Tim’s Ramblings

Today was another long long long long day. A long….long……….long day….

BUT, today I will not fall back into that funk that I was in yesterday. Or at least I will try not to. Things haven’t gotten any easier…but..yeah…ok. I’m going to stop.

Anyway, today I decided to get the hell away from the computer for a bit and since I’ve been working since like 6am or earlier anyway, I decided to end my day temporarily early at like 6pm and headed out to do some shopping and get out for a bit. For a change it wasn’t really muggy outside since it rained (it’s temporary since tomorrow it’s back to hot/muggy again…) so it was nice walking around a bit outside in the crowd. Well…maybe not the crowd per se but at the same time, there’s something to be said about just being part of a big mob. Oh, and I had my headphone on so I didn’t hear the crowd and I think that made a difference.

(Oh look…it’s past 11pm…dammit. Had to take a phone call…. Damn the 13 hour time difference… Oh well. I’ll try to make this brief so I can get some sleep.)

Where was I… Oh yes. So I got to get away from the computer and such a bit. That was nice. Oh, and I also sewed a button that came off of my slacks when I was putting on the suit today. Aren’t you proud? Hell…you should be. How many guys actually travel with a travel sewing kit AND can use it? Huh? HUH?

…anyway….

So today, I thought I’d share 3 random pics I took with my little Canon camera that goes with me all over the place in my laptop bag. They’re very very random.

Oh, and 1 video from youtube.

So, let’s move on to the pic.

First one is food! And this time it’s unagi or eel. Mmmmmm. Yummy yummy eel. Eel is typically eaten in the summer time in Japan as it is thought to give you stamina so you can survive the summer heat and humidity. During the summer time you see tons of people going in to eat “unagidon or una-ju which is basically eel that has been grilled on charcoal over hot rice with a thick soy based sauce.

This time I went with one of the guys from our partner’s office after meeting with a client to an unagi shop. We had other stuff too but this “unagi set” was unique to most people outside of Japan I think so I took a pic.

It’s basically various parts of the eel on a stick grilled while being basted with the sauce. From left to right we have:

Eel fillet
Eel skin
Baby eel’s meat along the backbone (basically the top part of the eel)
Baby eels’ meat along the stomach (the bottom part of the eel)
Eel liver
Eel heads

You may be wondering about the eel heads… Let me explain. They basically took the head of the eel (bones and all) and split it in two. Kinda like a butterfly cut that ou might do on a fillet mignon. Then, they took 3 of those, stuck them on a stick, and grilled them. It’s really really good. The bones aren’t hard at all and actually pretty tender and the meat is flaky, a bit fatty, and really tasty. Yuuuuumy. :)

It was a good dinner. Made up for the incredibly long day.

Next up is the newest thing at McDonalds in Japan. No. It’s not the McPork again… Actually they apparently have these in Australia and such (or so I was told) but these opened yesterday all over Japan. I present to you the McCafe!

The website (in Japanese) is here. I’ve directed you to the menu part since that might be of interest.

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/mccafe/menu/index.html

It’s literally what the name implies. There is no hamburgers or french fries or a big mac in sight. It’s a cafe. With coffee and pasteries and old world style breads and such. Even soups and deli sandwitches (well…just 2 types of stuffed croissants). It’s the way for McDonalds to compete with the tons of coffee shops I guess. All I know is, people in Tokyo LOVE to get in line… They were showing this on the news this morning and a woman claimed to have been in line for 2 hours. TWO HOURS. For a McCAFE!! Reminded me of the long lines that they showed on TV in the late 80′s when a McDonalds first opened in Moscow. This one was at a mall right by the Ebisu station in Tokyo. I didn’t go in though. Maybe next time I will :)

And finally the last picture. This one is just…weird.

I present to you the gigantic Hello Kitty Banana.

Yes. It’s HK’s face on a banana…. Now…this isn’t AS weird as it looks since right now there is a very popular character in Japan that is just a face on a big banana. I don’t know why it’s a hit. It’s not affiliated with any TV show or anything. Just like HK, it was developed by a marketing company purely as a mascot and nothing more. But everyone loves him. I…I don’t get it. But, to cash on this, they slapped on a HK head on a banana…

Oh, and I should tell you…this is big….

NOW…I can probably PROBABLY actually get this without spending too much money. This type of crane game is different in that the crane (though it’s still only 2 arms) first goes back and then you move one arm then the other and then it finally comes down and then the arms come together. But it’s not very strong so it’s not as easy as it seems. Most people will try to go further back and the lift the head part up and try to slide it off. Me? I will actually try to grab it near the bottom so that the bottom part will lift up. Then, when it falls, the momentum will possibly manage to lift the banana over the lip and down. Might take a few tries to work it’s way down but I think I can do it.

…and that’s the gambler in me talking…. I don’t want the damn thing. But now I want to go and test out my theory and blow money away…. Thankfully it’s now 11:50 so the store is closed (had to take another call and an e-mail…).

Oh yeah…and to the people that know me. I know some of you is actually thinking “hm…that’s kinda cute simply due to the HK face on it…I kinda want it.”

I DID say it’s huge right? There better be something worth it for me if I’m to drag this thing not only back to the hotel with me but also ship it back to the US. Something really really worth it….

