RookJones's Xanga

Hey, it's New Entry Time!!

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 01:55:22 GMT

I have relocated! From now on, new stuff is gonna come from my new page. Go on and have a look, but be gentle, it's my first "real" blog.

--Luke

Trip Epilogue

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 02:23:43 GMT

Flying through time zones makes the sky do weird things. That above is actually the moon, not the sun.

Well, after some slight hassles with my passport being expired (it expired three or so days before I left Japan) and one of my pieces of luggage being too heavy ($25 charge), I managed to survive about a full days' worth of travel and came back home.

It feels goooood.

I do have jet lag and a profound weariness at this point, so I'm not expecting to make much more in the line of journal entries or new blogs or whatever at least for the rest of this week. I will say that I really like my new house in Virginia, and I think we're living in a much better area than we were before. And since I'm now living near Washington, which is a pretty interesting area in itself, that certainly warrants some more entries. So as soon as my Life Force starts to come back, I'll be getting on that.

Thanks again for reading!

These guys made it back OK too.

Supeshiaru Ripoto: Engrish!

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:24:12 GMT

Yes, for my last entry on this side of the ocean, I am going to show you the wealth of wrongly transliterated or badly selected English phrases which I found in Japan. And there are plenty of them. Check out the stuff at www.engrish.com if you don't believe me.

Here we go, posted (kind of) in the order I found them:

"Samurai House"

They live there. Found in: Downtown Tokyo

"Proud of being driver" (click to read more nonsense)

"Dream," "hope," and "happy" seem to be a common theme among large groups of English words. Found in: Hachioji while driving with Kensuke

"Let's Wild!!"

You can tell how wild the 80s hair band guy is, obviously he'd want you to join him. This is a wig, by the way. Found in: 100 yen shop in Tachikawa

"Lovely your Snack"

Are you trying to make a pass at my snack!? Back off, bub! Found in: Tachikawa shopping district

"The gate would fall down"

This is one of those things that alerts the store when you try to shoplift. Obviously what's worse is leaning against it and being occured trouble. Found in: Department store, Tachikawa

3can4on

English letters and numbers: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Found in: Moritown mall, Akishima

UniQlo

Would someone like to pronounce this for me? Found in: Moritown mall, Akishima

"Please not cross as danger"

Kyoto is a historically accurate city. This is true also in their usage of English. Found in: Heian Jingu garden, Kyoto

"Be careful of the footing sufficiently"

Also be careful of the english efficiently. Found in: Heian Jingu garden, Kyoto

Crunky.

Gonna get crunked up on--ok, I'm white. I'm sorry. Found in: Supermarket, Akishima (but just about everywhere, actually)

"MY house"

This is a pair of slippers which AGRESSIVELY defends their right to live in that house. Fight, slippers! Found in: Supermarket, Akishima

4D Puzzle

Not really Engrish, but come on...isn't the 4th dimension time or something? I'd really like to see how this puzzle incorporates time into its solution (not like timing the solving or something, that's too lame), but alas, I didn't buy it to find out. Found in: Supermarket, Akishima

"This propose your comfortable life"

The best thing is this is on toilet paper. Found in: Supermarket, Akishima

"Healthy and Delicious Cookingware"

I bet you thought the Japanese had a weird diet, but did you know they ate frypans too? Found in: Supermarket, Akishima

"A man of ideas"

This is funny because it's on the side of one of those little photobooths. As if only smart people really figure out what you're supposed to do with tiny, flash-bleached pictures of you and 12 friends squished into a wreath of flowers or kittens. Found in: Mount Fuji souvenir shop

"70 lemons"

You heard them, folks. Just one drink and your skin will be as yellow as the sun. Found in: Vending Machine, Mount Fuji

Hard Off.

If you don't understand why this is funny, I'm not going to explain it to you. Actually, Hard Off is a used electronics store, and I got my Famicom there. So despite their unfortunate name, it's actually a really nice store, as well as their "Spin-Off" brethren Book-Off, Hobby-Off, and Off-House. Found in: A lot of places, this one in Fussa

"touch and feel the Robot"

While this is talking about that huge statue of the robot from Laputa at the Ghibli Museum, it sounds really funny out of context. Found in: Ghibli Museum, Mitaka

"in the attic"

Yes, I also love to enjoy fashion in the attic. Like the stuff from the 20s that my great-grandfather left behind. Dang, that sounds awesome, I wish it were true... Found in: Clothes store, Harajuku

"welcome Biker and Deadhead"

