Japan Part II

I will begin this post by tying down some loose ends from my last blog post, in which I described my 18 hour layover in Tokyo.  At various points, I was unsure of whether or not the past tense of 'to drink' was 'drunk' or 'drank'.  I indicated this by writing 'drank (drunk?)' as a way to indicate my uncertainty.  Since then, I have determined that the past tense of  'to drink' is, indeed 'drank', and that 'drunk' is exclusively an adjective, describing the state of having drank (drunk?) too much alcohol.

So, I mentioned that I had been cheated out of $20.  Here is how it happened; I went into a 7-11 (actually called just 7, remember) and I saw these little round breaddy things in little baggies (see picture) all connected.  That is, the baggies were connected by perforations at their ends.

So, imagine like five or six of these things attached together by their serrated, perforated ends.  So the logical thing to do is rip off the final one, and just buy that one.  But instead, I rip off the last one, as well as a hole in the second to last one, and the little bready round things fall all over the floor.  No problem, I pick them all up before anyone notices; maybe one guy just sees me pick up a single bready thing.  So, when I go  to pay, I indicate using sign language that I want to pay for two.  Instead, the clerk walks over to where the things were, and says that I have to buy the whole strip.  And he says (if I remember) that it is 2000 Yen!  Which is like $20. But at that point, the two glasses of Sake were enough to make me oblivious, that I was being cheated, as well as to the fact that the Seven clerk was bringing DISHONOR to the whole of Japan through his perfidious actions.  To any Japanese people who may be reading this, that was a joke.

I was at this 7-11 on the way from retracing the route from the internet cafe where I would sleep, to the train station.  On the way, I see a pretty awesome street performer.  In America, you sometimes see guys just playing solo Jazz trumpet or saxaphone, imrpovising, but never sounding any good.  But this guy accompanied himself with DJ equipment that he controlled with his feet. He was jamming!

In this video, he was not quite on his game, but believe me, he could be when he wanted to.

I should also mention a small other story; when I got my second bowl of Ramen, they were playing the Beatles in the restaurant.  When the song 'If I fell' came on, I sort of started singing it aloud, and really in tune.  This group of Japanese girls could hear me; hopefully they realized 'people actually know these English songs'.

Finally, the internet cafe was interesting, in and of itself.  Apparently Japenese people sleep here when they have been out clubbing later than the last subway train.  There was a whole machine full of interesting Japanese complimentary soft drinks!  But by that point I had come to accept that every country that I visit will have way too many interesting new soft drinks than I can try without catching the beetus.  There was also an extensive library of Japanese comics for people to read.  And a shower, but it was locked, and I could have asked for the key, but I was tired, and didn't feel like going through the logistics of being wet.
The place where I slept was a small square, where I couldn't quite extend myself, even if I lay along the hypotenuse.

A final interesting thing about Japan is that they have designated smoking zones in the middle of the sidewalk.

I am not sure if this is the only place where you are allowed to smoke, or what.  Anyway, at these places I could always ask for directions, because I had a captive audience.  With regards to American politics, I am not sure of where I stand with regards to the government restricting smoking in private restaurants; on one hand it infringes on the rights of bar owners to set the rules for what happens on the premises of their own businesses, while on the other, I really hate cigarettes.  Japan, however, seems to have taken it a step further.  Upon further consideration, the government does have an undeniable right to control what may be seen as a public nuisance (ie smoking in the streets).  But the effect was to create areas where there was a really  unpleasant haze, whereas without the restriction, the cigarette smoke would  have been diluted.


I will conclude my discussion of my time in Japan by mentioning that I did, in fact, see a certain amount of Japan's sleazy side.  Twice (on the same block) I was harassed by women of loose morals on the street, and was forced to politely jog away.

Even though there is almost no litter on the streets of Japan, I did, in fact, see quite a few men spitting on the sidewalk.

At one point I saw a rat in an alley.

The most sleazy example by far, though, was a strange establishment that I saw in some shady alley.  I would frequently walk down dark alleys, in search of interesting places like that small bar I mentioned in my last post. (Keep in mind that there is almost no violent crime in Japan.  I would use better judgment in a city like London, for example).  Many times I did, in fact see interesting small restaurants.  But once, I saw a guy just sort of sitting at a desk in an open storefront.  I approached him, and tried to ask just what kind of  business he was running there. I tried offering small sums of money for maybe a small whatever product he was selling (specialty fish products maybe?); but he reacted with scared, angry indignation.  So, at that point I realize that this guy was running some kind of shifty operation.  At that point I do some make shift sign language, to him, demonstrating non-standard ways of taking in substances (I was just trying to figure out what the deal was!).  He kept on reacting with the same shifty attitude.  I then hold up my iphone, non-verbally asking permission to take a photograph. He REALLY wasn't happy about that.  Then I notice an easel with pictures of scantily clad women, and I high tail it out of there.

So, overall Japan was pretty cool, I guess.

I have been in Singapore for about a month now.  In that time, I have met amazing people from all over the world, tried amazing food, and even traveled to Hong Kong for a weekend. But just like every successful installment in a series of masterpieces, this blog post is ending with a cliffhanger.  Until next time!