November 2007
Tokyo (20071101)
I arrived in Tokyo late in the evening, and did not have time to
see much of interest before it seemed prudent to try to find a
hotel. I did see this guy in his excellent clothes though. And I did
find a hotel fairly quickly, checking in at slightly past
midnight.
Signs (20071102)
I was supposed to meat my brother out in some suburb but he was
late as usual. So I photographed some signs. I like the cafe called
"Ask a giraffe". Kobeya is also nice, since they "wish all the time to
be able to provide you fresh bread and to propose you a joy of eating
life with bread". And "Especially, we want to be a host at dinner of
your kitchen."
School festival (20071102)
My brother finally showed up, and we walked around the street
festival and school festival that was the special event of the
day. People were dragging around dogs in baby-carts. Normally, these
festival consist of people selling chocolate dipped bananas or grilled
squids etc. Here, they also sold refrigerators and cars. Perhaps not
what I would spontaneously buy off the street and lug home.
Always 27th? (20071102)
The tennis club all had jackets with the slogan "Always 27th". I
have no idea what it means, but it sounded strange to me, so I took a
picture. They saw me (indicated by shouts of "crazy foreigner taking
picture!") and I had to take one more when they were posing,
but sadly the slogan was no longer visible.
"Pro" wrestling (20071102)
My absolute favorite of the festival was the guys doing "pro"
wrestling. It was hysterical. They were perhaps not really that much
of "pro"s, but... And the first guy had no opponent, so he just
smacked around some invisible person in the air, and got beaten badly
by the same too...
Waiting (20071102)
We later passed a very very long line of people waiting in
Shinjuku. What they were waiting for was unclear, since the people who
were first in line did not seem to be standing in line at all, and
there was nothing there to wait for. But probably they were queueing
for donuts, it turned out.
Weird signs (20071102)
My hotel for the night was in Shinjuku's Kabukicho, the weird
entertainment area. I still find it strange that they have huge signs
advertising this kind of thing. The things in Japanese are weird too,
advertising fetish costume porn with young girls, and erotic pictures
of very young girls.
Birthday present! (20071102)
I got a birthday present today. Chocolate. My brother also gave
me presents, a tube of toothpaste and a bottle of cheap deodorant.
Sparkling (20071103)
I went window shopping in Shibuya. There you can buy such classy
things as a bicycle covered in glass beads showing Hello Kitty.
Crowded (20071103)
Every time I pass this intersection, it always amazes me that
there are so many people crossing. Every day, every time the light
turns green, the whole place just fills up with people. And every
single time it looks like there are more people there than in the
whole city of Stockholm.
Shibuya festival (20071103)
There was a festival similar to the one yesterday, but in another
place. This huge doll of a dog looked interesting, but too big to lug
around for a week in Tokyo.
Avoiding crowds (20071103)
Takeshita street in Harajuku is also very crowded, but this girl
had found a small place to squeeze into and read a book.
Not my style (20071103)
Being out of things to do, I decided to give a call to a person
who had contacted me out of the blue on Facebook (web thingy for
people with too much spare time). She was guiding around some other
foreigners and I was invited to meet up with them at their hotel. This
hotel cost 29000 yen per night, while my hotel cost me 3000 yen per
night. Their hotel was slightly classier. I got lost trying to find
the lobby, and had to walk for several kilometers in padded
hallways. While my hotel sold fresh underwear in a vending machine,
their hotel sold huge chunks of gold studded with diamonds. I asked
the guard if I could take a picture. He said he was just guarding the
stuff, so he did not know, but he went and asked one of the staff. She
came out and asked what I wanted. So I said I wondered if I could take
a photo. She said she did not know, she would have to ask her boss,
and quickly disappeared inside. After a rather lengthy process
involving many people, it was determined that, yes I could take a
picture, but I was under no circumstances to enter the actual
store... Evidently, I did not look like a promising customer to them
(well, in a t-shirt with a huge wolf on, maybe I too agree).
