purple reign

Today I signed up for a number of possible internships. I would really like one because I need work experience. I need to also apply for post-grad jobs, because frankly, I'm fucked.
So here's the deal I make with you reader. Should I be unable to get an internship, I will be taking the Japanese language class, which also gives me free time to explore Tokyo. What it also does, which is why this is post worthy, is give me a number of months where I won't need to do anything superformal that would require me to be lawyertastic. As such, I'm going to let myself revert back to my more...natural...form...Re-dye my hair purple, and perhaps a few other things. Any American firms I apply to won't be able to see me for months anyways. Good deal?

get your body beat

It's interesting the type of people TUJ draws to it. Straight to the point, the law school has drawn a large number of people who are somewhat gothtastic and/or will be going to the club with me as soon as I find a good club. I'm referencing Abby, Amanda, Renee, and Juliana right now, or as I have identified them, the four horsewomen of the Eepocolypse Japan branch. Amanda also had a pangtastic plan...she found a place that serves Absinthe. Actually, the place is Cafe Absinthe in Ikebokuro, which is near me! Amanda's plan is Absinthe, then goth club. That's her poison. Let's do it!

random images from japan

shiny shiny shiny


evil evil evil


Looks like there should be cute candy in here, yes?


Hah! No silly gaijin! Japanese uh...yeah.


That's right. Aso-Viba! Say it. Sounds like ass vibe.

ya pa pa, ya pa pa part two!

Ok folks, the eepernet seems a little less bitchy now. So let's continue, shall we? After lunch Abby, the Evil Queen of Visual Kei, and I explored the Yebisu Garden area a bit more. On the ground floor, I found some very silly/hyperactive Japanglish signs. Also, they had some randomly placed "art" like a chandelier.




After walking around Yebisu Garden for a bit, we decided to take a side trip to Shinjuku. I've never been there, but I've heard cool things. Also, we always practiced "Shinjuku Eki" in Japanese class, so it's burned into my mind. But yeah. Also, Abby has a really amusing game/plot. She plans on taking a picture of one Japanese person per day, to make a calendar. So very evil. Also a subplot is to walk up to gaijin, i.e. people like us, go crazy and take photos. Evil.
So yeah. We went to the station, and then went to Shinjuku. Shinjuku is a very cool place. I'll dedicate another posting to describing it. We wandered the streets Gaijin style, as Abby attempted to take photos of the various Japanese people...er...and not be too obvious. At some point, we stopped into a place called Closet Child, a place with CD's of a lot of visual kei bands on the fifth floor, and gothic lolita stuff on the 6th. Are you recoiling in fear at the second? Good. I didn't get a chance to take many photos of people in action there. Not many dressed up to be honest. However, it seems Abby is a HUGE visual kei fan and will be giving me a copy of her whole collection. In amusement/gratitude I purchased a Gackt CD for her. She seemed happy.
After that, we walked around a bit more, and split up. She went to Asakusa to meet a comrade, and I went back to my place.
I returned home, typed the first blog entry on this matter while the internet was the suck while trying to work on my Japanese placement test. Eventually I got frustrated and proposed that Yuum, Fabian, and myself go to Namcoland! I was shocked that everyone agreed, so off we went! We had a great time tonight! I played Taiko: Drum Master. Simply put, this game rocks. I want to get addicted. After that, yuum and I played time crisis 4. 4? I love getting to play these games before they're big in the US. She's deadly at the game though! damn deadly! finally we ended with a race!
Following the fun at the arcade, we headed out to find Fabian something to eat. After many false starts, we ended up at the AM/PM near our house. While they decided what to get, I found something amusing. "Jersey Milk Sticks." A jersey pocky? What the hell?!
So yeah. After that, headed home. We each had a beer, toasted, and whatnot and that was that. Oy! What a day!

