What a gwaan inna Tokyo??
ok.. time to sit my busy ass down and tell y'all what's up. no more "Tokyo is crazy" .. it's no fun to read.. i've been here almost 3 weeks now. what have i done so far?
EATING - noodles, rice, weird little pickle-like vegetables, rice, creepy baby squid, poop-like snacks made from pure brown sugar, rice, cold noodles, sushi, string cheese, boiled pumpkin (tastes a lot like potato actually, only sweeter), LOTS OF MEAT, indian food, spaghetti, some kind of naan-bread with tacos on top, miso soup of course, and some chicken.
DRINKING - beer, sport drinks like "Pocari Sweat", beer, sake, beer and "shochu" some kind of distilled spirit that originally was used as a disinfectant.. and some more beer. here's a poster on a drink vending machine.. that's one thirsty woman.. not sure Diet Coke will do though..
RIDING TRAINS - i think it's what i've spent the most time doing.. it's amazing how much time is spent on trains! perhaps you've heard about the complex train network of tokyo.. well it really is complex. there are trains everywhere.. and while the majority of the lines have end-stations, the rail track itself doesn't seem to stop, it just continues to the next city! anyway, i feel proud to be able to take a train on my own, navigating the different lines and different types of trains (some are "local" and stop at every stayion, some are "express" and only stop at certain stations..) it can be quite hard when you gotta act quickly and all you see is Japanese characters.. but everytime i go out, i learn something new!
PLAYED VIDEO GAMES - not so much actually... i've seen a lot of people (of all ages) play Nintendo DS and DS Lite and a kid here and there carrying a PSP. i played an arcade game with a friend, where we each had a camera, and were supposed to take pictures of things on the screen.. the better the photo, the higher your score will be, etc. so it's about reflexes and accuracy i guess. first, there was a film sequence of a football player volley-kicking the ball, and the aim was to photograph the exact moment he touched the ball. next task was taking photos of a comet flying across a night sky, etc. next was......... a bit more controversial.... there were 6 girls lined up on the screen (actually i think it was dolls, but quite life-like anyway) and we were supposed to catch the moment their short skirts flew up, exposing their panties!! so if you want to practice your upskirt photo skills, here's a place for you to practice!
SEEN GUYS READ DIRTY MAGS ON THE TRAIN - yes! i've seen it 5-6 times already! and it doesn't matter what time of the day it is, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, anytime! yesterday i saw a guy with a "real" porno mag (as opposed to manga) on the 19 o'clock train, doesn't matter if he's sitting/standing among women, just no shame at all.. they seem to carefully READ it too! as if the story was deeply involving.. i just don't get it. if you read porn in public, what if you get a boner? and what if you don't? then it's just bad porn anyway right? so i find this combination of going to work with a magazine full of nude women, cartoons or otherwise, quite useless.. BUT i've heard from some Japanese friends that it is in fact in those crowded places, like trains and streets, that a lot of Japanese people feel like they have the most privacy.... anyway: porn is for wanking off, so this behaviour is weird and must stop!
SEEN A LOT OF WEIRD CLOTHES - yeah you know.. usually girls, but also guys.. here in Tokyo you can see thousands of strange combinations. there's a special kind of style i see a lot.. especially in Shibuya. girls with extreme suntans, most likely fake, bleach-blond hair or sort of yellow/golden brown hair, extremely heavy makeup, short skirts, high heels or flipflops, always a phone somewhere.. someone said they're called "yamamba"? not sure though.. i read in Lonely Planet that there's a word for young mothers "yan mama".. maybe somewhere there was a misunderstanding.. i dunno.. anyway they look like lions i think, with those golden manes, so from now on i'll refer to them as lions. some day i'll try to talk to them.. people say they are very dirty and stink, but they say that about foreigners too so i guess i can blend in hehe (if you want to read about these lion-girls, check this dude's website out)
BEEN DISCRIMINATED - not so much.. as a foreigner in Japan, you FEEL like an outsider in more than one way. it's a first for me. i guess it's a bit like when i was in Singapore, but there everyone could speak English etc. while in Japan, you get that feeling that you're in a different country where you can't just do things they way you're used to, but you have to adapt a bit. but last week a funny/sad thing happened to me. i was going to a gym, a few stations away. it's terribly hot here in Japan, and humid, so i went there wearing sweat pants and a wifebeater. who wouldn't, right? what i wore may or may not be relevant. anyway, i get on the train, and look for a seat. i see an empty seat next to a lady in her 50's or 60's. i sit down.. put my bag in my lap. three seconds later, she stands up and goes to the other side of the car! it was OBVIOUS that she left because of me.. but if it was because i'm a foreigner, my clothes, or my "stench" i guess we'll never know for sure. i was slightly shocked, but mostly amused by it. by the way, since it's important for trains in Japanese cities to be able to carry as many passengers as possible, there aren't many seats. There are just seats along the walls, so everyone sits with their backs against the walls. The Most Wanted Seats are the ones located at the sides, so people try to grab these the first thing they do when stepping into an empty car. The lady was sitting on a seat like that, so when she left i naturally made a move to occupy it. you can't let such a seat be left empty. it always feels like a small victory and i cheer inside everytime i get that seat hehe... so i couldn't help but feeling happy when she fled!
