Ashiomachi: The Copper Mine

Top of the morning to you. You may be wondering why I'm standing outside of a forsaken piece of tube on the side of a mountain.
 Yeah, that's tarp on the other end, and some water, food, and sleeping bags inside.
 Let me tell you about my trip to a decaying town five hours out of Tokyo, then.

Four hours out of Tokyo is a town called Ashiomachi. It's not a well-known town. It's a forgotten pit stop between Tokyo and the touristic town of Nikko, very sparsely populated and with few things going for it. The train there goes through mountain and valley and is one wagon long. It's a rinky-dink little thing. From what I gather, Ashiomachi wasn't always so dead. It was once the center of a rather important copper mining operation. But the copper mine, Ashiodozan, closed down over seventy years ago, and the town fell into economical decay. Our destination is that abandoned mining facility.

 Although mining operations have long ceased, the place lives on as somewhat of a museum, but with large sections sealed off the public. We, however, want the whole deal with no restrictions. Under the cover of night, Ken, Aala and I went in through the back, weaving through an underbrush and down the side of a mountain. Arriving there, we set up camp well out of sight - that tube!
 Our morning begins at 5 AM, once security has long gone and hasn't yet come back -- and now the place is all ours.

Decayed industrial buildings, broken shacks. This place has been battered and beaten by the elements. Ashiodozan actually closed down because of environmental hazard. On top of the toxic air within the mines themselves, Winter in this mountainous area is supposedly frigid hell.
 The vegetation, however, is doing its best to take over, and in some parts of the facility, is succeeding. Foxes are heard. We did see some deer around the premises, and animal droppings are found all over the place.

Slipping out of Ashiodozan is remarkably easy in the wee hours of the morning. Right out the front gate we go. But our Ghost Town experience doesn't end here - our next destination is set to the recently abandoned elementary school lying in wait nearby.

Interesting Tidbits: All Kinds of Gaijin

When you're in Japan for a while, you learn a couple of things not only about Japanese people, but also about your fellow Gaijin (outsider). It's occurred to me that there are only so many occupations and motives foreigners tend to have here. Here's how I categorize them. Mentally, that is.
I don't really have pictures that relate to what I have to say on the subject, but bare with me. It's interesting...a little bit.




OCCUPATIONS

There really ain't that many options. I'd say 90% of all Gaijin fall in these three categories, but I'm just pulling that figure out of my ass.

The Tourist
 This is self-explanatory, and most Gaijin you meet will fall into this category, of course. The tourist is usually only going to stay in Japan for a duration of two weeks or so, but some of them do manage to save quite a decent amount of money before coming here, and stretch their stay for the maximum 3 months allowed. 

The Techie
 The techie is one of the two main classes of Gaijin who aren't tourists. Techies are usually men who have some expertise in programming or coding or anything to do with engineering in general. Tech-related jobs often pay well and are accessory to large companies who are more than capable of sponsoring visas. These guys are usually the Gaijin with money.

The Teacher
 The teacher is the second, and most common class of employed Gaijin. Technically, I fit in this category. Teachers are usually people whose only applicable skill in Japan is that of speaking their own native language. As a result, a lot of teachers are unqualified for what they do, but can keep doing it because of the extremely high demand for English within the country. 

MOTIVES

This is the fun part. People don't come to Japan unless they have a rather specific reason to, whether they're a tourist, a techie, or a teacher. It's usually one of these.

The Rabid Geek
 They're out there, and they're numerous. The rabid geek is often obsessed with manga, anime and/or video games (in the case of most men) or Japanese idols (in the case of most women.) They foam at the mouth and vomit their money on any paraphernalia related to their fixation. They stick to their own kind mostly...thankfully.

The Wanderer
 Wanderers come to Japan because they're aware of the enormous amount of historical or social culture that Japan beams. Wanderers are often seasoned travelers. They may be here because they're interested in feudal architecture or samurai or something. It could also be because this country is somewhat of a madhouse when it comes to societal norms.

The Huntsman
 A category dominated almost entirely by men. These guys care little for Japanese culture of any type, and instead stick to the foreigner-dominated streets of Roppongi. They're the loud ones who are often found in the trashiest clubs, and they're in Japan for the sole purpose of bedding Japanese women. It's that simple. 