Ya-pa-pa Ya-pa-pa: PART ONE

So today I finally took the plunge and went on my great quest for Okonomiyaki. I'll admit that dorkdom is behind my quest for it. Okonomiyaki is a dish I first heard about in the Anime "Ranma 1/2." One of the main characters, Ukyo, is an Okonomiyaki maker/martial artist. Her main weapon is a giant spatula. It's been in my mind for a few years now, and I figured since I know of it's existence I'd go check it out. As all good quests need a comrades, this was plotted with Abby the Evil. Plotting this was a bit more difficult than it should be, as there was an email delay, so we didn't know if we'd actually go at the same time. Anyways, on with the story.
Today's quest took us to Ebisu. I used the JR to get there again. Very cool that I'm getting to learn the JR system. The route I took can also be used to get to Shinjuku, Harajuka, Ikebukuro, and Akihabara. Neato. As you can guess, I got off the JR at Ebisu Station. This was actually a much more impressive station than a lot of the others. Ebisu is a very nice area, and the station reflect that fact. Inside the station, there was a groovy mall filled with way overpriced foodstuffs. I didn't take a picture, but there was a random bagel shop. I'll head back there next time. I waited around a half hour for Abby, then decided to go on my way to the Okonomiyaki restaurant. To get there, I went on a randomly placed moving sidewalk concourse known as the skywalk. This quickly took me from Ebisu station, the main destination, Yebisu Garden. I'll admit, I was rather impressed by Yebisu Garden Place. It was really well done, even by Tokyo standards, with some cool buildings. The place was a child of the neat beer industry of Japan. Yummo once again. I really liked the nice outdoor scene they had there. More on that later.
I went up into Yebisu Garden Tower to the 38th floor where the restaurant, Chibo, was located. From the 38th, there was an awesome view of the Tokyo Skyline! Suddenly, in silly Japanglish style speech, I heard a loud "Luck-ee!" And behold Abby appeared! Somehow we managed to locate each other! YAY! We took some time to admire the awesome view of the Tokyo skyline and then headed in for our Okonomiyaki lunch!

From the start, we knew things would be...interesting. At this restaurant, we were required to remove our shoes (which is always fun when you're wearing boots) and we were shown to our seats. Throughout the whole thing, they were playing the "oh, it's the gaijin" game with us. Poorly. Easily seen through, we could tell the difference in the service. But then, what can you do? Legally. At least the food, when it finally came, was delicious! Here are some pictures!


So yeah, yummy stuff. I'm going to cut this short as the internet is being bitchy right now. In the next episode, fun in in yebisu garden place, and shinjuku!

my addictions.

So in the pictures are some of the products I'm horribly addicted to here in Tokyo.


First up, we got boss coffee. Correction: Suntory Boss coffee. Suntory Boss is the Boss of them all since 1992. Or so the Vending machines say. Simply stated, this stuff ROCKS my world. It's on the sweet side, and gives me a good perk me up. The cans are best from the "hot" machines. It's neat how in Japan, the Sapporo beer isn't in the thick bi-metal cans that they use in America, but the coffee is. This stuff is great and I approve of it.



Next on the list, we have Purin, or Pudding. Let's be honest, it's flan. Yummy shit, that I get from the 100Yen store. I don't even have to win 50 fights in a row to earn it! ROCK!




And what do we have here? That's right, J's lucky Vitamin water! Packed with delicious Vitamin C so I don't get the scurvy! Yar mateys! Beware! This stuff is addictive because it contains CRACK!

He's not heavy he's my...ok, he's heavy.

As promised, my update regarding yesterday's sumo tournament adventure. Sumo is a very interesting sport to me. On it's face the sport itself is a face paced exciting duel of strength, skill, and balance between two overweight men. However, below the surface it is all that and more. It is a sport that requires a sick amount of grace, and to be the best, a Yokozuna, you must possess all that. It's interesting watch a match because the battle itself is over quickly, often in less than a minute. In some of the physical battles, one wrestler would easily dominate the other and either remove them from the ring, or force them to touch ground with something other than their feet, ending the match. In other matches, more evenly skilled competitors would entangle until one could exploit a weakness in the others. The real interest however is in many of the rituals that take place before the match even begins.
The wrestlers are first announced through a traditional singer. They would then go through a number of rituals, and then face each other. They would squat and face, return to their corners, go through rituals, and return several times. In many ways, this seems to serve two functions. First, it serves a ritualistic and religious function, purifying the ring. Second, it seems to be a silent, and graceful trash talking. The competitors don't begin until they are ready. They glare each other down, letting the other know silently who the top dog...or cow... is. And then, in a flash they begin!
So let's go with my experience, eh. Getting around in Japan is really interesting. Most cities have a unified transportation system, such as DC's metro. Japan in contrast has three rail lines. JR, Toei, and Tokyo Metro (I think those are the names). Normally, I take the Metro, specifically the Namboku line. I probably already wrote about this, but hey, this is J's experience in Tokyo. It'll hopefully be helpful to you friends already here, or who will follow me (just as I followed the Queen, Ladi). To get to Ryogoku Station I had to take the JR. I'm slightly less familiar with JR, but it works just as well. The stations seem to be a little more rough and tumble, as it is more like a regular train station, rather than those ultraslick, ultra clean subway stations. The ride is cheap and quick though, and combined with the other methods of transportation, Tokyo is extremely easy and cheap to get around. Later on in the day, I purchased a Suica card. Frankly, this card ROCKS. In some ways, it's just like the DC metro card. However, it can be used for different things. Such as today, I used it at a vending machine. The Awesome! Back on topic, Ryogoku station takes me to a very interesting, if not pricey section of Tokyo. First and foremost, this area houses Ryogoku Kokugikan, the indoor arena in which sumo tournaments are held. Also I'm going to need to return to this area to check out the Edo-Tokyo Museum. Cool! Cool cool. Ryogoku Kokugikan is very cool. Outside, there were lots of old style Nobori, or flags, and some cool towers. Later on, drumming would come from these towers.

