Shinjuku

Shinjuku. Perfect one moment. Lost the next.

Off to Fujiyoshida today for some quality "get me the Hell out of Tokyo" time. Ah. Fresh air. Mountains. With any luck a break will stop me from acting totally whack (which has been my M.O lately).

And a big fat thanks to Kat who brought us back hard-to-find-in-Japan goodies from Australia. You rock, girl.

Ginza Morning

Waiting

The Boys' Bikini Birthday

If you have been in Japan for, like, a week, you'll probably be aware of the "birthday concept" at restaurants. The entire waiting crew comes out in silly hats, bearing a (rather expensive) "parfait" with sparklers, with "Happy Birthday to ya" blaring out at 400 decibels over the PA system. Not just a few lines. The entire song. After a verse and the chorus, chances are we're getting the hint.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) we had the cheek to bring our own cake to the Asian Kitchen, so we didn't get the royal OTT birthday treatment. Instead our crowd sang "Happy Birthday" (the abridged version) to Al and Matt. The rest of the restaurant stopped in their tracks and you could almost see the cogs ticking over - "You mean you can bring your own cake to the restaurant? What a concept!" I'll bet our cake was a shit load tastier than the parfait. I mean, whoever heard of a birthday parfait???

After dinner, most of us headed off to a karaoke parlour in Ikebukuro. Now, you get hassled by the Karaoke Touts all over the place, but when you say "kekkou desu!" ("nah, I'm sweet thanks") they generally leave you alone.

But this one guy in a blue raincoat hassled Chie the entire length of Sunshine 60 street. I went up to him and said all the polite "sod off" things, but he would not take the hint. I asked Ray what the Japanese was for "Piss off, Mate", and he reeled off something, but the pit-bull kept at us. A couple of the girls cooed, "but he can give us 10% off!" Yeah, sure, but he's just so damn annoying! At what cost a discount?

We ended up at Utahiroba, home of the infamous "Bikini rating" system. Depending on your "performance" your percentage goes up and up and up, and all the while little squares are coming off this bikini clad woman on screen. If you get the all-hallowed 100%, the little itty bitty square covering the "pink section" is revealed. Apparently our performances were below par last night. The highest we got was 96%. Oh, the tantalisation!

It was enough to make us break down and cry. Well, Al, Matt and Ray looked pretty close to tears. May have been the cheap beer, though...

Birthday Photo Gallery...

Happy Birthday to the Mister!

What do you get the Man who has everything??? When inspiration takes a sudden nosedive and you begin to ponder what kind of girlfriend you are, anyway...

...lead him to the local park, stuff him full of food and chocolate...

...get him tipsy on champagne and leave him passed out on a park bench.

A winner every time.

Out and About

Ikebukuro Mural

"It's not you... it's me"

I really need to go home. My present state of mind is something that can be cured only by an endless view of sunny beaches, an Australian BBQ and an ice cold beer.

This is not about Japan. It's about me. My body has declared civil war on itself, and the troops are bailing out. Things that were, at worst, annoying about Tokyo have started to frustrate me to the point of anger - the peak-hour pushing and shoving, students with no imagination, and the size of our apartment, slightly larger than a size 12 shoebox.

I feel trapped. I probably wouldn't be feeling this gruesome if my leg was tip-top and my throat and head weren't throbbing, but it is still an ordeal to walk to the train station and I'm sick of people staring at me, as if I was choosing to walk down the stairs two feet at a time and dare hinder their morning rhythm. Our apartment, which had become a solace at the end of a weary day now gets on my nerves if its slightly messy, 'cos it becomes a minefield of crap that I keep knocking my leg on. I think my body was trying to tell me something my mind hadn't quite latched onto.

I want to get out. Our plans to go to China at the beginning of April are still up in the air because of my leg. I cannot stay in this apartment, in this city for two more months in this state of mind, because, my dear friends, I will go seriously wacko. And a wacko Kinki is a strange character indeed (just ask The Mister).

