December 14, 2010

My trip is almost nearing an end and I have yet to visit so many places that I truly want to visit…times like this I wish I was spoiled. But a poor kid can have his trips too, and mine was to Roppongi Hills. With a cheap train fare of about 10 dollars and about 15-20 dollars for meals I had a great day for fewer than 50 dollars! What a bargain! Although my friends that took me did get me a going away gift for an observation tower or something–which was quite amazing to be frank–so that was like a 30 dollar gift right there, but onto my actual trip.

I rode some trains.

I arrived at Roppongi, which I find to be a symbolic city. I don’t know if this was on purpose or not, but Roppongi has an upper section which is literally higher than the lower section. The upper area is known as Roppongi Hills and is so much better kept, pretty to look at, and has a whole bunch of stores and restaurants, where as the bottom area has clubs and some restaurants. There probably is a history to all of it, but I never bothered looking it up. Anyway, the first place we went was the observatory tower, which was absolutely awesome. According to my friend it was the tallest place you could go near Tokyo, you could even see the Tokyo Tower from it. The actual tower had two observing spots: one was inside and the other was outside on the roof. The inside was quite crowded and they had a lot of Christmas lights so the reflections and massive amounts of people made sight-seeing from the windows rather difficult.

For an example, here is a picture from the inside.

The roof was far better.  Unfortunately because it was December it was quite cold up there so the enjoyment was slightly hindered by my freezing hands. The roof was huge though, and even had a helipad. I was really upset that my actual camera broke because I wanted to take so many nice pictures up there, but that machine broke on me last week, so I had to use my 5.0mp cell camera.

Here are some pictures from the rooftop.

The second place we went was to some sort of light show that they only have displayed during the holidays. The pictures really do not do it justice; it was more of a sight if you were actually there. They had these thin wire lines that made it look like shooting starts were flying everywhere. They also had this fog machine that would shoot out smoke while the lights under it would fade in and out different colors so the smoke changes colors as well, it was really cool.

Here are some pictures of the lights.

Location: Japan

December 09, 2010

Many people say that the fall foliage is superbly beautiful in Japan, and they couldn’t be more right. I might have messed up on the timing, because I went during December, but it was a sight to behold never the less. The trees are all a spectacular gold color, and the leaves that had fallen to the ground created an equally magnificent carpet of gold. There was so much gold color that I just wanted to rake the leaves up into a pile and relive my childhood days and jump into it, but as not to embarrass myself I decided to refrain from doing so. The size of some of the trees was pretty immense as well; the one was so big that I was glad Lord of the Rings is just fiction because if that specific tree came to live I would be in great trouble. The only beef I had with the trip was that they were in the midst of construction, which pretty much ruined the scenery. For instance, you could be looking at some gorgeous looking trees and then your eyes would meet some bright orange cones or something, totally destroying your view. But it was still nice nevertheless.

Here is that big tree I was talking about.–>

Here are some gold leaves scattered on the ground totally blemished by those god damn cones.

Location: Japan

November 29, 2010

I’ve noticed that most Japanese are relatively unaffected by the use of stereotypes. They throw them around like there is nothing offensive about them but when they say them it’s not like their trying to offend somebody. It’s funny when they say something like, “Oh, you’re from India, so you must be good at math and calculations then?” or “Of course since you’re America you want to eat hotdogs right?” with such a straight and innocent face, but if you said something like in America you’d might have some trouble around the corner. This is based on the general masses though, they would never do this on national television or something–at least I hope not.

A particular stereotype of America–although it may have been somewhat of a parody–was a game for the original Xbox called Metal Wolf Chaos. It’s a game about the President of the United States who has to put a stop to the Vice President of the United States after he enacts a coup d’�tat. Sound pretty crazy right? The game pretty much makes the President a national hero, showing how caring he is for the people, how much justice and freedom mean to him, and how he would sacrifice his life for his people. I’m not trying to diss the real President, but I doubt he would–to this extent–be that honorable. As corny as the dialogue is in this game, my favorite quote is, “I’ll head to Liberty Island to rescue my men. And the reason is: Because I’m the President, of this Great United States of America!” Throughout the game it just exemplifies how the President is a bad-ass with a heart of gold. (BTW-he fights the VP in his metal suit of armor). Here’s a video of it. VID

Here is a picture of the cover of the game.