This would be cool if there were anyone else besides Trendy People in Harajuku. Or if anyone in Japan actually knew what "biker" or "deadhead" actually meant... Found in: Fake American Hippie-themed Clothes Store, Harajuku

"A Bathing Ape"

I think this is the name of a clothes brand. Why is it that the phrase "bathing ape" actually comes accross as being more revolting than "dirty ape" or "filthy ape?" Found in: Harajuku

"conservation of resources"

Once again, something really grand-sounding for toilet paper. Toilet paper owns you. Also look for a typo in that one. Found in: Hotel where Mike and Lee stayed, Akishima

"Cheese Straight Burger"

Only heterosexual burgers here, baby! Found in: Burger Restaurant, Harajuku

"Flesh Food"

Yes! YES!! YESYESYESYESYES *jumps* Found in: Route 20, Hachioji

"We are particular about our clothes"

Oh yeah? Well so am I, snobs. Found in: Hachioji

"refreshing and exciting"

Let's let this one speak for itself. Found in: Convenient Store, Hachioji

"Dinning Bar"

I would prefer a ruckus bar. Found in: Hachioji

"Cinema Addicts"

Yeah, no kidding. Found in: Hachioji

"stamina peanuts"

Interviewer:"So, Crusher Joe, what's your secret to winning on round one every time?"
Crusher Joe: "STAMINA PEANUTS!"
Found in: 100 yen shop, Hachioji

"It is dear even if it takes"

Takes what? Your soul? Also, "Wood Factory." Once again, saynomore. Found in: 100 yen shop, Hachioji

[NO THUMBNAIL]
"I want to eat a dessert or a snack every day."

Yeah, well, me too, but I don't like root canals. Also look for a nice typo. Found in: 100 yen shop, Hachioji

"8 Cup Gun"

You betta watch out, foo, or I'll bust a CUP in yo--oh, sorry. White. Found in: 100 yen shop, Hachioji

"Sound Gun"

"I love the smell of sound in the morning!" Found in: 100 yen shop, Hachioji

"Straight Flash"

They may have actually meant to say straight flash, but that's far too riddled with innuendo to overlook. Found in: Vending Machine, Hachioji Station

And finally, my favorite one ever.

"awesome"

This is a shirt. It's my favorite because I wear it. Click on it for a veritable goldmine of strange and out-of-place phrases. The same store also had some other gems, like one which said "NOSH UP" (what on earth..?) and another one talking about how great peanut butter and pickles are in the morning or something. It was truly difficult to decide, but the color and the sheer AWESOMEness of this one prompted me to buy it. I do not regret it. Found in: Awesome Clothes Store, Mitaka

And that's it! I have some more stuff to talk about, but I'm going to continue when I get home. I'm planning to move to a "real" blog host, so that everyone can comment, instead of just the people who have Xangas. I like the comments, yo.

I'm going to stay up all night and catch my bus to the airport tomorrow morning at about 7:30. Then a mere 20 or so hours later and I'll be home! Please pray for my safe travel (and sanity)!

Great Thanks to all who read this the whole time! I've put a lot of heart and soul into it, so it means a lot to me!

And don't forget to read the special double-issue comic!

Sayonara!

--Luke Jones

One More Time in Akishima

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 14:27:05 GMT

I opted to go church today with Masa and his family, so I woke up early and took the train to Haijima (close to his church). I hung around with them until about 5 pm, and took advantage of that time to take pictures of my favorite places in Akishima! Uh...you shouldn't be surprised that some of those places have to do with toys and games!

First, here's a picture of Masa's church:

You can see that it's dwarfed by the surrounding apartment buildings. Unusual shape for a church, huh? Doesn't really matter, though, long as it has people in it. After church, Masa's family took me out to eat again at one of the best places ever:

Sushiro! Yes!! Masa's sister needed to check on prices of PSPs for her brother, so we next stopped at A-Too, the place where I bought most of my Famicom games. So far, I haven't found better prices anywhere in Japan. Also, take a look at their awesome selection! On to the next stop:

Bell House is, quite simply, the best toy store on the face of the earth. If they also carried used toys, it would absolutely perfect. Similar to A-Too, I never found a toy store which had awesome prices and selection like Bell House anywhere else in Japan, despite being taken to numerous toy stores by Kensuke. Pictures of the inside:

Left to right: A wall of Ultraman and similar characters; a selection of kaiju (monsters, these ones from Ultraman); massively discounted Zoids section; on the second floor, more Gundam kits than you'll ever need. Not pictured: Transformers section, similarly covered in discounts; videogames section; collector toy section; polite employees; people playing Yu-Gi-Oh or something on the second floor; my face going crazy the first time I went in here. You should be proud of me that I didn't spent my entire trip's money in this store.