USED HIGH-TECH TOILETS - so far i've only come across one of those ass-washing toilets and that was in a friends place. and now i can actually understand what the text on the control panel means, so no more embarrassing moments. not more than usual at least.
NOTED THAT THINGS ARE SMALL - everything in Japan is smaller than in Europe! REALLY! everything except scooters and mobile phones at least.. the phones are usually of the clamshell model, big fat chunky pieces of plastic.. some of them are really cool, like the NEON or whatever it was called.. it's awesome, but sold out unfortunately. cars are smaller. there are what we call "small cars" here.. but the Japanese have one size smaller even. these cars are really small and have to carry yellow number plates, indicating that they have a very weak construction and will probably be reduced to dust in case of a car accident. they can carry 4-5 pygmy-sized passengers. restaurants and shops are sometimes ridiculously small. i went to a restaurant that had a 1 meter high entrance, so guests had to almost crawl in and out! my toothbrush is small, it's supposed to be normal-sized but looks like childrens' size toothbrushes in Sweden. the toilet above is from a bar in Ginza, it's one of those advanced ones and to get in you need to do the limbo..
SWEATED A LOT - it's tropically hot here... it's something we never feel in Sweden.. it's not so much the temperature, as it is the humidity. this is just like Singapore, if not worse. i hear it gets freaking warm in Turkey for example, but i believe it's dry heat, not very humid. correct me if i'm wrong... anyway i was warned by Japanese before i came, that it's REALLY hot in the summer... i didn't believe it would be this hot though... above 30 degrees and like i said, incredibly humid. it's supposed to get better in September though, and it'll be more like that good summer we just had in Sweden.. very hot, they way i like it, but without the damn humidity. so in September and October i'll still sit in the sun and relax, while you poor lads and lassies in Swedenborg start shopping for winter jackets!
SEEN A LOT OF ENGRISH - i always try to take pictures of strange signs and such, and i put it all here.. so far i haven't seen anything extreme, but just a few laughs here and there.. here's the latest catch:
BEEN ANNOYED BY THE CLUTTEREDNESS OF THINGS - cluttered, look it up if you don't know the meaning, or you can just come to Tokyo and you'll understand. what i hate the most about Sweden is the emptiness. here, i'm at the other extreme. most of the time, there's a complete lack of emptiness. everywhere you go, everywhere you look, you'll see signs, posters, buttons, windows full of stuff in it, text text text and more text, colorful cartoon characters, in real life as well as on TV and on Japanese websites too! in trains, shops, restaurants (ok some restaurants keep things simple), streets of course... people everywhere, messages everywhere, noises EVERYWHERE all the time.. announcements in trains and train stations (where, as i said, you spend a lot of your time). there seems to be loudspeakers everywhere (and hidden cameras too, i'm sure), so even the air is cluttered because of all the noise. my nose isn't very good, so i tend to miss a lot of smells that my friends detect, but i'm probably better off.. so, basically, you risk visual and aural overload moving around in Tokyo, unless you somehow switch off your senses from time to time.. just ignore things on a regular basis. imagine, living like this, what happens to your brain..
Wall of text ¤%&"! nejmen det var nu en riktigt rejäl writeup mr McKudde.. verkar riktigt soft det där..liten letdown angående toaletterna fan, men man kan väl inte få allt :O
haha galet. diggar bruden i cola-reklamen, oh yeah! ja-pa-niiii... ehm iaf. du verkar ha de rätt soft där borta din gamla mandarinskaft.
här börjar det bli kallt, regnigt och allmänt pissigt sverigeväder. som du säger, snart dags att baxa en vinterjacka, jippie. urin. men iaf annars e allt lungt. ta de lungt me dosationen o kika fram oftare på msn (ska också försöka göra det samma)
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20 August, 2006 01:39