–

Finally, a video. Actually the picture doesn’t move. It’s just music. This is probably the best song off of Bad Religion’s most recent album. And let me tell you, the album is AWESOME. They’re back. The first album they released after getting back with Epitaph, Process of Belief was good. It sounded like the old BR and helped me forget the one before that one that was just…so…horribly…bad…. Then they came out with The Empire Strikes First which was awesome. Got to see them at the Warped Tour (thanks J!) and to this day I STILL love that album. But now they came out with New Maps of Hell and man…it’s a great punk rock album.

Here’s, as I said, what I think is the best track. New Dark Ages. Gotta love the “oozinahs” as BR calls it. So go! Go buy the CD!!! It sounds better :)

(^_^)

There are times, like today, where I’m walking through a train station/subway station in Japan when I notice someone with cool gray hair. It’s pretty easy to notice as most people here have dark hair if not completely black. I’m not talking about the whole salt & pepper thing or just some gray around the ears and such. Every once in a while you see someone with that perfect streak of natural gray. Like the Nike swoosh but in your hair. And every once in a while…I want one….

Actually I just want the gray hair. The cool “swoosh” is a bonus. Why you ask? Because it seems that gray hair is typically associated with stress. If you start going gray, people will go “Man…you must be really stressed out. You must be working really hard!” and they will recognize your efforts. But the problem is, I don’t seem to be going gray. My dad hasn’t gone gray either so it’s a good possibility that I won’t either. But I’m stressed out! I can’t go into details but there are stuff happening that I am very very very stressed about. Almost unhealthily (that’s not a word is it…) stressed. And when I’m here in Japan, I can’t even let work go when I come “home” to the hotel. It’s always there. 3 weeks this time. For godsakes. I should at LEAST have some gray! Right??? But nooooo. And since I tend to not really show my stress on the outside, I think people think I’m doing just fiiiiine and subconsciously take advantage of me.

“Tim’s doing fine. He’s ok. He can stay another week.” or “He’s ok…he can work over Thanksgiving.” or “Eh…he doesn’t have any family except his sister and he’s not married or have kids anyway so….”

So dammit. I want my gray hair. I want to wear it with pride and say “Look at my hair goddammit!! THIS is how much I’m working!!”

But no. No gray hairs for me. I may get some dark rings under my eyes but that’s about it….

*sigh*

But then I snap out of it and remind myself that gray hair is not the sign of a job well done or a sign of success. The only thing that will show any of that is the end result. Granted, with my job, it’s not like programming so the end result may not be something quantitative. But regardless of that fact, just because I turned gray due to stress doesn’t mean I’m doing better work than someone that’s not.

Right?

I know it’s true. And I do find it silly that I even think this way… But working alone on the other side of the world and doing a job where success or failure is not immediately apparent but the stress is incredibly high and every once in a while getting a feeling that I’m getting taken advantage of (I don’t think I really am…though it IS true that due to the state of my life I am typically the most obvious choice for some otherwise extremely inconvenient travel…), I guess I would be lying if I really didn’t feel this way every once in a while. It’s like a badge you know? Like in HS you got a varsity letter to prove to others that you were that good. Back then I had a varsity letter for swimming, soccer, academics, and orchestra. Where’s my varsity badge now?!

Wait….I’m slipping back into thinking I’m a victim.

Ah well. Maybe one day I’ll get that cool gray hair but maybe it’ll be after I retire and I’m totally stress free (^_^) I’ll take that too.

****

On a totally different note, on a TV show here in Japan where they do a series of “the top 3…”, they are actually doing the top 3 “dumb” myths busted by the American show, Mythbusters.

It’s funny actually. They keep calling these guys the “stupid duo” (but in a cute way…not in a mean way…like “oh guys….” type) and the experiements “dumb” as well but they use the term “obaka” which is more like “pointless” than “stupid”. #3 was the myth that if you go underwater you can avoid getting shot. And everyone on the TV show is amazed that anyone would even THINK about testing this let alone build a whole RIG to test this. That and since gun crime is pretty much unheard of here where guns are illegal, no one would even think of this here.

It’s funny what people in Japan find ridiculous about US TV while the US thinks Japanese TV is insane (^_^)

#2 was the whole “can you shatter glass with your voice” (you can). Again, they are laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Basically how they would take something like this and take it so seriously and do the tests. I mean, they all think the experiments are cool but also just plain funny.

And #1? I thought this was hillarious too. The test to see if you can actually do a 360 on a swing. And as a bonus I got to see Kari Byron on TV in Japan! Wooooo (^_^) Though the never mentoned her or even Grant Imahara…ah well. The whole “rocket swing” thing they thought was just absolutely hillarious :) Of course, partially since this level of firepower just isn’t available to most people in Japan.

Funny things these cultural differences.

Realised while sitting here taking a break at the office that I never got around to posting this last night. I didn’t get back to the hotel until past 9pm since I was having a meeting that ran late in a part of Tokyo that, by train, is a good hour away from the hotel without factoring in the walking time and then there was a mini-crisis so I was on the phone and doing e-mail until well past 12. Very sleepy today. Very very sleepy….

