(no subject)
Ok, got Open Office... Word can suck it.
Here you go!
06-09-08 Shinjuku ni itta
This will be a shorter entry since we just got home from Shinjuku where we met with Soichiro and went to an Izakaya, and now it is about midnight. It’s basically a Japanese style tapas bar with one main difference. You and your friends sit at a table an order from a menu, instead of going up to the bar and picking from a row of items, whatever it is that you would like to eat and drink. Most of the food that comes out is more or less in appetizer proportions, and it was all delicious. We had raw horse meat (which is REALLY good, tender, and goes well with onion and soy sauce), squid (fantastic with mayo and soy sauce), some mackerel, a salad (with essentially grated fish flakes mixed in on top… also pretty damn good. Not too much flavor, but just enough to add a slight seafood taste to it all), and nankotsu (battered and fried cartilage). I had some potato alcohol drink, that was a little bit sweet and still along the vein of sake flavor, the house beer (which wasn’t that bad at all, a more amber lager with a nice slightly hoppy taste), some Karupisu Sawa- (The same Karudan pisu that I mentioned last time, but with some alcohol mixed in… still tasted the same to me, so it was good!), and a Sapporo lager. IT was a lot of fun to sit around a try to speak in Japanese while fumbling through my words and stopping every sentence to figure out what word I needed… but overall a grand time.
Also, since I was in Shinjuku, I think it is worth it to point out that I did see some ganguro girls, and if you don’t know what they are just do a google image search, and now you know that they are indeed real and walking around Japan. Saw some other interesting outfits, but not any in large groups, mostly isolated incidents. There was a couple performing on the street while we were waiting for Soichiro to show up and their group name was Daburu Orenji (Double Orange). It wasn’t all too bad, but nothing to figuratively write home about.
The train stations were busy coming back, and when riding the escalator it is important to remember that if you are just standing, you are on the left side, and if you will walk down them you take the right side. Just a tip for everyone in case you need to know. It was really cool standing and waiting for the last train we needed and feeling the wind rush into the station when the train was getting closer. Just one of the little things that helped make it all a little bit better.
06-09-08 Tsuyoshi and Ayako
Well, today Bryce and I woke up and headed down to Sumiyoshi where he had to go fo his job at Smile Club. It is a little English school for kids that is run by an English speaking Japanese woman and staffed by native English speakers from around the world. Dee is a woman who appears to be in her early thirties or so who comes from Ireland, Dami (or Damien) is a twenty something guy from Sydney, some other guy from Syria or so, Andy (our good ole friend from Hosei), and a couple other people who were not there. So we sat in on Dee’s class as she went through some flashcards with the kids, and it was quite impressive how much some of the kids really knew. She went through present, gerund, and past tense of some verbs with the flash cards and some of the kids were really quick with it. Anyways, after the first part of the class, they had a snack time and Bryce and I talked with the owner for a little bit before we had to go. During our talk, Bryce was going over what info he had to let them know, and much of it we don’t know because it has to do with school schedule and the like, and it came up that we both are going to the same school. At some point along the way, she actually offered me a job! So, as long as everything looks like it will work out with my school schedule and the like, then I could have a job helping to teach little kids English! So we shall see what is in store.
After that, we walked back down to the station, and on the way stopped at a 7-11, which by the way is the only place that we can take money out with our cards, and got something to drink as well as the money to pay back Akiko for the trip to Osaka. I got a Melon soda, which is surprisingly good and refreshing. So, from Sumiyoshi we took the subway down to Omotte Sando to meet up with an old friend of Bryce’s and his girlfriend. His name is Tsuyoshi, and hers Ayako. We went down to a Makudonarudo and got some McFlurrys and talked for a while. Ok, well, in all seriousness Bryce and they talked for a while, I mostly sat and listened and tried to follow along as best as I could. This whole process can be a bit tiring at times, but I know it is all worth it and I also don’t mind sitting and listening to Japanese being spoken. The McDonalds was more or less the exact same (though I noticed something that looked like a DOUBLE Big Mac), but there was also a downstairs that seemed to be there for extra seating, and also for a room that is more easily air conditioned. Either way, after they talked a lot about things, from Bryce’s business idea, to how Tsuyoshi’s job training is going (he is training to be a chef, and is currently learning French cuisine), to the coming marriage between Tsuyoshi and Ayako, to other random things between. From there we waited outside for Akiko to come down and meet us from her job (at Freshinesu Bagaa… Freshness Burger… which Bryce says is quite hearty and greasy).
