Japan! -- Yokohama
On Tuesday I was supposed to meet up with my friend Davina, who does Japanese with me at Cardiff. She's a business and Jap student so she's already been in Japan for 6 months when I was in France. She's at Yokohama University, all by her lonesome too, though obviously she's made friends by now! But Andrew, who was suposed to be there with her, failed the year. Damn shame.
Anyway I was running late and had some other stuff on my mind, one thing in particular which was rather insistently in my brain, and what with one thing and another I ended up sat on the wrong side of the platform without noticing, sort of by instinct taking the train towards Tokyo. I was already late when it came and had boarded unknowingly. I didn't know until the sign for 西大井 (Nishi-Oi) flashed up. Bugger, I was on the wrong frickin' train! Incidentally: ”次は西大井、西大井 です" ("The next stop is Nishi-Oi, Nishi-Oi"). Well, there was nowt for it but to get off at Nishi-Oi (which is a long O by the way, I just can't be arsed to find the symbol of the O with a line over it) and turn around for Yokohama. I spent the whole trip alternating between fretting about being really late and daydreaming on pleasant things. Guess which I preferred? But I got there eventually. Luckily Davina is ginger so she's easy to spot in Japan :) She was on the phone (in Jap, but she tells me this means nothing) to Chihiro, our friend from Fukuoka. She didn't mind having waited and we went off to get lunch.
We went to a Ramen place and I got a bit confused but Davina showed me what I was doing. You had to choose what you want on the vending machine and you got coloured tokens, then you sat outside on the bench until there was room for you and you went and put the tokens on the counter and you got your food. Twas a cool little place but I had no idea how to eat the Ramen without making a pig of myself. Ramen by the way is noodles of a certain type in soup with seaweed and some meat. Its very nice and rather filling. I like it very much. But yeah, Davina said to chuck manners out the window and that they all eat really messily here.
After that we went to this shop called ドンキ＊ホーテ (Don Quixote, or the nearest Jap pronunciation 'Donki Hohteh'). It's brilliant! They have *everything*! And some really weird stuff. There's normal stuff like electric stuff, cosmetics, accessories, household stuff, stuff like that. Then there's some really weird stuff like the costume section which appears to be mostly made up of many, many maid outfits. I swear Japan is obsessed. There were some padded musclemen outfits with Dragon Ball Z characters on. And a pillow shaped like some, well, dirty pillows. Ahem.
At one point I was following the cosmetic section around, curious as to what stuff they had in Japan and I wandered into an entire little section of very brightly coloured, er, buzzing objects. Bloody hell! I don't expect that when I walk around the corner! This is in the middle of a real 'normal' shop, they weren't even top shelf or anything. It was right next to the section with practical joke chewing gum and so on. Won't somebody *please* think of the children!?
Anyway we then we went into a department shop (I don't care if that's not the phrase, I shan't say the silly American word) called Vivre, or in silly Japanese Bibura. Why steal words you can't say!? But it was fairly cool, I got some kitschy stickers and some iron-on patches. Does anyone know what language Japan gets their word for them from? They're called 'Wappen'. I don't get it. Anyway I'm a bit worried I might turn all かわいい (Kawaii: cute) but as long as its kinda kitschy and retro-y and possibly ironic (everyone loves that excuse) and above all cool then I suppose it's okay. Even if Rob will tease me senseless for being girly. Tain't girly. Tis cool. Steph at least should understand that. For example it was fine when I used to have my rainbow-coloured Hello Kitty wallet (yes, I know) because it was cause it was shiny and hilarious. Camp is cool I'm afraid. Just don't tell Mark. :P
After that we went to Yodobashi Camera to get me a battery charger. Davina couldn't remember the word for it and we couldn't see the sign so she went and asked by explaining that it was a thing you used when your batteries had run out and you wanted to use them again. After a sec where the woman for some reason daftly thought she meant a watch (What???) she showed us to them. I was well impressed with Davina's Jap, even though she said she was rubbish and hadn't learned anything really. Anyway I got one well cheap there, twas 980 Yen, about £4.50 ish. Bloody cheap since the one I saw in the Mini Stop by my house was twice that. I might get an mp3 there and a denshi-jishou (electronic dictionary) (though now I know that Onno is selling his I might buy that).