Anyway, here’s the post :) It’s pretty long…..but hopefully some of you will find this interesting/amusing.

A few days ago, a friend on another blog posted about a superstition she heard for the first time (“putting a wedding cake under your pillow” thing) and wondered what other strange superstitions were out there. I responded with a few from Japan and she got a kick out of them. Then I realized that most of you readers (barring a few that are actually Japanese or have some Japanese in them or are just really really into this country) have probably never heard of any of these.

Sure we have the whole “4 leaf clover” thing and these days the “Friday the 13th” myth is pretty much global. But there are a whole bunch of very distinctly Japanese ones that I thought I’d share. Also, for the curious, for any one of them where I know the origin (and most are very very mundane), I have described them as well. I’m sure there are a few very distinct ones from other cultures too (like Brazilian – Hello N!! or maybe Taiwanese – Hello T!! or Slovenian – Hello J!!) :)

Most of these I have heard ever since I was a child. Some of them still affect my behavior today. We’ll start off with a very famous one that almost every single child in Japan have heard before.

If you don’t hide your belly button during a thunderstorm, the thunder demons might take it away.

The reason for this is cautionary. And you’ll notice a trend as almost all of these are like that. People knew that usually after an actual thunderstorm, a cold front will roll in and the swift temperature change can make a child catch a cold or worse. Back when just even catching a cold or especially a fever was life threatening, it is believed this superstition came about to get kids to cover up so they don’t catch a cold, especially when it’s hot and humid outside during the summer.

If you clip your nails at night, you won’t able to be there for your parent’s death.

This is a pretty dark and morbid one. And the reasoning behind this comes from many sources but the ultimate reason? Very simple. The complex reasoning is, in Japanese ancient mythology, it was thought that the nail contained part of the spirit or the soul of the person. To cut something given to you by your parents at night is the start of losing filial piety (how’s THAT for some vocab huh?). But ultimately? The most simple reason is, back in the Edo period there were no lights at night except for candles and oil lamps. To cut your nails in the dark was just plain dangerous. Simple as that.

If you urinate on an earthworm your member will swell up. (…and not in a good way….)

This is obviously for boys and this is one of my favorites. It’s so…weird. Yet at the same time, when you’re a young kid and you’re out playing all day long what guy hasn’t, in their youth, just peed outside? I bet every single one of you guys, and probably a lot of you girls (though many won’t admit it) has done it before! My mom has told me this ever since I was a child. No reasoning behind it. Just that I shouldn’t because if I do it’ll get all swollen and be bad. And that is a bad bad bad thing. So you can be rest assured, that I have never peed on a worm. Anyway, the actual reasoning behind this is, you should always be clean when you…uh…handle your member and when your hands are all dirty and nasty like if you were just playing or digging up earth worms then you shouldn’t reach down there. I guess their thought was, if you’re peeing on a worm, then that worm was dug up by you and thus your hands would be yucky. Well…whatever the case, it’s an actual saying. :)

If you lose your top teeth, throw it under the house while if you lose your bottom teeth, throw it up in the air onto the roof.

I actually did this! As did my sister. The toothfairy never visited our house since our tooth was always either up on the roof or under the house (more like under the deck…but same concept). This goes back a long long time and it comes from a pretty straight forward line of thought. You want to toss your bottom teeth up into the air in hopes that the new tooth will grow straight up towards the sky. You want to do the opposite for your top teeth so that it will grow straight down towards the ground and also so that it will be held firm like the foundations of the house. Important things back when braces weren’t around!

If you don’t eat all your rice, you will go blind.

Nothing like the threat of blindness to make you eat your dinner!! They should try this in the US. I bet Johnny would eat his broccoli if mom, while holding a big kitchen knife, tells Johnny that he’s going to wake up with a finger missing if he doesn’t clear his plate (^_^) ! Anyway, this is bascally just that. A way for parents to make sure the kids don’t waste any food. But the fact that it’s rice is very telling of our culture. Rice is an integral part of Japanese culture. You can say that our country was pretty much built on rice. We have this obsession with rice where there are various grades of rice and there are rice sommeliers that can taste the different grades and varieties of rice. I can say myself that I can taste good rice from bad. And rice has a very distinct very subtle flavor and sweetness. Anyway, Japan values rice so much that they do not export a single grain. Every single “Japanese style rice” you see in the US supermarkets and asian markets are all from California. So, with rice being so important, it is very important to not waste any of it. So, to this day, if you ever eat with me in Japan, you will never see a single grain of rice left in the rice bowl after I’m done :)

If a child plays with fire he will wet his bed.

Not sure exactly where this comes from in terms of logic, but suffice to say, once again, this is basically behavior modification through threat. No child wants to wet the bed. Especially in Japan where even now, many kids sleep on a futon (and this is a real futon – a big heavy padded mat on the ground and not the funky couch/bed combo from Ikea) and if you wet the bed, then the first thing mom will do after yelling at you is to hang the futon outside to dry…and all of your friends will see it as they walk by on the way to school. Or at least that’s the popular image. Needless to say, it stops kids from playing with fire. There is a slight modification to this where, in my family, we were told that if we played with fire at night we would wet the bed. But in the end, the result is the same. No playing with fire.

