70 posts tagged “tokyo”

H1N1

Sep 17, 2009
5 comments

Crap, I was going to write something completely different but instead I started to go blah blah blah about games and Russian language:-)

Anyway people, I'm pretty sure that this new flu virus thing is already spreading fast in Tokyo. I've been feeling kind of funny in the last few days and started to cough a little today. If you are visiting Tokyo (or already here), you may want to be careful.

"5 Minutes Free English Lesson"

Jul 25, 2009
7 comments

There have been suspiciously innocent looking Western people in front of my JR station with this piece of paper that says they'd give "5 Minutes English Lesson" for free.

Soon as I saw one of them, my built-in bullshit detector went off ballistic. I would bet these people are from one of those Christian fundamentalist churches (there are several operating in Japan, I understand). Maybe they are also getting hit by this current economic crisis.

Burgers (and other food) getting smaller

Jul 20, 2009
11 comments

I eat fairly lot, for a skinny, bony Japanese guy (I'm about 170cm tall and weigh like 58-60 kg). My height/ weight ratio is considered "average" for the Japanese, but I guess it would fall under female category in some other countries. (There has been more than one occasion where a western woman complained that she looked fat lying next to me; it can't be helped. Bone structure and stuff is different:-)

For example, when I buy Obento (usually translated as "lunchbox", though you'd pick it up from your local convini for your dinner as well), the amount of rice feels a bit too small. So I usually get a riceball on top of it. I guess it's the metabolism thing...

Anyway. I've been keeping noticing stuff I eat to come in smaller and smaller portion. When you get a burger in fast food joints, it's obviously getting smaller. I once even saw this Italian/Latin looking guy in American accent complaining to a shop attendant that it's too small compared to what he could get back home, and he was pretty certain he was getting ripped off. I was gonna help out the poor shop attendant (who apparently had no idea what this guy was saying), but he just went off before I opened my mouth.

Other stuff, like cheese and sausages, are either coming in slightly smaller package or the number in one package is getting a little less (like you'd get 6 sausages in the same package that used to hold 8). This is apparently a national phenomenon...

Sure, the price for certain products are getting higher, and people's income is, if not getting less, pretty insecure these days, so trying to reduce stuff I guess is inevitable. Meh.

There should be a non-smoking club

Jun 21, 2009
6 comments

There's this small Irish pub near Roppongi Hills that's non-smoking. It's just a small joint, owned- as I understand- by a bunch of guys who used to be working for another Ex-Investment Bank used to be stationed up in Roppongi Hills. It's so cool. Nothing special if you really think about it, but an Irish pub that's completely non-smoking environment, is just great as far as I'm concerned.

So it's too bad that there's no club, as far as I know, that I can go dance where it's non-smoking. It's part of the reason I no longer go to clubs; those places are too smokey. I think the idea would fly, I hope someone will open one. (or maybe one already exists and I don't know about it because I'm kinda out of the scene)

What's up with the whole hostess club thing

Jun 15, 2009
7 comments

Strange. Last week, three people asked me if I have been to a hostess club. To be more precise, one of them asked me which hostess club I frequent. (He just assumed I must be frequenting one!!!) Yes, all three of them were male, and all three of them were Japanese.

Still. I didn't think going to a hostess club was so big among Japanese people (okay, men) my age. I didn't even know they were, but then again I'm not really interested in what other people do, so it's not really a big deal.

I guess this is something a Salaryman Impersonator such as myself should take note. Personally I was never really interested in going to one- unlike most men from older generation, I don't have a wife you got married to just because of peer pressure (in the old days, staying unmarried beyond age 25 was considered to be very bad) or because of career pressure (again in the old days, being married was almost a prerequisite for men's promotion- you got family to feed, you are less likely to be, you know, disloyal to the Company). Many of them, as years went on, found out his wife was almost a stranger (which she was to begin with), didn't have much in common or maybe didn't even share the same kind of sense of humor. So they needed to go to some place else for agreeable female company.

I'm not even married so I don't have this problem. Moreover, I have more female friends than guy friends, so if I need to chat away with someone over some beer or wine, I just text one and meet up.

Also, they want to know your phone number or keitai e-mail address at hostess clubs. (Hostess club customers like to be called up or texted from girl from the club; personal touch, you see) This would freak out a small-time security nut such as myself. I think I'm just not for the whole scene. Sorry WH and Ukifune in my 'hood!

Too many wireless connection

Feb 22, 2009
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Apparently, there have been too many wireless LAN networks around where I live. I can't get the decent connection lately, I'm considering changing my wireless HQ (I'm using AirMac Express, which isn't exactly the most powerful stuff out there) or going back to hard line completely.

Using wired Internet connection, while cumbersome and uncool, does have benefit of not having to worry about someone wirelessly tapping into my computer or my system- which is good for a security freak like me...

Automatic Shoe-Polishing Machine

Jan 26, 2009
6 comments

I found this state of the art invention at the Kasumigaseki subway station.

ShoePolishMashine

Apparently it can polish your shoes automatically for 100 Yen (about one USD or so). I wouldn't trust mine to it but it sure sounds awesome. 霞ヶ関 is like mini-Washignton DC in the middle of Tokyo where all the important government agencies are at.

Something else's wrong as well

Jan 15, 2009
6 comments

Cars. Less of them. I don't see too many cars on the street.

See, since New Year's Day is kind of like Japanese version of Christmas, it's normal for the traffic to be almost dead during the first three days of the new year (most offices and businesses will be closed during these days; many people spend their time with their family and stuff). So at first I wasn't really paying attention, but last week I suddenly realized that the whole business world must have resumed its activities. Yet, there are notably less number of cars running around than last year. Especially trucks. I see quite less number of trucks.

So during my office hours I looked over this highway, which usually is "slow-way" because normally the traffic is clogged up by all kinds of trucks and other vehicles. Cars were running smoothly, and again, there were notably less number of trucks.

Hmm....

Shinjuku

Jan 11, 2009
1 comment

There's been a lightup going on in Shinjuku.

Shinjuku at night

This is somewhere near South Exit of JR Shinjuku station, close to that kinda famous Starbuck (from what I heard, this one and the one at Shibuya intersection are the world's best earning Starbuck shops).

Something's very wrong here

Jan 6, 2009
4 comments

What's so wrong, you ask?? There's space in the morning Yamanote line. Space. Around you. In the morning rush hour. You can even hold up a paperback on the train without your elbow touching on anyone. (If you have spent some amount of time in Tokyo, you would have noticed the definition of rush hour in Tokyo is, well, pretty dense.)

And this happened two days straight. I'm starting to be seriously worried about how this whole crisis in economy thing is turning out.