1/04/2006
More from Japan
Wednesday 28th
First stop today was asakusa temple. It was fucking freezing and I was coughing a lung but the temple was awesome so that offset my uncomfortableness.
The temple was really cool. Yayoi told me how we first wash our hands to purify ourselves. Then right in front of the main temple building was a huge cauldrin with massive amounts of smoke pouring out of it, which we catch to our head and chest, but I can't remember the reason why.
After this we went to the imperial palace which again was massive. Unfortunately we couldn't get inside to have a look cos the imperial family still live there. Poor fuckers, I wonder if they are more like the imperial prisoners.
After this we took the train to Shibuya where I experienced first hand the famous scramble crossing.
Shibuya must have more 2 story tv screens than anywhere else in the world. Consumer culture goes mad here. I must give it to the Japanese girls, they sure know how to dress up. Oh and mini-skirts are in fashion here at the moment. Love it. Even though it's the middle of winter, there are so many miniskaarto here I'm suprised I didn't run into any lamp posts yet. Just kidding. But there were heaps of cuties.
From Shibuya we walked to Harajiku. On the way we saw a few youngsters doing that 'cosplay' thing. Goth-loli etc. My friend Rohan would love it. Outside NTK (I think it:s like a tv station here in Japan) were about 50 young girls (in miniskirts) lined up, it looked like they were trying to get in to be on some show or another but I didnt try to find out.
One more interesting thing happened today: I experienced my first earthquake. It felt exactly like it would if there were a subway underneath you, and a freight train loaded with containers rumbled through. Pretty scary.



After this we went to the imperial palace which again was massive. Unfortunately we couldn't get inside to have a look cos the imperial family still live there. Poor fuckers, I wonder if they are more like the imperial prisoners.

After this we took the train to Shibuya where I experienced first hand the famous scramble crossing.

From Shibuya we walked to Harajiku. On the way we saw a few youngsters doing that 'cosplay' thing. Goth-loli etc. My friend Rohan would love it. Outside NTK (I think it:s like a tv station here in Japan) were about 50 young girls (in miniskirts) lined up, it looked like they were trying to get in to be on some show or another but I didnt try to find out.
One more interesting thing happened today: I experienced my first earthquake. It felt exactly like it would if there were a subway underneath you, and a freight train loaded with containers rumbled through. Pretty scary.
4 Comments:
so how's about a few girls-in-miniskirt pictures when you get a chance? come on, hook a brother up!
interesting trip you're on. looking forward to reading more. i'm curious about Japan and was thinking maybe i'd like to check it out sometime this year. are you fluent in speaking Japanese or are you relying more on your friend to help you out?
i've heard Japanese don't dig seeing westerners wandering around in their country. how have they been reacting when they see you coming down the street? are they indifferent, surprised, or what?
I tried man but it's hard for me.. I dont usually go around taking photo's of chicks asses except when they ask for it (or are on show for some reason).. Anyway, read this.
I've been studying Japanese for a while, definitely not fluent yet but I can ask and receive directions, book hotels and order meals etc pretty good. If you're going to go alone I'd suggest at least learning basics. Even for Japanese it can be hard to find your way around sometimes. This made me feel heaps better about all the hours I spent trying to find certain buildings :-)
As far as the reactions I got, generally the reaction was a shy curiosity. That's the norm but I had a few encounters with some absolutely crazy people which was cool too.
I never experienced any hostility whatsoever..
OOps, forgot to include the link. Actually I can't find it, so I'll just say that there have been cases of dudes being attacked by chicks after taking shot's under their skirts. I'd *definitely* not be so perverted but the fear of misunderstanding prevents me.
And I didn't have the guts to try to explain in Japanese how much we love miniskirts :-)
cool. thanks for the tips. buddy just got back from spending the holidays in Japan. he was in Tokyo and Kyoto, and a few smaller towns but i forgot the names of them. he dropped by last night and talked about his experiences for a couple of hours. interesting stuff.
he said on trains tons of people pass out and sleep with beer in hand. he got busted for taking a picture of a girl that passed out across from where he was sitting. he claims it was just for showing how many people were asleep but i guess someone got the wrong idea. he also was reprimanded for crossing his leg while sitting. i guess it's an insult there to show your shoe sole towards someone.
like you he mentioned seeing vending machines everywhere and some even had hot or cold canned food in them. he was disgusted by ones selling cans of hot corn chowder. that does sound nasty. i asked him if he saw any of those restaurant deals where you have to pay outside and get a token like you did. he saw some of those places but didn't know what they were. that filled in a blank for him. he also mentioned it's like freezing cold out and everywhere you look there's girls wearing hot pants or miniskirts. wacky.
i think i'm going to visit Japan sometime this year. i'm goint to take your advice and try to learn some basics, but i think i'm also going to try to hire some sort of a guide who can translate stuff for me. i have an idea i would like to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to pay respect to the memorials for the people we killed there. i don't want the Japanese to get the wrong idea about seeing an American there so it might be a good idea to have a guide run interference for me so i don't get my ass kicked royally.
from what my buddy Doug says, there's three things you aren't supposed to talk about with the Japanese: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, and the Yakuza.
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