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Japan Day 12 - Shopping.
Today, I got up and did laundry in the morning. I met up with Carl and Oren first, they decided to go to Jingu, and I got my clothes together and trekked to the laundromat that the ryokan has a map to. (It's a different laundromat than the one I remember from 2 years ago.) Anyway, it wasn't too bad, except that I couldn't set temperatures and two of my shirts seemed to get damaged in the process somehow (but that might just be that one was a cheap Old Navy shirt and one was that Hanshin Tigers t-shirt that I shouldn't have bought in the first place). The good part was, there was a bento stand right near the laundry and so I was able to get breakfast and read more H2 and sit around while doing laundry. An old lady came in to dry stuff (not wash, oddly) for a while too, but she was completely incomprehensible to me, and I think she got the idea I didn't speak Japanese, which is a shame.
After that I met up with Carl and Oren, and we got curry for lunch near the station. Mmmm. Went to Akihabara after that, where I was pretty good about not buying a ton of crap, and pretty much just picked up some old Playstation 1 pop'n'music games, which I had planned to look for here, and they were really cheap, anyway. I saw a couple DVDs I might go back for if I don't find them cheaper, though. Carl bought a new electronic dictionary, which took him forever to pick out -- it was funny because I'd go do something like scour Asobits for 15 minutes, come back, he'd still be playing with dictionaries, so I'd go next door and play Pop'n for a bit, come back, he'd still be playing... yeah. Well, he did finally get one and it seems to be pretty complex and cool but it's by Casio, not Canon, so I guess it's not a Wordtank anymore. Hmm.
(btw, I now have PS1 Pop'n 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, and I know where I could go get 4 if I'm not being cheap about it.)
We headed to Shinjuku after that, where we got kaiten sushi at this place I remembered from my last two trips, Himawari, but it's been majorly remodeled since then! The most adventurous thing we had was the beef tataki sushi, which was sort of weird and I doubt I'll have it again, but I did have some other yummy things like seared salmon sushi and some katsuo and whatnot. Then I showed the guys Yellow Submarine, and nearly convinced Carl to buy the D&D 3.5 DM guide in Japanese, but he didn't. I did see Japanese Fluxx cards and am considering going back... even though I absolutely HATE Fluxx, it'd be pretty funny to have the cards in Japanese.
We went up the Shinjuku Metro Building because it's free, but the north tower isn't nearly as cool as the south tower, which I went up with DJ and Dave three years ago, and the south tower closes at 5pm, so eh. Then Oren came back to the ryokan, and Carl and I headed to the Book-Off in Kanamecho, where I mostly resisted buying things, but ended up getting the aforementioned PNM 1 and 2 there, and also the next 2 issues of H2.
Now I am at the internet cafe, and shortly heading back to the ryokan. Tomorrow I should be meeting up with one of my friends from the Mariners baseball forums who lives in Tokyo, and we'll hopefully see a Marines game if the weather permits.
BTW, just as an aside -- what I can't figure out here is -- people still point and snicker at me, mostly Japanese women of about 20 years old, and the thing is, is it just because I'm a gaijin or is it because I'm ugly, moreso compared to Japanese than Americans? I really can't tell. It came to a head last night heading back from Chiba when a pair of AMERICAN chicks pointed at me while saying something to each other, as I was heading between the bathroom and the rest of the Tokyo station. Yeah, my clothes are baggy because I've lost about 5-10 pounds here (I went and got a belt today at long last, I got sick of my pants slipping down), and yeah, I'm not stylish, and yeah, my face isn't pretty, and no, I don't wear makeup or do anything nice with my hair, but seriously, what the hell is wrong with these people? They see gaijin all the freaking time in Tokyo, I'd think they would stare and point LESS here. Sheesh.
Sorry, that was just a random rant. I don't know, unless I lost about another 40 pounds and suddenly became fashionable, I doubt I could ever live in Japan -- there's just too much pressure on women to actually care about their appearance, and I'm just no good at that. Sigh.