The Vagrant
 The vagrant may have once been something else, but he or she's been in Japan long enough that the original passion has died out. Instead of returning home, the Vagrant instead works a job either as a techie or a teacher. It could be that the Vagrant got married to a Japanese person, but it's also very likely that the Vagrant can't get a job that pays anywhere near the salary of an English teacher if they went back home.

And that's it in a nutshell. Hmm? Is that denial I hear?

Comiket 84

It was only a matter of time, wasn't it?

For the first time since my arrival in Japan, I found myself at an anime and manga convention. With an estimated 500,000 attendances, Comiket is the largest, most monstrously crowded self-publishing convention of its kind. Being an unapologetic video-gamer and a once big-time anime fan, I couldn't quite pass on this.
Accompanied by Ken and Aala (and two other friends off-camera!) I delve into the heart of geek-dom. Not without secretly enjoying it. See, I'm not much for waiting and watching. It's also fun to just jump in and do something crazy here and there.
Sexy things, cool things, bizarre things, long line-ups, and fat, smelly bastards who wait only for this time of the year to come out from their flats await!
Here we go!

I care only for Solid Snake!

 Comiket is held twice a year outside Tokyo, a half hour or so from where I live myself. Within the spacious grounds of Tokyo Big-Sight, the hoard of otaku (Japanese for geek) can sprawl out in numbers and still leave (a small amount of) walking space allowing people to circulate. The event itself is divided into grounds for well-known published manga and amateur manga, with the rest being fair territory for cosplayers, which is by far the most interesting part of the convention (for me at least!)

 Not to say that the rest isn't interesting. The amateur manga and fan-fiction section of Comiket stretches for over a hundred square meters I'm positive. While I'm sure there was talent to be found, though, a lot of it wasn't too impressive, to me, at least. There's all kinds of obscure wonders and treasures to be found in this pool, though.
Fun fact! A surprising amount of amateur pornographic comics are drawn by women!
 Other fun fact! Attendance of Comiket was predominantly female only until the more recent years, where male attendance has risen.

But the cosplay really takes the cake. Here's the part of the event that appeals to geek and non-geek alike (I think?) There's a little something for everyone here. It's interesting to stop here if you want something sexy to gawk at, or something silly to laugh at, or if you just want to be marveled in general by the effort some people put into the costume they'll only wear once or twice a year. Some of these pieces are months in the making. But sometimes it takes a little less than that to gain the attention of eager geeks from across Tokyo. The amount of skin you'll see from some of these people is also quite remarkable.

Cross-dressers! But of course!

Ken's pet thing.

Identify this anime? I can't. Neither can Aala.

Altogether Comiket was my kind or recipe for a good time.  Since the event is held twice a year, I'm likely to return in Winter, as well, for Comiket 85. Aala wants to dress up as something. I'll allow myself to try to think of something to dress up as, as well, if only to have an excuse for doing flips in public and later find my pictures elsewhere online. It's something to look forward to!

Kamakura Revisited

Last time I went to Kamakura was in mid-December, almost a week removed from Christmas.   I found myself returning there today with Ken. Well, it was essentially the same again. It was actually pretty warm and sunny in December.
 But hey! This time around we got to go off the beaten path. Borrowing side-streets in residential areas, we got to find relatively quiet temples, shrines and the like, and even got a good hike out of it. A side-trip to Kamakura is a cheap affair, and an easy day trip out of Tokyo. Yay, Kamakura!

Obligatory.

And surprisingly enough, I think Kamakura has some of the nicer hiking paths I've been on. It may also be the time of the year, but there were a surprising amount of beautiful butterflies larger than my fist. The woods were teaming with wildlife. I saw squirrels for the first time in the near 10 months I've been in Japan. Shit, there are squirrels here? Had no clue. That aside, the trails themselves had nice little scenic spots cut out of the woods so that one can look down upon the town and the ocean beyond. Altogether it was quite nice.

 Our trip culminated with a visit to the ocean, a short swim, and some pretty decent sushi. Ken got stung by a jellyfish, but he's alright. Yay, Kamakura!

Uncanny Signs 3

Let's see what I've gathered up since last time.  You can check those out by clicking here.

9:  Pee

Location: Shibuya

Category: ???