Foreigners in Roppongi (20071103)
After finding the lobby and waiting for the jet lagged Americans
to wake up (they had gone to the Tsukiji fish market at five in the
morning, only to find that it was closed because today was Culture
Day) we went to dinner. Since no one except me spoke Japanese, the
restaurant was one in Roppongi. There, there are more foreigners than
Japanese. Most Japanese people in Roppongi can speak English to some
extent too. The food was good, but I should have ordered more
expensive things, since someone else paid the whole thing. Some drunk
young men at the table behind ours kept speaking Swedish and Danish,
which I have not heard much of for a long time.
Hello-ween Kitty (20071103)
After dinner, a long tour of many different bars in Roppongi
started. One American woman received a Halloween Kitty from a
bartender in one of them. I met 20 Swedes in another. The two funniest
events were me being groped by some foreign guy in a club, him
touching my chest for quite a while and saying "Wow, you have really
big tits!". Indeed, my chest muscles beat the chest size of most
Japanese, regardless of gender. It was weird, though, and my
companions thought it was hilarious. The second story was when we
found a house with a bar on second floor, a bar on fourth floor,
something shady on seventh floor, and a tiny elevator. "OK, let's try
the one on fourth floor". So we go there, get out of the elevator and
pretty much straight into the "bar". They shout very happy greetings
to the first three (girls) who went inside, but then ask if we have
member cards. No. Then we cannot go in. So back into the elevator,
where now some other foreigner also is. He says "you know, that is a
gay bar, so that is why you cannot go in" at the same time as the
elevator says "overloaded, please someone exit the elevator". So the
British guy and the American guy get out and we agree to meet on
second floor. But they never show. After fifteen minutes, I am sent to
look for them, but cannot see them anywhere. There show up shortly
after that, though. They were panicked by some weird looking thing
being about to transpire in the gay club when they were waiting there,
and quickly jumped into the elevator when it showed up, and closed the
door. Then they get off and walk into a place where four or five young
girls in bikinis are standing on a stage, a customer in only his
underwear is passed out in a chair and the owner warmly says "come in
come in". We are nowhere in sight, so they go "Well, we are looking
for our friends". "You have many friends here!". So they talk to this
owner in broken English for awhile trying to figure out why we are not
there waiting for them, and why this place is so strange. Finally they
ask, "by the way, which floor is this?". The owner replies "seventh",
but his English is not so great, so they still hear "second". When
they finally realize their mistake, they see a sign on the way out
stating "30 minutes of drinking, 30,000 yen". In Sapporo you can get
60 minutes of drinking for 315 yen, so likely some form of special
service (probably requiring only you in your underwear) was included.
Marines (20071103)
The last stop was a bar where we got to sit in the VIP sofa
corner for free (normal charge: 3000 yen per person). There were more
Americans there, who turned out to be marines. Some of the were passed
out, lying on the dance floor. Perhaps not the best place to be lying,
as people may tread on you when dancing. Their clever friends had
decided that instead of picking their friends up from the floor
(perhaps to go home, send them home, move them to a more comfortable
place, or just move them out of direct harm), they would just come and
stand guard over their friends whenever someone started dancing... The
military way of thinking at its finest. The British woman in our group
finally had enough of this and said "pick up your friends, you cannot
have unconscious friends sleeping on the floor", to which they replied
"we are marines, we are used to sleeping on the floor". OK, what an
excellent valid point... Then they proceeded to put one more passed
out marine right next to the two previous ones.
Sleeping (20071104)
As there turned out to be no hotels in Roppongi, I walked to
Shibuya in the middle of the night. I saw the locals sleeping in weird
ways, such as on card board under the overpasses. When I stumbled out
from my hotel in the early noon, I also found shoppers waiting for the
stores to open sleeping at the table in Cafe Denmark.
Other people too (20071104)
I was supposed to meet my brother in Shibuya, near the crowded
intersection. He was late again, so I had time to note that this girl
was using a more fancy camera than me, but photographing the same
things. Maybe. She was doing it for about an hour (then I left).
More signs (20071104)
Toa means toilet in Swedish, but is very common on signs in
Japan. I also like the store "Nude Rump antiques". They sell weird
used clothes.
Jeans (20071104)
My brother's girlfriend wanted to buy jeans. So we went into this
jeans store. Why they feel books with naked breasts is appropriate
paraphernalia for selling jeans, I do not know. It seems to be fairly
common in Japan though. I was the only one who noticed it at all.