If you sleep right after eating, you will turn into a cow.

Well, other than to stop you from being a lazy slob, there is also a very distinct reason why this saying comes from the East and not really from the West. In Japan, until very recently, most people ate sitting on the floor with a low table in the living room. Due to this, if you eat too much or, even if you didn’t, since you weren’t in a chair and you were already in the living room, it was very easy for you to just lean back and end up laying down on the floor. Of course this was seen as lazy, bad manners, and also they were afraid that you would not want to do any work once you laid down with a full stomach (well…duh…). So to stop you from getting lazy, mom or dad will typically tell you to get up or else you’ll turn into a cow. Of course the Romans ate while sitting on cushions on the floor and low couches and they were frequently lying down while eating but they celebrated gluttony (and purging and other such pleasantries) so they don’t count….

You never give a sick person a potted plant

This is based off of a pun. A potted plant has roots right? The word that means “to take root” is “netsuku”. However, “ne” can also be written as “sleep” and “tsuku” is still “to take hold” or “to keep”. So depending on what characters you use to write the word “netsuku”, it can also mean “keep sleeping” or “stay in bed” which is something you don’t want to do in a hospital or if you’re sick in bed. So never ever give someone a potted plant if they’re actually currently ill!!

Bad luck numbers in Japan = 4 and 9

Of course, in the US you will rarely find floors numbered 13. But in Japan, it’s different numbers. For many hotels and hospitals (though the one I’m staying at does not do this) you will not find a 4th floor and sometimes not the 9th floor either. This also comes from a pun on words. The numbers in Japanese, based on what you’re doing with it, can have a number of different pronounciations. For example, 4 can be pronounced “yon” or “shi”. But “shi” is also the Japanese word for death. So needless to say, you do not want to say you are staying on the “death” floor of the hospital! 9 is similar. It can be pronounced “kyu” but also “ku”. “Ku” is another way of saying “hardship” or “suffering”. Needless to say, it is NOT a happy number or word…. Coincidentally, in China, the number 8 is considered SUPREMELY lucky. This comes from the way the character for 8 is written in Kanji. “八”. Notice how it flares out the bottom? It is thought to symbolize how good things will spread from top to bottom all the way down. So, next year’s Beijing Olympics starts on an easy to remember date. 08/08/08!

It’s a bad omen to sleep with your head facing north.

I’m sure there is some Feng Shue at work here but one of the more popular reasons for this is that Buddha was thought to be sleeping with this head on the north side when he died. And that’s just not a good thing. So don’t sleep N->S! Sleep E->W to follow the rising of the sun!

Never reach for food with chopsticks at the same time as someone else and never EVER pass food from one chopstick to another

This practice seems to be acceptable in most other Asian cultures. Go to a Chinese restaurant and you will see people reaching with their chopsticks to get food off of the main plate along with everyone else. But you will never EVER see this in Japan. And many times I’ve had to remind guests that come to Japan with me about this since it’s a pretty big rule. Besides the fact that it’s considered bad manners, the only time in Japan that multiple people reach into the same location with chopsticks is at a funeral when the family members will pick out the bones of the recently cremated to be placed in the urn. That’s it. That’s the ONLY time. So needless to say, you don’t do it when eating. Oh, same thing for passing stuff from one chopstick to another too. First off…ew. And secondly, again, the only time anything is passed from one chopstick to another is during the end of cremation. Important things to keep in mind if you ever visit Japan!

Don’t break in new shoes at night or it’s bad luck.

This is another odd one. The only explanation I have ever heard is because you are supposed to break in new shoes in the morning as, by night time your feet are swollen from being on them all day. …but really…bad luck? No idea….

If you whistle at night you will attract snakes.

Another very very popular one. But the origins are totally unknown to me. But my parents have been saying this ever since I can remember. If I whistled at night they will tell me to stop it as it’s just rude and it’ll also attract snakes. I thought it was weird since, from when I was 5 to 9, we lived on the second floor of an apartment and I figured no snake would ever make it up here. But still, to be on the safe side, I stopped. Maybe it’s just a way for parents to shut their kids up at night :)

If you walk over someone laying on the ground, the person that got walked over will not succeed in life.

Once again, I have no idea where this comes from. But I think it’s just considered rude. I know for a fact that if my dad was lying on the ground watching TV or something and I happened to step over him, he will get very angry and actually have me step BACK over him to cancel out what I did and then I would have to walk around. But, due to this, every time I walk over someone lying on the ground, I feel a twinge of guilt…

Hide your thumbs when you see a hearse.

…no clue in the world….but it’s a relatively well known saying.

If you keep snake skin in your wallet you will get rich.

No clue either. Does it work? Hm…probably not. Oh and I think it has to be snake skin IN your wallet, not a snakeskin wallet :)

Anyway, that’s that. I’m sure there are 100′s more and then various regional varieties but these were the ones I could think of off the top of my head. Like I said at the top, if you know of any from other cultures (basically other than the US), let me know! I always found these to be a cool little peak into the deep dark recesses of a country’s culture and different ways of thought. Something that you just can’t see when you’re only visiting.

Oh, and if you made it all the way down to here, congrats! This was a long post, even by my wordy standards….