We then went to try and find somewhere to have summat sweet to eat and on the way bumped in to Davina's friend Mohammed who is from Morroco and studies in Paris. We went and had a crepe in a cafe in Little Italy near the station. He seemed fairly interested in the fact that I'd been in France and was asking me about where I was and stuff. He also reckons that Nantes is in Brittany and he has no reason to like the Bretons do. So yay! Go the Celts! :) Anyway I liked him, he seemed pretty cool. Though Davina later told me something he'd said to one of her friends within 5 minutes of meeting him that made him seem very weird. Not the sort of thing you tell people you've just met. Trust me. That and she later said to her American friend, David, that she thought Mohammed was trying to turn the charm on me. Can't say I noticed. I bloody hope not. Still, gossip gets you nowhere, I think he's sound enough for now.
After wandering around some more when Mohammed left we met up with this David friend of hers and their Japanese friend, one of those annoying fake International Students, called Kaoru. David seemed smiley and so on but he became about as mad as Kaoru turned out to be when they got together. Nice enough people though, I mean Davina is pretty bouncy so I suppose they get on well.
As it was getting on for teatime we went to a Kaiten Zushi (conveyor belt sushi place). I'd been to Zushi, in Cardiff, before, but this was nothing like that! It was really noisy instead of fairly quiet like Zushi. Every single person who worked there shouted irrashaimase (welcome) whenever anyone went in. In really loud voices. And it was so much cheaper. The cheapest plate in Zushi is, I believe, £1.50, the cheapest here was 60p. Bloody excellent. Especially as I wasn't overly hungry after Ramen. I had four things. They had the Tamago (egg) one! Tis my favourite, they didn't have it in Zushi when I went with Dave before I left Cardiff. And the food was soooo nice. Much nicer than Zushi. Dave suggested (fairly daftly given I'll be here for 4 months eating almost nothing but Japanese food) going to Zushi when I got back but I reckon it'll be fairly disappointing now. Especially the company :P
Anyway I think that was about it really. Twas excellent fun hanging around Yokohama with Davina. She seemed really happy to see someone she knew from Cardiff. And so was I really. Though I think she moreso, as it had been 6 months!
Anyway I was running late and had some other stuff on my mind, one thing in particular which was rather insistently in my brain, and what with one thing and another I ended up sat on the wrong side of the platform without noticing, sort of by instinct taking the train towards Tokyo. I was already late when it came and had boarded unknowingly. I didn't know until the sign for 西大井 (Nishi-Oi) flashed up. Bugger, I was on the wrong frickin' train! Incidentally: ”次は西大井、西大井 です" ("The next stop is Nishi-Oi, Nishi-Oi"). Well, there was nowt for it but to get off at Nishi-Oi (which is a long O by the way, I just can't be arsed to find the symbol of the O with a line over it) and turn around for Yokohama. I spent the whole trip alternating between fretting about being really late and daydreaming on pleasant things. Guess which I preferred? But I got there eventually. Luckily Davina is ginger so she's easy to spot in Japan :) She was on the phone (in Jap, but she tells me this means nothing) to Chihiro, our friend from Fukuoka. She didn't mind having waited and we went off to get lunch.
We went to a Ramen place and I got a bit confused but Davina showed me what I was doing. You had to choose what you want on the vending machine and you got coloured tokens, then you sat outside on the bench until there was room for you and you went and put the tokens on the counter and you got your food. Twas a cool little place but I had no idea how to eat the Ramen without making a pig of myself. Ramen by the way is noodles of a certain type in soup with seaweed and some meat. Its very nice and rather filling. I like it very much. But yeah, Davina said to chuck manners out the window and that they all eat really messily here.
After that we went to this shop called ドンキ＊ホーテ (Don Quixote, or the nearest Jap pronunciation 'Donki Hohteh'). It's brilliant! They have *everything*! And some really weird stuff. There's normal stuff like electric stuff, cosmetics, accessories, household stuff, stuff like that. Then there's some really weird stuff like the costume section which appears to be mostly made up of many, many maid outfits. I swear Japan is obsessed. There were some padded musclemen outfits with Dragon Ball Z characters on. And a pillow shaped like some, well, dirty pillows. Ahem.