Food and fame (20071104)
The goal of today was to go see robots do stupid things. While
waiting for this, we ate some "Italian" food (banana pie and spicy
rice). Next to us, someone famous from TV sat down. People asked for
his autograph. I never watch TV so I had no idea he was famous.
Bakarobo (20071104)
The robot thing was late, and taking pictures was
forbidden. Other than that, it was superb. It was a competition where
the stupidest/funniest robot wins half a million yen. Highly
entertaining. Of course, of the 200 or so
in the audience, there were about 5 foreigners, including me and my
brother. When the host on stage said "Now we have to kill some time
because they are not ready yet backstage. Oh, we have visitors from
far away!", everyone else ducked down under their seats. So me and my
brother got interviewed, which was rather embarrassing. All the funny
answers popped forth 5 minutes too late...
Hotels (20071104)
I spent pretty much every night in a new hotel, always going to
the closest capsule hotel I could find. You get a small tube to climb
into (these are stacked two or three on top of each other, often
hundreds on each floor) and sleep in. Cheap and for me rather
exotic. If you sleep lightly, you will probably be disturbed by
snoring, coughing, TV, etc. from other nearby capsules, since you are
separated only by a curtain or a thin sheet of plastic.
Sweden (20071105)
These pants are from Sweden and have some Swedish written on
them.
Fitting desserts (20071105)
This cafe had as its specialty "star sign parfait". You can order
the parfait of any star sign, but supposedly you will like the one for
you own sign best. This was mine.
Tokyo (20071105)
Today I met up with a friend from Sapporo who now lives in
Tokyo. He works near Tokyo station (this picture), so we went out to
eat in that area. A surprising number of people speak English around
there.
First meal: Thai food (20071105)
First off we ate Thai food for about 7,000 yen (I normally spend
about 1,000 yen on a dinner in Japan). It was good, but not that
filling.
Second meal: German food (20071105)
Next we went to a restaurant with German food. Blood sausage,
herring buried in salt and set on fire, Swedish vodka, and many other
things were available. About another 7,000 yen.
Akihabara: Electronics (20071106)
Akihabara is still called "Electronics Town" on the signs in the
station, and there are still some weird forms of electronic stores
there. Like these stores selling cables and resistors by the
kilo. There is very much less such stuff now than before. Instead
there are...
Akihabara: Maids (20071106)
Akihabara is now full of Maid Cafe, Maid Relaxation (massage of
feet and hands, maybe more), Maid Bars, Maid all kinds of weird
things. This is fairly new, but now this is the most thriving business
in Akihabara. It came soon after the electronics of Akihabara were
overrun by...
Akihabara: Anime and Manga (20071106)
Akihabara is still full of anime and manga (animated cartoons and
comic books, respectively). Here you can photograph yourself as one of
the girls (though most customers are men) in Evangelion or buy clothes
from the Final Fantasy series.
Akihabara: Dolls (20071106)
In Japan you can buy dolls. Very expensive dolls. They are very
lifelike (though small). You can also buy clothes of all kinds for
your dolls. More expensive than buying the same for yourself. These
pictures is from a huge department store that sells only doll related
things. So presumably there is a large market.
Akihabara: Porn (20071106)
There is a lot of porn in Akihabara too. As in huge stores with
five to six floors filled with nothing but porn. Of very weird types
too.
Akihabara: Weird things (20071106)
There are also stores selling things that are just strange. Like
Batman throwing stars, or shirts with descriptions of different
techniques for going to the bathroom.
Akihabara: English (20071106)
In Akihabara, like most places in Japan, even shops run by
foreigners tend to have "English" that is not very good. I think that
the laddies curry was more for women than for young men, for
instance.
