Sumo Drummer

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Outside, after the Sumo was over, there was this dude playing drums up in this tower. Yeah, that's about all there is to say about that.

Sumo!

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Actual matches last only a few seconds usually, but every now and then there's a longer one, still never any longer than 30 seconds. The rituals that take place before each match, however, take forever. Usually they get into position about 3 or 4 times before actually going (you can tell when it's about to really happen by watching the official and his position). If something spectacular happens, the crowd will often throw towards the ring the large mats that they are sitting on. The fact that these mats looks pretty big and heavy makes for some amusing incidents.

Hiroshima

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Through the arch here you can see the dome of the building that somehow survived the blast. The bomb detonated almost directly over it. Not much to say about this so I'll just let it speak for itself.

World's Fair

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

This is just part of it. It was pretty enormous and I was only able to see a small portion. After waiting in line for at least two hours I got into an exhibit where they scan your face and then put you into a movie! Thankfully I only had a few lines. (And I almost didn't recognize myself!)

Sumo Stew

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

That's right! Sumo stew! What the big guys eat, pretty much exclusively I am told. It has just about everything in it. Meat, fish, veggies, and, uh, stuff. It's so good. (And we were hungry.) Getting there and ordering was a challenge. (One of us just pointed to another table--and we certainly got looks when we came in.) Someone should open one of these restaurants in the US.

Yasukuni

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

A very interesting museum in Tokyo. It's on the site of shrine dedicated to Japanese soldiers who died in service to Japan. The museum itself is highly nationalist. It highlights, for instance, the positive aspects of the Japanese occupation of East Asia. (I don't remember what they were.) Also, quite shockingly for many Americans, it suggests that FDR intended to force the Japanese into war. Perhaps most chilling is the kamikaze plane suspended from the ceiling. They were so small.

Sushi Restaurant

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

This is the site of the beer incident in the light of day. Just a little place in Shinjuku...

More Roppongi

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

I saw this sigh outside of a nightclub in Roppongi. I think it's hilarious. Your mileage may vary.

Roppongi

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

My only good picture of Roppongi. We didn't get to wander around here as much as I wanted. But it didn't seem like the most interesting place. Just nightclubs (tho some funny and weird ones) and bars. This is just the touristy place to go at night in Tokyo.

Subway

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

An empty subway car. Always clean and safe as far as I could tell.

PSF Records

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

My music mecca in Tokyo. Armed with some sketchy directions from the internet I attempted to find this world famous record store and label. I took the Odakyu line from Yoyogi to Shinjuku and from there I had to fine the Keio line. Well it was quite a bitch finding the Keio line! Shinjuku is a massive train station with several levels and what seemed like 10 or so exits. Around 2 million (!) people a day pass through here. In rush hour this enormous place is literally elbow to elbow.

Well, after many wrong turns and staring at maps and attempting to go through gates that wouldn't let me pass I found the Keio line and took it to my station. It was an interesting little neighborhood. My directions were not very good but I found the record store by just wandering around a bit. It was on the second floor of what looked like an apartment building. You had to get buzzed in. So I keyed in the number indicated and a voice answered in Japanese and the door clicked open. I went in and went up the narrow staircase.

If you have ever heard music from the PSF label you know it is some of the most avant garde and intense music made anywhere. Some of this stuff is seriously freaky. But it's all done for love of music, not any weird subculture. Anyway, I had no idea what to expect when I walked in, but two friendly looking middle aged men in glasses was not it.

They spoke not a word to me beyond a nod of the head and a smile. So I just started browsing. There were literally shelves full of cds I had been trying to find in the US forever! I ended up getting about 15 or so. Don't even ask how expensive it was. I was standing at the cash register while taking this picture. Directly to the right is the Japanese section, which I examined closely. The left is American garage and psych, while the right is European. Pretty simple arrangement.

More Harajuku still

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

This is pretty much the standard look.

More Harajuku Girls

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

I like this look quite a bit, though it seems way too hot to wear outside. I don't think I have mentioned yet how damn hot Japan, and especially Tokyo, is. Well, it's freaking hot. I can't really compare to Houston since I am never really walking around in urban areas in the summer here, but it often felt very similar. Usually it was in the upper 90s, with very high humidity. Sweating begins first thing in the morning, but it would cool off a bit at night. Part of the heat was possibly due to the long days: I think the sun rose sometime between 4 and 5.