I will say, that while standing around and waiting, there are quite a few very attractive girls that passed by. The interesting thing about the fashion around here is the immense variety of what you see. Part of it could just be that the fashion in the states is all something I am used to, so coming here and seeing something that is really more or less completely different can be even more of a stretch from the usual. Even the harajuku, which I originally thought was all about crazy clothes and colours and excessiveness, has turned out to be a much wider span from things much more casual but still stylish all the way to the crazy, Cindy Lauper almost combinations.
Anyways, Akiko arrived, and we walked around looking for somewhere to eat, and ended up taking the subway over to Shibuya. Shibuya is known as one of the main centers of… well… everything commercial. It is almost always packed with large crowds, and people ranging from the middle aged to the younger, still in school uniforms peoples. Apparently when we were there it was actually less busy that it normally is, and that sounds great to me simply because that means it can get busier! So we wandered down and ended up settling down in a nice little upstairs restaurant. I had some pasta with some delicious eggplant and some all you can drink soda (nomihoudai, had some melon soda, some white water, aka Calpis style drink). We sat around and talked for a good long while, and once again I do mean that they sat around and talked while I mostly listened and periodically Bryce would translate pieces of the conversation for me. Afterwards we walked down to Bikku Camera and picked up some denshi jishou (electric dictionaries), which are pretty damn awesome but will definitely take a bit of time to get used to. The store itself was quite skinny with the products all on display, and the smaller things like memory cards and what not were just hung tightly on the walls. For the displayed items you simply asked a staff member to get it for you, and they took it up to the checkout for you where you paid for it all. So, from there we all headed off to play some pool or darts, really whichever looked better at that point.
We headed up into a building a few flights to a pool/dart hall. It was quite large in size really, taking up a full sized floor with pool tables and dart boards, and it was all really quite nice. However, it was also very expensive. It was about 380 en per person for a pool table per half hour and about 480 en per person for a dart board table reservation which was then 100 en per person per game. And on top of that, all customers were expected to get at least a drink each. However, pricey or no, it was a lot of fun and we played some games of 301 and 501, and Ayako turned out to be pretty decent at hitting bulls eyes. We sat around for another while, mostly watching Bryce screw around throwing darts at the board. After the games, we wandered down back towards the station. I will say that Shibuya at night it a beautiful sight to behold. The lights all up and down the buildings, and the giant crosswalks that are almost always filled with people crossing, or standing waiting to cross. Also, right by the giant crosswalk outside the station there is a building where the entire side is a television screen. It’s impressive to say the lease. I also noticed quite a few eyes casually glancing in my direction, as I was expecting. I believe it is something I shall call, “the allure of the arian”.
So we stood in the square by the entrance and talked for just a little bit more, and then headed into the station to say our farewells to Tsuyoshi and Ayako. They are really nice, and are set to get married in November (if I heard right) and the best way to describe Tsuyoshi is to imagine Bryce… as a Japanese guy, and Ayako and Akiko are surprisingly similar in many ways. So, we waved goodbye as they got on their train and took off, and then we began the trip back home. We got off at Kameane, which is also quite beautiful at night, and walked to the 100en store to grab some snacks. So, now we are back at Akiko’s house and The Terminal is playing (and half way through it switched from Japanese dubbing to English) as I am writing this down, Akiko is typing something up, and Bryce is relaxing and enjoying the movie. So, I am getting quite tired, my battery is running low, and tomorrow we head out for Osaka (!!) on the shinkansen. For now, well once again, I bid these pages farewell and I shall soon slip into my dreams (which have become increasingly R-rated :P ) and wake up tomorrow to head off on another adventure.
Enjoy! I will be typing up about my Osaka journey later, and that should be up in the next few days.
