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May 03, 2005
Golden Week Part 1
Lazy days have begun! Golden Week has a few holidays stacked right in a row so many Japanese travel or go visit family. Well actually I’m keeping pretty occupied looking for jobs back in the states and cursing my city for cutting my pay these past few months. I’ll get the money back when I leave (which makes for a convenient savings plan) but I’d rather have it while I was in Japan! Nonetheless, the weather is amazing, the sun is up and I’m not the only one hanging around home base for the holidays. Also my friend Kenichi is back in town visiting family. We met right before he moved to Tokyo at the beginning of this year. He’s an interesting fellow; the only Japanese person I know with a thick British accent.
Perhaps I should have shown a picture like this a long time ago? This is my “mansion”. It literly says MANSHON on the front of the building. I’ve actually got a really awesome little flat, when it’s cleaner I’ll take more pictures of the inside.
This is a view down one side of the street that my mansion overlooks. I’m not sure if street is the proper word, perhaps alleyway is closer. It always feels like two passing bikes will scrap handlebars.
An evening of beach-ness and fireworkin’.
We both like taking photos so passing the camera around and bouncing off each other’s ideas is to fun!
This one is Kenichi’s photo! Word! Nice shot yo!
This is my favorite firework, Once it gets going a small ball of orange flaming goo forms on the end and then it starts sparking with little flower like explosions, if you shake it to much the show ends early and ball drops off the line.
I was kept occupied last weekend when I discovered a kitten in a parking lot last week. Only one, so I can’t fathom what happened to the others. In the end this little guy didn’t make it either, but along the way we got some really kind help. Kenichi took us to the vet’s office where they checked up on him, got him feeding, and gave me some more supplies all for no charge. I was hoping not to see the infamously poor treatment of animals in Japan that I’ve heard about. Unfortunately I have seen a few cases, but thankfully they were fairly isolated and most people are very kind. I don’t think animal treatment is so much worse in Japan compared to other places. It is more an issue that people won’t interfere in other people’s lives to stop these sorts of things when they start.
We returned to the beach during the day because the view needed to go on film.
Just to show a little scale. Well, and because climbing on things is ALWAYS fun!
This one is for me to laugh at, again and again! I’m so evil sometimes!
A golf range that drops off into a lake! I like to think of the bottom of the lake filled with algae coated golf balls, or maybe they use balls that float, and they skim them from the pond once a week?!
A small island of trees floating in the golf range lake.
An “American style” store selling jeans and cowboy hats and full of American nick-naks. According to this store America is the land of James Dean, Lee and Levis, cowboys and Indians with everyone carrying a knife or a gun to shot all those pesky buffalo.
Posted by theinfonaut at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2005
Must, Post, More, Regularly, GW Part 2
The end of Golden Week.
Last weekend I went to an exhibition of Ray and Charles Eames work in Matsuyama. I’m probably breaking a few laws with this one, but this is the most precious letter… Dear Love, I’ve been thinking of U...
Engrish will never stop being funny.
Trisha a K model the fro-curry lunch plate. It’s groovelicious…yeah, you have permission to smack me later for that one…
A schematic drawing of the contents of the parfait, actually pretty helpful to us less in the know…
セークーハーラ＝SE-KU-HA-RA= SExual HARAssment.
How quant, and is that a bulg in his pants? I wish I could understand the other poster as well!
Is this an example of seku?!! No no, it's Trisha's awesome birthday party, last weekend, and here she is getting the royal birthday girl treatment from the stud-ly Koichi.
Posted by theinfonaut at 08:02 PM | Comments (2)
May 23, 2005
Birthday in Tokyo
I headed up to Tokyo with a few friends for the Design Festa and a birthday party or two. We rode the overnight bus, ack, on the way there, and then I made a little blunder that left poor Tricia and I sulking home on the bullet train (shinkansen)…oh darn. Of course Tokyo and friends were the best part, but I do love fast things…and we even saw Mt. Fuji out the windows.
There was dining and the festival and shopping and exploring and meeting up with recent-old friends like my predecessor from Tambara and I remembered how much fun big cities are! It’s been a rough week since I headed back to Tambara, feeling like I’m going to dye of boredom, but it’s also nice to be back in my cozy home!
The design fest is open to anyone who foots the bill. A lot of the work is more commercial than straight-up art. But that meant that I could actually buy things! There was music and food and very interesting live performances.
One night I stayed with a friend in “the Gaijin house”. The place was a hole, but cozy in that you can hear and see what most people are up to at all times of the day and night! It’s mostly full of Japanese people, but nearly everyone who lives in this house speaks English. The location is hot, right south of Shinagawa off the Oimachi JR railway stop, and the rent is surprisingly cheap for Tokyo, but still coming in at close to $600 a month for a one bedroom, shared bathroom abode.
This is the location of Design Festa, it’s called Big Sight and I still haven’t figured out what’s going on inside those upside down pyramids…
Alison, an ALT from Ehime, was showing these lovely pieces of ceramics…Alison: I still want to throw them like Jacks!
After a piece of fashion the models pose for pictures, the fashion was pretty lacking, but from what I hear it changes each show, perhaps a good excuse to come again next year?
Just when I say there wasn’t enough art for art’s sake these guys come out with howling music playing, I think she/it dies and then the packing bubbles man dies too, and then maybe we are supposed to feel empty inside without them? I just wanted to rough up the bubbles guy and see if we could make his packaging pop pop pop!
One booth was full of girls selling the best animal caps I have ever seen, here is another merchant displaying a horsy cap, I really wanted to ask “Why the long face?” but I have no idea how to say such a thing in Japanese…which is probably for the best.
it’s a map of one of the subway lines with tubes and metal parts, this could have only been cooler if there was a train attached to a railing system so you could send it winging through the tubes, instead of stuffing it full of straw wrappers.
I love Japanese construction sites!? They are always extremely orderly, buildings under construction are always covered in a sheath of tarps to hide the work/ keep in debris and dust, and the flashing lights aren’t the methodical blips we see in the states, no no, they are disco worthy strobes and swirling patterns of LED goodness.
I’m waiting to met up with some friends in Shinjuku and enjoying the parade of people that come washing past each time the signals turn blue.
Christon Café for Clair’s goth style birthday dinner, May is THE month to be born after all! I loved Clair’s friends, the party split up after dinner and I had fun hanging out with just Clair, Amiyu, and Clair’s sweet roommate while I waiting for friends. I headed out to some clubs, and then… it seems like every time I’ve been to Tokyo I have to end at least one night with breakfast at a ramen shop with the sun rising in the doorway.
Monday was my birthday! So Sunday night was Mexican food with many, and then just us two girls scouring the Shinjuku nightlife. We missed a rockabilly show at club Doctor but met the band (The Cat Fanclub)and nabbed a not yet released cd from their super cool lady drummer Ayaka. Monday was a blaze of shopping; we hit Shibuyu and then Harajuku. Less than half was shopping, the higher percentage goes to people watching, Japan is full of the craziest, most well maintained people on the planet! Eye candy everywhere! We hit some department stores including this one with crazy floral covered elevators. Then it was a rush to the Bullet train a change to an Express and then a Van and then bed.
Posted by theinfonaut at 09:18 PM | Comments (1)