Wednesday, October 22, 2008

My take

Alright, without further ado my first ever blog entry....how exciting. Not really, but here we go. Lets just get the obvious questions out of the way right now, because I know it is looming in everyone’s minds “what is it that I eat.” For those of you who thought my chicken, brown rice and broccoli days have come to an end....you’re so wrong! However it is slightly modified. Food is a tad expensive here. The days of Costco and buying 10lb bags of brown rice and 24 pack of chicken breasts are no more. Being that I am a bit frugal (cheap), I have adopted the half method. I cut chicken breasts in half and I pollute my sacred brown rice with 1/2 white rice. Nothing is wasted. As far as booze prices it just depends. You can get gallons of sake (I’m really not kidding there are gallons of this stuff) for pretty cheap. Liquor is actually slightly cheaper than the U.S. (couple of dollars), however beer is a bit pricey. You can get a six pack of cat piss for about $8.

As for joining a gym, it is the most frustrating experience ever. Men do not work out in Japan. The gyms mostly cater to women. Basically their gyms consist of swimming pools, aerobics classes and the actual workout facilities are crammed into a corner. They do have a golds gym but those are few and far between throughout the city. Trying to search for gyms online can be a bit frustrating as it is usually in Japanese, and when you try to contact them, they are hesitant to respond due to the language barrier. Another annoying thing is that the earliest they open is 7am (most open at 10am!).

So those are just few things that affect my daily lifestyle. As for the city itself it is pretty freaking cool. Just like Seattle they have their little neighborhoods where each has a different feel. Kim and I took an excursion up to the Akihabara also know as the electronics neighborhood. This is a crazy place filled with neon lights and Manga (japanese comics) everywhere. One interesting thing they have here that the Japanese love is Pachinko. What this is, is a game that resembles half pinball and half slot machine. You basically sit down and you gamble on these slot “like” machines. They are maintained in these parlors and the best way I can describe it is: imagine sitting at a slot machine filled with smoke and Japanese anime jumping out at you from every corner of your eye. Your eyes are stinging from the smoke, but it really doesn’t concern you b/c all you here ringing into your ears is this screaming pokemon voice put to the sobering sounds of electronica! It is complete sensory overload. I quickly needed a beer after that experience.

One of the other things that people want to know is if I am a giant here. Oh how I longed to be considered the tall one only to my disappointment that the Japanese are pretty much all my height. Bummer.

3 comments:

Brad said...

So you just sit around on your duff all day drinking sake and cat piss playing plinko, getting ready for "The Price is Right" How´s the CFA coming along? Man I would hate to be studying.

Montana_Boy_In_Japan said...

Where are the updates guys?

Unknown said...

Dave -- Happy holidays to you and Kim. I hope things are going well and that you're adjusting alright.

Ray