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At a late-night internet cafe with half the eltters rubbed off the keyboard so my typing will be even worse than usual.
A bit more detail on the past couple of days.
First, the train to Tokyo took, as I said earlier, 2.5 hours. Rachel assures me this is atypical. It was due to an "accident" that we are told usually means a suicide.
On the walk from the Minami^Senju station to the hotel, we saw a doorway - no idea whether it was a house, bar, whtever - with what looked like salt in twolittle dishes on either side of the door, and a man walked up to it, bent and took a pinch of salt from one, and then we didn't see what else he id because his back was turned, bt he went into the doorway.
Random aside: iced tea is served with sugar syrup here. And is often expensive: cafes tend to combat people who order one drink and stay for hoursby simply charging $5 for one drink. I've spent a lot of money on iced tea already.
That night we saw the Japanese police actually doing something: three showed up to clear a drunk man away who was hassling poeple trying to get into the hotel. They did it without laying hands on him - just surrounded him and stared until he got up and walked away with them. Rachel assures me this is atypical.
Yesterday I was migrainey and a bitch. Rachel bore it well. We went to a nearby department store so I could see the amazing food and free samples in the basement. There was no food in the basement. Rachel assures me this is atypical. (he also thinks we got lost and didn:t find the right part of the basement).
We went out for okonomiyaki with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
m00nface, her boyfriend, and a couple they knew. In SHinjuku. And then went to this place that Phil, one of the couple, described as "a cake place in Tokyo". We found it nevertheless, in Shibuya. And had shaved ice with peach syrup and peach pieces - very good. Especially in this heat.
BTW, Japan is hotter than hell and twice as humid. August is not the time to be traveling ehre.
This morning, I found a breakfast place nearby on a printout the hotel had, and figured that food early on would prevent a meltdown later. We walked right to it, after a glance at the map. Rachel assures me this is atypical. We sat next to a Japanese couple in yukata who were very elegant and made me feel underdressed.
We took the train to Asakusa, a section of Tokyo built to be traditional, with shops and temples and an amusement park. Very Old Tokyo Theme Park. We shopped about a bit and ate at a place where I had sliced vegetables served on ice, and fried squid. Rachel had tuna sashimi.
But more to the point, we accidentally stumbled across a samba festival. Most of the participants in the parade were Japanese- who knew so many Japnese were into samba? Took pictures, will post when I return from Japan. There was a giant tiger float with a girl on top on a swing, but my camera was put away by then so you'll have to imagine it.
And then, the most exciting bit of that day that will take over my comments section while you all ignore the rest of the post.
We were meetingm00nface in Shinjuku for dinner, so took the subway from Asakusa to Ueno Station, then transferred to the train for Shinjuku. It was crowded, and Rachel grabbed a seat while I stood in front of her, hanging on to a strap. We traveled for a while, and I was idly observing the people nearby. I saw the man next to Rachel, who seemed like an ordinary sort of fellow, youngish, with a bag form a camera store, a bit geeky, but otehrwise unremarkable, furtively look about, tilt back the hat on his head, then lean forward and rest his forehead on the pole next to him.
And then he kissed it. Three times. I thought this a wee bit odd. I watched him. A few minutes later, he leaned forward again, and engaged the pole in a longer kiss.
About this time, while I was trying to figure out how to tell Rachel this without alerting him that he had been spotted, she oulled out her notebook and a pencil to record the Engrish on the shirt of the girl standing next to me. When she was done, I took them from her, and wrote "The guy next to you keeps kissing the pole." Rachel read it, and did her best to keep from bursting into laughter. We could not look at each other for fear of falling about for a good long time.
The man didn:t do anything for a while, and Rachel tells me she thought I was misinterpreting something. The pole was steel and cold, the car washot, and she thought he was just pressing his head to it to coool off.
He looked around furtively again. Then leaned forward and kissed the pole. Rachel saw it this time. The man then got up and went to stand next to a pole near the door. We kept watching. He looked around furtively, and leaned forward and planted on on that pole. We sniggered madly behind our hands. Two Japanese schoolgirls nearby saw him also, and started sniggering.
He then pulled a piece of Kleenex or white cloth or something out of his pocket, and carefully, tenderly, wiped doen the pole where he:d kissed it. All four of us observers were watching him openly by this point.
The train stopped in Shinjuku, which disappointed us because we wanted to keep waching the drama. But then he kissed it one last time, and swept out the door of the train, leaivng Rachel, I, and the wo Japanese schoolgirls looking at each other, rolling our eyes, and sniggering in a moment of cross-cultural togetherness.
Rachel assures me this behavior is atypical.
After thar\t we metm00nface and Phil, and went to an izakaya where we had what Rachel assures me is an atypical experience, but there:s no point in talking about it ebcause you:re no longer paying attention after Train Man.
On the walk home to the hotel we saw a group of older teens or young adults standing outside the subway station. The girls were weaing Mickey Mouse ears with tiaras, and one of the guys was wearing fuzzy pink kitty ears. I felt like I wasn:t missing AnimeFest after all.
We also, on the way to this itnernet cafe less than a hundred yards from the hotel, got lost and saw a Japanese police car pull a van over and search the interior, which is an atypical experience although Rachel assures me getting lost is entirely typical.