Geisha dinner (20071106)
I had asked my friend who has moved to Tokyo to work to find me
an expensive and fancy restaurant. Once I would like to go to such a
place, just to see what it is like. And in Tokyo there must surely be
some. Sure enough, he found one. When booking a table, he called me
and asked "the lowest price is 30,000 yen, how much are you OK with
paying?" I said no more than 100,000 yen, unless it is really
spectacular. So he booked us for two people at 40,000 per person. It
was the first time he went to such a place too (and according to the
staff, the first time anyone under 30 visited them at all). It is
mostly frequented by the higher ups in the government and people like
that. Showing up in a pink t-shirt like I did is rare. We had a huge
room to ourselves, were served excellent traditional Japanese food
selected to be fitting for the time of year, had unlimited access to
whisky, beer, sake, other types of drinks (of rather fancy quality I
think), and the place was very very fancy looking. Also, during the
whole three hour meal, we had two geishas sitting in with us and
talking (in Japanese) about all kinds of things. I was very
impressed. I have never really met anyone that is super good at
conversation I guess, but I had never imagined that you could be that
much better than average people. These people were unbelievably
good. Much better than I had ever imagined it was possible to be. And
I still probably missed out on over half the conversation because I am
not very good at Japanese, so for native speakers it must be
extraordinary. They also seemed knowledgeable in pretty much all
areas. When hearing that I was from Sweden, one told me about how she
find IKEA to be a great help in buying nice furniture cheaply and one
told me that she had heard about "surstroemming" (though her
pronunciation was not perfect, I was impressed that she even knew the
Swedish word!). They could also sing parts of hard rock songs, talk
about the intricacies of ice floats in the spring and much more.
IKEA (20071107)
With my brother once again being too lazy to come in to Tokyo
from the suburbs, I set out alone to visit IKEA. IKEA has only been
open in Japan for about one year, and there are not that many
stores. Other than that, it is much like back in Sweden. Full of
families with children.
Swedish food (20071107)
IKEA also has a restaurant serving "Swedish" food. Most of it
looks and tastes like you would expect a similar restaurant at an IKEA
in Sweden to taste. Which is not that great, but at least very
Swedish. I ordered the top selling dish, Swedish meat balls with
jam.
Jonas (20071107)
IKEA has names on all their products, and most of them are normal
Swedish personal names. So I asked the staff if they had anything
named Jonas (earlier, they sold a knife for buttering bread called
Jonas). They asked if I was looking for furniture, cutlery, toys? I
said anything called Jonas would be fine. They only had furniture. A
desk, drawer, cupboard series of things are now called Jonas. Lugging
anything like that back to Sapporo would not be practical, so I never
bought any.
Licorice! (20071107)
Not only does IKEA have a restaurant, they also have a small
store selling Swedish food. Like cookies and raw fish. They also sold
Swedish salty licorice. Which is rather surprising, since Japanese
people (and many other non-Northern Europeans) find this to be so
disgusting that they cannot even put it in their mouth. Swedes like it
a lot though.
Swedish coffee bread (20071107)
At IKEA Japan they give you one plate and you get to eat whatever
you manage to squeeze onto that plate for a fixed plate. But you can
only put things on the plate once. They had many types of fairly
Swedish cakes. Especially the (in Sweden) famous "Princess cake",
though in Japan it is called "Princess Tart". And it is the size of a
tennis ball (the green thing) instead of a football (which you would
cut into pieces and split with other people in Sweden).
Magic (20071107)
Several times I ran into the same street magician. He was very
nice, very good, quite funny, and spoke excellent English. We talked
about magic a little, and one of his beginner magician friends forced
me to do a card trick for him. It seems doing magic in the streets in
Tokyo can pull in a lot of money (and "free sushi" tickets), but also
requires you to pay parts of the proceeds to shady looking people
always in a new place.
The downside of capsule hotels (20071107)
On account of walking non stop for one week, always carrying my
one weeks worth of luggage (plus my shopping finds), my feet
hurt. Staying at a hotel where you can actually leave your luggage may
be a plan for next time.
Toyota (20071108)
Toyota has a big house showing off their cars. They also have a
strange attraction where you can sit in and feel the effects of their
new seat belt technology when hitting things with your car. And they
have a humanoid robot and a cyber looking wheel chair.
Trying to get home (20071108)
Right when I needed to get to the airport to fly home, someone
managed to stop the busiest train line in Tokyo (by dying in front of
the train). So I had to take various roundabout tours on less useful
train lines, but got there on time anyway.
