28 February 2004, 19:10

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.

Posted by Kinki on 28 February 2004, 19:10

Permanent Link | Comments [3]

26 February 2004, 20:29

Posted by Kinki on 26 February 2004, 20:29

Permanent Link | Comments [8]

25 February 2004, 06:53

Posted by Kinki on 25 February 2004, 06:53

Permanent Link | Comments [2]

22 February 2004, 23:25

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...

Posted by Kinki on 22 February 2004, 23:25

Permanent Link | Comments [5]