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Published: June 27th 2006
Man, I must have eaten something funky, cause I feel green. If you end up in a Japanese McDonald’s don’t get the Big Mac with the egg on top or the DBC. Blarg.
It’s pretty much been business as usual around home and campus. I’m constantly reminded of the fact that I have no money and no business going into Tokyo—or pretty much going into any store for that matter. Yesterday Dane and I went into a Fair Trade coffee shop in Harajuku, and ended up paying 630yen apiece ($6.00) for a regular cup of joe. As much as I like fair trade, I don’t six dollars like it. As for Harajuku, it’s quite the interesting place. It is the center of Japanese trend and fashion. Every Sunday is a big deal there as high school and college age kids dress up in the craziest shit you could ever think of. And after that they just sit on this one bridge while people take their pictures. It’s interesting to see all of the clothes, but it’s hard sometimes to deal with all of the dorky foreigners with their HUGE cameras thinking they’re hot shit cause they’re taking pictures of kids
in Japan. Normally I don’t really give other foreigners a second thought. A surprising number of them speak Japanese pretty well and are pretty nice. But the ones in Harajuku seem to be all inane. Cannot deal.
In the past week, a pretty momentous occasion happened. For Dane’s birthday, a few of us made our way into an Irish pub for happy hour. Not only was the draught Guinness FANTASTIC, but we also taught the (Japanese) bartender about Irish Car Bombs. I myself did not partake, as it was 5:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, but that didn’t stop Dane and a few others! Even though I kinda sometimes feel like a tool going into places like that (English speaking restaurants, McD’s) I’m pretty fond of the Irish place.
Speaking of Western bars, it was another abroad student’s birthday this weekend. A group of about 40 went into a place called “The Hub,” an English-style place. It was a lot of fun for me because I brought Ryoko along to meet everyone I see on a daily basis. She was really nervous, but was a trooper for meeting 25 or so new people. I don’t think I got my
“nomihoudai” worth (2500yen for 2 hours all you can drink) since the service was really slow, but nevertheless had a pretty great time.
So I thought of a few things I miss from home, as well as a few things I am/am not going to miss about Japan when I leave.
THINGS I MISS FROM HOME—
My car
The big TV
My bed
Cartoons I can understand
My turntables
Grain Belt Beer and Guinness I can afford
Dryers
WHAT I’LL MISS ABOUT JAPAN—
Chu-Hi and Shouchu
Miniskirts
Tokyo
100yen shops
Takoyaki
Taiko
Making it “Suntory Time”
Matsuris
Akasaka
Engrish
Japan World Cup Soccer Team brand officially licensed meatballs
People who understand my Japanese
WHAT I WON’T MISS ABOUT JAPAN
Roppongi
$7 train tickets to get to Tokyo
$7 train tickets to get back from Tokyo
Screaming children
Screaming schoolgirls
People who stare at me
$6 coffee
Stupid Waitresses/people who don’t understand my Japanese
Earthquakes
Americans that act like idiots (myself included, but only sometimes :P)
That’s about it for now. I have quite a few new pictures up on my zoto site. No new galleries or anything, I’ve been updating to old ones. The newest
updated are at the top, and everything should be dated! Take a looksee:
http://jetsetseattle.zoto.com/galleries
This weekend I’m going up to Kamakura to see the biggest statue of Buddha in the world. There is also a really famous temple around there too. This Friday is Akasaka Hikawa Temple’s Summer purification ceremony. I’m heading out to help prepare and of course to attend. I’m really looking forward to it! Lots of pictures to come in the following week or so!
Loves.
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That annoying kid in Japan
non-member comment
=D
Things you will miss SHOULD start with: Ryoko =D Love, Dane