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The Japanese are terrified of rain.
The moment one raindrop hits the sidewalk, out come the umbrellas and they go into doubletime. Now, I understand why the umbrellas are necessary because some of the downpours are quite significant. That just makes sense but many of the rains are very light, sporadic sprinkles but the Japanese still act like a monsoon is hitting. I always carry an umbrella with me but the moment I realize it’s a light shower, I’ll put it away. They just stare at me and I can tell they’re thinking, “Hey, crazy Gaijin, are you too stupid to realize it’s raining!” This is happening more frequently as we’re coming to an end of the rainy season in Japan. The best explanation I’ve heard so far came from one of my Japanese co-workers who is an exceptionally small guy. As we were walking to lunch one day, a light rain started. I opened my umbrella like the rest of them but put it away when I saw how light the rain was. My co-worker asked me “Are you immune to the rain? Aren’t you getting wet?” When I replied that it wasn’t that heavy of a rain to warrant the umbrella, he replied, “Perhaps you don’t realize the proportion of a raindrop hitting your body versus one hitting mine. It hurts.” F’ing brilliant. That line had me laughing all afternoon.
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Since I’ve been in Japan, I am aware of only two earthquakes that have occurred in the Tokyo area. One occurred while I was sleeping and the other was East of Tokyo and I never noticed the effects even though many people in Tokyo felt it. I will say that a few times a week I do feel the ground move and spin and I will get a sudden wave of nausea that will hit me typically around 10:00-11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday nights usually after I’ve left the Izakaya (Bar). It’s curious that the earthquakes regularly hit around this time.
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Take a look at the following picture. It’s a snapshot of various beer cans that are available in my local supermarket. This isn’t an optical illusion and I didn’t manipulate the photo. From largest to smallest:
Bomber-size (500 ml or 16.9 ounces)
Standard-size (350 ml or 11.8 ounces)
Pony-size (250 ml or 8.5 ounces)
WTF-size (135 ml or 4.6 ounces)!
For what possible reason would you sell a 4.6 ounce beer can other than for some Gaijin to buy and include as a photo in his blog?
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I love Japanese konbinis. A konbini is a Japanese Convenient store and includes chains like 7-Eleven, AM/PM, FamilyMart and Lawson’s. They’re everywhere in Tokyo. I believe there’s a Japanese law that you must have at least one konbini on every city block. In addition to carrying your typical water, soda and iced tea (green, of course), you can get beer, wine and liquor. Many of them actually have a pretty good selection. And, if you’re looking for snacks, they have the standard candy bars but also squid jerky and dried fish. Mmmm, chocolate and dried salty fish, the latest craze soon to be sweeping America. When you’re drunk and got the munchies, you tend to get creative in your snack selection.
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Over the last few weeks I’ve become a regular visitor to my
apartment’s gym on the 24th floor. Don’t jump to conclusions; it’s not what you think. I happened to stumble up to the bar, also on the 24th floor, and accidently turned left into the gym instead of right into the bar. Surprise, surprise, I was still able to get the same end results for a lot less money. Take a look at this snapshot of the gym’s vending machine. As you can see they have energy drinks and healthy green tea but they also sell beer! 220 Yen ($2.30) for a 12 ounce Asahi or 290 Yen ($3.00) for the bombers. That same 12 ounce Asahi is probably $8.00 in the bar. What a bargain. My fellow apartment dwellers aren’t so happy with me since I don’t buy just one and leave. The recumbent bikes are right next to the vending machine so you can plop yourself down on the bike and take a nice leisurely ride with your cold brew(s). One word of advice from experience talking, stick to two or three and then leave. Six or more could potentially result in nausea and regurgitated maguro sashimi is very difficult to clean out of the cracks and gaps of a recumbent bike.------------------
I forgot to blog about this men’s fashion trend earlier but many Japanese business men wear a style of dress shoes that are easily three to four inches longer than their feet. Here’s a picture of the oversized, square-tipped dress shoe.The first time I saw this style I was on the subway. I was packed in like a sardine and looking down at the floor and saw what was probably the equivalent of a U.S. Men’s size 13 shoe. I followed the shoe up to the person expecting a six foot and above individual and instead this guy was probably five foot five. When I looked back down at the shoe, you could see where his toes were within the shoe and clearly there was at least three inches of shoe beyond his toes. WTF? The more I started looking around; I started seeing this style of shoe everywhere. Why would short Asian men want to give others the impression that their feet are really bigger than they really are? Hmmm, maybe this is the equivalent of an American man’s sports car complex?
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Back on July 22nd, Asia experienced a major solar eclipse. The best viewing in Japan was down south
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in the Okinawa area. In Tokyo, we were predicted to have about a 75% eclipse. On the day of the eclipse, a co-worker and I headed outside to see if the eclipse would be visible even though it was an incredibly cloudy day. As soon as we walked outside, the clouds parted briefly and I was able to get this quick shot with my Blackberry Storm. I took several shots after that but the first one was the best. Most of my co-workers didn’t get a good shot and my lucky snap became the de facto image passed around the office.
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