Finally, we have Tsutaya. I didn't take a picture of it from the outside, but Tsutaya is the place I rented movies throughout my stay in Akishima. They have a gigantic selection of Japanese superhero shows, which I love, as well as every Godzilla movie, except for the one with Mechagodzilla from the 90s. They also have a ton of anime, of which the only kind I rented was the kind with giant robots. Not to mention their massive selection of CDs for rent. Over the course of my stay, I rented, copied, and added subtitles to 13 Godzilla/daikaiju (giant monster) movies which either didn't have a good release in America or hadn't been released at all. It was pretty exciting.

I then hung out with Masa and his family in their apartment until about five. Their apartment, of course, is among my favorite places from Japan, but I didn't take any new pictures of it. Kensuke is always talking about how there is "really nothing" in Akishima, but it seems to me I found the best stuff there, not to mention the best Japanese family ever.

Oh, but wait! The entry's not over yet! Special bonus section: Pachinko!!

There's this thing in Japan, called Pachinko. It's kind of a form of pinball, but less fun, which people play for money. Saying that Pachinko parlors are abundant in Japan is like saying there's a lot of hair on a gorilla. I dare you to find a town which has less than ten parlors. I think there are fifty or sixty, probably more, in Hachioji alone. Well anyway, the point of me saying all this is that Kensuke took me to a nearby parlor tonight to show me what it's all about. Following is the true account.

I can show you some pictures, but experiencing pachinko requires generous use of all five senses. For one thing, if you get anywhere near a pachinko joint, you will smell bowling-alley grade cigarette smoke. People smoke in those places, a lot. Actually, I was expecting to find the ceiling obscured by a low haze of smoke judging by the smell, but somehow they manage to keep the whole place looking shiny and new.

After parking on a second-story parking deck, Kensuke took me in through the automatic front doors. What I was immediately met by can only be described as a wall of sound. This sound was caused by approximately 15.7 gajillion little shiny metal balls tumbling endlessly through the isle-shaped units forming the pachinko machines. The use of fake numbers is necessary to describe just how ridiculously many little metal balls were falling at all times. I think if you took all the pachinko balls in japan and melted them into one big sphere, it would alter the earth's gravity substantially.

Sorry for the people-obscured pic, I was kind of wary of taking pictures in there and getting pelted with pachinko balls by a cross-faced old woman or something.

So the basis of pachinko goes like this: you feed 1000 yen (about $10) to the slot-shaped mouth on the side of the machine. This causes the pachinko balls to start firing inside the machine, and a little knob on the lower right corner controls their trajectory. Their fall is hindered by a myriad of carefully-placed pins, which they bounce off of in a chaotic fashion. Most of the balls fall down the hole at the bottom of the machine, where they are probably recycled into the Massive Ball Tumbler deep within the heart of the building. Some of them fall into a little mouth above that hole, which causes the slots on the video screen behind the balls to start spinning. If the slots match up, balls come out of the machine and pour into a waiting tray underneath it. The more balls you get, the more money you win.

Here is an Evangelion-themed machine, and here is Super Sea Story, the latest and most popular machine. It's one of the more annoying things I've ever seen.

Kensuke spent something like 4000 yen and got nothing. I spent nothing and got a free pachinko ball from the floor! Woo-hee!

One more entry to be made in Japan! (note: I'm going to continue this journal)

Graveyard Walk and a Meal of Eel

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 16:06:10 GMT

Once again, a combination of events which occured on different days. The first took place two days ago...which is Thursday, I think. Mrs. Katayama, in her extrovertedness (this was before the karaoke, though), invited me to walk with her to the graveyard I mentioned earlier above the Katayama house.

There's a steep hill behind the Katayama house, I suppose one side of it leads to the Kishioin temple, but the other side is a graveyard. Before making it to the graveyard, however, we ran into a small shrine:

These two imposing dudes are tengu, mischievous or villainous spirits that live in mountains. I don't remember all of the mythology surrounding them, but supposedly they live in the mountains of Takao, close to here. Climbing up further, we saw a large bell, which I think they ring only once a year. Presently we stumbled upon a shrine, which, in a pleasant surprise, was surrounded by little statues of Totoro characters:

From left to right: The nekobus (cat bus); the smallish Totoro; the tiny Totoro; mom, who I think should be too old to be able to see the nekobus; May-chan; the big Totoro; some dust spirits; another dust spirit; good old granny watching over like a sentinel. Happening upon these characters in a remote shrine area is almost like actually encountering them in real life, so it was really a nice surprise to say the least. Mom didn't know they were here, somehow, either.