Yoyogi

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

The Yoyogi Olympic center. It was built in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics--as seems pretty obvious from the ugly architecture. It's actually a great place to stay. The rooms are tiny, but what the hell are you gonna do in your room besides sleep anyway? This is the main building, where classes and the cafeteria were. Breakfast here was different everyday, and once or twice it was really great! I mainly just drank a ton of orange juice every morning, as I am often wont to do.

Pictures

I have a feeling some of you aren't seeing the full size pictures. If you click on the picture, you are taken to another page. If you then click "all sizes" (the magnifying glass) then you can see the full size and much better detail.

Stairs, yo.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Stairs at a Shrine or Temple (I can never remember which was which, I think this was a shrine though, which makes it Shinto) near the NHK (the BBC of Japan) museum. That sentence had too many parentheses but I'm not turning back now. Anyway, this picture was taken after descending the stairs, which seemed to be at a very high angle. I don't remember how many steps it was, but we were told that people take their children here and carry them up the stairs as a ritual that is supposed to make career advancement more likely for the child in the future.

Pachinko

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Pachinko! I have a few more of these that I will probably post later. This guy had one of the biggest stacks I saw though. If you have never played pachinko allow me to discourage you from ever trying. There is no strategy or skill involved. It is basically magic if you manage to win at all! But if you want to watch ten dollars deplete almost as fast as if you burned it then go right ahead!

Subway Stations

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

I wish I had more pictures of the enormous subway and train stations. It was pretty amazing to see hundreds of people moving in all possible directions at once without running into each other (well, except me). Facing long walks through corridors like this was pretty common. It's blurry because i was afraid to stand still to take the picture, but you can kinda see the complexity of these places by the sign. I wish I had taken a picture of one of the big maps, but I'm sure you get the idea.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Believe me I was tempted. Thankfully, I only broke down and had American food once (Mcdonald's). I did try to order pizza a few times, but I can say with a pretty strong conscience that it's not very close to real pizza. A warning: do NOT try to order a milk shake in Japan!

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Akihabara. (I may have spelled that wrong.) This is the electronics district. Store after store selling everything related to electronics you can imagine. All pretty cheap too if you are willing to hunt around. With a few exceptions such as cell phones, I didn't notice too much stuff that was a vast improvement on electronics available in America. I wonder if the rest of the world is beginning to catch up to Japan? I imagine this is because of the recession in Japan.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

The bugs in Japan are enormous. I saw a few roaches that rival those here in Houston. This particular beetle was a brilliant green color, but I'm not sure that shows up in this picture. I saw a lot of toy versions of this exact same bug. Apparently, children like to play with these by putting them on their clothes. A girl in our group tried it out, only to have the little monster start secreting something green colored on her shirt!

Chopsticks

This is useful!

I`ve actually become pretty good myself, especially considering I could barely pick up anything before. Watching the natives thought I get the impression they could pick up bowling balls if they had to.

PSF

I forgot my camera today so I can`t post any pictures. I don`t have too many more at this point. Just a few more from Harajuku and maybe a night shot of Roppongi, which is a nightclub area packed with tourists.

I am very happy to say that I made it to PSF records on my own! I will describe my adventure once I can get the pictures up to go with it. Bye for now.

Sayonara Tokyo

I`m glad to see everyone is actually enjoying a blog of mine for once!

I`ll be leaving Tokyo in a few days unfortunately and so I have no idea what my internet access will be like. If things go dark I`ll see you in two weeks, and I`m sure I`ll post again before I leave Tokyo.

Fashion trend watch: women seem to wear heels about 90% of the time. Usually with some variation of capri pants or, more often, rolled up jeans. Hair is usually dyed red to some degree or other as well.

Despite that observation it`s remarkable what sorts of individual fashion sense you can see around Tokyo. There are various theories in the group as to why, mostly revolving around some form of a response to the conformity of Japanese society in just about all aspects of life. (I swear 80% of the people here look almost related.)