Location: Japan

November 17, 2010

Japan is absolutely full of corky and random things. For one, I find it amazing that I can walk down the street or being walking around indoors and see a vending machine for pretty much anything that I want–depending on my location of course. Snacks, drinks–both chilled and warmed, ice cream, toys, cigarettes, panties, deserts, and almost anything you could buy at a convenience store. The variety of those items is broad as well. For example drinks could range from a simple soda or hot chocolate or tea or even a milkshake! But this convenience does sacrifice the cheapness of the time, because you could buy the same drink in a store for about 50-100yen cheaper (about .50cents to a dollar).

Here is a picture of an ice cream vending machine inside a train station.

Their creative weirdness is quite amusing sometimes as well, and their design for some of their things is neat too, like their cars and trucks for example. The cars, coming from my American perspective, all look like adorable toys to me–well, the newer ones at least. Their new cars are incredibly compact but just have the shape and look of a toy, and they keep their cars so clean it just looks like a fake-car to me. Their older ones however do have more of a ‘normal’ look to them, but I have to say their MPG for their cars is quite outstanding, at least for the cars built for urban use. Their trucks are quite the site too, at least during the night time. In America the lights on trucks tend to be a single blend of orange or red lights, but in Japan trucks have almost any of the basic colors you can think of. I even saw a few rainbow trucks as I called them, which consisted of green, blue, red, yellow, and purple lights all on a single truck in different areas. And yes, all of their cars and trucks are much smaller than ours. But they have to be with Japans ultra narrow roads in the urban areas.

Speaking of cars and creativeness, I thought the one parking area had a humorous way of designating parking sections. Instead of using numbers or letters, they use fruit. For instance, this picture displays parking section “Melon”.

Here is vending machine inside an arcade. It specialized in popcorn, fully equipped with butter and caramel dispensers.

Location: Japan

November 11, 2010

This entry is going to be more of a reflection of the sheer beauty of some of the scenery here in the Land of the Rising Sun–and yeah, they call it that for a reason. It gets abnormally bright here in the morning, I’d feel sorry for any vampires dwelling in Japan, and they’d be just before they know what ’em.

My first reflection would be a place called Kaihinmakuhari, which was the first place I was sent to after I arrived here. It kind of reminded me of those endless stairs paintings in that it was both dreamlike and extraordinarily confusing. The trees and other shrubbery are always in such ripe condition, fully displaying their lushes green colors, and the color scheme and design of the plethora of stairs and crosswalks matched perfectly with the background. The second place where my college was located, in Urayasu, was similar to Kaihin except that there weren’t any crosswalks or anything and more shrubbery.  On some mornings where the sun was shining it’s brightest–if I was able to see in front of me–it was literally like walking through a dream town. Everything just matched perfectly and looked too fake to be reality. But this dream-like image usually only manifested itself during the morning when the sun was out. Once the sun began to descend it just looked like any old city. Of course, all of this may be because I live in a rural area, where I see no crosswalks, tall buildings, or large paved sidewalks. But from my minimal travels to cities such as New York…actually that’s it, man I gotta travel more. Anyway, even New York looked like nothing special. This isn’t to say that all of Japan is like this; in fact where I lived it was quite the opposite. And the myth about Japanese cities being pristine clean is a totally false. I mean, some city areas are really clean but not all of them. However, if you take a gander from a broad view you will see no garbage or dirt, but when you just look at the ground next to you chances are you might see a small piece of garbage or something. Broken umbrellas are especially prevalent, thanks to those bothersome typhoons.

This picture is a shot taken from my first arrival in Japan, from the hotel we stayed at. I think it was from like the 8th floor or something. I would’ve loved to go to high school with this scenery to brighten the day.

Here is a picture my one friend–who is an avid photographer–helped me take. It is really nice I admit, I just can’t see the image that photographers see I guess.

