japan part 2
where did we leave off? toy machines and lurking architecture.....
right.
there are many many things to love about japan. in some murky future I will devote a whole entry to my undying love for japanese convenience stores. seriously, I thought about them and their wealth of perfect-for-me products (15 varieties of unsweetened iced tea, fishnet kneehighs, four kinds of creampuffs, twenty kinds of rice balls, noodle sandwiches, etc) for a solid year, everyday, after my trip. I would stumble into american 7-elevens or circle ks and shake my head, cursing the fact that was thousands of miles away from my goal and here there was nothing but candy, soda, beer and stale chips.
if only someone imported this stuff to oregon. if only I could walk to the local plaid pantry and pick up a sixer of these, I would be perma-buzzed.
chu hi.
oh man oh man. this is the perfect alcopop, less sweet than its american contemporaries and in more fetching flavors, though since it's japan the flavors cycle through really fast and some of the newer ones I've had recently "taste like theraflu" as eric put it. lychee (pictured above) was my favorite. a tallboy of this and I was ready for any situation.
like ewan mcgregors' smiling face attacking you everywhere selling english lessons
or crazy sesame street murals near the gion district of kyoto
or the fact that 80% of japanese people wear a uniform (be it school, business, housewife, or policeman etc) and this translates to 90% of the dudes wearing suits, suits that fit.
americans are a very casual bunch, yo. certainly compared to forty years ago.
I only spent 2 nights in a hotel when I was there. Here's one of them
okay, see all those little rectangle signs? Each one of them is a bar or club in the office building. some of the clubs are like 14 by 12 feet. it's awesome.
here's eli, aka nomadic noise, with hella glossy jewfro, at tocca a te, a more regular-type club in osaka, the bladerunner part with crazy overhead trains and lights.
he had a dj residency there and threw wicked parties. businessmen politely applauded when I finished my sets. then they sent over beers.
I learned how to ask for chu hi.
here is yet another thing to love, bento on the train. so many kinds and so amazing.
and I finally got to eat ginko nuts, which mom had told me were edible , but I could never get past the puke smell of them in their natural state falling off the trees of my native illinois.
anyways, bento. so elaborate and varied. each city, of course, has specialities, and there are various kinds at the train stations, then they sell even more on the train, in case you didn't have time before it left. and with the mini soy sauce squeeze bottle!
a few last things to love
the shrines randomly, everywhere
Tokyu Hands, which is like a huge steroidal craft store mixed with sears, sort of ? and it has a whole floor of "Right On" brand clothing. Here is one section of the decorated packing tape aisle:
I had to confine myself to only shopping on the sticker floor, so that I would not spend all of my money in one afternoon.
I have to give a massive shoutout to Hiroshima, which has no pix, and also Uji. These two places are now deep in my heart, and the people who I met + hung out with are in deep too. later.
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