Just past here was the cemetary. Cemetaries aren't scary during the day.

Left to right: A group of kind old folks' graves; a kindly woman goddess whose name I don't remember and whose head was suspended over that town in the previous entry; an impressive view of Hachioji from the cemetary; a view of the cemetary; a childs' grave; some boards bearing names; a well-adorned grave. The one thing that seems to be true of Japanese graves in general is that they are far more complicated than American ones. While this doubtlessly means they are more pretty, it also seems like they'd be a lot more expensive. I'll take a more subtle and less respectful burial than this.

From here we went into the woods surrounding the graveyard, which are good for catching kabuto (horned beetles), and also good for just seeing insect life in general, which you'll soon see. Okay, let's play "find that insect!" Come on, humor me. Let's start with an easy one:

There's a pretty large spider in that one. I think you should be able to see it from the thumbnail, if your eyes are good. Here is a closeup image if you give up.

This one has an adult kamakiri (praying mantis) somewhere. He blends in with the leaves pretty well, but I think if you look hard enough, you'll see him. Here's the closeup.

I think you'll have a pretty hard time with this one. There's a young kamakiri here, but he's not green like the last one. When you give up, here is a closeup of the little guy.

I really like mantises, so I couldn't resist picking one up to see what would happen. Kensuke's mom caught one by his hind leg, and when she picked him up, he did this little ballet move suspended in midair. Here and here are a couple more shots of the confused little kamakiri. Also along the way we saw a sanagi (pupa) which neither of us could identify.

We soon left the forest, as we were being continuously attacked by ka (mosquitoes), although later it seems all of them bit mom and none of them bit me. I guess there are some perks to racism towards Americans in Japan... We continued for a short walk through the surrounding neighborhood, stopping at a little playground where mom insisted upon taking some awkward pictures.

Once again, fun to walk in the graveyard and look at bugs, but I think spending time with Kensuke's mom is going down as one of the most awkward things in the history of Luke Jones. Seriously, she's one of those women who ask tons of questions, like about what kind of girls I like and whether kissing on trains is ok, and I barely even know enough Japanese to ask what time it is. Also, she's continuously buying or giving me random gifts, like an orange hand towel with the Japanese Giants baseball team logo on it, and a selection of clothes for my family (I appreciate the thought, but I don't think any of it is to their tastes). Good thing I only was here for a little over a week, right? Does that sound heartless? Sorry.

Part two: less awkward, more delicious! After shopping a bit with dad today, he took me out to eat at a little restaurant somewhere in Hachioji.

Nice looking place, huh? Their specialty is unagi. That's Japanese for eel! Yes!! Honestly, if anyone is grossed out about eating eel, they should throw their impressions out the window, because it is very good. This was a very traditional looking Japanese restaurant, complete with a little area where you sit on the tatami (floor mats) rather than chairs. We took the chairs, but I would have been OK with the floor too. Here are pictures of the amazing meal:

The meal as a whole (served with hot green tea); the soup, the name of which I forgot even after being told it repeatedly (it's not miso; it has pieces of eel in it and tastes less salty); the salad, which consisted of dressed cucumber and some other kind of crunchy vegetable; the unagi, served on a bed of white rice. I can't really describe the flavor, but it was much more rich than most fish I've eaten, comparable to salmon, but still different. On my top 10 list of Meals I've Eaten in Japan, easily.

Two more days, two more entries (in Japan, anyway).

Kamakura and Karaoke

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 09:41:58 GMT

This is a mixture of things which happened on Wednesday and on Today (Friday). Normally I would attempt to write in chronological order, but the stuff that happened today was too funny not to write about now.

First, the events on Wednesday. Kensuke took a day off from work (normally he works all day) to take me someplace, that place being Kamakura, an oceanside village famous for its--well, you'll just have to wait and see. Or scroll down and look at the pictures immediately. But that's cheating.

On the way there, a couple of odd individuals boarded our train. I thought they were just drunk out of their minds, but Kensuke informed me they were probably mentally handicapped or something. Walking through one station, we noticed one of the two arguing loudly with a station worker. After we passed, Kensuke through stifled laughter told me the man was trying to force the worker to build a restroom right there, because he really had to pee. It's sad, yes, but I couldn't help laughing too.

As things would happen, it was the rainiest day in Japan since I've gotten here. It rained all day, especially when we were in Kamakura. The trip was a little over an hour. Above is the street in Kamakura. I didn't take too many pictures on account of holding an umbrella continuously, but Kamakura is your basic small touristy town, with a bit of a New England harbor town feel.