Location: Japan

November 2, 2010

I must say that I am quite impressed with the manners of most Japanese. It’s probably because am not used to their mannerisms, but I really feel like royalty sometimes when just walking around. For example, I could be in the grocery store and at one of the aisle intersections both a Japanese shopper and I will reach the edge at the same time. They bow and make hand gestures to indicate that they want me to go ahead. Not really thinking, I smile and walk by. Now I have gotten much better at my mannerisms in that respect; now I smile and bow, and refuse their offer and gesture them to go. The scene I imagine would be quite amusing to an American viewer, seeing two shoppers at a standstill gesturing each other to go by until one of them finally gives up resisting the others politeness and accepting defeat, but that’s just how it is. There’s certainly a sense of accomplishment upon victory, but it also makes you feel good inside. You may take this as an unusual statement, but showing politeness to others in these subtle situations conjures the same feeling you get when you do a good deed for someone, unless you’re a misanthrope.

This is one thing I will probably bring with me back to America once I return. I can see myself already bowing to people and being overly nice for no reason at all, maybe even going out of my way to help somebody out. Quick story but my first time getting lost I had to ask some stranger where the train station was. After I asked, he stopped heading toward his destination and instead guided me himself to the station, an act I thought inconceivable. I could never see anybody in my hometown, college, or in a city for that matter in America doing that. It really is hard to believe that Japan was a violent place at one time…

Here is a picture of my kindness towards a stray cat I saw outside a convenience store. I find it amazing that I can spend money on a cat but not so much for my friends. For instance, I would most likely never buy a friend a meal, but a cat heck yes I will. FYI, the cat loved the food I bought–success!!!

Here is a picture I took of myself as an apologetic gesture that I used when sending a “sorry” text to my Japanese friends via cellphone. I’m not dead or suffering from stomach pain, I am bowing to the extreme. (Japanese never bow this far unless in the old days in the presence of royalty or something).

Location: Japan

October 13, 2010

Akihabara is truly a paradise for anybody who has an interest in technology. From the newest, advanced tech to the old junk of the past Akihabara has it all. For those of you who do not know, Akihabara is a subsection of Tokyo that specializes in selling electronic products. This Wikipedia description sums it up pretty good. “Akihabara is a major shopping area for electronic, computer, anime, and otaku goods, including new and used items. New parts for PC-building are readily available from a variety of stores. Tools, electrical parts, wires, microsized cameras and similar items are found in the cramped passageways of Soto Kanda 1-chōme (near the station). Foreign tourists tend to visit the big name shops like Laox or other speciality shops near the station, though there is more variety and lower prices at locales a little further away. Akihabara gained some fame through being home to one of the first stores devoted to personal robots and robotics.” Akiba–the shortened name for Akihabara–is not limited to stores just selling electronic stuff; there are also plenty of other stores and businesses in the area. For fans of the Japanese group AKB48 there is a whole building devoted to selling their merchandise and holding their live concerts. I personally think that they cannot sing nor dance, but nevertheless I wanted to see at least one concert of theirs. Thanks to my luck however, once I reached the floor where their concerts are held I found out that their previous concert had just ended and I would have to wait for four hours for their next one. “My god! Screw that”, I thought to myself, and reluctantly motioned myself to the escalator that would bring me to the entrance, only to have my attention grabbed by a strange wall full of plaques. Upon further inspection I realized what the contents of the plaques were: The people who have come to the concerts the most number of times. Now, I just have to go back to the subject of Otaku here because Otaku are the main fan base of this particularly band. AKB48 is a band of 48 members, all of whom are in high school or around that age. Their outfits in both their music videos and live performances are always tailored for a cuteness appeal, and the Otaku just love it. Here is hopefully a picture of one of the members (keeps fingers crossed).

Akiba certainly is a place I could shop all day at–granted I had the money to do so. There is just so much, pardon my language, shit to do and buy that it is crazy. I mean you can just go there and walk around inside and outside the buildings and in no time hours will have passed. If I didn’t want to pay super high shipping prices I would totally buy some cheap junk to send back home and tinker with.

