New Year at Roppongi

My December 31st had me lounging around at home with Mori for most of the daytime. I hooked up the PS3 to the common room's 3D television, and it was nice to just kick back and relax in the spacious sun-filled room. Julian was out working, picking up dog shit or whatever, so the day was pretty quiet and otherwise uneventful until he arrived home and we kicked off our New Year's Eve celebrating. Mori, who works at events throughout town, couldn't join us for the night.

You can see Tokyo Tower in the back!

We met up with two of Julian's friends, Kaz and Yasu, in Roppongi.
Most adult Japanese people tend to avoid this part of town. It's known for its concentration of foreign embassies, and therefore, of young gaijins who just want to go clubbing all night every night. The streets are bustling with girls who want to hook up with tall white guys. There's no shortage of those in Montreal (both the former and the latter,) so I can't say I'm too fond of Roppongi in general, but this is where things were mostly happening in Tokyo on New Year's Eve, so this is where we went.
You can see Tokyo Tower from here! It's a giant rip-off of the Eiffel Tower, serving as a broadcast antenna.

I think this was Yasu's default face for the night.

The cover fees to get into the bars and clubs on New Year's Eve was pretty ridiculous, ranging from 25$ to fuckin' 63$. We went into a bar that charged the cheaper end of those fees, called Motown House, and, to our dismay, it catered mostly to middle-aged south-east Asians, with only a few exceptions here and there. I can not blame Fumi for not coming when I tried to invite her. Well, you get what you pay for. It was fun none-the-less, and we had our countdown here.
Yasu parted with us shortly after, having drank a drop too much.





We then headed out to a karaoke place. Kaz and I tried inviting some girls to join us (Julian being too shy to try!) But we weren't tall or white enough, so that didn't work. Curse you, Roppongi. But we ended up going in anyway. The room was way too big for a group of three, but we had a nice view on Tokyo Tower, so hey, why the hell not.
Aaaaand that about sums up my New Year's!




Oh, and a special thanks to Marianne for contributing the banner up top! Geez, she was the only one. You would've thought I graduated from Economics instead of Illustration & Design. You guys are lazy bastards (but I still love you. Please don't flood the comment box or my facebook wall with excuses!)
Also, a "special" special thanks to Self (not myself,  but the guy named Self) for making me a banner featuring me being sodomized by Godzilla while Nicholas Cage watches. You need help, but I love you too.

Kaz & Yasu

Yesterday night got me acquainted with two of Julian's friends, Kaz and Yasu.

Yasu on the left and Kaz on the right.

Kaz (Kazuyuki) works at an American military base in Yokohama as a firefighter, so his English is quite good. He enjoys metal music. Kaz also is good example of visible Japanese longevity. You'd never guess he's 35 years old.

Yasu (real name unknown) is a friend of Kaz's. He's trying hard to improve his English. As many Japanese do, Yasu loves drinking when he's not working. He's just a fun guy in general.

I Moved! (again)

For the last time in a while, hopefully, I've moved.
 And this new place is quite nice! The guesthouse is located in Okachimachi, in-between Ueno (museum district) and Akihabara (geek district). It's within walking distance to both, which makes me quite happy. Additionally, rent is quite low, since I moved in with Julian, just as I did last time.
 Yeah, I know, our room ain't much to look at right now, and especially not from that angle. But get a load of the common room.

Interior balcony, exterior balcony, piano, and 60-inch 3D television! I think I'll be settling here for a few months, until a few paychecks roll in and I can settle into an actual apartment.
 To top it all off, Mori lives here, too, so that's pretty cool. And in comparison to the prices of the other places, our current rent is approximately 480$, whereas our guesthouse in Minami-Senju was 560$ and New Koyo was 800$. A real steal.

