Anatomy of a Tokyo Ramenya

Just a couple of shots from a late-night ramen shop in Shibuya. Though it is quite small efficiency is still a priority and I sadly missed the most telling sign of this: the vending machine by the door which dispensed tickets for your food. No talking is necessary besides arigato's and maybe a doumo here and there.

TheBeach

Testing the Photographic Waters...

Just a smattering of photos from Tetsuo Jinja in Kakegawa. It's a beautiful place but especially while the plum trees are blooming.

Too Perfect

The Japanese love of baseball is almost as famous as their love of strict gender roles, which is why, when my girlfriend asked me what a good movie to watch with her night class would be, I immediately thought of A League of Their Own. Watched in any country it's an enjoyable movie full of important lessons including the essential, "there's no crying in baseball!," but it seems especially poignant in a country like Japan where they are, in many ways, behind when it comes to gender equality. This makes the Japanese version's title of, "Pretty League," telling AND hilarious.

Behind a Window

The sun, bright outside
I watch the seconds fall and
rise, aged, from my desk

Unicycles Leaning Against a Wall

Activities not on Rick Steve's list of things to do while in Perugia...

This is a bizarre story about a murder in Italy involving a young girl from Seattle and other folks from various parts of the world, maybe. I read about it a while back but had forgotten how strange it was until I stumbled across this feature in The Stranger.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=504236

Intimacies

I want to mention something that has been throwing my subconscious off for as long as I've been in Japan but which I have just brought to my conscious mind today: after lunch tooth-brushing. I'm not sure whether all Japanese do this or just teachers, but everday after lunch brushes emerge from hello-kitty cases and I become ever so slightly perturbed. Today, like I said, I realized this and have deduced the reason why. Brushing one's teeth in another's presence, to me, seems an intimate act; something done with family, girlfriends, and friends whom accompany you on poorly funded vacations. Watching my co-workers brush their teeth is just a few steps below brushing the sleep from their eyes. We're not that close. Plus, if this is general practice in Japan we have to conclude that it is largely ineffective.

Did I neglect to mention...

that one of the top candy bar makers in Japan goes by the utterly great name of Crunky? I would not be surprised to learn that one of Lil Jon's dreams was crushed when they got that copyright.