Tomorrow we geek out in Akihabara.
A bit more detail on the past couple of days.
First, the train to Tokyo took, as I said earlier, 2.5 hours. Rachel assures me this is atypical. It was due to an "accident" that we are told usually means a suicide.
On the walk from the Minami^Senju station to the hotel, we saw a doorway - no idea whether it was a house, bar, whtever - with what looked like salt in twolittle dishes on either side of the door, and a man walked up to it, bent and took a pinch of salt from one, and then we didn't see what else he id because his back was turned, bt he went into the doorway.
Random aside: iced tea is served with sugar syrup here. And is often expensive: cafes tend to combat people who order one drink and stay for hoursby simply charging $5 for one drink. I've spent a lot of money on iced tea already.
That night we saw the Japanese police actually doing something: three showed up to clear a drunk man away who was hassling poeple trying to get into the hotel. They did it without laying hands on him - just surrounded him and stared until he got up and walked away with them. Rachel assures me this is atypical.
Yesterday I was migrainey and a bitch. Rachel bore it well. We went to a nearby department store so I could see the amazing food and free samples in the basement. There was no food in the basement. Rachel assures me this is atypical. (he also thinks we got lost and didn:t find the right part of the basement).
We went out for okonomiyaki with
m00nface, her boyfriend, and a couple they knew. In SHinjuku. And then went to this place that Phil, one of the couple, described as "a cake place in Tokyo". We found it nevertheless, in Shibuya. And had shaved ice with peach syrup and peach pieces - very good. Especially in this heat.BTW, Japan is hotter than hell and twice as humid. August is not the time to be traveling ehre.
This morning, I found a breakfast place nearby on a printout the hotel had, and figured that food early on would prevent a meltdown later. We walked right to it, after a glance at the map. Rachel assures me this is atypical. We sat next to a Japanese couple in yukata who were very elegant and made me feel underdressed.
We took the train to Asakusa, a section of Tokyo built to be traditional, with shops and temples and an amusement park. Very Old Tokyo Theme Park. We shopped about a bit and ate at a place where I had sliced vegetables served on ice, and fried squid. Rachel had tuna sashimi.
But more to the point, we accidentally stumbled across a samba festival. Most of the participants in the parade were Japanese- who knew so many Japnese were into samba? Took pictures, will post when I return from Japan. There was a giant tiger float with a girl on top on a swing, but my camera was put away by then so you'll have to imagine it.
And then, the most exciting bit of that day that will take over my comments section while you all ignore the rest of the post.
We were meeting
m00nface in Shinjuku for dinner, so took the subway from Asakusa to Ueno Station, then transferred to the train for Shinjuku. It was crowded, and Rachel grabbed a seat while I stood in front of her, hanging on to a strap. We traveled for a while, and I was idly observing the people nearby. I saw the man next to Rachel, who seemed like an ordinary sort of fellow, youngish, with a bag form a camera store, a bit geeky, but otehrwise unremarkable, furtively look about, tilt back the hat on his head, then lean forward and rest his forehead on the pole next to him. And then he kissed it. Three times. I thought this a wee bit odd. I watched him. A few minutes later, he leaned forward again, and engaged the pole in a longer kiss.
About this time, while I was trying to figure out how to tell Rachel this without alerting him that he had been spotted, she oulled out her notebook and a pencil to record the Engrish on the shirt of the girl standing next to me. When she was done, I took them from her, and wrote "The guy next to you keeps kissing the pole." Rachel read it, and did her best to keep from bursting into laughter. We could not look at each other for fear of falling about for a good long time.
The man didn:t do anything for a while, and Rachel tells me she thought I was misinterpreting something. The pole was steel and cold, the car washot, and she thought he was just pressing his head to it to coool off.
He looked around furtively again. Then leaned forward and kissed the pole. Rachel saw it this time. The man then got up and went to stand next to a pole near the door. We kept watching. He looked around furtively, and leaned forward and planted on on that pole. We sniggered madly behind our hands. Two Japanese schoolgirls nearby saw him also, and started sniggering.
He then pulled a piece of Kleenex or white cloth or something out of his pocket, and carefully, tenderly, wiped doen the pole where he:d kissed it. All four of us observers were watching him openly by this point.
The train stopped in Shinjuku, which disappointed us because we wanted to keep waching the drama. But then he kissed it one last time, and swept out the door of the train, leaivng Rachel, I, and the wo Japanese schoolgirls looking at each other, rolling our eyes, and sniggering in a moment of cross-cultural togetherness.
Rachel assures me this behavior is atypical.
After thar\t we met
m00nface and Phil, and went to an izakaya where we had what Rachel assures me is an atypical experience, but there:s no point in talking about it ebcause you:re no longer paying attention after Train Man.On the walk home to the hotel we saw a group of older teens or young adults standing outside the subway station. The girls were weaing Mickey Mouse ears with tiaras, and one of the guys was wearing fuzzy pink kitty ears. I felt like I wasn:t missing AnimeFest after all.
We also, on the way to this itnernet cafe less than a hundred yards from the hotel, got lost and saw a Japanese police car pull a van over and search the interior, which is an atypical experience although Rachel assures me getting lost is entirely typical.
Tomorrow we geek out in Akihabara.