Recently, due to some very vocal environmental activists and ex-Vice Presidents and of course, Hollywood, the US has been on a “green” kick. Green this and green that and hybrid this and hybrid that.

So…that’s all find and dandy. But the US doesn’t even come CLOSE to doing as much as some other countries to “save the planet”. Case in point, let’s take a look at a country that I’m quite familiar with, Japan. Now Japan is a modern country. We’re part of the G8. 2nd largest economy in the world. And though our economy goes up and down just like the US and the rest of the world, overall, our unemployment rate is ridiculously low, our education level is high and overall, we’re not so different from the western nations.

Um…I say all this because you would be surprised how many people I have met….people that I thought were intelligent…who actually asked me if Japan was a first world country (as opposed to 3rd world…) or a developing country. Seriously….

Anyway, back to my point. No matter how often I come here, its always amazing to me just how much the country and its people truly embrace the whole “gotta be good to the environment” aspect. Like right now it’s lunch time at the office where I’m at. As soon as it’s lunch time, they turn off all of the lights in the office. There’s electricity of course, but at least for the 50 minute lunch time, they turn off all the lights to save energy.

Recycling is crazy here too, especially since we’re an island nation and the seas are an extremely valuable resource for food, both fish, shell fish, and sea weed. There are always receptacles for cans and plastic bottles and newspapers and magazines and then general trash. For households, you will recycle the plastic and the cans but you will also separate the trash into “trash that can be burned” and “trash that cannot be burned”. The former will contain food scraps and paper and other such stuff while the latter will contain batteries, plastics, etc… And to force you to think carefully before just tossing something away, many apartment complexes and neighborhoods force you to buy specific garbage bags that are very thin and clear so everyone can see inside and you are only allow a certain number of bags per month. You better be compact and not generate much trash or else there’ll be nothing you can do. And these bags can go for as much as 50 to 70 cents each!

Go to a McDonalds in downtown Tokyo and most westerners don’t know what to do when they’re done eating. You gotta take the top off the cup, dump the ice into one container, the cup goes into another while the straw and the lid goes into another. The burger wrappers go into a different bin and so on and so forth.

Most apartments and households in Japan have used florecent lighting forever. It saves on electricity and it lasts longer. Though honestly some people will get a headache under the harsh white light.

But all of this the US can actually do if they really tried. But there’s one thing that I don’t think will EVER work in the US. It’s something that you instantly feel as soon as you step foot into Narita Airport after deplaning. AC control. Narita Airport is actually humid in the summer. Almost uncomfortably humid…. And the reason for this is “Cool Biz”. To save energy, the government has asked companies to, voluntarily, set the AC thermostat to 28 degrees C. That’s 82.4 degrees F!!! And companies do it! Hell…the office where I’m at does it! The lobby has NO air conditioning at all.

Imagine the US government telling companies to voluntarily only drop the temperature to 82 in the office. Yeah…right. Now keep in mind Tokyo is right around the Carolinas. It’s hot. It’s humid. It’s nasty. And you go into the office and…well…it’s really not that cool.

Thankfully it’s somewhat bearable since there’s no humidity but still…needless to say, my foldup fan and a small towel about the size of a hanky is always in my pocket. Ugh……. Oh, and companies that do this tell their employees that, well, at least for guys, it’s ok to not wear a tie. Woooohooo. Thanks…. But if you go on a sales call or meet a clent or something, then the suit and tie comes on.

Many many other things are done to protect our resources. And this summer especially since 90+ days have lasted every single day here since I landed over a week ago except for 1 day but due to the earthquake, one of the biggest nuke plants here have shut down so there’s a slight energy crisis as well. Nothing says “fun” like standing on a hot hot train platform sweating away only to cram yourself into a ridiculously packed train with 100′s of other hot sweaty people. ….yes, the trains are airconditioned but…really…it doesn’t help….

Well anyway, just a peek into what it’s like on a day to day basis in a place that is far more ecologically conscious than the US can probably ever be.

But honestly? Give me the “I will attempt to freeze you to death in August” AC level and cheap gasoline (relatively speaking) and I’ll maybe buy a hybrid to save the earth (^_^)

…and I’ve been working on the parasite post and such for the plast 2.5 hours…. Eeesh.

Anyway, today was a full full saturday. Very full.

I got up at 5:45 to do work. I ended up doing work until a bit past 10am and then finally headed out for the day. It was already getting pretty steamy outside but I was determined to make the best of it. I needed to get out and away from the computer since it was a long long long week.

First place I went to was the Meguro Parasitological Museum. Yup. It’s the worlds ONLY museum dedicated entirely to parasites. Fantastic huh? You can see my post about it along with pictures. It was pretty damn cool.

I got there by bus and I got back to the Meguro station by bus due to the fact that it would take about 15 minutes walking briskly uphill otherwise and…did I mention it was hot yet??