Swedes (20071113)
Back in Sapporo my cold that kept me company in Tokyo became very
demanding and I spent a few days just sleeping and catching up on the
"watching geeky movies" front. The I was required to partake in a
Swedish Lunch, where all (3) Swedes working at my university had lunch
together. I lost a bag of the delicious Swedish licorice to the
licorice starved crowds.
Birthday (20071114)
I was invited to have Indian curry with some people and it turned
out that it was in fact a birthday party. Since they ate too much
curry, I ended up eating most of the cake they brought with them to
the restaurant.
Snow (20071115)
Heavy winds and heavy snowfall have now begun. Will abate in
March.
Free food! (20071116)
A Chinese friend has her mother visiting, and since she does not
have that much to do during the days she has been cooking delicious
Chinese food in huge amounts. While my friend is worried about having
gained a lot of weight (which is of course impossible to tell with
Asian women, who seem to gain many kilos and still weigh less than 40
kilos), I got a big bag of food when the refrigerator they have could
not hold any more. Very good food, and I got to turn on my own
refrigerator to see if it works (it does).
Special food (20071116)
At a place I often go to eat there was a new bartender (though I
have met him once before, the one who usually talks to me has moved to
the bar next doors). He suggested I should try the chilled cheese
covered tomato for food, and then gave me a free non-alcoholic
cocktail called Cinderella (you have to drink it before 12).
Better than studying (20071117)
For the first time in what feels like forever, I went over to the
volunteer course I sometimes visit. It turned out to be a holiday for
them today, so I instead decided to give licorice to unsuspecting
Asians. One Taiwanese friend had never tried it but wanted to try this
very special Swedish thing. She actually managed to eat a tiny piece,
but found it to be very disgusting. Next up was another Taiwanese, who
touched it to her tongue and then felt ill and gave up. Last
contestant was Japanese and also managed to eat a tiny piece but was
thinking along the lines of "what is better, impolitely spitting this
out in front of everyone or actually eating it...". Then someone said
"Does anyone want to eat cake?" and I volunteered to help out. Not so
much studying got done, but it was OK anyway.
Good food, bad explanations (20071117)
Long story: I was scheduled to have dinner with a friend of a
friend (and the friend in question too). She was going to cook food at
her place and treat us and lives in a very fancy place. My friend (the
one not living there) had given me directions stating "City block
south 1, west X, roughly". This is nowhere near enough, so I sent an
e-mail 30 minutes before I was supposed to arrive, asking for
clarifications. Reply: "I already sent you the address yesterday, what
is the problem? But the house name is Z-Mansion". Later an e-mail
with "Room number 520" also dropped in.
I scoured the whole south 1 west X block without luck, but this is normal for me in Japan. They have possibly the worst address system in the world. So I ask in a convenience store. They have no idea, but pull out a huge detailed map. We check the whole block. No Z-Mansion. There is an Z-Hotel though. We check neighboring blocks too (blocks are by the way huge), but no luck. I say "sorry for being a pest, I will try to ask my friend again". So I call. Angry reply: "Why can't this stupid foreigner understand simple directions?!" but clarifies that it is a "large building" and also gives me the phone number of the person actually living there. "Large building" is no help at all, since pretty much all buildings in these blocks are...
So I call the one who actually lives there and asks what her address is. South 3, west X, it turns out. OK, this is maybe why no one has heard of this place here. So I go to the correct block, but still cannot find "Z-Mansion". There is a huge building called "Z-Towers" though. OK, my friend obviously sucks at giving directions, so I figure there is a good chance this is the place. So I ask the door man if room 520 has a tenant with the name of the girl I am supposed to visit. No, a completely different person lives there. OK, is there some building called Z-Mansion nearby. There is one, but not nearby. OK, I go out and call again. "Hello, I am in the right block, but cannot find the house. I am outside Z-Towers", "Yes, that is the place! Room 1039." Indeed, back in and ask the doorman, room 1039 has the right name, and I get through the door and find the right elevator and am home free.