Julian is Sad

This is Julian's sad face.
Julian is paid 10$ an hour to walk dogs and clean a guesthouse. However easy that may seem, all is not perfect beneath the hermetic-looking exterior.
Today, as Julian was doing his daily routine, his canine friend decided to take a dump. And so, holding himself responsible to do what every dog owner (temporary or not) should do, Julian bagged the stool and went on his merry way, leash in hand.
However, my dog shit story ends not here!
For, you see, the dog had defecated in front of someone's lawn!

"But Sean," you may ask, "In front of the lawn? Not on the lawn?"
"Correct!" I would earnestly respond. "On the street in front of the lawn which is in front of the house!"
No big deal, one would assume, especially since Julian picked up the shit. But one would assume wrongly! For, you see, the man who owned that house was watching! And, after said man made a quick inspection of the spot the shit was, and found it not clean enough to his liking, the man furiously dialed the number of Julian's boss, and complained, threatening to call the police if such a thing were to happen again! And the boss came down upon Julian with the fury of a thousand suns.
Long story short, Julian got scolded for not picking shit properly enough. This is why Japan is clean.

Jackpot Dice

Mr Bobby's turn.

Eh, today I was at New Koyo's and the tenants and I got bored together. So we played Jackpot dice.
 The rules to the game are simple; one at a time, each player attempts to roll every number from 1 to 9, using two dice. For example, if you roll 3 and 4, this can count as either 3, 4 or 7. Easy enough, right?
 The players were Mr Bobby, Kimura-san, and myself, playing on behalf of my brother, who watched on the side.
 Each player put in 100Y (1.25$) as an initial ante, and 10Y (0.12$) as an additional bet every time it was their turn.

My Brother Miyamoto laughs at Mr Bobby's poor luck.

I came pretty close to winning the pot, but in the end Kimura-san took the winnings. I apologized to my brother for not having better luck. He didn't hold it against me, but I brought him a doughnut later in the evening anyway.
 I also informed him that I was moving out of the area later in the month.

The conversation went something like this.
Me: "I'll be moving to Ueno by the end of the week."
Brother (laughing): "Oh. You'll be living under [something] probably."
Me: What's that? I didn't understand that word.
Mr Bobby: "He's saying you'll be living under a bridge."
Damn it, have faith in me, brother.

Brief Note: Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to all you folks, from Tokyo. It's not a very celebrated thing here in Japan (although New Year's is,) so I didn't do much asides from eat cake and play video games. In case you were wondering.
I'll be moving into a cheaper, bigger guesthouse closer to the center of Tokyo within the next few days (I know, right? Best of all worlds.) More news on that later.

Night Out at Stella

Julian and I were invited today to go out with Mr Bobby and Kimura-san to a small bar in Asakusa named Stella. Seeing as we never got the chance to really hang out with them despite knowing them for a couple of months, we couldn't pass up on the chance, and so the four of us took bikes from New Koyo and rode out to Asakusa, which isn't too far away from our neighborhood, and a short 10 minute ride in the night air took us straight there.

I was surprised to find the place mostly attracted a younger age group of hip-hop oriented people than I had originally expected by accompanying Mr Bobby and Kimura-san. Stella isn't anywhere close to being as big as Womb or Unit, but it does have a dance floor. 

Alas, tragedy struck that night; the saddest thing perhaps that had happened to me since coming here.

As I was sipping from my Red Bull (in case you were wondering what a non-drinker orders at a bar) while talking to Mr Bobby, the young lady in green (pictured on the right) sat down next to me and tried to engage in conversation!

It went something like this; note that the text in italic is all spoken in Japanese.

Girl in Green: Hey!

Me: Oh hey, good evening.

GiG (smiling): [something something] dancing. [something something something.]

Me: Oh, err, I'm unfortunately Canadian. My Japanese sucks.

GiG (surprised): Oh? Really? You're Canadian?

Me: Yeah. My Japanese is terrible. Do you speak English?

GiG: Nope, not at all...

Me: Ah, that's too bad.

GiG (smiling, gesturing towards the dance floor): [Something something something] there. [Something something] yeah?

Me: Err, yeah! It's fun!

(She gets up and goes to the dance floor.)