At one point I was following the cosmetic section around, curious as to what stuff they had in Japan and I wandered into an entire little section of very brightly coloured, er, buzzing objects. Bloody hell! I don't expect that when I walk around the corner! This is in the middle of a real 'normal' shop, they weren't even top shelf or anything. It was right next to the section with practical joke chewing gum and so on. Won't somebody *please* think of the children!?
Anyway we then we went into a department shop (I don't care if that's not the phrase, I shan't say the silly American word) called Vivre, or in silly Japanese Bibura. Why steal words you can't say!? But it was fairly cool, I got some kitschy stickers and some iron-on patches. Does anyone know what language Japan gets their word for them from? They're called 'Wappen'. I don't get it. Anyway I'm a bit worried I might turn all かわいい (Kawaii: cute) but as long as its kinda kitschy and retro-y and possibly ironic (everyone loves that excuse) and above all cool then I suppose it's okay. Even if Rob will tease me senseless for being girly. Tain't girly. Tis cool. Steph at least should understand that. For example it was fine when I used to have my rainbow-coloured Hello Kitty wallet (yes, I know) because it was cause it was shiny and hilarious. Camp is cool I'm afraid. Just don't tell Mark. :P
After that we went to Yodobashi Camera to get me a battery charger. Davina couldn't remember the word for it and we couldn't see the sign so she went and asked by explaining that it was a thing you used when your batteries had run out and you wanted to use them again. After a sec where the woman for some reason daftly thought she meant a watch (What???) she showed us to them. I was well impressed with Davina's Jap, even though she said she was rubbish and hadn't learned anything really. Anyway I got one well cheap there, twas 980 Yen, about £4.50 ish. Bloody cheap since the one I saw in the Mini Stop by my house was twice that. I might get an mp3 there and a denshi-jishou (electronic dictionary) (though now I know that Onno is selling his I might buy that).
We then went to try and find somewhere to have summat sweet to eat and on the way bumped in to Davina's friend Mohammed who is from Morroco and studies in Paris. We went and had a crepe in a cafe in Little Italy near the station. He seemed fairly interested in the fact that I'd been in France and was asking me about where I was and stuff. He also reckons that Nantes is in Brittany and he has no reason to like the Bretons do. So yay! Go the Celts! :) Anyway I liked him, he seemed pretty cool. Though Davina later told me something he'd said to one of her friends within 5 minutes of meeting him that made him seem very weird. Not the sort of thing you tell people you've just met. Trust me. That and she later said to her American friend, David, that she thought Mohammed was trying to turn the charm on me. Can't say I noticed. I bloody hope not. Still, gossip gets you nowhere, I think he's sound enough for now.
After wandering around some more when Mohammed left we met up with this David friend of hers and their Japanese friend, one of those annoying fake International Students, called Kaoru. David seemed smiley and so on but he became about as mad as Kaoru turned out to be when they got together. Nice enough people though, I mean Davina is pretty bouncy so I suppose they get on well.
As it was getting on for teatime we went to a Kaiten Zushi (conveyor belt sushi place). I'd been to Zushi, in Cardiff, before, but this was nothing like that! It was really noisy instead of fairly quiet like Zushi. Every single person who worked there shouted irrashaimase (welcome) whenever anyone went in. In really loud voices. And it was so much cheaper. The cheapest plate in Zushi is, I believe, £1.50, the cheapest here was 60p. Bloody excellent. Especially as I wasn't overly hungry after Ramen. I had four things. They had the Tamago (egg) one! Tis my favourite, they didn't have it in Zushi when I went with Dave before I left Cardiff. And the food was soooo nice. Much nicer than Zushi. Dave suggested (fairly daftly given I'll be here for 4 months eating almost nothing but Japanese food) going to Zushi when I got back but I reckon it'll be fairly disappointing now. Especially the company :P
Anyway I think that was about it really. Twas excellent fun hanging around Yokohama with Davina. She seemed really happy to see someone she knew from Cardiff. And so was I really. Though I think she moreso, as it had been 6 months!