Wow, I'm really bad at keeping this blog up, but I mustered up the determination to write about my trip to Japan. It was my first vacation in 6 months, that's not to say I've been working very hard - 4 hours on a big day, 1 on a relaxing one. Nevertheless it was nice to have uninteruppted free time...
- Going into a restaurant and not being able to communicate other than pointing at the pictures or sample dishes that are often displayed outside the restaurants.
- Vending machines everywhere selling beer (love it), cigarettes, and sodas
- Soooo many bicycles driving on the sidewalks, with no motorbikes. It's quite the opposite here.
- Eating is individual. Most restaurants had around the chef bar style seating. Here, there are many foods I can't eat because individual portions aren't served. EX barbequed meats
- Koreans speak english much better than japanese. Guess the $40/hr English lessons are paying off...
- Japanese are accepted more for being individuals than here. This can be seen by the many diverse and crazy styles of clothing, hair and piercings.
- Koreans hate the Japanese more than the Japanese hate the koreans. In fact Korean culture (soap operas and k-pop stars) are quite popular.
- Japanese love halloween, haven't seen as much as a pumpkin here.
- Tokyo is waaaaay more expensive than Seoul. Ex water here 50 cents, there $1.50. taxis start here at $2, there $6.
Another night I was eating a bbq meat restaurant and these two Japanese men who just finished work really wanted to show me how hospitable japanese can be. They kept ordering food and insisting I eat it, it was sweet cuz I got to try a ton of new food. They also insisted I get drunk with them on shochu, its a rice wine similiar to Korea's soju but a lil stronger and drank while mixed with 'soda' - tasted like tonic. Then they kept calling all their English speaking friends and their wives for me to talk to. Unfortunatley these people couln't speak English well either but finally they got another friend to come and join us who spoke pretty good English, at least enough to have a conversation with longer than " MY HOUSE (making roof sign) .....KOREA". But actually one of the guys sorta stunned me when he pointed at his buddy and said 'Masturbation". I nearly spit my food outta my mouth laughing, it was priceless.
Also priceless were these signs I saw at a global initiative fair for organizations in Japan helping those in other countries....
Well, that's all cuz this has taken me an hour and a half, stupid slow loading the pics.... When I came back from Tokyo I went to a beach here that was super sweet, I'll try and write about that later this week. Peace.
2 Comments:
I have to say that I look forward to your blog. I enjoy learning about other cultures and such and find your site and how you explain your journey there fascinating. Thanks for sharing when you can and giving visuals. The masturbation story cracked me up hahaha thanks for that laugh...Keep us posted.
who is anonymous?? but i will try and update as much as i can!
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