Out and About

So finally had time to go check out some of the tokyo night life, went with a German, and a Candaian guy from the hostel, was a good excuse to go have a few drinks, and wander a bit.
Saturday night was 3 times as crazy as friday night, more people, more madness.
Ended up finding a small ar, which looked nice enoug from the outside, so went and grabbed some beers.
Sitting at the table next to us was a British guy and a Japanese girl, started talking to him and learned he had been living in Japan for almost 9 months, and had plenty of amusing advice to share.
The guy had a really sharp pommy accent, ad frankly reminded me of a few of the characters from lock stock and 2 smocking barrels, rolled into one.
He was cynical, clearly thought the Japanese were crazy, but had fallen totally in love with the place, and had just married a japanese girl.

One concept he explained was that of sarcasm, and despite the fact their are few words to appropraitely insult people in Japanese, it is possible to do so with a sarcastic spin.

E.g
Saying: That's a nice had your wearing (polite)

saying: thats a nice hat your wearing, did your mother buy it for you.

(when someone falls asleep on you while on public transport.... it happens)

saying: I'm sorry, does my shoulder look like a pillow.

He also imparted a few interesting random facts i was unaware of, such as there is actually 3 different ways of counting:
1) for standard numbers e.g 1-10
2) Ordering food e.g- 5 pieces of sushi
3) floors of a building e.g catching the lift to level 4.

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Anyway, monday morning hopped a bullet train to Kyoto, as a cultural experience it needs to be done, though price wise its probably possible to get a flight to QLD, for less.
It\s fast, clean, comftable and you can smoke and drink on it!
YAY, I enjoyed myself alot, I think we should have 1 in Australian, and it took me 2 hours and 50 minutes to travel what is roughly 400 Kilometeres (note: according to google...actual distance is 513.6k).
The Japanese are great at sleeping on public transport and within 30 minutes, 90% of the carriage had drifted off to sleep.
Its all well and good but i still hadn't had my 3-4 madatory iced coffee's from the vending machine!
The situation was quickly remedied, and i was able to enjoy the changing scenery.
It took close to an hour and a half for the landscape to leave the big buildings behind, and become almost nothing but green hills and power lines.
Killed a bit of time by devouring a few Hunter S Thompson books, and the whole experience made me long even more for some rum and weed.
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Anyway, Kyoto was quiet and picturesque in a way that Tokyo simply wasn't, it still had some of the old Japan charm, as a result of not having the cr@p bombed out of it during the war.

charming winding streets and lanes, lots of beautiful little shops, and alleys, million of stunning little restaurants, and a little creek that ran through a large part of the town coming out in a large river.

In the evening i went out wandering with the Canadian who I had been drinking with in Tokyo (I found out he was a maths teacher), there was supposed to be an area that had a very classic old Japan feel, that was full of restaurants, seemed worth checking out.
couple of hours of wnadering and we found it, seemed not much more then a lane way, restaurants lining each side, poor street lighting really added to the mystique.
It was also apparently "Geisha country" (anothe reason for checking it out), so as we we wandering further into the gloom we caught sight of her, as my travelling companion put it, it was almost like seeing a strange and mystical creatue like a unicorn, she was small and elegant, and it was obvious came from a world I really never expected to truly understand.

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Anyway the next few days were a blur of temples and aimless wandering, it was HOT, Kyoto is f$cking humid, and wandering for 8 hours a day simply destroys you, I really got templed out very quickly, and within a few days i was ready to get back to Tokyo.
There were also a HELL of alot of touristy souvenier stores, i mean just everywhere, I reckon 99% of it was absolute shite, but i did find a couple of nice things here and there.

Anyway that's about it, Im currently back in Tokyo, where its also f*cking hot, and will be flying home in a few days, more to follow soon.

Porn, anime and all that is dear to my heart

Well it really was inevitable, partly due to the numerous requests recived, for used virgin underwear from the vending machine that i was forced to hit Akihabara.
mainly known for its electric goods, and frankly that was the original purpose, but along the way distractions occur.
The Japanese for such a polite, and well mannered society sure due love their porn, its quite incredable, floors and floors of it, catering to every taste and desire, its enough to make a pervert blush (well not this pervert).
Toys of every shape and description greeted me, pretty typical stuff, perhaps the mos interesting obseration was that this place backed onto a main road, and there clearly was no shame in going in.
They had a floor dedicated to Hentei which is basically anime porn, and their was absolutely tons of it, quite incredable the amount of animation hours that go into that kind of work.
A floor dedicated to "costumes" everything from school girl to my personal favorite the "flight attendant".... sir, can you please prepare to stow your overhead table as we go in for landing (say it in a really sleazy voice for maximum impact).
And to answer the quesion put by many as to whether it is possible to get used virgin underwear out of vending machines, well i encountered "used underwear", hanging from packets on a shelf, and then their was new underwear in what wasn't really a vending machne but more, of a gumball machine, the kind that people used t get chewing gum out of as a kid, the underwear was contained within capsules.... nothing was purchased, so we'll see how time goes.
I went in search of "love pillows", which is this kooky thing i heard of on the internet, which involves lifesized inflatable cussions, dedicated to people's favorite anime character (always female, always larger then life, always dispropianate).
After this part of the expedition was completed i went and looked at robots, toy robots.....why?
cause I'm a geek, and I love that sort of shit and their was a ton of it, biggest regret bein that it was not practical to transport this kind of stuff around in a backpack, there was also lots and lots of big breasted action figures, has to make you wonder what this does to the young males wh basically live, breathe, sleep and obsess over this stuff, I mean its got to warp perceptions on how women are supposed to look, much the same way that happens with celebrities, but to a much greater extent.
Anyway, back to the toys, so their was tons of electronics and gadgets in the area, nothing that I really couldn't find in Singapore, but I was mesmerised by the heated toilet seats, absolute genius.