I'm a total loss when it comes to this one. This is deliberate, right? There's some amount of English on the sign itself. There's just no way the person responsible could have not known that "Pee" is urine. Who the hell wants to drink at a place called Pee?

Really? Seriously? Really?

10: Gosick

Location: Kabukicho, Shinjuku

Category: Engrish

It's a Gothic-themed host club. I'll elaborate about host clubs one day, but this is just an unfortunate mistake. In Japan, the word Gothic is pronounced "Gossiku." They kind of lost that one to the translation, and ended up with a bar called Gosick. There's a nice for everything, but I don't think anyone's willing to pay 10,000 yen to "Go Sick."

11: Don't Drop Your Loved Ones in Front of Trains

Location: Kita-Koshigaya Metro Station

Category: Unnecessary Signalization

It's arguable whether or not this is necessary or not, I think. But come to think of it, someone must have dropped grandma on the tracks like this. I just love the pictures with the DO and DON'T symbols. 

Maybe that would have sufficed on the poster. I can't read so well, but I can only assume that it says something the pictures already obviously show. It'd be nice if there was a caption saying something like DON'T YOU LOVE YOUR GRANDMA? or DON'T KILL YOUR GRANDMA.

12: dickbrick

Location: Koshigaya Laketown

Category: Unfortunate Accidents

Oh come on. Doesn't it look like dickbrick?

Lego dickbrick! This one makes me laugh every time. Bad choice of font, I guess.

13: Appetite

Location: Outside a sex shop in Kabukicho, Shinjuku

Category: Engrish

Oh boy. 

Over dramatic, for one, but these are also characters from a well known pre-schoolers' cartoon.

Of Cicada Swarms

In Japan, in both the countryside and in big cities such as Tokyo, the coming of the deep months of Summer brings with it the almost motor-like grinding of the cicada. So loud that they can blot out the sound of traffic, they suddenly appear in Tokyo in swarms. Not that they don't exist in Canada. They do, but not in such ridiculous amounts, and often only in the countryside. Tokyo also has an enormous raven population though, and I can hardly imagine what the number of cicada would be like without them. They're not pests, though, unless you hold them accountable for sound pollution.

Sometimes I pause if I hear one close enough, and go on little cicada hunts to see if I can spot them. They're generally well camouflaged in bushy areas or high up in trees.
 A quick search in the underbrush, though, yields what you see on the left! They shed their skins during their larval stage, so those are just husks on my head. We literally found that many within thirty seconds.
 So much fun to be had! Do I dare prank someone with these?

Mysterious

 That's actually the name of this restaurant (or 'fooding bar' as the sign has it. "Fooding" is not actually a word.) It's a themed restaurant, just like Christon Cafe and Lock-Up. And the theme here is science-fiction! Or, more precisely, future and space.
 The outside is promising enough; a stony stairway leads down into an iron door, like some kind of moon-base.
 "Neo-Tokyo" food sounds quite curious, so let's delve inside Mysterious.

 And so we venture past bunker-like rock wall corridors and enter this metal-grid and girder area lit by neon blue lights along the floor. The presentation isn't bad, but it doesn't do anything to wow you. The floor light is pretty cool, though.

Their special cocktails are actually pretty nifty, too!

They have one for each planet. I tried the Saturn cocktail, which features elements of pineapple in it, but, to my disappointment, it was pretty watery.

 Maybe it should've been gas! With rocks in it! Poof! Saturn is a giant ball of gas!

 No, in all seriousness it wasn't anything special. It did look nice and colorful like in the picture, though.

 And there were tiny candy stars in it!

 Apparently Mercury wasn't bad, but I didn't get to try it.

But when it comes to looking past style and into substance, Mysterious falls short. The food is quite bland and does nothing to fit the theme. Neo-Tokyo Food, my ass. Neo-Tokyo must have a massive over-population problem if everyone is eating such small portions.

 But hey! The waitresses are kind of sexy, what with the chrome vests and short-shorts and whatnot. My (rather pitiful looking) Big-Bang Steak was flambe'd in front of me, so maybe that's worth a point or two.

 But all in all, it just isn't as good as what I'd come to expect from these places. Throw in a gimmick or something. Anything would work. Your theme is broad enough. The only thing Mysterious here is why the hell is the table charge five bucks. This place gets two Neo-Tokyo Zorglub points out of five.