I'll save you any suspenseful buildup, as we walked straight to where we were going as soon as we got off the train. We passed through a san-mon gate, taking a look at some kind of angry-faced deity dwelling inside. After Kensuke paid the 200 yen entry fee for both of us (very nice of him), we kept walking and were immediately presented with this:

This is the daibutsu, or "great Buddha" of Kamakura. It's one of the largest statues I've ever seen (take a look at the person walking up from the right for an idea of the scale). It was originally cast in 1252 AD, also making it one of the oldest statues/things I've ever seen. It doesn't take a buddhist to appreciate the beauty of this statue. Even in the rain (which I really didn't mind) it was majestic in its silence. Some more pictures:

Left to right: an unusual flower sculpture in front of the daibutsu; dripping daibutsu; little windows in his back; strange metal things at the base shaped like tongues; shot from the side; inside the daibutsu (cost: 20 yen); one last shot. You might think it's weird to pay 200 yen to see a statue, but that's actually cheaper than anything in Kyoto.

Before we left the area, we visited one of the gift shops. Kensuke bought me this drink, pronounced "rah-muu-neh." Unlike most normal drinks, Ramune is opened by pounding ones fist upon a little button at the opening. Kensuke also forgot to tell me that this action causes an explosion 100% of the time, so I soon had Ramune on my hands and pants as well. Fortunately since it was raining it didn't matter. The drink was pretty good, too.

Here is the quaint train station in Kamakura where we waited for the train for ten or fifteen minutes. While I was here I took a couple pictures of the vending machines: I don't think I've talked about it before, so let me tell you about how much better Japanese vending machines are than American. Now let me clarify one thing first: I love America. I can't wait to come back. But our vending machines stink. All they have is soda or uncarbonated sugar. Here are a couple of Japanese ones: 1 2. Notice the variety of drinks present, even in the coke-themed one. Most machines have a good selection of tea (usually green), coffee, and juice drinks before they have any soda at all. You may also notice that several of the drinks have a red line underneath instead of a blue; that means it's hot. The way the machines show samples of every drink is pretty nice, too. Okay, rant over.

Finally, on the long trip back, as we were passing through a small mountain town by train, my eyes fell upon something worth noting. Take a look. Then take a closer look. Whoa! That head is huge! I think she easily rivals the daibutsu in size, but by the looks of it is younger. Wouldn't it be weird, living in that town with a massive face looking down at you all day?

Now for entry part two. Kensuke's mom likes to take me places, even though we can barely communicate (I think she's usually home alone all day, so it's understandable). After hitting some kind of clothing store today, we happened upon the local karaoke joint. She told me they had a lot of different kinds of drinks, and began making for the entrance. I was starting to get scared. Karaoke? That's like, an introvert's worst nightmare, besides dancing and public speaking! Well fortunately Japanese karaoke is quite different than American (actually I knew that already). So, here's how it goes.

Truth be told, I've never been to a karaoke bar in America. I never really had any interest in trying to sing to an electronic-remixed version of a popular song in front of a large audience. But I do at least know how it works. It's different in Japan. Here, you rent a little room with a table and chairs (there were many different types and sizes) and a karaoke system. There are several books (like, phonebook-sized) of songs, a remote for dialing them in, and two microphones. By default, the TV blared popular Japanese music videos and kids' movie trailers.

The first thing I looked at was the large food menu, which included this ridiculously bizarre and huge dessert. I knew the moment was coming when I was going to have to face the music, literally, though. Now let me tell you something. I enjoy listening to Japanese music, sometimes. In fact, I've listened to some particular songs so many times that I actually know the words, even though I don't understand them. Most of these songs are openings or closings to anime that I've seen. Incidentally, the phonebook-sized songbook included some of the songs in Japanese that I knew. So, in order to relieve the awkwardness caused by being taken to a karaoke joint with my Japanese friend's 45-summat-year-old mother...

I sang them.

With soul.

The neat thing about some of these songs is for the more famous ones, they play footage of the shows as the song plays. And Robert, hopefully you're reading this, because yes, I did attempt to sing this song, but not in English. Ever. I kind of failed after the first verse, though. Kensuke's mom sang the opening theme for Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy), which my dad watched as a child and which is credited for being the very first anime.