My friend who sucks at directions is still angry with me for not managing to find this place, and then proceeds to call room 520 with the speaker phone at the door. Some unknown man (who lives there) answers and she thinks "A male voice? Maybe Jonas? No, completely different." So she says sorry, wrong number and calls her friend and asks for the room number. Then she proceeds to take the elevator to floor 12 and goes to room 1239, where some other man lives... "Hi! I am finally here!" "Um, what? Who are you?" After saying she is sorry once again, she does find the right apartment. And then actually told me she was sorry for being angry and sorry for giving the completely wrong directions. Though she would never admit that Z-Towers and Z-Mansion is not at all the same. She thinks this should be obvious that either word would refer to the same thing. Of course, there was an Z-Hotel, and Z-Somethingelse, two Z-Mansions in other parts of the city etc. too, but she figures, still this I can be blamed for not understanding. Giving the completely wrong room number and city block she admitted was not so good though. And she did realize that maybe it was not entirely my fault that I could not find the place at once.
The food was excellent. Smoked ham wrapped around kaki fruits, some French cheese and bread that tastes like bread (not like Japanese "bread"), a broccoli, clams, potatoes mix lightly fried in white wine, a pasta dish, and some other things. And the house was indeed impressive. They had huge chandeliers in the entrance hall (ball room, more like), each room has a balcony larger than my apartment and with a great view, several large rooms, floor heating, very fancy and beautiful lighting, a bathroom which has hot water pumped up from a natural hot spring, and many other nice details.
Oven (20071118)
I got an e-mail saying "Need interpretation regarding cars and
tires, when can you come?", and reply "I know nothing about cars or
tires, and most likely know no Japanese words relevant to this either,
but I will be there in 10 minutes if you think it helps."
Of course, it turns out that the person in question has just started
baking a huge batch of cinnamon buns. Which means she is busy for
about an hour and a half and has no time to go and ask questions about
tires... Great. But she did get to brag about her oven. Another Swede
who lives with his Japanese wife's family was so impressed when he was
shown this oven that he decided they would have to draw new electrical
wiring (otherwise they cannot use an oven, it seems). After seeing the
creation of some monster mutant cinnamon giant buns, we went and
talked to a gas station attendant for about 1 minute. Basically, he
said "It is cheap, but come back tomorrow".
Not a geisha (20071118)
My friend from Tokyo was in Sapporo today, so we had dinner
together. But not as fancy as in Tokyo. Though we reminisced about
that.
Duck (20071119)
I once mentioned that I had eaten duck the night before when
talking to someone in my lab. He said "I want to eat duck too!". We
talked about it and since duck is not very special, decided to go for
Peking Duck, which is. So we asked a Chinese colleague about where the
best Peking Duck in Sapporo could be found. In the end, we had a plan
to go all three to a restaurant not that far away from the
university. When finalizing the plans, one more student sitting nearby
was tempted and decided to join in. The day before going, one more
joined in. We got a lot of food, many courses. The Peking Duck was
good, but there was not so much of it. But since you only eat the
skin, I guess you don't get that much Peking Duck out of a duck. They
also served us a free plate of mabou doufu (the Japanese name, it is
slightly different in Chinese), possibly because we were crazy
foreigners or possibly because we were five people each taking the most
expensive dinner course for lunch.
Spring rolls (20071119)
This is a picture of a more Spartan meal. Though the view is very
nice.
Italian lunch (20071120)
Today I overslept and decided to try the relatively affordable
lunch offer at the Italian restaurant on the first floor of my
house. It was quite good, but not quite as fancy as the portions were
small.
Italian dinner (20071120)
After mentioning the somewhat fancy Italian I had for lunch, the
same guy who wanted to eat duck now wanted to eat Italian. And since
he had come by car today, we set off to a Southern Italy style
restaurant he knew. It was very fancy (and expensive). We took the
most expensive course, with the additional add-on of foie gras. Next
time, we will try their pizzas.
New lights (20071124)
They put out Christmas light like things in the park every year,
and every year it looks exactly the same, I though. But I think this
blue thing is new.