I assumed she was asking how I liked it. I'll try not to torture myself by wondering what else she might have meant, but, damn it, I have to learn more Japanese.

Ohohoho. Oh yes.

I had that job interview today (I know it's hard to keep track of them.) It went well.
Exceedingly well, I think.
I've been hired on the spot, with my one month paid training period beginning in the first week of January.

The specifics of the job are the following;
 I am to be a fitness teacher for children ranging from age 0 to 12. All courses are given in English, and are mostly comprised of fun activities in a jungle-gym kind of setting.

For the first month, wage is around 15$ an hour, but should increase to a little over 18$ once I learn the ropes, with good possibilities of further raises in bounds of 1,25$ for each "rank" obtained. I'm very enthused about it already. The best thing is, they can offer me a full-time job. Should I keep the job for 6 months, they can also sponsor my visa so that I may remain in the country for a longer period than my working-holiday visa can offer me.
 Mark my words, folks. If this job is everything it's set out to be, I'll be moving into an apartment by the middle of Winter, and own a television wider than I am tall by the beginning of Spring. There's my objective. Until then, ENTRUST ME WITH THINE CHILDREN.

Kuniaki

 Today I made the acquaintance of Mori Kuniaki, who introduced me to Monster Hunter, one of Japan's favorite games of the generation.
 He's a pretty fluent English speaker (in my opinion but not in his) and is a great example of a Japanese soul in general; polite, agreeable, and a peaceful guy all in all.

 "Oh! A turtle!" I said while playing Monster Hunter. "Maybe I can kick it!"
 "NO! Don't even try!!" Mori retorted, but it was too late. I attempted to kick the virtual turtle (but failed.)

 Good times.

Let's Get Something Going!

I have your attention now, right?

Hey people! Notably you fellow Illustration & Design graduates. I know it's Christmas Break for a lot of you, so I thought I could get some kind of art-off going. Here's the dealio;

Does anyone want to design a banner for this blog?


There'll be no winners or losers. I'll rotate the banners every week.
The rules are simple:
 - It has to say "Sean the Alien" on it, somewhere.
 - It has to relate in some way. That doesn't mean I have to be on it. It could. Or it could be something to do with Japan, or an alien, or whatever. Nothing totally unrelated like a picture of Nicholas Cage or some shit.
 - It can't be too nutty. And by that, I mean, nothing offensive. Like, no drawings of me being sodomized by Godzilla or anything like that.

That's about it. Put a little effort in it, please!

THERE WILL BE PRIZES for those of you who send a banner in before New Years. Like, I will literally send you something cool (but inexpensive) from Japan. And it will be different for each of you. Isn't that exciting?  You don't know what you'll get.
 Regardless of if you send it before New Years or not, I will be displaying all banners though.

 Ready, Steady, Go!

Anticlimatic

This picture is unrelated.

As most of you know, I had an interview today.

 Ah, yeah. It kind of didn't happen. I got there 20 minutes early and looked around for 50 minutes. I couldn't find the office.
 But wait! It's not as bad as it sounds (and neither am I as dumb as I sound!) It was a group interview and I had the option of going either today, tomorrow, or next Tuesday. What bothers me more is that even after having looked around for 50 minutes, I couldn't find the place! I was given a map!


 "But durr hurr Sean, why didn't you just memorize the address," you say. Well that's because Tokyo has no functional address system. I kid you not. No one knows the addresses of anything, nor do they give addresses. I wasn't given an address. Just a map of the location. I was expecting some kind of sign or something.

 All in all, I spent an hour shaving myself clean and dressing up and all that jazz, took a 40 minute train across Tokyo for 5$, looked around for fifty minutes, gave up, sat myself down in a KFC, ate, and took the train back for another 5$. And I have to do it again tomorrow. What a drag.

On a side note, I'm supposed to get called within the week for details regarding a different interview for a different job. This one involves teaching fitness and arts and crafts to children between 2 and 12, for 19$ to 55$ an hour (kind of a wide gap, I know. I'm curious about that too.) More on that soon.