When the song isn't famous or notable enough to warrant its own video, there tends to be some kind of weird Japanese stock footage having nothing to do with the song going on in the background. For instance, the closing theme to Transformers: Superlink showed continuous footage of people exercising. Oh, and since this is Japan, they had an extensive selection of American music, too. I tried to sing Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper, which had background footage of a Japanese girl leaning over a highway overpass and then putting on some lipstick. Hopefully that's not going to go through my mind next time I listen to them.

Some more of the songs I sang/tried to sing:
-Naruto closing, Mountain A-Go-Go Two
-Combattler V opening
-The Pillows, Little Busters
-Simon and Garfunkel, Mrs. Robinson, At the Zoo and A Hazy Shade of Winter
-The Beatles, Help (didn't do too well on that one)
-White Christmas
-Frosty the Snowman (yep)

It was fun. But I'm going to need about three years of accumulated introvert-time to recover from this, Kensuke's mom, and Japan in general. Good thing I bought that Famicom, eh?

The Exploration of Hachioji

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 16:25:10 GMT

I think Kensuke's mom thought I was ridiculous when I was trying to explain to her that I wanted to take a walk just for the sake of taking a walk, but nevertheless that's what I did. Actually I did it for the express purpose of getting lost in Hachioji and finding my way back. And that's exactly what happened.

I'm using ImageShack now because I'm afraid of PhotoGiga's stability, even though they are back online (thankfully!).
Here's the road out of Kensuke's neighborhood. From there on out, I was prepared to be on my own. Hey, I can't own an Indiana Jones hat and not go on some adventures.

Here is a Japanese stop sign. The red theme seems to be pretty universal, but the word reads "Tamare" I think. Another different thing about Japanese culture is that everyone owns a lot of umbrellas. Using umbrellas in the rain is a cultural thing, kind of like removing ones shoes at the door. One of the first things I passed on my trip was a high school, which indeed look exactly as they do in anime. In fact I even saw a girl lean out of the window and clap some chalk erasers together. Some things about anime are true, after all... If you were wondering what ever happened to the shogun, here is your answer. That's a pachinko (Japanese pinball, gambling) parlor, by the way. As I continued, here are some more things I saw:

I'm not sure why the thumbnail is not available for the last one. From left to right: The river, which I figured I'd use to find my way back; a selection of gachapon (capsule toy) dispensers; "Kuroneko Yamato" (black cat yamato), the Japanese equivalent of Fed Ex; a Ramen noodle shop; an extremely freaky animatronic worker waving a warning bar with a backwards arm. I'm serious, that guy is really scary when you see him waving that zombie arm. Especially because you can't see his eyes.

By this time I was on the main highway (route 20) through Hachioji. I took a slight detour to take a look at this really sad row of businesses. Every last one of them is a pub, and I think (hope) that every last one of them have been closed for a very, very long time. Up on that street I ran accross a small restaurant which had some Japanese pop culture posters on the outside:
Tetsujin 28 Go: Known in the US as "Gigantor," this was the first Japanese cartoon starring a giant robot. My dad watched it as a child.
Some Ultraman Movie: I somehow don't recognize this particular Ultra. It looks like a theatrical poster, and for some reason his lower face is exposed.
Secret Detective: This must be a pretty cool show about an adolescent detective who wears oddly-shaped glasses, but I've never heard of it.

I then resumed my stroll down route 20. Eventually I reached an intersection, where there was a raised walkway over the highway, where I got a nice bird's eye view. (views: 1 2 ) The helpful highway signs told me that one way led to Hachioji Station, and I wanted to go there, so I went that way.

On the way I went under a covered shopping area and past a Japanese Denny's. Eventually the road ended and I came upon a large cobblestone-pave shopping area. Most of the shops weren't of interest to me, but it was a pretty area. Also, there was some 30s-ish sounding jazz playing from hidden speakers somewhere, and that made me happy and more homesick for America. Some more pictures of the shopping area:

Left to right: A weird little man climbing a weird little ladder; "Dream Theater," a tiny little amphiteater/gazebo which looks like it lights up at night; some colorful hanging paper which I think is peoples' wishes; some little birds which were sadly turned into stainless steel; movie posters for some American movie and yet another Pokemon movie with the same plot as all the others.

After the 30s Jazz sadly gave way to some some poppy stuff and some unnecessary American southern gospel/female rap stuff, I finally reached Hachioji station.

It's pretty big. I went right through it, and out the other side.