Anyway, I've been here an hour so I should go.
After that I met up with Carl and Oren, and we got curry for lunch near the station. Mmmm. Went to Akihabara after that, where I was pretty good about not buying a ton of crap, and pretty much just picked up some old Playstation 1 pop'n'music games, which I had planned to look for here, and they were really cheap, anyway. I saw a couple DVDs I might go back for if I don't find them cheaper, though. Carl bought a new electronic dictionary, which took him forever to pick out -- it was funny because I'd go do something like scour Asobits for 15 minutes, come back, he'd still be playing with dictionaries, so I'd go next door and play Pop'n for a bit, come back, he'd still be playing... yeah. Well, he did finally get one and it seems to be pretty complex and cool but it's by Casio, not Canon, so I guess it's not a Wordtank anymore. Hmm.
(btw, I now have PS1 Pop'n 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, and I know where I could go get 4 if I'm not being cheap about it.)
We headed to Shinjuku after that, where we got kaiten sushi at this place I remembered from my last two trips, Himawari, but it's been majorly remodeled since then! The most adventurous thing we had was the beef tataki sushi, which was sort of weird and I doubt I'll have it again, but I did have some other yummy things like seared salmon sushi and some katsuo and whatnot. Then I showed the guys Yellow Submarine, and nearly convinced Carl to buy the D&D 3.5 DM guide in Japanese, but he didn't. I did see Japanese Fluxx cards and am considering going back... even though I absolutely HATE Fluxx, it'd be pretty funny to have the cards in Japanese.
We went up the Shinjuku Metro Building because it's free, but the north tower isn't nearly as cool as the south tower, which I went up with DJ and Dave three years ago, and the south tower closes at 5pm, so eh. Then Oren came back to the ryokan, and Carl and I headed to the Book-Off in Kanamecho, where I mostly resisted buying things, but ended up getting the aforementioned PNM 1 and 2 there, and also the next 2 issues of H2.
Now I am at the internet cafe, and shortly heading back to the ryokan. Tomorrow I should be meeting up with one of my friends from the Mariners baseball forums who lives in Tokyo, and we'll hopefully see a Marines game if the weather permits.
BTW, just as an aside -- what I can't figure out here is -- people still point and snicker at me, mostly Japanese women of about 20 years old, and the thing is, is it just because I'm a gaijin or is it because I'm ugly, moreso compared to Japanese than Americans? I really can't tell. It came to a head last night heading back from Chiba when a pair of AMERICAN chicks pointed at me while saying something to each other, as I was heading between the bathroom and the rest of the Tokyo station. Yeah, my clothes are baggy because I've lost about 5-10 pounds here (I went and got a belt today at long last, I got sick of my pants slipping down), and yeah, I'm not stylish, and yeah, my face isn't pretty, and no, I don't wear makeup or do anything nice with my hair, but seriously, what the hell is wrong with these people? They see gaijin all the freaking time in Tokyo, I'd think they would stare and point LESS here. Sheesh.
Sorry, that was just a random rant. I don't know, unless I lost about another 40 pounds and suddenly became fashionable, I doubt I could ever live in Japan -- there's just too much pressure on women to actually care about their appearance, and I'm just no good at that. Sigh.
Anyway, I've been here an hour so I should go.
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People are just asshats about physical appearance. I get all kinds of negative reactions to the fact that I don't care about current fashion or wear makeup. I'm sorry you have to deal with that.
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Maybe Carl put a fish on your back?
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I always had the impression that Japanese cities were centers of fashion, so maybe a t-shirt and jeans on an American really stands out. (*shrugs!*)
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Your face != isn't pretty. Deliberate double negative, of course.
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And 20-year-old Japanese women in Tokyo are vapid wenches* anyway so you shouldn't pay them any mind.
*ALL PEOPLE WHO GENERALIZE SUCK!
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