From Meguro I went to Shibuya. It was hot (yes yes…I’ll stop) and it was INCREDIBLY crowded. I mean it was absolutely PACKED. And it looks like all the foreign visitors were out in force too. It’s been a while since I saw so many non-Japanese people in one place. But I have to say something. Um….if you’re a woman…and you’re walking around Tokyo…and if you are wearing white slacks that may be a bit too tight for you…and those slacks are a bit thin? Don’t wear bright pink underwear! Esepcially when the pants are so thin I can actually see the text written across the butt. Wear a thong or something for godsakes. Oh…and if you’re not going to…then please be cute…please? And not be past the age of 45…. Eeeeeeeeek….

*ahem*

In Shibuya, I went to Tokyu Hands to pick up a few things. Then to the Shibuya Harley Davidson shop for something else. Then to Mandarake to browse (there were LOTS of foreign visitors there…the word must be getting around…though I think most of them were too busy being both offended, amused, and horrified by the giant adult manga section…) a bit and cool down too.

Oh, and at Tokyu Hands, there was this new novelty. Called the “Face Bank” it’s literally what it sounds like. It’s a face…and it’s a coin bank. You basically “feed” the coin to the face and it “eats” it. But the way it eats is downright DISTURBING. It’s…it’s not right. It’s too real. But there’s something horrible about it. Like something out of some weird drug induced trip. But you can decide for yourself since I took a short 7 second or so movie. Take a look!

Then I stopped by CoCo Ichiban, a curry restaurant, on the way to the station for lunch. I finally stopped there because for some reason, many many Americans that have gone to Japan keep RAVING about this place. I wanted to know what it was all about. And. Um. I have no idea. It was good. It was very very good. But so is the curry shop I go to in Akihabara. Granted there are bad places too but this place just isn’t that special. Ah well. Maybe it was the first Japanese style curry place most Americans go to.

Anyway, this gave me some renewed energy as, by that point, I already felt like I’ve sweat about 5 gallons… I could feel the energy leaching out of me as I walked in the heat and the crowd. So this was a nice break and a good lunch.

From Shibuya, I worked my way then to Tokyo station. At Tokyo Station, I went down to the basement to the shopping center there to pick up some more stuff for other people at work at the Fuji TV shop amongst others. Then worked my way back up to the station and then to Akihabara.

I got out of the station and first headed to the coin lockers. I already had a bunch of stuff in my backpack and in a shopping bag so I wanted to drop it off if possible. The thing is, for a place known for attracting a buttload of geeks all with backpacks FILLED with comic books and DVDs and figures and toys…this place has almost no coin lockers. But I got incredibly lucky as a medium sized one opened up just as I walked by. I quickly snagged it and dropped off my stuff and moved on to Yodobashi Camera.

On the way to Yodobashi Camera (the 6 story gigantic electronic megastore) they were doing a promotion for the energy drink Alinamin V. It’s basically a vitamin B energy drink and was actually once hawked by the Terminator itself, Arnold Shwarzenegger. They were giving away free sampels as long as I got in line and yelled out the catch phrase from the commercial. Ok. Fair enough. I got the energy drink and it was cold so it was nice. It’s like a shot. And it tastes pretty medicinal. But not too bad. And if I gave me energy, I was going to need it.

At Yodobashi Camera, I picked up some Hello Kitty electronics for a coworker. Then I picked up a beard trimmer for me…my old was getting…well…old. And I also picked up two DS games for myself (the line was huuuuuuge).

Then I went outside and on the way to the main electronics drag, what do I see but this scene in front of me.

Yup. It’s a Stormtrooper from Star Wars. In this heat. In full costume. Wearing a Harumi armband (it’s an anime) to kinda fit into the Akihabara scene. But that’s it. This person is in full costume to just stand around and be gawked at and pose with other people and tourists. This was not a sales thing. This person was not handing out flyers like the maid girls do. This person was there to simply show off. Now THAT is a SW fan!!!

Awesome :)

Anyway, from there I hit up some stores to check up on what’s new in the geek world. Then an arcade to cool down a bit. Then to another used game store to pick up another PSP game for myself (hey…compared to the amount of stuff I buy for other people I barely buy anything for myself!). Then more walking and by then it was about 4:45 so I stopped by my favorite snack place in Akihabara. The Star Kebob shop. They sell authentic Turkish döner kebab sandwitches in a pita like bread and it’s so damn good. It’s filling and greasy and I always get it with a white garlic infused yogurt sauce. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…. So…damn…good.

I used to get it when they sold it out of a van and it was sometimes a challenge to find them since they had to move around so much (who knows if it was even legal…). But now they have become successful enough to build a small hut in what used to be a parking lot for 3 cars (that’s how big the building is…3 cars…) and so now I know where to go to get my kebab fix. I love it. It’s so good.

Anyway, with some renewed energy, I did a bit more shopping around and then finally…after a long long day…I got on the train to head back to the hotel.

On the train, I was in the very front so I was able to look out and see the cockpit view. It’s pretty neat. But there was a…well…an obviously disturbed guy next to me who stood there and with a watch, timed the driver and then would talk loudly to himself about how the driver is doing a horrible job and he’s not following the time schedule exactly and so on and would be wringing his fingers in annoyance. I’m thinking autistic…but not sure. Ah well. Not as bizzare as a friend from Seattle’s experiences :)

Got back to Kawasaki, stopped by 7-11 to pick up a salad and cold noodles for dinner. Then here I am. I finished my parasite museum post. And now I’m done with this long rambling post with no point. Well, at least I put in some pictures and a movie!