That's the south side of the station. It doesn't even look like the same town, does it? I went from here and explored this much more humble part of Hachioji. I noticed a cement-flanked river here, but I don't think it was the same river from before. Strolling through a neighborhood, I suddenly ran accross this. It really looks like some kind of pan-dimensional-time-rift accident, but I think they were just working on tearing down this old house and took a break. Still, it looked pretty cool. More pictures from the south side of Hachioji:

Left to right, top to bottom: Flying carpet-riding curtain company mascot; photo of an uphill neighborhood into which my finger intruded; a very sad bench; a business selling Apartments and "Mansions;" a large "o" shaped sculpture which I think is secretly used to communicate with aliens; poster for the new Ghibli movie (Tales of Earthsea); Japanese Coca-Cola slogan; a bus stop for the "bee bus." At this point I was back at the station, and passed through it again to start my trip back. In the station I stopped at an open window and leaned out to look at the trainyard and the chuosen (central line), which is the orange train. It goes into Tokyo.

Back in the larger part of Hachioji, since I like to do things the long and hard way, I started going back a different way than I came. Some of the things I saw on the way:

Left to right: The Cantina (hopefully the one from Star Wars); A weird statue which was labeled "The Horn of Peace;" an imposing sculpture of an alien from Aliens which appears to be made out of nuts and bolts (found in a small, overpriced toy store); a sizeable temple; a pair of strange mascot characters who frequently appear in front of drugstores.

By this point I decided to get off the main road and find the river which surely would lead me back to the Katayama household. I indeed did find a river, and crossed this bridge to get accross it (as Kensuke's house is on the other side of the river). The bars on the bridge are decorated with images of the Sewer Samurai, who probably owned the area in ancient times (but now just the sewer). Here is the river as it appeared then and here is the surrounding area. I started following the river, which was very nice, quiet, and relaxing compared to the urban main road area. Some of the sights along the river:

A small, unusually European looking restaurant; a bridge accross the river lined with many small statues; one of the small statues. I walked and walked, and eventually ran into a highway overpass crossing the river. At this point, partially because I noticed the river forking and partially because of the amount of time I had been walking, I started to doubt that I was going the Right Way. I decided to cross the river under the highway, which was easy enough. In the previous pic you may notice a small group of people sitting on the white concrete squares under the highway; it wasn't fishermen this time but a little group of students smoking and doing God knows what else. I steered clear of them. Some more pictures from during and after crossing the river:

Left to right, top to bottom: The river viewed head-on; a lesser bridge made from a door; rice paddies in the small neighborhood accross the river; a poster of Koizumi, Japan's Prime Minister who is friends with G Dubya and is going out of office in September; a photo of the road from when I was really starting to get lost; a forest walkway which I didn't follow because I was too lost and tired; and finally the river again, this time going the opposite direction because I had somehow completely turned around. Doing a 180 is a sure sign that you're totally lost, so I decided from here to navigate back to the main highway and go back the way I came.

I did that. It rained on me a bit on the way back from there, probably as punishment for failing to go back a Different And More Interesting Way. I did, however, stop at Book-Off (a used book/cd/game store) and picked up a couple CDs, each for 1000 yen. One is the Yu Yu Hakusho OST, which I thought was a great deal until Kensuke told me I could have gotten it for 100 yen (he always says stuff like that though). The other was a Hayao Miyazaki anime music collection, but I failed to realize that it was all music box remixes. Oh well. Even though I apparently paid too much for it, I still consider the Yu Yu Hakusho OST a successful buy. And Kensuke's mom seemed to like the Miyazaki CD a lot.

And that was my adventurous outing in Hachioji. Kensuke thought I was crazy for walking such a long distance. My legs thought so too, but I think I'm sane.

Fritzing

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 05:15:46 GMT

My second image host is now acting up. Obviously I'm not looking in the right places.

Cautionary Cartoons

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 11:14:13 GMT

One especially funny thing I've noticed about Japan is their abundant use of cartoons as a method of instruction. The humorous nature of these posters prompted me to write an entry about them. Most of the following images I captured while I was walking around Hachioji yesterday (but this isn't the entry about that particular outing).

This one you can probably figure out without having to read the Japanese. The first few words read "Inu no fun," which means "dog poop." I'm pretty sure the rest of the sentence doesn't read "feel free to leave it anywhere." This is the most evil version of this particular message I saw. Seriously, that dog looks evil.

This means, "Don't leave your telephone underground, because the evil Back Hoe of Destruction will dig it up." It kinda looks like the Back Hoe of Destruction has some sort of blood vain pulsing through its neck/arm, doesn't it? You know, I didn't realize until just now that Back Hoe is just an L and and R away from "Black Hole." That just put back hoes up a few notches higher on the cool-o-scale, which they were pretty high on in the first place.

