Dear Diary,
Two months in Tokyo is too long; I need a time out, quick.
Yason
If you’re expecting historical sightseeing, think again: earthquakes, wartime bombing and the Japanese passion for the new means that little of the past remains. Tokyo may not have the individual icons to match the must-see sights of some other cities, but if you’re after the excitement and dynamism of a truly modern metropolis, you can do no better. Tokyo is a city – or rather a collection of mini-cities – that renews itself at a speed unimaginable in the West. And the fact that it’s so vast means that there’s always more to explore."
Time Out Tokyo
Since January 1, 2005, "School Killer" Seito Sakakibara has been free, living in an undisclosed location under an assumed identity. Back in 1997, when he was still a 14-year-old, he basically decapitated the head of a child and placed it in front of a junior high school to greet the students.
There is a word in Japanese I really find disgusting –
panchira – it means checking out women’s panties. What about men’s briefs?
In one
anime shop, I stumble (yes, I did not seek out the sports section) on a promo for this gay porn video starring a real-life superstar baseball pitcher. In the film, a yakuza gangster clamps a dog collar around the baseball player’s neck and forces him to his knees.
Kiddyland is a famous toy shop in Tokyo. My friend tells me that since the movie
Finding Nemo came out, fans had been clamoring for Nemos of their own – clownfish have apparently been selling for 1,500 yen since the movie premiered years ago. She also claims that Buena Vista International (the film’s distributor) even struck a deal with a maker of a home aquarium equipment, to use the movie to promote an aquarium set. I actually see one in another toy shop, located in a very dodgy area with very late hours (think Recto around midnight). The aquarium is freshwater, not saltwater. It even has a picture of cute little Nemo – who, of course in real life, would die instantly if ever placed in a similar pool of fresh water and ugly plexiglass housing.
Apart from
sumo,
kabuki and
banzai, I have been trying to catch reruns of
Food Fight – a Japanese game show where gluttony is an art form and gluttons become celebrities, one of whom won by eating his way through all the 100 items on a Chinese restaurant’s menu.
I am a glutton too, and getting sick from too much raw food and "Superflat" imagery. Here’s my Japanese menu for the past two months (barf bag upon request), it’s very take away all you can.
Burp/
gomen nasai