Also, outside was a monk, begging for money. I gave him a few hundred yen, then asked him if I could take his photo, to which he obviously allowed. Very cool old vibe to the place in general. The place had a lot of neat paintings both outside and inside, so we played the full tourist game, and snapped off a few photos. See above for one of them.
Also present were LUCKY BOX's. That just amuses me. What are they here for? Well, there is a raffle for free tickets to the next day's tournament/next tournament! I of course lost, or you'd be hearing more about it.

Eventually, we found our way to our seats in the ever-loving nosebleed section. In all honesty, it wasn't that bad. it allowed us to easily see the full match/stadium. If we were closer, we might not be able to see the other side of the arena, and if we were in the front row, we'd be in danger of flying sumo wrestlers thrown from the ring. As I've said, the inside is very cool. Check out the photo. Doesn't that thing make you want to have a traditional Jewish wedding? No? Me neither. Ew.
The first couple hours consisted of the lower/middle ranked sumo wrestlers. It was a very relaxed scene, so I didn't feel like I would be missing anything if I went to the concession stand. Ah, the bounty there. Yummy stuff is sold at sumo tournaments. Although hotdogs are sold, in Japan, Gyoza Dogs are sold. These things have meat in them, but are in a bun-like covering. To be honest, they're actually quite tasty. I'm glad they don't taste like hot dogs. I think that would be a bit weird. Instead, they taste like a giant dumpling (like I have for dinner most nights). Yummo. Also, they had something that rocked my world seven ways to Sunday...STADIUM SAKE! Ok, it isn't called that, but it's cold sake served in a paper cup. Yes that's blasphemy, I know, but come on! You can't tell me that sitting back, and drinking sake in a stadium doesn't rock the casbah! After a few hours, the big leaguers finally came out. Following ritual, they circled the arena, and assembled in rank order. The yokozuna has his own entrance, so this was everything all the way up to Ozeki rank. These guys are really amazing to watch. Yes, on one hand, they are huge. On the other hand, they have a real fucking ninja grace about them. To move like these big guys do, takes so much skill. One of them, while doing their foot stamps, did a standing vertical split. Sure we can all picture some skinny dude doing that, but a fucking sumo? Holy fuck! Amazing! Their matches were also quite good. As they were more evenly balanced, they would use more advanced looking techniques to defeat their opponents. Truly awesome!
Finally, the Yokozuna entered, complete with his people. Very cool sight to see. Currently, there is only one Yokozuna. I wonder if this will change soon. It's a good show that's put on, and impressive to watch in action. After the final match, a lower ranked wrestler comes out and performs what is known as a "bow dance" to signal the end of the day's tournament.
After the tournament, Joe, Amanda, Juliana, Bennett, Renee, and myself went out for dinner. Side note, slightly before that, some drunk off his ass Japanese guy came up to me, and asked if I was German. I'm not, as you know. Essentially throughout his drunk talk, whether he was meaning to insult me or not, he basically called me a sumo. I was polite. Really polite. I didn't kill him, hit him, tell him to die or anything. I took it with a smile, and simply remembered the fact that I have a larger penis and he will never satisfy his wife. Ever. The bunch of us walked around the Ryogoku area, but the places looked either too expensive, or too packed. Eventually we found a nice place near the station (go figure). Clearly the place was not normally frequented by Gaijin. Hence some of the nasty remarks I heard on the way in. Fuck them. Fuck them and their toilets. The food was good there. I got some warm sake (that makes 2 stadium sakes, plus this sake. Earlier in the night, I also got comrades Juliana and Amanda a cup of sake), and a yummy soba dish. Yosh!
After dinner, the bunch of us split up. I took the JR back to my area, and detoured to Namcoland. Namcoland...it's cool. In some ways, it's like a traditional arcade. Some really cool things there, such as a game for traditional Japanese drumming, Taiko. In other ways, it's like a light pachinko parlor with some gambling machines. After watching some dudes win at the crane machine, I decided to say "fuck it" and gave it a shot myself. Now I know what you're all thinking, these things are a scam. And yes, in America, they are. However that doesn't seem to be the case here. It take skill, and yes, some Yen to win. I concentrated on the pocky game. This game offered a prize of three boxes of mousse pocky. The price was 100Yen a play. Not bad. It took me about 5 or 6 tries to win the first time. It wasn't as much about picking up the damn thing as it is about knocking it off. I played the good guy, and gave two of the boxes to a couple of school girls who had been cheering me on. One of them had an eyepatch on so I wished her a quick recovery. And then later I tried again, and won in two shots. yosh! I'll get some of the better prizes yet!
After that, I went home, and well, that's about it for last night. Can't think of anything else.