Mushrooms, Blue Hair, and Hooters

Something special today for my diehard fans (haha). 

---First: Probably not natural hair colors...on old ladies?!---
Old Japanese ladies (50+?) dye their hair the most ridiculous colors.  This one was in a convenience store...had to sneak the photo. 

Yes, her hair was actually that blue. 
Oh, in the foreground is white coffee - what I was pretending to take a pic of.  Quite delicious.  Also popular are BRIGHT purple, lavender, and maroon!!  I will try to get more photos...these old ladies usually pop up at random and are gone by the time I get out the camera. 

---Second, MUSHROOMS!  (This one's for you, Jasper!) --------
 I have no idea what these are.  Grocery stores carry at least 7 distinct varieties of mushroom.  You're not really supposed to take pictures in stores for some reason, so these were ninja shots.  I tried the white, phallic one (#1) in a stirfry and it was quite delicious.

Anonymous Mushroom #1:

Anonymous Mushroom #2:

 Anonymous Mushroom #3:

Anonymous Mushroom #4:



---Finally: Hooters! ---------

The reason you're still reading this blog...amirite?

Went to the Asakasa Hooters (Tokyo) for a double birthday.  The girls do a silly dance, jump around, and deliver you cake.  Coincidentally, every table in the house had at least one birthday.  ;)

Me and the Japanese hooters.

 Ko, one of the b-day boys, joins the YMCA dance.

 MMmmmm marichino cherry cake.

 Programmed by an Idaho Refugee.  Wait - what?

 This made Ko's night.

On boys

Me: "So there's this one guy who has a crush on me, that won't take a hint.  I'm not into the whole different zipcodes thing."
Sat (roommate): "Usually being married is a pretty big hint."
Me: "Yeah I already told him that.  He won't give it a rest."
Sat: "Tell him you're gay."
Me: "..."
Sat: "Oh wait, you're married...so I guess that wouldn't work.  Tell him he's gay."
Me: "So, he's gay, he just don't know it yet?"
Sat: "And if that doesn't work, at least he'll think you're a fruitloop."

Awesome.

Being sick in a foreign country sucks

I would tell you I caught a cold but then I would sound like a weakling, so let's call it Plague.  I have had full blown Plague for about 4+ days now.  Normally I would just dayquil it to oblivion but ... well ...I can't find any.  On top of that, the mosquitos have discovered fresh meat - me.  My legs are covered in angry mosquito welts.  I am SO allergic...they swell up to about half-dollar size for a week or more...and the itching is agonizing...it actually behooves me to cut the skin open than to leave the swelling intact.  That's how allergic I am. 

Finally I couldn't take it any more. 

So with my English-Japanese dictionary and the anger of a thousand suns from being sick and itchy, I descended upon the pharmacy.  First, I apologized for my inadequte language skills and showed the employee assisting me the giant mosquito welts on my legs and said "itchy".  She nodded.  Good.  We had a common ground.  In the most broken Japanese imaginable, I managed to ask for the "number 1 cheapest" and "number one strongest" antihistimine cream. We narrowed it down to some weird liquid that looked messy and a pen that looked like it had more active ingredient - I got the pen.  598 yen.  Then, with a patient pharmacist assistant at my side, I looked up the word for "insect-repellent" and she found me an areasol type can that had little dead cartoon mosquitos on it.  What a coincidence; I am particularly fond of dead mosquitos.  Perfect.  Another 600 yen.  Not complete relief, but much improved!

Then the cold - er, uh, Plague - medicine.  Having purchased about 3 different kinds within the past week, and not really knowing what the hell any of them are other than that the boxes have pictures of people with bullseyes on their forehead, nose, and throat, I found my ability to decipher the words for what I needed insufficient.  Lo and behold, I located some Vicks medicated throat drops - something familiar!  Good enough.  Combined with the decongestant I found yesterday, I found that I could now regain status as a mostly fully functional human being.  Except now I'm spacey as hell.  But that's a price I'm willing to pay...because NOW I CAN BREATHE!! 

DING!  Japanese proficiency Level up!  I can now find medications I need in a pharmacy.  Yeay mother necessity!

Daily Musings of a Foreigner

Visiting a new country is fascinating, thrilling, and oftentimes confusing.  Living there doubly so!  There are so many tiny "givens" that one would never take notice of at home, at least, never with any interest.  But when you find yourself part of a new equation with completely different values, suddenly the details become brilliantly poignant!  For example:

1.  You know the little convenience store sammiches...the ones you're always afraid to eat?  Not quite sure how long they've been there or what's in them? Not only are they good here, they come with the crusts cut off for you already
2. The prongs of wall plugs on electric devices actually fold compactly back into the adapter
3.  Sliding glass windows and doors slide both ways, from both sides!
4.  Free hand sanitizer and tissues are offered everywhere
5. Anyone and everyone are willing to help you lift heavy things, find a place, or read something for you.  Even the very rare racist ones...they'll still help if you ask.
6. Dollar stores (100円）are AWESOME.  You can buy things in a dollar store here that you wouldn't believe!  Slippers, kitchen and bathroom supplies, air freshener, shelving, towels...
7. When an elevator door or train door opens, everyone outside gets completely and neatly out of the way to let the people inside out.  It's like a choreographed scene from a movie...it's hard to believe it until you see it, but it's beautiful!
8. Public transportation is efficient and ON TIME.  ALWAYS.  To the minute.  (Excluding accidents and earthquakes, of course.)  If your train is late, you get a "victimization certificate" that is basically a doctor's note for being late to wherever you're headed and it's a legitimate excuse!
9. Vending machines accept 1万円 bills ($100) and give change.  So do convenience stores, fast food restaurants, and every retail store.

That's it for now.  Stay tuned for more daily musings on life in Japan.  And now, lunch time!

I'm a retard and I accidentally deleted most of the comments 00.oo

Got a couple messages about this...Please don't stop commenting!!

New Digs

Moving day!!  Gone is the Sangubashi apartment, hello 30000円!  Met the roommate; nice British guy teaching English.  The other roommate, girl from Hong Kong, was moving out today so it's down to 2 until next week(?) 

Balcony, check.  Window seat, check.  Park view, check.  Neighborhood kitty, check.  Pics:

Check.

"river" "bbq"

Sunday was awesome.  Somehow with minimal planning we managed to scrounge together enough stuff for a barbeque.  A bunch of people met up at the Fukasomethingshinchi Eki and we headed down to a riverbed where a whole bunch of JP were grilling and hanging out.  One guy brought the grill (bought it this morning, in fact), I brought plates, bread, and forks, another person brought cups and paper towels, donuts, more bread, chips, etc...it was quite impressive really.  And so we spent an afternoon huddled around a 300yen grill (~$3) trying to get the damn thing to light, then finally having SUCCESS we cooked our trophies.  Meanwhile, the JP around us are doing what they do best - drinking heavily.  It was so windy and sprinkly out that I had to take a picture when I saw this:

um...that's weird...the photos aren't on my camera.  well, picture a drunk japanese dude stripped down to his boxers, diving into the icy river.  And then there was the guy that couldn't even stand up...fell asleep half standing and ended up lying in the rocks, piss-pantsed.  Drunks aside, it was so nice being outside with interesting people.  I hope we do more outdoorsy stuff. 

Now, I go to study and figure out what is wrong with my camera. :/