Tomorrow I’m off to my parent’s place to help my dad buy a laptop and sign up for the internet. We’ll see how it goes as he is technically clueless and I have never touched Vista. Fun times….

Hope you are all having a good weekend!!!

Yes. I went and I saw and I was both horrified and disturbingly interested. I mean, it was pretty damn cool! For some reason, when I tried to get some people from here to go with me they went “ew….”. They have no idea what they were missing! If nothing else this is one of those weird little known spots that I can now add to my repository of places to take people for my “Tokyo Tour”. I have to thank 2 of my coworkers for clueing me in on this place :)

First off, here is the web site: http://kiseichu.org/english.aspx

But enough talk. On to the PICTURES!!! WOOOO!

Um…I probably don’t need to warn you. If you are extremely squeamish and can’t deal with anything…uh….worm-y, then don’t click on the link below to see more…

As an intro…here are large bugs that carry parasites :)

Now…don’t be a wuss and click on this like for more parasite fun!!!!

Continue Reading »

The answer is easy. Stay indoors where it’s cool and do nothing. Supposed to be in the mid-90′s today. And humid… Won’t be so bad if I was driving. Sucks when you have to walk. At least the trains are airconditioned but the train station itself is like walking through a sauna…and the MASS of people getting in your way just doesn’t help the situation. Hot and humid combined with claustrophobia. Yeah. Fun times…

BUT, I can’t stay in all day. I should go out. See things. Do things. It IS the weekend after all. And the hotel room only has so much to do. Mainly TV, internet, or sleep. All of which sounds great but…yeah…

Yesterday I got back late and went to dinner around 7:30 and by 8:30 I was back. I did some work, watched some TV, and went to bed. This morning I was up at 5:45 to do some more work stuff and make some phone calls back to the office. It’s now about 7:15 so thinking of watching some dumb morning TV and planning out the day.

As tomorrow I will be helping my parents buy a laptop and such and my whole day will be taken up so today is the only free day I have. What will I be doing on my one free day? Hmmmm.

First off, I think I’m going to take a trip to the Meguro Parasitological Museum. Yes. A parasite museum! The only one in the world! It’s a small place. Not that many things but it’s unique. It’s like going to go see the largest ball of yarn. But instead it’ll be a gigantic tape worm. Fun! No? Well…it’s something to do. Actually the main thing I am interested in going to is the gift shop :)

Then probably a quick trip to Akihabara to check out any new geek crap out there and to see if I can get some very very specific things for certain people.

Then either I’ll be too tired and I come back here or I head out to Shibuya to the extremely crowded scramble crosswalk to hit up 2 stores there for a few other people.

Fun times….

It’s already pretty damn hot out there. It’s now 7:40 (phone call and such) and I can see lots of women walking around with parasols. If only it was socially acceptable for men to use those too! Dammit.

Worse yet, no one wears sunglasses here! I don’t understand why. Especially in a suit. It’s just not done. By anyone. Well…except the yakuza (japanese mafia). They wear sunglasses and suits. It’s a cultural thing. No one really knows why other than that its just not done. But this is the weekend dammit. No suit. So I’ll certainly be wearing sunglasses today.

Anyway, if all goes well, there may be a pic of a tapeworm on here soon :) I know you’re all excited!

This post came about from a reponse to a post by a friend on a different blog. Every once in a while in Japan I will hear a word and have no frickin’ clue what they’re saying. Sometimes it’s due to the fact that they are using vocabulary that I just don’t know. But other times it’s because they shortened a different term.

Let me explain.

The Japanese looooove to shorten words. I’m not sure why. But it’s like it happens naturally by everyone in Japan at the same time. Something new comes along and literally the next day people in the media and such would have already shortened the word and everyone knows what the heck they’re talking about. It’s….weird… And it seems to typically be foreign words too. It could just be that those words are just either too long to say or is not as easy to say so they shorten it.

In the US, there are words like this too. Like “net” for “internet” and “fridge” for “refrigerator”. But it’s nothing like in Japan.

Here are some of the ones off the top of my list. You may see why sometimes I have no clue what they’re saying. Oh, and many times it’s based on the Japanese pronounciation of the word so in that case I’ll try to explain. Some are old. Some are very new. All are just….unique… :)

PC or Personal Computer = “Pasocon”

FC or Family Computer (people usually say this is the Nintendo but really it’s like Xerox…it’s all consoles) = “Famicon”

Gundam Plastic Model = “Gunpura” (plastic is pronounced “purasutikku”)

Radio Controlled Toy = “Rajikon”

McDonalds = “Makku” (basically “mac”)

Los Angeles = “Losu”

Digital Camera = “Dejikame”

Convenience Store = “Combini”

Even video games get the treatment…

Everyone knows Pocket Monsters = “Pokemon”

A Final Fantasy Fan = “Faifan”

Monster Hunter = “Monhan”

Super Smash Brothers = “Sumabura” (brothers is pronounced “burazaazu”)

Dragon Quest = “Dorakue”

Play Station = “Puresute”

Game Center (basically an arcade) = “Ge-sen”

So far so good…. But THESE totally confused the hell out of me when I first heard them… Oddly now some of these are part of my daily language…

Response to an e-mail or newsgroup post = “Resu”

The thread in an e-mail or newsgroup = “Sure”

A text message friend = “Merutomo” (mail is “meeru” with a long “e” sound like “pen” and friend is “tomodachi”)

Starbucks = “Sutaba” (when I heard “I will wait for you by the sutaba” I figured it was some new store or restauarant….)