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Anyway Friday night went out wandering around Shinjuku and Shibuya to 'soak up some of the madness', the entire place was just crazy, I really can't offer a comparison in Australia, other then perhaps the CBD of melbourne on new years eve.
The entire place attracted all ages, all styles and all subcultures, the entire city seems to be awash in the glow of neon as crowds packed out the busy streets.
Clubs kids were out and about, waiting for the venues to open, drunken business men began ther anebirated journey home, and large groups of girls wandered about for no apparent reason.
The love hotels, the porn shops and the gaming places all seem to go into overdrive.
crazy,crazy place.
One of the most amusing things is the chicks deck out in the latest fashion, we have "Japanese Barbi" (blonde, tanned, and horrifying amounts of makeup), and my personal favorite, the chicks who wear english T-shirts, but clearly are unable to understand what is written on them, I saw 2 moderately subtle dicks jokes on 2 different girls, great stuff.

Anyway in Kyoto now, more to follow.
later all

Lost (without) translation

well what can i say about Japan, 1 hour in and i had no working credit cards, very little cash, and a hello kitty thing that hangs from your phone that came free with my phone card.
Had to ask someone which carrage of the train i was supposed to be on, because i couldn't read my ticket....my station looks like a small box with a stand, next to a square root symbol, with a small letter 'p' on the right.
The train system on the whole, which i've heard stories of driving people insane, is not that complex, the subway is divided by a series of line's of different colours, all you have to do is match up where you, and where you want to go, really not so complex, over the course of a few days i've gone the wrong way a handful of times, but when you consider the trains come every 3-4 minutes, with 100% clockworth efficiency...not really a big deal at all.
so arrived at my destination, a small low budget business hotel, just somewhere where i can catch up on some sleep with i've been distinctly lacking the last several legs of my trip.
After a bit of wandering and consultation with my lonely planet guide i found the right type of ATM's and everything was zen again....ish.
decided to use my new found knowledge of the subway to go wandering, and the fact i was far too early for check-in seemed to make the japanese hotel guy a bit anxious.
Also the Japanese are not THAT short, i mean i feel pretty confident i could take the majority on in a fist fight, but really, its not a country of midgets by any stretch of the imagination.
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this crazy mixed up town is doing my head in, the langauge barrier is totally full on, i've resorted to only eat when i encounter places with ticket machines, which is this fantastic idea where you select what your going to eat from a vending machine, put in money, it spits out a ticket which is handed to the person behind the counter....and they give you your meal... eliminates all communication...genius.
Their are lots of strange little quirks in regards to things like etiquette, that i simply don't get, firstly I know its considered rude to drink and eat while on the street, but their are a trillion vending machines (FYI: asahi in a vending machine is perhaps the greatest idea to-date), so people buy the drinks outside, but never seem to consume them then.
Same deal with cigarettes, i ,know an absolute ton of Japanese smoke, but its also considered rude to smoke on the street...in most places, so their are almost zero ashtrays.... its all very confusing.
Finally bowing.
Now i understand its a mark of respect/ greeting, but I dont understand the multi-bow, typically seen in women, where they bow several times, in short succession.
The last few days there has been a hell of alot of wandering.

when you have nowhere to be, its very difficult to get lost
-Gidz

The two real 'hubs' of youth activity are: Shinjuku and Shibuya, both are located relatively close to each other, and are the places that one goes for anything from fashiion, to love hotels.


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These Japanese kids have fashion down to an art, I've never encountered somewhere with such a diverse 'look', where in melbourne, 90% of the young people can probably be placed into 1 of about a dozen 'looks', the Japanese kids don't adhere to any rules, anything goes...seems to be quite a bit of influence from the UK, as well as US hip-hop. Which results in a crazy blend of colours, logos and whatever the hell else they want to wear.....and thats pretty much just the guys, the girls are a different story altogether.

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Second day here its rained, and rained and rained, I spent alot of time on the subway, trying to explore the city without getting wet, with only marginal success... gave in and just bought an umbrella, problem solved.

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well the city is big, i don't know what the fuck im doing, but i can buy beer out of vending machines, so Im sure it will be ok.
more to follow.

later all

Gidz