My company insists on keeping me busy, which is usually great (lots of yen!!!) but next week I just wanted to rest, to sit in a park with the sun on my leg and in my lungs and not have to worry about rushing from A to B. I have earned an easy week, but unfortunately, they sometimes make it very hard to say "no". I'm tired of other people's expectations, particularly those of Japanese employees who insist on working even on the brink of collapse. They can't "let the team down" and as an employee of a Japanese company, I too, am pressured "not to let the team down". I can't live up to these expectations. I'm selfish and I care about the quality of my life too much.

Luckily, the thing stopping me from barking at strangers in the street, is photography. It has soothed my jaded soul. Every day, Tokyo throws a firecracker in your path, a bright, strange image or scene that I've never seen before. Between these gems and The Mister, I'm on a relatively even emotional keel.

People have said to me, "but when you get back to Australia, you'd be wishing you were back in Japan where things are more exciting, yadayadayada" and they have a point. I have been guilty of a "grass is greener on the other side" complex all my life. But I haven't regretted a single thing about Japan. I love Japan. I cherish every single memory I have, even the bad ones. I have a website that pays homage to the complex madness that is Japan. I'm just ready for the next challenge. I have done Japan.

We're getting married in May and have a fresh life to look forward to. I will miss Japan like hell, but it's time to move on.

Opinios

The Mister (aka Web Designer Extraordinaire and my best friend) has gone and redesigned Opinios. Do yourself a serious favour and go check it out.

Damnit!

When you have a cold or the flu, the polite thing to do is cover your mouth when you cough. It's not hard. It takes about 10 extra muscles to do so. People in this city (as I'm sure is the case everywhere) are either fanatics about hygiene (see the funky white masks?) or gross, unhygienic festoons, coughing, spluttering and sneezing onto other people with wanton abandon.

Blowing your nose in Japan is taboo, they say! Well, it's sure as hell better than seeing drips of snot suspended from the tip of your nose. Or snorting chunks of mucus back into your throat to fester into a bigger sickness that you then generously farm out to others.

I've had a lot of the latter this past week, so it's no surprise that I've caught a cold. I hate colds. They really fuck up my day. And I hate them even more when I know I've probably got this strain from an obnoxious, snorting festoon. Ugh. Pass the Kleenex.

A taste of things to come...

The first signs of Spring

Abstract

This week's Photo Friday topic...

Love Yourself!

You may know that Valentine's Day in Japan, is essentially a patriarchal construct, when salarymen can soak in their own inflated self-importance (like they need a special day). Cynical, you say? Valentine's Day has traditionally been a capitalist's dream-day where scrappily paid Office Ladies/female employees bestow their bosses (and co-workers) with chocolates to say "Thank you! Thank you for overworking and underpaying me. I have soooo much to be thankful to you for".

Uh-huh. These chocolates are called "giri-choco" or "obligation chocolates", hardly romantic. My JTE tried to tell me these were called, in English, "pity chocolates". Whilst I found this hysterical, methinks she may have gotten the translation wrong. Of course, there is also the gooey, coupley tradition of women buying chocolates for their "men", but the "giri-choco" thang is one fuck of an institution.

BUT, the women of Japan have declared "Enough is Enough!" Whilst they still fork out god knows how much for that special boss, they are now buying chocolates for themselves to say, "Thank you! Thank you for being me! I am sooooo thankful to have you in my life!" That's right, love yourself!

While the latent feminist in me says, "You go go GO girls!" the cynic in me, so hard to quell, murmurs, "Aren't these women self-indulgent enough?" I mean, they get White Day as well, when women get elaborate gifts from their "loved ones", (although I wonder how much bosses actually fork out for this). Don't you just love the commercial ferris wheel?

I was a bit of a Valentine's Day Grinch before I met The Mister, couldn't stand the exploitative connotations that if you weren't in a "couple" then you didn't deserve a special day (erm, that could have been in years when I wasn't seeing anyone. Just maybe).

So I do like that women are buying chocs for themselves, but why do they have to wait for Valentines Day? For that matter, why does anyone have to wait for Valentine's Day? If you love someone, show 'em every day, dammit!

