V-DAY!

Happy Late Valentines Day Ladies.

Things work a little different in Japan on Valentine's Day. The girls do all the work (that sentence will never get old. JOKE LADIES, JOKE!). The girls give chocolate to the boys and all the boys have to do is eat it. So in a sense, they are fattening them up for the kill. This is one tradition the U.S. should definitely adopt.

There is one drawback guys. March 14th is White Day. Apparently the guys are supposed to give girls chocolate on that day. But we still have an advantage. We can raid the supermarket on February 15th and get all the left over valentines chocolate for White Day presents at 80% off. The only problem is, I already ate all the chocolate I bought on sale. Oops.

Below are my valentine gifts.
Good news: Lots of candy and uh, is that instant coffee?!
Bad news: They're mostly from old Japanese women

I'm a baaaad blogger

So I was contacted by a social worker named Jill last night for neglecting my baby blog and treating it like a red headed step child. All I had was a few sips of sake, a couple of beers, and look where my life has gone. It has come to a social worker getting my life back on track. So I'm hear to say I'm back.

And this proves I mean it. Last night I was sitting under my kotatsu writing a blog entry when... I accidentally fell asleep for the night. I woke up and held my head in shame...just like Robert Downey Jr. throwing away another chance.

So for those of you that don't know about it, let me tell you about this little genius, devil of an invention...the kotatsu (which should translate into 'ambition killer'). It is a coffee table and in the winter you put a blanket between the table legs and the top surface. Under the table is a heater that you turn on and put your legs under. Once your legs are under, forget about moving until you have to go to work in the morning. It makes getting up to go to the bathroom an unwanted chore. I might invest in a catheter.

Big Trouble in Little Tokyo

This is how I knew I was on the wrong side of the tracks in Tokyo.

International Superstar

This is a man you all know and respect. Especially Jasmine. However, many of you probably don't realize his international stardom. I, for one, didn't until I went to a second hand shop here and saw this. It was on display only, as this fine piece of art is priceless.

Last Stop: Tokyo

Last stop: Tokyo.

We were in Tokyo from Wed night until Sun afternoon. Tokyo is ginormous. The city is broken up into a whole bunch of districts that are one next to another. So what is there to do in Tokyo? Well, there's shopping for the ladies, more shopping for the ladies, a little more shopping for the ladies, some shopping for the guys, and so we don't forget the ladies, some shopping for them. Everywhere you looked, there were malls, big department stores, or little shops depending on the district. The malls consisted of: 85% women's clothing / accessories, 13% food court, 2% men's clothing / accessories.

Different districts would have different stores. For example:

Harajuku had lots of small shops with lots of different random things... and women's clothing of course.

Ginza was like NYC. All the ritzy huge expensive stores were here. Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. etc. Basically all the companies where you can find their 'little brother' counterparts for $4 in Tijuana.

Akihaba was a huge electronic district. There were tons of 8 or more level electronic buildings. This is also the place famous for their 'maid' cafes. Unfortunately we went there too early in the day so we didn't go to any maid cafes. I was feeling a little dirty and thought I could use a good cleaning. (Just to clarify, the maid cafes are where people go to drink and girls in maid outfits serve them. And just to clarify my stance on the subject, I think everybody could use a maid)

One exception was Roppongi. This is the district that.... lets just say it peaks from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Akihabara. Electronics and maid capital of the world.


First train (5:30 a.m.) back home after a late night in Roppongi

Those were just a few of the districts we visited. However, they all had one thing in common. People...a massive sea of black hair and Gap bags.

People everywhere. I heard this is the busiest intersection in the world (Shibuya)


Arcades are everywhere too.

The transit system is also really convenient. Between the local subway and trains, you could get anywhere is a relatively short amount of time. It's just a matter of finding the right noodle in the bowl of subway spaghetti.

Tokyo subway map. There is also a separate train map.

Yoyogi Park. A big park in the middle of Tokyo.

And that's it for the trip! Now I'm back in my little rice paddy 'hood... party capital of Japan.