It Gets Lonely

 This morning Clement left Tokyo to go back to his hometown of Lyon. Which is too bad, really, since there were still lots of things we had planned to do. But we ran out of time and that's that, I guess.

A Lot of Small, Unrelated Things

First off, here's a Latvian joke I found on the internet.

Three men are in ship. One Latvian, one Russian, one Lithuanian. Lithuanian take out one bottle wodka. Russian kill Lithuanian, then drink wodka. Then Latvian wait until Russian drink self to sleep, then kill. Is end.
In more serious news, I'd like to let everyone know that Kris got home safely after finally receiving money. He's in his hometown of Riga digging for potatoes or whatever Latvians do in order not to starve in their tiny frozen country. What a shame, too; we didn't have the chance to go for a last drink.

Yeah I know, it's dark. I didn't take other pics.

That aside, I also went to a nice club yesterday named Unit, in Ebisu. I gotta say, though I enjoyed Womb, I took an even greater liking to Unit, simply because there were less foreigners. Most people who know me know that I don't really go clubbing in Montreal. However, I think the whole ambiance is totally different in Japanese clubs. In a way, it feels less like a jubilant mass of horny youths trying to rub on one another and more like self-respecting people just dancing to the sound of a music they all enjoy. In retrospect, Clement and Julian and I left late at night and danced 'til the morning. Uhh, not together, though.

Last but not least, as some of you may already know, I have an interview tomorrow for a job as an English Teacher for Children. This is serious stuff. The job pays 35$ an hour. If I can pull off a job like that, I'll be able to stay in Japan pretty much indefinitely, which would be an amazing thing in and of itself, let alone the incredible amount of extra money. Wish me luck!

Beautiful Kamakura

Yesterday, Clement and I took a small sight-seeing trip by train to Kamakura, a town at the edge of the sea. With the 16o centigrade and the cloudless sunny skies, it was hard to believe we were in mid-December. And, man, let me tell you about what a beautiful place Kamakura is.
Located one hour and a half away from Tokyo (by train), Kamakura could be considered somewhat of a suburban town, a short distance away from the huge skyscrapers of Yokohama. The place draws a lot of tourists from within and without of the country, due to its great cultural heritage. Walking through the tiny streets, you're likely to come across a lot of trinket stores and food stands, offering a variety of local goods. Just as most of the places I've been so far, the town has a number of nice temples and shrines like the one pictured here.

It's a butterfly kick!

Like I said, the town is also very coastal, and looks over the Pacific Ocean. Even at this time of the year, there was a pretty high number of surfers. The water did seem kind of cold to me, though, but we took some time here to do a nice little photoshoot, which I couldn't pass up. I was a little rusty, Clement still managed to snag some great shots.

And of course, last but not least, and one of the most famously visited spots in the area, is the Daibutsu. It's a huge 13 meter tall Buddha statue, cast in bronze if I recall. It is considered a national treasure and is quite impressive to behold. Some seven centuries ago, it used to be indoors, but heavy storms wrecked the building in which the Daibutsu was sitting, leaving him to sit outside to the naked sky. Definitely a sight not to miss.

The Gishi-sai Parade

Oh snap, here come the samurai.

Today was the Gishi-sai Parade at Sengaku-ji. You may recall that I had briefly visited the graves of the 47 Ronin here before.
The Gishi-sai parade relates to the story of the 47 Ronin (which you can read in the linked article.) It celebrates the day the band of samurai brought the head of their mortal enemy to their master's grave, before committing suicide themselves. Today, unlike the last time I was here, the temple grounds was buzzing with activity including traditional open-air cooking and small fare games. A lot of people were assembled to pay their respects to the samurai, who symbolize undying loyalty to a cause.

Oh, he knows he's a badass.

However, the main event of the parade is the arrival of a band of 47 men, dressed as the Ronin, who bring to the grave the "head" of their enemy. We attempted to follow them to the grave site, but this proved impossible due to the sheer number of people swarming the already cramped fair grounds. Still, it was neat to see and hear them coming with the sounds of the beating drums.