[Authors Note: I did get a beautiful bunch of red roses yesterday (and two yellow roses for each of us). Nyaaaaa. Commercial ferris wheel, hell yes, but the subscriber in me is guilty as charged. Personally, I blame this contrariness on my mother. When we were kids, my brother and I would give mum presents on Mother's Day; she would graciously accept them, then chide us and the world that "every day should be Mother's Day". Touche.]

Valentine's Day, for all its hoopla and commercialism, should be a day for love, not obligation...

$15 for 4 chocolates...

......much better value at $4

Sugoi Astroboy!

Matt picked up these fabulous stamps the other day. Much to his chagrin, I've appropriated them for my own stash (what? me, take my sticky paws off Astroboy merchandise? Not likely, my sweet children!!!)

FAAAAAARRRRRK!

I PASSED! I PASSED! My shitty little Yon-kyu (Grade 4) Japanese Proficiency Test. Wooooooo Hooooooo! 93% for Writing/Vocabulary, 57% for Listening (a shit load more than I thought I'd get) and 77% for Grammar (well, bugger me with a fishfork) - a whopping 76% overall. Makes me wonder whether I should have had a crack at Level 3..... Nah! that would have meant more study! Screw that, baby!

I'm so elated I could just piss my pants.

Use Film!

...or digital. It doesn't really matter. The other day, Jason recommended the site, UseFilm, a site where you can post your photos and receive feedback and ratings. Feedback and ratings are even e-mailed to you!

I have been using Photo.net for a few months, and whilst I find it quite good, it can be impossible to navigate sometimes, maybe because of its sheer size.

On UseFilm, you can only post a photo per day, but on the whole, the community there is a lot more positive than on Photo.net. You also get to perve on stacks of other brilliant photos! Just my cup of tea!

Give it a try if you're a photo buff (but don't forget that any pics of kimono come to me first. Savvy?)

Blown Away

Our subway station has the most serious wind tunnel when trains approach. It's like a mechanical vacuum that could suck the life out of an unsuspecting commuter. There are even signs on the platform that say "Beware the serious and deadly wind tunnel."

I've loitered in many a subway station and I can safely say that our local wind tunnel kicks arse. In fact it's been close to kicking me onto my arse a few times.

Matt survived this one. Didn't even lose his scarf (nearly lost the camera though).

Heal thyself!

Aforemaligned Orthopedist has pronounced my knee HEALED (break out the bread and fish!) Well, the ligament seems to have repaired itself, but I still need to wear "The Garter" (funky custom-made splint) for another 4 weeks until my knee can bend properly. So no marathons for awhile, because, marathons are, like, totally my thing.... NOT!

And, he didn't even do the annoying 3 minute contemplation thing that inspires me to whack his nut (head! whack his head!). Now, that's service!

Same time, Last year

Ah, natsukashii! The 2004 Sapporo Snow Festival is well underway and I'm dead jealous of anyone who is going (Kat, that means you). We went last year and had a ball. Granted, I was hopped up on painkillers and valium, but you know, you take what you can get.

For a taste of last year's festivities...

Dream Castle of the Sea

Theme Thursday

Damn, Tokyo is securing itself some fine, fine sunsets this Winter. They're the inspiration for this week's Theme Thursday task - "Connected" (indulge me and I promise no more photos of sunsets! No. Really.)

Overhead Connections

Kimono Philes astir!

Check out this stunning entry for the Kimono Philes from David Hogan.

Photographer - David Hogan

Now, I know there are people out there with kimono pics you're just dying to share with the world, so step on it! Send pics to [kinki at 35degrees dot com].

Patience

I hate that word. My mother, one of the most imperturbable women in the free world, was forever spouting - "Good things come to those who wait". My arse.

My orthopedic surgeon wants me to be patient. "It will take 4 weeks for your knee to heal" quoth he 3 weeks ago. This is the same man who has had 3 different opinions (on 3 separate occasions) of which ligament is torn. The same man who would sit in perfect silence for 3 minutes (no exaggeration) ruminating about what to do to fix my knee. This man's life is bones and muscles and he doesn't have a repertoire of fixes? The same man who wanted me to take 4 weeks off work (ya, like that's an option), then when I asked for a doctor's certificate, decided "No, you can work. Just sit down while you're teaching". Like, make up your mind, dude!

