think more people pick their nose than 11.6%. And if you’re crying on the can you gotta stop eating those spicy foods!!!

I guess in the end, for many people, whether you’re at home or at work, the toilet/stall is the only truly private space – especially in Japan. So with that in mind, I guess the oddball ones are kind of understandable?? Maybe?? Though I think the whole “eating” thing is just plain wrong. I mean, if the bathroom is clean, then there’s not reason why it’s less hygenic than anywhere else but…just something about ingesting while…well…excreting… Ew.

So? What about you guys?? :)

So, it’s been a week since the Niigata earthquake. People are still homeless and many are staying at the local school gym and such. But with the opressive heat of the summer and the humidity, it’s not a good situation, especially for the elderly.

To that end, the Japanese military along with many aid organizations are doing whatever they can for the people that have been displaced. Most of the news is being taken up by the nuke plant but really, I think the people there deserve more help and attention.

Now, to help out with the aid effort, many organizations all over the world have been sending in money, food, and materials. But while watching the news last week, one thing made me laugh but in a sad way… One of the packages that came from the US to the Japanese military were a whole bunch of airconditioners. Very much needed and can be a big big lifesaver due to the weather. BUT, someone in the US didn’t really THINK before sending these out.

First off…the voltage is different here. Secondly, the PLUG is different and utterly specialized. To get this to work, the military had to round up a whole bunch of transformers and special plug adapters to get it to work. Not to mention the fact that the instructions and everything are in English so there were footage of a bunch of guys in camo scratching their heads trying to figure out the instructions and more importantly the voltage information.

Like I said…I know they meant well…

Ooops.

BUT, as of Saturday, they got enough transformers and such and have started to install them so things are getting a little bit better. (^_^)

This is only partially related to Japan but I found it kinda funny so I’m posting it.

It’s a label I found on a bar of Soyjoy that I bought at the airport. I love these nutrition bars. It first came out in Japan about a year ago and became pretty popular here. Then a few months ago I found out that it was being sold in the US now! Took at look over at CVS and sure enough, there it was. I then found that it was being sold in the airport newsstands too. I guess it’s catching on in the US.

The bars are made entirely out of soy with no flour at all. It’s very very nutritious and the dried fruits adds a nice touch of sweetness. It’s a tad on the dry side but it’s pretty filling and overall, pretty tasty. You can find out more here: http://www.soyjoy.com/

But enough of my free advertising. I was having one as a snack earlier and was taking a look at the packaging when I saw something funny.

Maybe it’s just me but the sentence “Natural Flavor with other natural flavors” sounds….odd…. Like one of those sentences that got translated wrong from Japanese to English.

Or maybe it’s just me. It might be just me. It could be that I’m just really tired. Came back from my parents place and it’s a long train ride back. Slept most of the way once I got a seat even with the new Bad Religion album blaring through my headphones.

Ah well. Anyway…yeah…work starts again tomorrow. Wooo.

On a totally different note, TV shows in Japan are now using the Katamari Damashii themesong for background music. Cool (^_^)

So, the actual point to this post…not that it has much of a point. Just an excuse for me to post stuff.

Today I was in Akihabara to pick up a few things (including the miniSD card for the previous post) but I didn’t stay long because it was so ungodly humid and nasty… Just walking around for a few minutes and you were already sweaty. The problem with that is…I take a shower in the morning, use deodorant, and actually change my clothes every day. I can’t say the same thing for the denizens of Akihabara. Being the mecca of all things geeky and nerdy and everything in between….they are not all that known for personal hygene. Combine huuuuge crowds with incredibly humid weather and toss in a few hundred anime and manga obsessed otaku and it’s not the most pleasant smelling place in the world.

Yeah.

Ew.

Anyway, on the way home, I stopped by the shop called Gamers right by the station to pick up a Final Fantasy soundtrack for a coworker. On the way out though, a few girls in maid outfits were selling phone book sized catalogs for the summer Comiket next month. I was at the winter one (posts are http://www.timarai.com/blog/2006/12/29/comiket-day-1 and http://www.timarai.com/blog/2007/01/16/comiket-cosplay). I am NOT going to the summer one even if I was in the country. At least Akihabara is outdoors. Imagine 300,000 manga and anime geeks decending on Tokyo Big Site in the hight of summer. Yeah…not for me.

Anyway, alongside the catalogs, they had these large paper bags with a label saying “fukubukuro” or “fortune bags”. I’m not sure what you call these in English though I know they exist in the US. Basically you don’t know what’s in it until you buy it but it’s assumed that you might get something rare or worth more than what you pay for.

…I have a slight gambling…issue. Most of the time, it is tamed by playing those crane games. This time though, the label said that each bag contains stuff worth at least 5 times what you pay for (I will not say what I paid). That’s all the incentive I needed :) However, I should have known what was going to be in it by looking at the bag…

That’s a character from an anime called Di Gi Charat. Yeah. I should have known.

Here is what was in the bag (there is a big folder that I couldn’t fit in the pic but this is the rest).

Yup. All girly anime. Well, I should say anime with cute (or underage) girls that, sadly, is probably pretty popular with the male fans who prefer 2D girls to 3D girls (they exist…and I’m not kidding….).

A closer look….

That thing on the left is a Di Gi Charat notebook. The thing in the middle is a promotional large sticker for a new anime series coming up called “Futa Koi” or “Twin Love”. More stickers, a pin, and the blue thing under the Twin Love sticker is a soundtrack CD.

The two boxes are actually trading cards. They each contain 10 to 14 packs with each pack holding about 10 or so trading cards. Woo….hoo…. These are going to remain shrink wrapped since I think I can sell these on eBay for about $40 maybe. The thing in the middle is actually “opera glasses”… I fold the paper and it turns into a static binocular. Interesting… On the right is another trading card pack while on the left are stickers.

*sigh*…what the hell am I going to do with this?? Not sure…. Oh well. Anyone want anything? :)

In a previous post, I briefly wrote about the exclusive club where we had an amazing French multi-course dinner that ended with a dessert that was almost too pretty to eat.

Well, I finally got around to picking up a miniSD card for the cel phone and go the picture I took out of it. I typically carry around my little Canon IXY but I figured pulling out a camera going “ooooh it’s soooo puuuuuuuurty” in an exclusive French restaurant in front of the president of a very big company in a super formal setting miiiight be a bit…well…uncultured I guess. Not that we were all stuffy and such. We had business discussions and other talks and it was all pretty informal but still.

Anyway, my cel phone is a tad on the cheap side. Ok…it was US$20 without even a contract discount. I mean, the phone was literally $20. But it comes with a little camera and a slot for a miniSD card so you can move pictures in and out of the phone which is really nice and all US phones should have it too dammit. *ahem* Anyway, here’s the pic (links to a bigger pic). It’s as cleaned up as it can be but for a little cheapie phone, it came out well.

Along the bottom are fresh pieces of fruit on top of mini mint leaves. The sauce along the sides are fresh fruit sauces. The little egg shaped things are fresh fruit sorbet (raspberry and apricot), chocolate sorbet, and coconut sorbet. It’s sitting on a very thin wafer of carmelized sugar. The long stick like thing is pulled sugar and the end contained a little bit of caramel. The end of the stick of pulled sugar actually had edible gold foil too.

It was pretty. But it was also really tasty. Iron Chef, eat your heart out (^_^)