Brief Note: Things are Looking Up

I recently exchanged e-mails with an American girl living in Japan, who said she'd recommend me at a language cafe! Plus, I have an interview in two Saturdays from now. These are part-time jobs with a very limited amount of hours per week, but hey, at least it's something.

Interesting Tidbits: Minding Your Manners

I had a delightful evening yesterday with the lovely Fumi (man, she knows how to dress!) We went to a more traditional type of Japanese restaurant, where we were showed to a mostly closed room, atypical of western dining facilities.
 In a brief moment of forgetfulness, I almost poured my own sake, but corrected myself in time. I put down the bottle, and Fumi gently picked it up and poured for me.
 When in Rome, abide by Rome's rules!
 Let's talk about standard etiquette in Japan.

1: Don't Pour Your Own Glass
Self-explanatory, right? You may only pour for someone other than yourself. Though I guess people forget to fill others as the night goes on. But I think, if your glass is empty, the best way to get around is to just pour for the others in hopes that they notice you're empty. It's simple enough.
2: Don't Stick Your Chopsticks Into Your Food
...Unless you're using them, in which case you obviously have to put 'em in there to pick something up. What I'm referring to is if you want to put your chopsticks down for any reason (going to the washroom or whatnot.) The correct way is to lay them down horizontally across your bowl. And for that matter...
3: Unless You're Eating, Use the Other End of Your Chopsticks
Shit, I might have forgotten about this one yesterday evening. If you're gonna pick up food from a common plate at the center of the table, use the end of the chopsticks that haven't been in your mouth. I don't know how seriously this is applied. Yikes.
4: No Shoes on the Tatami
Hard to miss this, seeing as you'll often see everyone's shoes neatly put into a corner. The underside of your shoes is considered very dirty, and you should never walk into someone's house (or a bathhouse, or a traditional inn) with your shoes on.
5: Don't Blow Your Nose in Public
It's considered most distasteful. I needn't explain too much, I think.
6: Bowing
Though you'll often be forgiven if you're foreigner, it's usually a good idea to pay attention to the number of times someone bows to you, as well as the depth of the bow, and reciprocate. It's kind of the equivalent of shaking hands, here.

And that's about the gist of it. There are other smaller things to keep in mind, (try not to talk to someone with arms crossed or in your pockets, try not to eat or drink while walking, and probably a bunch of other things I don't even know about) but you'll generally be forgiven if you're clearly a Gaijin (outsider.) More on this in my upcoming article about Gaijin Privileges.

I Would Need a Tennis Racket for This

 Baseball's big in Japan. Like, USA big. As a matter of fact, several American baseball league players hail from the Rising Sun. This includes (but is not limited to) Daisuke Matsuzaka, a well-known pitcher recognized for his gyro-ball technique, where the ball spins in a fashion similar to that of a bullet. What a baller, eh? No pun intended, I swear.
 Scattered across Tokyo are indoor batting cages. These are similar to driving ranges for golfers. I'm pretty sure there are a few of these in the US. If you manage to hit a tiny little target with the ball a ridiculous number of times (like, 20 to 30) you win a prize. To my knowledge, 30 home-runs has happened once in the entire history of the batting cage Clement and I went to yesterday. The prize was a Nintendo DS, for those of you who wonder. I cannot fathom how this was accomplished. I myself can barely hit the ball without it being a foul. But batting cages are fun! With friends, of course. Definitely a typical Japanese hang-out thing.

Oh, here's something else typically Japanese; Kaiten-zushi, aka sushi-go-around. Delicious and affordable! You just pick up whatever the hell you want, as it goes around on a conveyor belt. It's like a buffet, except you don't have to get up from your god damn seat. Amaaaaaazing.
 Also, every five plates you eat, you get to play a mini-game on a screen beside your table! If you win, you get a toy! I won and gave mine to a kid on a neighboring table.

