observations

1. I'm quite convinced that H&M in Harajuku is hoarding all the good styles for itself...I think America gets all the reject H&M fashions.

2. People dress well. Too well. I've said this already.

3. The ubiquitous monster of a car, a.k.a. Nissan GT-R, is probably the most beautiful piece of machinery I've seen in a while now.

4. Cellphones, keitai in Japanese, have their own email address.

5. The rush hour commute is hell. Train pushers, people who cram people into already packed trains, exist. But they don't do much, because all the commuters take it upon themselves to squeeze in as tight as possible so they don't have to be touched by a stranger with white gloves.

6. Beer: 900 yen at a club

7. As observed by Ben from my dorm: Kentucky Fried Chicken serves beer.

8. For a city with 12,000,000 people and a metropolitan region totaling 35,000,000, it can get quite lonely here sometimes.

9. I have yet to visit Shinjuku station or Akihabara.

10. The church I've been attending for two weeks now in Harajuku is right next to the largest Louis Vuitton flagship store. It's five stories full of stuff.

11. No one has the iPhone here.

11. When a train encounters an "Accident" it usually means someone committed suicide by jumping in front of the train.

12. Pharmacies dispense prescription drugs in small amounts to prevent people from overdosing - accidentally or deliberately.

being mistaken as asian

It seems to be happening a lot lately. The whole, "I'm gonna assume you're Japanese and then talk to you in Japanese" deal. I'm flattered, sure, but if you could speak in english first that would be much appreciated. Maybe its the hair or maybe the glasses, I don't know. In any case, I guess I can take it as a compliment, and hopefully I can learn enough to answer back eventually!

Example: walking back from my train station to Ontakesan dorms, a black Nissan GT-R is parked outside the local barbershop in the area. Seeing as the car is quite out of place in such a suburban setting, I decided to take pictures. Soon enough, one of the barbers goes to take a look at the car, turns to me, and says some friendly phrase with a chuckle and a smile on his face. Of course, with me being mr. awkward, I just smile back with a "heh."

Then, an older woman carrying a couple bags of groceries comes up to me, points at the car, and starts small talk. I assume she doesn't know what the car is, so I respond by saying "Skyrrine G-T-Ruuu." Apparently, I said something right, so she keeps talking. At this point, I shrug my shoulders, smile, and say "hai." She chuckles and bids me good night.

A funny experience overall. Here's a picture of the beautiful, beautiful piece of machinery outside of the barbershop:

seijin no hi "coming of age day"

Visited the Meiji Shrine today to see girls in Kimonos. Basically, there weren't many girls with kimonos, but a lot of photographers with big cameras. a lot. haha. Apparently, a lot of girls turned down requests for photos, but they let me take pics :)

Rain, Onsen, Shibuya, and Shoes

Last night: an adventure. Breaking away from the Temple University group that was going back to the dorms, my newly found exploration companions here in Tokyo, Josh and Dan, left for Josh's mom's house in an upscale section of Tokyo near Roppongi Hills called Hiro-o. Through the rain, we traversed our way through the streets of Tokyo, myself in a daze from all of the shops and lights.

To put it simply, Josh's place in Tokyo is quite an abode indeed. For a house that nice, Josh was very humble about its amenities, and graciously offered me and Dan a place to sleep for the night, considering the pouring rain outside. It's not that dorms at Ontakesan are inadequate, its just that Josh's place truly trumps and of the luxuries provided for by the dorms :) I had a chance to use his parent's private Japanese Onsen, which is a traditional heated bath. Thanks Josh!

Before stepping into the Onsen itself, which was a large wooden box that fills with water, one must heat the tub and the water to a very, very hot temperature. Then, after showering, one basically just steps into the steaming bath and relaxes. I'll tell you now, once I stepped in, time itself seemed to stop, turn around, and say it was coming back later. Everything stood still; Everything my mind was thinking about held its breath; Everything became...nothing. I found myself taking deep breaths, savoring the scent of the wood and watching the steam swirl around the bath. It was difficult to have a sense of how much time actually passed, every breath lasted a lifetime and my consciousness slowly started to slip away from my body. I somehow managed to muster enough energy to regain my strength and get up. BEST EXPERIENCE EVER.

Today, shopping at Shibuya. Oogles and Oogles of ridiculously good-looking and well-dressed Japanese people. I don't think I've ever seen so many people before in my life. I gave in and bought shoes for a pricey amount :)

Tokyo, night one

Tokyo is not what I expected it to be. Pulling into the city, I was bracing for a massive shock of lights, buildings, and people - but it was not so. The streets, which are quite tiny (especially the side streets) and the store fronts in central Tokyo make the city feel like a close community. With small sidewalks, and lots of people, it vaguely feels like a place you've recognized before...put it simply, I love it so far.

When I got into a taxi from the Sheraton Miyako Hotel, the driver wrongly assumed I was japanese, and started babbling until i told him "Nihon-go ga wakarimasen," which means I don't understand japanese. My taxi mate next to me later told me that the driver later said he thought I was "Nihon-jin." Anyways, long story short, taxi driver gets lost, stops the car, calls his phone, and after several attempts at finding the dorms, steps out of the car and has a smoke break for two minutes. Yes. A smoke break. haha.