I guess this one is actually an advertisement, but it included a cartoon man so I snapped it. He appears to be suffering from some kind of ailment which is probably not cancer or leprosy, because presumably the medicine advertised in the lower right can cure it. Although they might have made a cancer-repellent cream in Japan and just not told us about it. Who knows? Probably the Sewer Samurai does.

This means "Pigeons are pompous and borish animals, so they won't eat your stupid human food even if you try to feed them. Also, they will poop on you repeatedly if you continue reading this poster." Well, that didn't really happen to me, but I still am holding a grudge against pigeonkind for their grave crime against my shoulder from back in Akihabara. Oh, and the sign really just means "don't feed the pigeons," but I liked my version better.

It became clear to me from these two signs that the road to happiness, rainbows, and a new more peaceful Earth is acheived by cleaning up your dog's poo. Every time.

This was on the side of a convenient store. Um, I don't have an inventive explanation for it. Buy their stuff and get happy I guess.

Finally, my favorite one. I found this one on the front of an extremely dilapedated (and hopefully closed forever) pub, and you can probably tell the condition of the sign by just looking at it. It seems to mean "don't get too drunk, because your car will hate you and kill you immediately." That poor guy. If only his best friends weren't Asahi and Kirin...

By the way, you may have heard about Korea shooting a bunch of missiles at Japan; dont worry, they all fell in the ocean or something, so we're OK. Even if they fire more, Japan has Gundams, so I don't think there'll be any problems. =)

I'm putting two comics in this entry so they can catch up with the present. Hope you don't mind.

(one comic, two parts:)

I went to Kamakura today, probably the last big trip I'll make. Details forthcoming.

Down by the River

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 11:32:02 GMT

SO, my first report on Hachioji. Mrs. Katayama invited me to walk the dog with her yesterday, so I gladly went along with that. Mrs. Katayama likes to chat with me, which gives me a chance to practice my Japanese, but gets kind of confusing since she knows about as much English as I know Japanese (re: not much).

Here is the road immediately outside the Katayama house. Exciting, eh? Close to the house is a temple, named Kishioin. A narrow road leads up to it. Kensuke told me there's a graveyard up there too, but it's too scary. We'll see. One thing I've noted about Japanese road systems is they usually have these little mirrors at corners, probably because the roads are so narrow and houses usually go right up to the corners. They might exist in the states too, but I've not seen them. There are also a lot of stairs in Japan, because there are a lot of hills. I noticed that the sewers have some kind of design on them, and because I don't know who it is, I decided it's the Sewer Samurai. He lives down there.

I see posters for "Through Wider Windows" everywhere, but I'm not sure what that is. I think it's some kind of art show. Or maybe it's military propaganda. I don't know, I like to make stuff up. On the way, Mrs. Katayama pointed out to me the Japanese version of "Beware of Dog", or just "Dog." The little orange sticker says "inu," which is Japanese for dog. As we went along, I noticed something which is rare in Japan: empty space. Close by was a small farm with corn.

Sometimes Japanese uses English words in pretty funny ways. Their word for "large apartment" is "mansion" (lit: "manshyon"). When I explained to Masa what mansion means in English, he thought it was pretty hilarious. Kinda says something about the space different in Japan, huh? Finally, we got down to the river, which was kind of dirty. From here we took a leisurely stroll close to the riverbanks, as Mrs. Katayama attempted to explain some of the flora and fauna to me. More pictures of the river:

Note those big cement pieces in the 6th and 7th pictures: you should be able to see some men sitting on them, they were fishing through little holes in the cement. Some awful big fish in that river. Not sure what kind they were. As we walked along the river, Mrs. Katayama stopped this one girl so she could take a picture of us. It was with her camera though, so sorry, you don't get to see that picture. The young woman she stopped was running wearing all black though. Even gloves.

As we started heading back, as Mrs. Katayama was showing me some kind of berries, I noticed this guy. Do you see him? As her hand was passing over that leaf, I pointed him out (kamakiri!). She was kinda jumpy about him, but complimented me on my good eyesight. Actually I'm just always looking for kamakiri. Back in the neighborhood, we noticed Miffy in the windows of this one house. Why do I remember Miffy? Did it come out in America? I can't remember.

Near the Katayama house there is this neat Kindergarten, from which sounds of kids playing flow freely, as well as loud songs and other stuff like that. It also has one of the most fun-looking playground environments I've ever seen. Some pictures:

Finally, a couple pictures of Kensuke's house from the outside:

I went exploring Hachioji today; that'll probably be my next entry. Now to find something to do which doesn't involve me trying to communicate in Japanese.