The Design Festa Gallery

Yesterday I took a stroll around downtown with Clement, who showed me an art gallery exposing the work of the young amateur artists who regularly attend the Design Festa convention.
 Design Festa is the largest event of its kind in the world. It occurs twice a year in Tokyo. I passed on the chance of attending in November, but just visiting the gallery itself was quite nice. Each artist has his or her own artistic identity permeating from their own work, which is pretty great. The exhibition changes almost every week, and it's also quite cheap to put up one's own artwork in the gallery. I might consider it once some money starts coming in.

A quaint little piece. The photo doesn't do it much justice, I'm afraid.

A (Short) Roadtrip!

Clement is way too primed for 6 in the morning.

An alarm rings at 4 in the morning. I bury my head in pillows. Julian asks me if I'm ready to go. I sit up and feel my brain rattling inside my head.
 Today Julian and I met Clement and Takashi in front of the New Koyo's at 4:30 AM. We stuffed our backpacks into Takashi's car and headed out towards the countryside, our destination being a bathhouse near the mountain range.

 Approximately two hours west of Tokyo is a town in the area named Kofu, near the foot of the Minami Alps. Here, we went into a bathhouse at 6:30 in the morning, hoping to catch the sunrise as we relaxed in an outdoor bath. Onsen, as they're called here, are somewhat popular outside of the cities, and many of them offer panoramic views. Though the water may seem scalding hot at first, once you sit down and relax you can feel every muscle in your body easing up. Also, there weren't any old people, so I was spared the horror of turning into stone at the sight of an old guy's junk. I didn't take any pictures while sitting in the bath, because everyone's ass naked.
Not that you can see anyone's dongs when they're sitting in the water and with all the steam everywhere, but I thought I'd spare them the awkwardness. At any rate, we didn't see the sunset from behind the mountains and with all the clouds and stuff. Sometimes you can actually see Mt Fuji, the towering volcano, from here, but we had no such luck. Regardless, the bath felt amazing.

If this picture were anymore overexposed,
I'd be seizing.

The onsen was only a short drive away from one of the mountain paths, so we also decided on a small hike along one of the trails. This spot was a popular one because it was the site of a Buddhist Monk's pilgrimage some few centuries back. Though we didn't climb the whole trail, what little we did see was quite nice.
 A few stores were also open along the road, selling semi-precious gems and stone carvings of Buddhist symbols. Also, ice cream. We stopped for ice cream.
 After a little bit of sight-seeing, stopping at one of the temples and the site of a feudal era castle (where nothing but a wall still stood) we decided to call it a day and headed back to Tokyo.

Homoyaro!

Though I've been acquainted with Takashi for a while now, I've only lately begun hanging out with him, so here I may as well introduce you to him.
 Takashi (whom we also refer to as Homoyaro [yaro = bastard], Pédéyaro, Schwulyaro, Faggotyaro, Fiffeyaro and Tapetteyaro) is one of the three receptionists and staff members of our former hotel, New Koyo. He's straight, despite all the nicknames.

Milestone: Month 1

And so it's been a little more than one month since I've been in Tokyo (five weeks, to be precise.) For the sake of the people who want to join into the reading of what I've been up to here in Japan (like, the two of you), here's a summary. I'll be posting one of these every once in a while. Also, for your entertainment, it's all in synopsis form. Like you're reading a novel or something.

Month 1: Summary


Status:


Job: Unemployed and looking
Salary: Jack shit
Financial status: O.K.


Location:

City: Tokyo
Ward: Taito-ku
Train station: Minami-senju
Residing in: Aizuya Inn


Cast of Characters:


Major Characters:
Jon of Latvia
Julian "Shank" Einschenk of Germany
Clement Sanchez of France

Minor Characters:
Fumi, the ex-hostess
Miyamoto "Onii-san"

Retired Characters:
Anton "Foxboy" Jermaine of England
Rodrigue Zapha of France


Top Five Highlights:
In no particular order:

Asakusa
Edo-Tokyo Museum
Rikugien Garden
Being on Television
Touring a Sex Shop


Still to Come:

- A list of Gaijin Privileges
- The Market of Thieves
- Traditional Japanese Bathhouse
- The City from Above
- Tsukiji Fish Auctions

Into the Womb

I obviously didn't take this picture.