So to finish it off…see if you guys can guess who/what/where these are :)

“Burapi”

“Haripo”

“Conchi” (can also be spelled “conti”)

“Akiba” (this is hard…unless you’re a geek…and you know where all the cool geeky stuff comes from in Japan)

There are obviously TONS more. But yeah…you get the point. “I went to Sutaba and then stopped by a Mac on the way to the Ge-sen where I won a Ganpura but got bored so I went home to my Puresute to play Monhan” Eeeeeeeeeesh…..

But anyway, good luck!!!

I have never ever had the…uh…pleasure to fly Spirit Airlines. But apparently it’s far from being the best amongst the discount airlines. Some recent layoffs and such. Overall…not good news.

Well…it seems like the problems are starting all the way from the top from the CEO. And why do we know this? Because, once again, someone (that would be the CEO) hit the “Reply to All” button. I assume by accident….

According to the blog alexrudloff.com a couple had a very bad experience on Spirit Airlines and wrote a long complaint. The gist was:

“On multiple occasions, we observed your employees talking rudely to customers and just in general, exhibiting extremely poor customer service skills. My husband and I have flown other discount air carriers before and have never had the kind of problems we experienced with Spirit.”

Now…this is not the worst thing that has ever happened to passengers on a plane, discount or otherwise. And this would could have simply stayed within the company without any bad press at all….but then the CEO made a really dumb ass mistake…he hit “Reply to All”….

Here’s the CEO’s response…

“Please respond, Pasquale, but we owe him nothing as far as I’m concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.”

Nice eh?

Don’t get me wrong. Many people in his position would probably think the same way. Hell…I’ve had similar thoughts at times during my job too. But first off, when in a leadership position, this is NOT the attitude you want to be projecting to your employees. Keep it in your head for godsakes. And secondly…the fact that he doesn’t care….yeah….I don’t see Spirit Airlines lasting too long. Granted he probably sees 100′s of these a day. But then again, you gotta wonder…WHY he’s seeing 100′s a day if he really is.

Anyway, I think this just proves that companies should just hide the “Reply to All” button for everyone. If someone really wants to reply to all, they can cut and paste the addresses in themselves.

(Of course I say this now…but if they ever did that I’d be annoyed…)

Just caught my eye since I do tend to travel a lot. But thankfully not through Spirit!!!

Another long day at the office today. Did some shopping on the way home. Ate a quick dinner at the mall’s food court. Took a 1.5 hour break and now work e-mail is starting up. No rest really…. Ah well.

But that’s not the point of this post. I thought today I’d tell you readers about a little known story concerning a pretty common candy that most people in the US probably don’t know about. Actually I told this to a friend today and I thought it’ll make a good post :)

In Japan, many companies from outside including Nestle tried to break into the market dominated by Pocky (^_^). Turns out though, most American style choclate treats are far far FAR too sweet for the standard Japanese tastes. Even our Meiji Almond Chocolates are sweet but not THAT sweet. One of the candies that had a hard time here in Japan was Kit Kat. It’s been here for years and years but it never gained a big following.

This all changed though when someone, a marketing genius really, realized that the Japanese pronounciation for Kit Kat – “Kitto Katto” – sounds similar to “Kitto Katsu” or “Hopefully Win” (but in this case “kitto” is more than hopeful but more like a “most likely”). This person then marketed Kit Kat bars during the juken season in Japan where kids go crazy studying for tests to get into HS and College as a good luck gift that parents and such can give to the kids.

This worked like a champ. Since then Kit Kat realized that, by doing “limited edition” version of their candy, their sales can stay on the up and up.

Since then, during Valentines they will come out with special valentines edition packaging for their dark chocolate bars (here the girls give the boys chocolate and the boys are supposed to like things bitter), during cherry blossom season they also change the packaging and do a cherry flavor and such. During the winter you see limited edition white Kit Kats. These are NOT the white chocolate ones you can find the US but they are actually milk flavored and it promotes the dairy industry in Hokkaido. In the summer time most recently they have come out wiith melon Kit Kats and kiwi Kit Kats. They have also in the past come out with green tea, apple, and other different flavors. All limited edition so people will flock to buy them and the convenience stores will keep them in special displays out front by the registers. It’s a great marketing thing.

Other candies have tried but they have never matched Kit Kat in their ability to churn out different flavors. Oh, and the packaging is different too since the Kit Kats are actually in a cardboard box and inside there are 4 sticks like the US but they are wrapped 2 at a time. Kinda neat.

So…the newest one that has come out? Orange Chocolate. It’s yummy. Just came out today, it’s Italian blood orange mixed with dark chocolate. Yuuuuuuuuuummy.

I’m going to buy as many of these as I can. (^_^)

So there you go. A small peek into Japanese marketing!