Suspicion: i think many Japanese people speak much more English than they let on.

I am also happy to report that the subway does indeed start to make sense at some point.

I had tempura tonight. It`s, uh, fried stuff. Mostly fish, shrimp, and veggies brought out to you fresh as they come. Very very good stuff.

10 Days

I have been in Japan for ten days. Some impressions:

1) cigarettes are cheap. everything else is expensive.
2) the japanese have the most bizarre and wonderful fashion sense in the world
3) not understanding a single thing going on around you is not as big a problem as you think. my rule is: when confused, do what the japanese people are doing.
4) pointing and gesturing can accomplish a lot!
5) there are little donuts in convienence stores that are the best things ever created
6) if a store has more than one floor, you cannot take items from one floor to another.
7) pachinko parlors are louder than jet engines
8) do not stand still in a subway station
9) everyone is very quiet in crowded areas (and quiet always really).
10) if you ask a japanese person for help you will get it and then some.

i think the feeling of constant disorientation is starting to wear off a bit. i can get around pretty easily now. the further out you are from tokyo the less change of an english subway map, but, as i said, this city is so safe and the people are so nice there is never any reason to be scared of just wandering out. if you are unsure about visiting Japan you shouldnt be. the language barrier is considerable, but with a little effort it is not hard to overcome. you just gotta give up control every now and then and be VERY adventurous.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Restaurant near where I`m staying.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

In Harajuku. And no I have no idea. I made a complete ass out of myself in here as I almost completely fell over by leaning against a wall that was apparently not really there!

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Harajuku on Sunday, which is apparently, as you can see, the day when it is freaking packed. Tons of kids and, for the first time, a lot of foreigners (read: white people). Very very fun place. You can find something great in almost any store here. It goes all the way from very high fashion, to insane fashion, to the harajuku styles below, to t-shirt shops. I loved it here. Me and two others stopped in a place that sold nothing but cake and fruit here that was delicious.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Harajuku girls. I spent all afternoon waiting to take photos when they weren`t looking only to notice later they were quite happy to take pictures with tourists! Oh well.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Probably the best subway ad I have seen so far. Darth Vader and high school girls comparing cell phones. In Harajuku we saw a cell phone that had a tv in it (and god knows what else--I saw a girl reading manga comic books on one) for 160 US dollars.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Ok, this was some sort of make your own pancake place. You order something like beef or shrimp and a big bowl comes out with all kinds of stuff in it. You mix it up yourself and start cooking your own pancake. Mine (already done since the waiter did mine to show us how) was beef and cheese. These were VERY good. A good rule of thumb so far seems to be: cook it yourself and it will be good.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

For some reason I really like this picture. This is the neighborhood we have to walk through to get home every night. Usually very quiet with small streets and nice cars.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Leaving the station at Shinjuku. That green building is called "Green Peas"--get it?

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

One more from Senso-Ji

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Robopuppy at the Sony store. (Watch for the new mp3 players coming to the USA soon!)

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Cooking my own caribou....(This was literally one of the best meals I have ever had.) We wandered into this place on accident really. No english menu and the wonderfully nice older lady working there didn`t understand a word we said. We somehow worked it out, much to her and some other patron`s amusement. The people are are astonishingly nice but they like to have a good laugh at foreigners. Eating sushi the other night the waiter comes up to us and asks "biru?" which we thought meant bill and so we said yes. He immediately produced two more beers for us which we definetly did not want! The sushi chef behind the counter apparently saw the whole thing and was having quite a laugh at our expense as we had our beer.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

The stairs of death (my name)leading up to the shrine at Kamakura.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

On the way to the Shrine at Kamakura.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

An absolute gorgeous kimono I saw at Kamakura, a breach front town outside Tokyo. This is unfortunately the best shot I could get without seeming like a creep.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

The Imperial Palace. This is about all anyone is allowed to see really. It`s mostly hidden behind trees.

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Originally uploaded by rawhite.

Giant Puffy AmiYumi billboard im Shibuya I think. New single came out and I just got it! I think I freaked out my companions a bit when I spotted this and shouted "Puffy!!!" at the top of my lungs and then insisted on taking a picture of it...