Last night took me to Shibuya, one of the nightlife hotspots in Tokyo. Having been invited to a drum & bass show by Clement, I decided to partake in a night of dance and music. And so we ventured into Womb, a nightclub that has recently been voted one of the best in the world.
 The music was amazing; it should come as no surprise that Womb is equipped awesomely. So, too, did the DJ lineup keep things moving well throughout the night. We walked in at midnight and out at 5:30 in the morning, dancing non-stop in-between.

In other news, I have moved into Aizuya Inn guesthouse with Julian as my roommate. Our new room is four times the size of my old one, and is furnished with television and wifi, just like the old one in New Koyo. With this, my living expenses are down 20% for as long as I'm here - so we win both ways! It is still located in the same area, a short three minutes walk away from New Koyo.
 To the right is a picture of our room. It ain't much to look at, but if I had tried to take a similar pic in the old room, you'd have likely seen nothing but a wall.

We're dorks (together)

Today, Julian, Devin, Clement and I decided to go walk around in Shinjuku and go wherever the wind would take us. Thus, we strolled into Shinjuku-goen park. Though the wind is getting chillier with every passing week, Tokyo's parks are particularly nice at this time of the year, since the leaves have mostly turned but have not yet fallen. The great variety of trees in this area make it so that the colors are quite diverse. With so much city around us, it's kinda easy to forget that Japan is kind of a tropical island, and houses an expansive flora.


Having visited the park, we then ventured downtown to purchase prepaid cellphones. I have to give credit to Clement where it's due, since we wouldn't have been able to figure it all out without his knowledge of the language. Unfortunately, it took shamefully long for them to prepare the phone for us (Julian bought one too), so we decided to kill some time at an arcade.

I told him to pose like this.

 Now, arcades in Tokyo aren't like the measly ones back home. Here, they're megalithic spires with up to five floors, packed with a decent amount of people at any time of the day. We walked around the floors with all the cool games and shit, and were quite frankly intimidated. I was watching a girl play, and decided to opt out of playing with her because she would kick my ass and wipe the floor with me. Then I watched a child play, and decided the same thing. I'm pretty sure if there was a dog in there it'd have also kicked my ass. So instead we went back to the first floor and played the UFO catcher games. I spent 200Y (3$) before quitting. Julian spent 8$. Devin spent 28$.
Julian won this weird fucking thing. It's an action-figure doll with airplane propellers for legs. I won't even comment on that, but I will say it's pretty Japanese, alright.




So after one hour, we headed back to the cellphone place to see if our orders were ready. They weren't. So we waited another 20 minutes so that the crab-people could finish and give us our purchase, by the end of which they did. It turns out what took so long was charging the phone. Why this was so important, I don't know. My phone comes with useless features such as a daily fortune and, if I understood corectly, an earthquake-warning app, which is kind of weird, seeing as I'm pretty sure I'd feel it if there was an earthquake that posed any danger to me. Of course, I didn't pay anything extra for any of that shit.

 All in all, my phone cost me 30$, plus 30$ for two months of unlimited received calls and text messaging. It's a good deal, I think, and one that's been recommended to me many times.

I'm seeing a trend

Today I was introduced by Julian to Clement, a frenchman who's been in Japan for a full year! His Japanese is near-flawless and he's been able to share a few tips with me.

So has anyone else noticed that most of my foreigner friends are dudes with short hair, beards, and glasses? Sheesh, and some people say the asians are the ones who look alike. I'm afraid people will get confused who's who if I don't state who they are near the pictures. You can compare people's faces here.