Here you go!
06-09-08 Shinjuku ni itta
This will be a shorter entry since we just got home from Shinjuku where we met with Soichiro and went to an Izakaya, and now it is about midnight. It’s basically a Japanese style tapas bar with one main difference. You and your friends sit at a table an order from a menu, instead of going up to the bar and picking from a row of items, whatever it is that you would like to eat and drink. Most of the food that comes out is more or less in appetizer proportions, and it was all delicious. We had raw horse meat (which is REALLY good, tender, and goes well with onion and soy sauce), squid (fantastic with mayo and soy sauce), some mackerel, a salad (with essentially grated fish flakes mixed in on top… also pretty damn good. Not too much flavor, but just enough to add a slight seafood taste to it all), and nankotsu (battered and fried cartilage). I had some potato alcohol drink, that was a little bit sweet and still along the vein of sake flavor, the house beer (which wasn’t that bad at all, a more amber lager with a nice slightly hoppy taste), some Karupisu Sawa- (The same Karudan pisu that I mentioned last time, but with some alcohol mixed in… still tasted the same to me, so it was good!), and a Sapporo lager. IT was a lot of fun to sit around a try to speak in Japanese while fumbling through my words and stopping every sentence to figure out what word I needed… but overall a grand time.
Also, since I was in Shinjuku, I think it is worth it to point out that I did see some ganguro girls, and if you don’t know what they are just do a google image search, and now you know that they are indeed real and walking around Japan. Saw some other interesting outfits, but not any in large groups, mostly isolated incidents. There was a couple performing on the street while we were waiting for Soichiro to show up and their group name was Daburu Orenji (Double Orange). It wasn’t all too bad, but nothing to figuratively write home about.
The train stations were busy coming back, and when riding the escalator it is important to remember that if you are just standing, you are on the left side, and if you will walk down them you take the right side. Just a tip for everyone in case you need to know. It was really cool standing and waiting for the last train we needed and feeling the wind rush into the station when the train was getting closer. Just one of the little things that helped make it all a little bit better.
06-09-08 Tsuyoshi and Ayako
Well, today Bryce and I woke up and headed down to Sumiyoshi where he had to go fo his job at Smile Club. It is a little English school for kids that is run by an English speaking Japanese woman and staffed by native English speakers from around the world. Dee is a woman who appears to be in her early thirties or so who comes from Ireland, Dami (or Damien) is a twenty something guy from Sydney, some other guy from Syria or so, Andy (our good ole friend from Hosei), and a couple other people who were not there. So we sat in on Dee’s class as she went through some flashcards with the kids, and it was quite impressive how much some of the kids really knew. She went through present, gerund, and past tense of some verbs with the flash cards and some of the kids were really quick with it. Anyways, after the first part of the class, they had a snack time and Bryce and I talked with the owner for a little bit before we had to go. During our talk, Bryce was going over what info he had to let them know, and much of it we don’t know because it has to do with school schedule and the like, and it came up that we both are going to the same school. At some point along the way, she actually offered me a job! So, as long as everything looks like it will work out with my school schedule and the like, then I could have a job helping to teach little kids English! So we shall see what is in store.
After that, we walked back down to the station, and on the way stopped at a 7-11, which by the way is the only place that we can take money out with our cards, and got something to drink as well as the money to pay back Akiko for the trip to Osaka. I got a Melon soda, which is surprisingly good and refreshing. So, from Sumiyoshi we took the subway down to Omotte Sando to meet up with an old friend of Bryce’s and his girlfriend. His name is Tsuyoshi, and hers Ayako. We went down to a Makudonarudo and got some McFlurrys and talked for a while. Ok, well, in all seriousness Bryce and they talked for a while, I mostly sat and listened and tried to follow along as best as I could. This whole process can be a bit tiring at times, but I know it is all worth it and I also don’t mind sitting and listening to Japanese being spoken. The McDonalds was more or less the exact same (though I noticed something that looked like a DOUBLE Big Mac), but there was also a downstairs that seemed to be there for extra seating, and also for a room that is more easily air conditioned. Either way, after they talked a lot about things, from Bryce’s business idea, to how Tsuyoshi’s job training is going (he is training to be a chef, and is currently learning French cuisine), to the coming marriage between Tsuyoshi and Ayako, to other random things between. From there we waited outside for Akiko to come down and meet us from her job (at Freshinesu Bagaa… Freshness Burger… which Bryce says is quite hearty and greasy).