Location: Japan

October 7, 2010

Yesterday was the first day that I had the satisfying experience to go to a Kai-ten Sushi restaurant, and yes, it was amazing. You walk into this tightly packed place (sorry claustrophobics, you don’t wanna be in Japan) and tell the cashier–who also may function as a waiter of sorts–how many people will be eating and depending on the restaurant whether or not you wish to be seating in a smoking or non-smoking area. Upon being seated, you may put some green tea powder in your cup if you wish to have some hot tea. Just be careful when filling it with the water because the water is HOT!!! My life flashed before me the first time I poured it into my mouth. I saw the steam, so justifiably it was my fault, but I took a huge gulp which led a painful sensation in both my throat and my mind. The throat because it was so hot, and the mind because I wanted to shout a naughty word out loud but as not to be rude withheld my urge.

They call it Kai-ten sushi because you are seated around a revolving belt which is loaded with various plates of sushi that is constantly moving. The “kai” means “around”, like a going around and around. The ‘ten’ means to ‘revolve’ or to ‘roll’, like a rolling belt. And ‘sushi’ means, well, I hope you know what this is. Although from now on to distinguish the difference between sushi in America Chinese Buffets and actual, authentic sushi I will called real sushi Jsushi. Trust me, the difference in taste and quality is phenomenal and pathetic.

There are many types of sushi, but unfortunately I am terrible at food names so I can only name a few: egg, tuna, eel, squid, and fish eyes. This is only a small detailing of the types of sushi but as I said I am horrible with food names -although it could also be a good thing, because I wouldn’t want to know what I’m eating sometimes, such as fish eyes, which only caught my interest because it felt like I was eating jewelry, as they are quite majestic looking. Pretty much any fish can be prepared for sushi. And of course you got your toppings as well. Ginger, Wasabi, Soy Sauce, Wasabi…Wasabi. Now I know what you’re thinking. What is this imbecile thinking, why does he keep writing wasabi over and over? Well, that’s because I love wasabi.

The theme of this entry? Real sushi is delicious. For those of you who hate eating raw things, just cover the sushi in wasabi or something, that way it looks like pudding when you eat it.

Location: Japan

This should have went before the previous entry but oh well.

So it’s been quite some time but I recently got an email stating that geoblog has been fixed of most of its bugs and glitches. Upon hearing this fantastic news I have decided to bring my blogs from my other sites to here, with dates accordingly attached.

October 3, 2010

Some time ago I went to entertain myself at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) and boy was that an experience. I am a big fan of video games and such, although recently I haven’t been able to get my “nerd-on” as much as I am used to because of lack of time, so it no surprise that I would absolutely love this place–kind of. The line to get in was quite brutal, even though I got there early. In the fiery land that is Japan (Tokyo area) during the summer I stood in line–out in the baking sun–for about 2 hours before I finally reached the entrance. I really messed up by assuming Japan was going to be cooler than Pennsylvania–what made me come to that conclusion I am not sure, I think I may have mixed that notion with something else…what a twat I am. Anyway, once I got in there were numerous booths for different video games and other technological items. One of them was this booth displaying some goggles that allowed you to play games anywhere by enabling you to view the screen through the goggles. It was a pretty cool idea, but the current technology definitely hinders the full potential of the device.

I could go on in deep detail but I think I’ll let my pictures explain that. What I do want to focus on is the Otaku, or nerds in Japan. Now everybody pretty much has their own opinions about Otaku. Some think that they are unsocial and do nothing but spy on girls and look at porn–real or anime–all day in their mysterious dwellings. Some think that they relatively your stereotypical normal person except that they have a extreme interest in some sort of nerdy hobby, such as collecting trains, stamps, cards, etc. My personal opinion is that you cannot generalize the Otaku into a single group, since they all have their own interests and attributes that make them all unique in their own way. It was weird however seeing some Otaku just taking pictures of girls wearing cosplay or booth babes (attractive women in provocative uniforms that advertise products at TGS) for extended periods of time. The one I timed, and it was a full 17 minutes of straight picture taking of one girl! I could only wonder what that Otaku was going to do when he got home. Thank the heavens that free tissues are everywhere in Japan.

I plan on going to Akihabara sometime soon, so I will probably make that my next update. Until then!

***so apparently I still cannot upload photos. Maybe I’ll make a Flicker or something. Heck I’m so used to this blogs shortcomings that I didn’t even get mad this time! Maybe they should trash this and just ask us to make public facebooks for our specific study abroad program…

Location: Japan