Interesting Tidbits: Sex and the City

EDIT: I've decided to remove offensive pictures from this post. Sorry. 
Devin Wood is in Tokyo as of last night, and it's been a blur of tourism, with a good amount of laughs in between. We spent most of our day in Akihabara, which I've already visited, and you can read about here. But we've also visited some of the raunchier spots in the area, and I'm sure a couple of you readers will get a few kicks from this. For your entertainment (and, I won't lie, ours as well,) here's a look into an adult store in Japan, hosted by Piercer Extaordinaire, Devin Wood, and Yours Truly.

   Let's put the facts forward: Japan is obsessed with innocence. Whereas the western image of the ideal woman is the busty babe with luscious lips and that stereotypical Bond-Girl roguish charm, it's quite different here. In Japan, she is portrayed as being naive and pure. It should come as no surprise that the official age of consent is 13 (though state laws can thankfully override federal laws, effectively making it 17 in Tokyo.)

Sexuality is quite repressed here. All pornographic material is censored, and prostitution is illegal (though this gets circumvented commonly.) However, as per usual, the Japanese people are quite effective at finding creative solutions to everything, no matter how bizarre said solution would be, and so it's easy to find weird perversions. To the right, Devin demonstrates how one can procure used women's underwear from a vending machine! You also get a picture of the woman who selflessly donated her precious knickers.
 I'm being sarcastic. It's funny, but quite sad. No worries, everyone, he's merely getting this to give as a souvenir gift for a friend. I hope they inspect his luggage at the airport and find it and share a giggle.

I hope this has been enjoyable.
Here's a picture of me doing my famous fighter-jet pose in front of a panda mascot guy. World-class, I know.

Tori-no-ichi

Those hanging things are the lucky charms.

The other night, Julian and I went into the Tori-no-ichi fare in Asakusa. The event usually happens twice on the month of November, but this year it happened three times. Yesterday was the third.
 Basically, during the fare a bunch of booths put colorful good luck tokens on display, allowing for people to purchase them for their homes. At the entrance to the fare, people bring the ones from last year, and they are gathered and burned.
The fare opens right smack on midnight and stretches on for the whole day. You wouldn't think there would be people there at 1 in the morning, but the attendance is enormous. You can barely walk because of the sheer number of people.

Julian emerges from a sea of people.

The luck charms themselves come in many different shapes and sizes, but all of them are very cluttered and colorful. They usually feature traditional folkloric things such as the maneki-neko cats, but some of them are much more contemporary and have instantly recognizable icons such as Hello Kitty. They're also quite expensive, making it a small wonder that there are so many people who buy them every year. Julian bought a small one (three inches large) for the equivalent of 20$, making me wonder at the price of the standard ones, which are around a foot wide and high.
I wish I could have taken better pictures, but the gigantic crowd made such a thing impossible. Woe is me.

Fumi

Today I got acquainted with Fumi, ex-hostess and avid traveler. For those of you who don't know what a hostess is, the idea is pretty simple. You go to a special bar where you pay one of the girls, the hostesses in question, to have a few drinks and talk to you. Basically, you're hiring someone to give you blue balls. For expensive.
 It was a fun cultural exchange and I feel like I've learned a lot more than I can remember right now. She showed me to a good takoyaki place and we sang a few songs at a karaoke (my first karaoke session in Japan!) The song selection was good and so was the company, making for a very enjoyable evening.

Jyu Go

I was at a McDonald's just now, trying to cash in on a sweet deal. Five McNuggets for 1,25$. So I went up to the cash, and asked for "Jyu-go (fifteen) McNuggets," to which the guy replied.
"Jyu go?"

"Yes," I confirmed.
(In Japanese) "That will be 1000yen."

To this I was puzzled, but I figured the deal was over. I made no fuss and gave him 1000 yen.
"For here or to go?"
"For here."
He looks at me like I said something funny. And then I got this.

Because instead of "Jyu-go" - Fifteen pieces, he thought I meant "Jyu go" - Ten Five. As in, ten boxes of five. I now have my lunch and dinner for tomorrow.