I will say, that while standing around and waiting, there are quite a few very attractive girls that passed by. The interesting thing about the fashion around here is the immense variety of what you see. Part of it could just be that the fashion in the states is all something I am used to, so coming here and seeing something that is really more or less completely different can be even more of a stretch from the usual. Even the harajuku, which I originally thought was all about crazy clothes and colours and excessiveness, has turned out to be a much wider span from things much more casual but still stylish all the way to the crazy, Cindy Lauper almost combinations.
Anyways, Akiko arrived, and we walked around looking for somewhere to eat, and ended up taking the subway over to Shibuya. Shibuya is known as one of the main centers of… well… everything commercial. It is almost always packed with large crowds, and people ranging from the middle aged to the younger, still in school uniforms peoples. Apparently when we were there it was actually less busy that it normally is, and that sounds great to me simply because that means it can get busier! So we wandered down and ended up settling down in a nice little upstairs restaurant. I had some pasta with some delicious eggplant and some all you can drink soda (nomihoudai, had some melon soda, some white water, aka Calpis style drink). We sat around and talked for a good long while, and once again I do mean that they sat around and talked while I mostly listened and periodically Bryce would translate pieces of the conversation for me. Afterwards we walked down to Bikku Camera and picked up some denshi jishou (electric dictionaries), which are pretty damn awesome but will definitely take a bit of time to get used to. The store itself was quite skinny with the products all on display, and the smaller things like memory cards and what not were just hung tightly on the walls. For the displayed items you simply asked a staff member to get it for you, and they took it up to the checkout for you where you paid for it all. So, from there we all headed off to play some pool or darts, really whichever looked better at that point.
We headed up into a building a few flights to a pool/dart hall. It was quite large in size really, taking up a full sized floor with pool tables and dart boards, and it was all really quite nice. However, it was also very expensive. It was about 380 en per person for a pool table per half hour and about 480 en per person for a dart board table reservation which was then 100 en per person per game. And on top of that, all customers were expected to get at least a drink each. However, pricey or no, it was a lot of fun and we played some games of 301 and 501, and Ayako turned out to be pretty decent at hitting bulls eyes. We sat around for another while, mostly watching Bryce screw around throwing darts at the board. After the games, we wandered down back towards the station. I will say that Shibuya at night it a beautiful sight to behold. The lights all up and down the buildings, and the giant crosswalks that are almost always filled with people crossing, or standing waiting to cross. Also, right by the giant crosswalk outside the station there is a building where the entire side is a television screen. It’s impressive to say the lease. I also noticed quite a few eyes casually glancing in my direction, as I was expecting. I believe it is something I shall call, “the allure of the arian”.
So we stood in the square by the entrance and talked for just a little bit more, and then headed into the station to say our farewells to Tsuyoshi and Ayako. They are really nice, and are set to get married in November (if I heard right) and the best way to describe Tsuyoshi is to imagine Bryce… as a Japanese guy, and Ayako and Akiko are surprisingly similar in many ways. So, we waved goodbye as they got on their train and took off, and then we began the trip back home. We got off at Kameane, which is also quite beautiful at night, and walked to the 100en store to grab some snacks. So, now we are back at Akiko’s house and The Terminal is playing (and half way through it switched from Japanese dubbing to English) as I am writing this down, Akiko is typing something up, and Bryce is relaxing and enjoying the movie. So, I am getting quite tired, my battery is running low, and tomorrow we head out for Osaka (!!) on the shinkansen. For now, well once again, I bid these pages farewell and I shall soon slip into my dreams (which have become increasingly R-rated :P ) and wake up tomorrow to head off on another adventure.
Enjoy! I will be typing up about my Osaka journey later, and that should be up in the next few days.