When it comes to teaching, I'm a goddamn saint. Cool as a cucumber in an ice tray. But when it comes to long queues, incorrect timetables, retarded decision-making and the limitations of my own body, I am choleric at best (personally, I blame astrology). Damn, I got places to be.

Its been over 4 weeks now and I'm going birko. The worst part about it is that my way of letting off steam is usually 1) to kick something (objects, generally not people although some salarymen are begging for it) or 2) to go for a power walk around the block. Alas, I can do neither. The other day I was so frustrated, I hit the wall with my hand. But hell. That hurt. Won't be doing that again.

The things I've always taken for granted, like bending my knee, sitting cross-legged, riding my bike, walking normally, let alone fast (like I said, got places to be) and god forbid, using a Japanese-style toilet (unfortunately de rigeur at most public bathrooms), are beyond my reach for god knows how long.

Of course, this is a temporary thing, but I've recently gotten a taste of how hard it must be for wheelchair or crutches-bound people trying to navigate the public transport system here. Where is the sense of having an elevator (proudly displaying the fact that it's wheelchair friendly) from the train platform to the ticket gates, and then an infernal flight of 100 steps to get to street level? It's like they're happy to take your money, but then, honey, you're on your own. Some stations are better than others (thank you Iidabashi!) but its enough to make you crack your head against a brick wall.

But I told myself not to do that again after the last time.

February Sunset

Switched-on silhouettes

It's that time again...

...actually way past it, but here are this week's (erm... last week's?) Theme Thursday and Photo Friday submissions...

Photo Friday - Emptiness

Theme Thursday - Repeating Patterns

Rearranging the furniture...

Ok, cool. Apart from the links page which I'll get to tomorrow some time, I think that's about it.

That last redesign was more of a stepping stone to where we are now. Both technically and visually. It was ok, but it just looked a bit cluttered. But now. Now things just feel right. We have a wicked-cool rotating image thing at the top, we have more funky pink-fade-to-white things going on, and Kinki has spent ages making the image gallery all organized and ready for your viewing pleasure (and much easier to update from now on, meaning more updates! Well, maybe).

The pages don't validate as valid xhtml anymore, but that shoud just be a bit of tinkering (hopefully). When customizing the Gallery program I gave up trying to get rid of all the tables, there are so many of them. They're staying right where they are.

There are bound to still be some glitches. Leave a comment if you beat Kinki at finding anything that looks strange.

Now, I'll look at opinios. No, really.

Enjoy!

My (subtitled) Hero

One thing I'm seriously looking forward to when I go back to Australia, is being able to watch foreign films (particularly Japanese) at the cinema again.

I know I've had a whinge about this before, and cinemas in Japan shouldn't have to justify why they don't provide English subtitles on Chinese, Japanese or European etc. films, but jeez, it would be, you know, nice.

Most foreign language DVDs have an English subtitle option of course, but our local video store still lurks in the dark ages of video so its a risk to get a movie out.

We thought we'd be safe renting a film with Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi in it, but nooooooo, 75% of "Heaven" was in Italian. I watched the whole thing without English subtitles and I must say my Italian has improved markedly. But it was h.a.r.d. w.o.r.k. Man, I studied film at Uni, and I'm sick to death of films being hard work.

We had to return "Double Vision" the day before because it was half Mandarin, half English, with all the crucial bits in Mandarin. Dumb-arse Kinki assumed that any movie featuring Brett Climo had to be in English. Won't be making that mistake again.

BUT last night, we finally watched "Hero" on DVD and it was beautiful. Awesome cinematography. They showed "Hero" with ST at Roppongi Hills for a while last year, but who the hell wants to trek into Roppongi to see a movie?

And while we're on the subject, does anyone else out there have a bit of a thing for Jet Li? Never got into martial arts films before I came to Japan and saw "The One" but I'm a serious convert now. Jet Li's just got, I dunno, some cheeky shit going on there.

...a version I'm guaranteed not to understand