So last year, when I went to Bangladesh, I discovered that North Americans are crazy. This year in Japan I've discovered that the Japanese are crazy, crazier than North Americans (or at least Canadians) by half.
Today I saw a store exclusively devoted to dog fashions. It wasn't a pet store or a pet food store it was a clothing store for lapdogs. The cutest things there were animal costumes for your dog they had honey bee, bunny and cow.
I know it's a total cop-out but I ate lunch today at "Wolfgang Puck Express", did you guys know that Wolfgang Puck has a fast food chain in Japan? Me either!
Also there are Richard Gere ads all over, not sure what they are for, but it's pretty funny.
So I ate Western style food for lunch, but I also spent the whole day by myself sight seeing and shopping. I went to the Meiji Shrine which was built in 1920 to commemorate the Emperor Meiji who ended Japan's isolation from the outside world. It was really cool, and right as I arrived a busload of Germans showed up with a loud tour guide so I just followed them around at a distance and got a free tour, bonus!
Then I went to Harajuku and went shopping, that's where they had the dog clothing store and so much other cool stuff, all too small to fit me so I bought some hilarious sunglasses and a bracelet. After that I walked down the Rodeo Drive of Tokyo, that's where all the flagship stores like Chanel and Louis Vuiton are think Bloor St. from Avenue to Yonge except 20 times more glamour. I didn't really see anything in my price range, but it's fun to look.
I took the subway by myself today, it took a few tries, but I found the station I was looking for. On the way back I decided to walk for a while and take a taxi the rest of the way. So I pointed on the map to the cab driver where I wanted to go and he scrutinized the map. There's no point in giving an address because most of the streets here don't have any name at all, so the address the mailman uses is of no help to the cab driver. I had the hardest time trying to get him to drop me off in the general area so I could just find my own way from there. He was really determined to take me to the closest hotel to where I was pointing on the map. So when we finally got there, what a sweetheart, he wrote instructions on the map for me so the next cab driver would be able to find it more easily. Too bad there's no tipping in Japan because he really deserved one. On the flipside, no tipping rocks in every other circumstance, that is assuming the waiters are paid a living wage, I don't know if they are.
I think the guys at Vice magazine would have a field day here with their dos and don'ts section. A lot of the people here are dressed so well, you could just sit on a bench all day admiring people's outfits, on the other hand some of them are... yeesh! And the hair is totally Reggae Hairstyle Rock and Roll! Its so damn cool and the guys have these awesome hairstyles with suits so stylish only a gay man would wear them in Canada - so they are going to office jobs with amazing hair.
Speaking of Reggae Hairstyle Rock and Roll, the best t-shirt I saw today was one that said "Hectic Party Division Rockstar!"
Do you guys think I should go to a whale restaurant? I'm curious, but there's the ethical issue. Also Dan suggested I eat raw horse. I dismissed that idea outright, I don't know if I have a problem with horse consumption, but the raw part clinched it. Dan was telling me a story about having the chance to eat a big fried spider in Cambodia and saying no, then getting on the plane to leave and regretting it. I'd hate to regret something, but should I go out of my way to eat gross/unethical stuff just for kicks? I'm mulling it over. As for the fugu, I'm certainly not going to have any until the end of the trip, if at all.
Anyway, I had a pretty good day, now Jason and I are going out for a drink and meeting Dan-boy later.
Anyway, I had a pretty good day, now Jason and I are going out for a drink and meeting Dan-boy later.
5 comments:
Now that I think about it, I realize that if Dan wants me too eat something gross, I'm not going to have much of a choice. Sarah, remember the poison potato or that carbonized bun from the barbeque, and you and Dan saying, "EAT IT!" Oh God, I'm going to have to be here for two weeks with Dan yelling "EAT IT" at me at every meal! Oh well, I guess there's no such thing as a free lunch.
how could i ever forget?! "EAT IT!!" oh yes, you're just going to have to EAT IT!
and jenni, i've eaten raw horse, and it was delicious. and raw wild boar. it's all about the raw horse. but yeah, don't eat the whale. that's very wrong. horse yes, whale no....
can't you get tricanosis or something from eating raw pork products? i'd be concerned about eating raw boar.
also what does everyone have against cooking all of a sudden, command of fire and cooking of foods where a huge step in human cultural evolution which made life much easier and more pleasant and now everone is just throwing it away with both hands - is hygenic food preparation next? or flush toilets? That said, I love sushi.
Jenny, Since it's my second day with my new internet service, I feel it is of the utmost importance that my first official act on your blogsite is to leave a comment.
Eat the horse. Since you're in a country where the issue of ethics in eating, not only barnyard pets, but RAW barnyrd pets, is non existant, I say go for it.
Once you get back to Canada, the luxury of being immersed in foreign culture, and exposing yourself to new and somewhat questionable delicasies, wont exist. I say EAT the horse...AND the whale....It may be wrong...but when in Japan right?
Grab me a postcard from where they filmed the Last Samauri sending it is not necessary....LOVE that movie....
Sorry babe, Last Samurai was filmed in New Zealand. But I toured around so many cool old Japanese shrines and castles and houses, it totally made up for not getting to actually see any of the backdrops to the movie.
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