Eating other people's food (20071124)
Since I was passing by a friend's house on my way home from
breakfast (at 4 P.M.), I thought I would stop by and once again show
how to do whatever it was that needed to be done with the computer
(that I have shown innumerable times before, which evidently did not
stick). Of course, despite nagging incessantly that I should really
come by and do this, she is not actually at home. So when I am outside
writing an e-mail about "I am here, but you are not", she comes
running up the street. And out of a car steps another woman, and
everyone is staring at everyone (well, especially at me) looking very
surprised. It was her sister from out of town coming to hand over
vegetables. She had spotted me and sent an e-mail to her daughters
(also in town for the three day weekend) saying "there is a weird
foreigner here, perhaps it is that Jonas guy". They said that for sure
it must be, so she should get out of the car and talk to me, since I
am so funny. She did not dare, though. But she did give me a box of
cakes that was originally intended for her daughters to share.
Impressive cooking (20071124)
My friend had invited me to yet another of her friends who would
cook for us. This cooking was very very impressive. I don't think I
have met anyone who has made hand made pink leaf wrapped mochi
before. Or the jelly covered fish bones dish etc. She even makes her
own plum wine. How she being a master cook, diligent worker, cute, and
funny still managed to stay unmarried in Japan seems a mystery.
Baby sitting (20071124)
The out of town daughters/nieces mentioned earlier wanted to go
to a club to dance. They had never been to one, but thought it would
be possibly dangerous, so did not dare to go alone (well, only the
three of them). Their aunt did not want to go, so I was asked to tag
along as protection. Me being known for having nothing to do, and
looking very very scary (evidently, Japanese criteria for "scary" are
somewhat different from what I am used to). It was a lot of fun, and
they seemed happy. It did not seem to be very dangerous at all,
though, so I am hereby relieved of my duties and will not be asked
along next time...
Better pronunciation needed (20071127)
I tried a new restaurant today. A random American I ran into once
had said this restaurant had good food. I tried to order some
interesting things, but the waitress would only recommend one thing (a
salad, that was good), so I had to decide the rest on my own. I said,
"OK, some meat. How about buta kimuchi?" (pork, with kimchi) which for
some reason she managed to mishear as "kimuchi nattou" (fermented
beans from hell, with kimchi). So they brought out a bowl of slimy,
smelly, fermented beans, with some kimchi and a raw egg to top it
off. I figured, maybe it is fate? I have been told this is the most
delicious way of eating natto beans ever invented, so why not try
it. It was probably the best natto I have ever had, but it was still
on the disgusting side.
Swedish (20071128)
I tagged along to a Swedish conversation practice event, where
people were given free home made cinnamon buns. It was a lot of fun,
with there being two Swedes who both of them cannot properly pronounce
standard Swedish "r" sounds. And both of them were asked to teach
pronunciation to the present Japaneses! I and the last Swede, who can
actually pronounce this, were laughing a lot. On the minus side, I
spent a lot of time being coughed in the face by sick kids, so my cold
that had just left me returned with a vengeance. Apparently, the kids
were just fine the next day though...
Japanese bureaucracy (20071129)
I need to spend more of my research funds on not
travelling. Since I don't need to buy that much stuff for my research,
this is sometimes difficult. Before, of course, I needed to buy
chocolate (a "not travel" thing) for my research, only to be told that
edible things are strictly forbidden... Now I had been to Tokyo to
see a show with robots making jokes. This is relevant, since my
research is about making robots tell jokes. So I figure I could pay
the entrance fee with research funds, to have something to put under
non travelling. This was a problem. We had to (as usual) ask every
person in the hierarchy until we came to the boss, who could actually
decide what goes. Spending money on this is OK, but only when
working. OK, fine. And if I am in Tokyo, I cannot be working, since my
place of work is Sapporo. Um, what? If I am working in Tokyo, I need
to apply for money for going to and from Tokyo too, otherwise it does
not count. So they can give me the 2,500 yen back for the ticket, but
only if I request 100,000 for plane tickets and hotels too. And make
up a reason for spending more than one afternoon in Tokyo on this
business trip. Going to Tokyo by yourself and working for only one day
is impossible. It cannot be done. If you are there by yourself, you
are on vacation. On vacation, you cannot work. And if you don't work,
you cannot spend research funds. So as usual, I just paid for the
ticket with my private money. It is not like the 2,500 yen would give
a huge impression in the non-travel part compared to 100,000 more yens
spent on travelling...