As lots of you know, I have been to Japan three times. Everytime has been in August, and the last two times I have stayed at the same hotel. (I just prefer not to say where that is since I plan to stay there again.) You would think being in a city such as Tokyo, I would have a wide selection of night life to partake in, but honestly I am so tired at the end of the day, and not knowing the language, making going out impossible. Instead I have found a very enjoyable way to spend parts of my evening.

Along one side of my hotel there is a tree lined side street. It’s just a small two lane street. Across the way from the hotel is a post office and police station, across the other street is a hospital. So I have discovered it ia fairly quiet street at night. Lining the hotel are raised planters that are perfect to sit on. So late at night I like to go and sit on the planters and just watch Tokyo life pass me by.

The employees entrance is near here, so I watch the employees come and go. I admit, my enermous size compared to the common Japanese person seems to make the female employees nervous, but I always make sure a)to sit in plain sight b)under the lone street light c)in view of the police stations camera and d)as far off the sidewalk I can.

Then you have the many, many bike riders…the police who go to and from the station (and oddly never give me a second look!)…the couples walking back to the residential housing nearby after a night on the town…the late-to-get-home salarymen and office ladies, who obviouslly have had to much to drink.

To me, this is the heart of a society. I do the same sort of things when I am in an American city for the first time. Tourist spots are all well and good, but I prefer to see the everyday life, not the gltizy facade a city puts on for the tourists. Give me the guts, the heart, the common everyday person going about their everyday lives. How else will you ever get to “know” a city or a society?

Sure, this is an odd way to spend your evenings, but it is extremely relaxing and allows me to see a small sliver of everyday life in Tokyo that I enjoy so much.

Vending machine dispenses free drinks during disasters – Engadget – www.engadget.com.

A vending machine that switches to battery power to dispense drinks for free in a disaster. Would NEVER work in the USA, but in Japan, its a fantastic idea.

This fits in well with a story I read on BlogD.com the other day about how the author of the site had never had a power outage in 15 years. Here it is a monthly occurance. So what could make the Japanese power grid so much more stable??

ICv2 News – Viz Covers Up ‘I’’s’

This irks me to no end. It looks like American’s can’t handle nipples. So when Viz Publishing brought over the series “I’s” from Japan, they decided they had to place stars over the nipples in the book.

Why is it just about anywhere else in the world people can handle the sight of nipples, but yet America, the supposed “leader” of the world can’t handle this? What is it about something so simple as a portion of a womans anatomy, and something men have also, makes people run screaming into the night?

Gotta love how prudish we are somedays.

I just realized that I have had this blog for a year now, and this is only my 40th post…I really need to work on that.

I am home from Japan. Happy to be “home”, but I would feel that way no matter where “home” was, it has nothing to do specifically with Missouri or Kirksville. I am already beginning to plan my next trip back though.

*SOB* I am mere hours from leaving Japan to head back to the USA *SOB* This trip has some real ups and downs, but it seemed to really come together towards the end. Things with my new company seem to be happening. Finally got some good buys for the regular old AnimeUSA, and some leads for my next trip.

No matter what though, I have to remind myself sometimes “Wow…I’m in Japan!”. Maybe it’s because I kinda know my way around now that it seems a little mundane, but no matter what, I am thrilled to be in a country I dreamed of coming to for 20 some years.

I can clearly remember the first time I was really aware of Japan, and it was also the same day that I knew someday I had to come here. I was in 2nd grade at Kachina grade school in Glendale, AZ and my teacher had invited another teacher who had been to Japan to come talk to us and show us slides of her trip. Three things struck me in that talk:

1. Explaining how their language structures sentances differently
2. A slide showing how close two houses were to each other. Not even a foot between them.
3. And the final sales pitch…a picture of two Geishas.

I knew even then, at the age of 7, that that little slide show had just changed my life. I knew that no matter what, that someday I had to come to this country. And now I can say that I have spent 5 weeks of my life here. I know that is a drop in the bucket compared to some, but it doesn’t matter, I am thrilled to be able to say that.

When this trip wasn’t going so well business wise I was really questioning if I had enough reason to come back again. I think that question has now been answered, and I *will* be back. However the thought that this might be my last trip ever here, it was really depressing. I tried to enjoy every minute though, and I am thrilled to say that things look like I will return again. Not sure when, but it will happen.

Yeah, so I said I would blog in from Tokyo. Problem is I am so tired by the end of the day that I keep forgetting! Never mind the fact I brought my laptop all the way to Japan, but I had to use the hotel computer in the middle of the day to have enough energy to do it!

Things are going well and today my new business partner arrives, so the second phase of my trip begins. Should be an interesting new experiance.

As always, August is darned hot!

More later!

muahahahahahhahahaha for once I have movie news before everyone else. Gotta love it. I can’t share it, but at least I know it;)

I always have mixed feelings about my visits to LA. I am never here for even a full day, and to be honest, I’m glad. I am sorry to anyone who lives here if I offended you with that comment, was not my intent, but this town has just never done it for me for whatever reason.

Anyway, off to bed so I can get to the airport in the morning, and in turn, fly out for Tokyo!

Well, in less than 12 hours I am leaving for St. Louis. Will stay there tomorrow night. Fly to LAX on Tuesday. Stay in LA on Tuesday and come Wednesday, I’m off to Tokyo again. Kind of scary how I am not getting that “stoked” feeling I got the first two times I went. I would hate it if going to some place I love as much as Tokyo would become common place.

I will be logging on while I am there, but not sure how much time (or energy) I will have for blogging. I have SO much to do on this trip it’s not even funny. I thought 2 weeks was to long to stay at one point, now I am not sure even a month would be enough time to get everything done that I need. As expensive as it is though to go and stay there, 2 weeks is really all I can afford. Hopefully no hiccups will happen this time, but I am going to try my darnedest to make sure they don’t.

Hope to blog ya from Japan!

Well, t-minus 1 week to the first part of my trip to Japan. I go to St. Louis next Monday, Tuesday I fly to LA and Wednesday I fly to Japan. Due to the time difference I land in Japan on Thursday afternoon. Thus begins 2 weeks in my favorite place on Earth, Tokyo.

This time I am going to try to do a daily journal type thing with at least one picture a day as opposed to my ususal randomness. I am trying to get the 2001 trip pics up before I leave. I am also working on a super-sized new addition of content to my site, but not sure when that will be going up.

Not a whole lot else to talk about, just trying to get ready for my trip. Yay!

Wow…this article is just fascinating.

Having been to Akihabara a few times, I know that the geekiness is almost palpable in the air, but now it seems it is rising to an even higher level. On my upcoming trip to Japan in August I actually HAVE to go over to this district on some business, now comes the question though, will I be able to resist the urge of checking out one of the mentioned resturants? They don’t appeal to me in any sort of perverse way…well that’s not entirely true. The appeal to me in the perverse sense I want to see how the Otaku act!

I will admit, I am a HUGE geek (or Otaku), but at least I have SOME social graces. So going to one of these places appeals to me almost in the “Oh look…a train wreck” sort of way. Sounds like a truly fascinating way to witness another part of their culture.

One thing I do like about blogging for sure…I can do it from anywhere. I can’t wait for my next trip to Japan so I can do updates from there instead of trying to fill everyone in when I get back.

I know, how sad, I go to Japan and I still can’t tear myself away from the computer. When you spend as much time working with one as I do nowadays, it almost feels like an extension of yourself. Luckily the hotel I stay at provides free internet hookups in a little office center with 8 comps. So I just stop in, plop myself down and get to do all my work really quick. Trust me, I don’t spend much time in there, and do spend quite a bit of time outside the hotel:)