Japan the Second

[sarah_orange]

in hommage to the write up of my last visit to japan I shall yet again utilise the power of bullet points.

Notes from my Hols

• yet again with the rain on the first night and umbrella-fear. we all bought them this time as they were only£2.50. how can an industry survive producing £2.50 umbrellas? by making them a little shonky - both mine and Neal's were broken by the end of the first night - but in a truly british stylee we carried them for days rather than throw them away


• it's really shocking to see whale on the menu


• not all things on sticks are tasty - at least one of the bits of yakitori we ordered on the first night was chicken skin


• the glutinous balls are surprisingly tasty and possibly nutritious


• Iain will eat almost anything once - this is useful


• they don't seem to 'irrashaimasen' quite as much and as alarmingly as they used to


• if you order stuff like starters and mains at the same time they will bring them at the same time or in some really random order - order one lot of food, eat it, press the bell, order more food


• for 'camembert' read 'philadelphia'


• the park hyatt is so posh that it *doesn't* have squirty japanese techno toilets


• also it doesn't give you moist towelettes before you eat because you are obviously posh enough to wash your hands in the restrooms first aren't you


• there's not a whole pile of nightlife in miyajima island after 9pm


• but there are an alarming number of people wandering around in dressing gowns


• all the health benefits of a brisk walk up a mountain are quickly eroded by eating 1.5 large chocolate bars per person when you reach the top


• the Japanese sometimes hide video games characters in their temple gardens to see if you are Paying Attention. possibly.


• Designer Hello Kitty is just plain RIGHT!


• 11 course Traditional Japanese meals are pretty fucking scary I can tell you. even if they *do* lack steamed kitten faces. why was there an oyster in a tea pot? TELL ME!!


• Just because you can fit into size L Japanese Lolita costumes does not necessarily mean you should


• There are no more bear ears


• There are Giraffe ears. having 4 bumps on the top of your head seems like extra value


• breaking the LCD display of your SLR film camera before you even get to Leeds Bradford airport is remarkably full of fail


• Louis Vuitton is as common as fuck


• Osaka is actually pretty good


• you can never buy too much tat. I appear to have nearly run out already


• the cute has got recursive - everything wears a costume. I have an uber cute seal rendered paralisingly cute by being in a removeable pink fluffy bunny costume. neal has the same seal in a bee costume. and a hello kitty in a CAT costume... erm...


• you can buy some pretty hot looking boy love by the looks of it in shinjuku


• goths are the same the world over. there are clearly only 10 or 12 different goths on earth. I swear we meet a Japanese version of Fudge


• the rooms in the akasaka prince are really nice even if you don't get an upgrade. but hell why not try for the upgrade cos those suites are even nicer


• large, deep hot mineral spring baths make your boobs float


• whalesharks have entourages


• watching the column of spinning anchovy for too long can give you neck ache and make your head go funny but it's very pretty


• it's some how *very* british to get terribly surprised and excited that that big boat just there is the QE2


• the japanese do not appear to have heard of VNV nation


• it's possible to get sick of fish pretty damned quickly


• it's even more shocking to see turtle on the menu


• if you don't look out of the window in a curry house in toyko you could be in a curry house here

I'm sure I'll think of some essential ones later and add them. tired now :)

Comments

[godgirl.livejournal.com]

"
they don't seem to 'irrashaimasen' quite as much and as alarmingly as they used to"

this could conversely mean they're just not as pleased to see you this time!

;op

you cannot get sick of fish!!!!

[lostlorelei.livejournal.com]

I do like the trend for dressing animals up as other animals! possibly we should recreate this with our cattens :)

[lostlorelei.livejournal.com]

Not tempted to make Pete wear a long sock then? :P

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

an I-shirt...

[attack-monkey.livejournal.com]

You found a fat, shambling, drug addled kiddie fiddler? Mint.

Maybe because you were expecting the irrashaimasen, it has lost its power over you?

Did you see slightly blibbery, ill advised hotpants goth?

:P

[warlockdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes, whale on the menu. It's wonderful how those little japs can break international law & kill an already endangered species.
Give it 20 years & there will be no more whales left for them to eat.

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

Cod is an endangered species yet stupid people eat it all the time despite haddock being equally available and tastier. it's pretty damn easy not to eat cod but surprising how many people can't be arsed or just don't think.

[warlockdreams.livejournal.com]

I think humpback whales are a little higher up on the list than cod. Plas it's not against international law to fish for cod. When Whales become extinct I'll blame the nips & norwegians.

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

you're the animal lover dale. can you be *bothered* not to eat cod or would you like to see it extinct rather than make the effort...? Don't get me wrong I'm just as anti-whaling as you but I just believe one shouldn't just focus on one 'easy'* enviromental/conservation issue and ignore the rest.

*easy as in we're not a nation that eats whale so it's easy to be righteous about it without having to
actually adjust our lifestyles in the slightest.

[warlockdreams.livejournal.com]

Of course I can be bothered, I eat haddock no problem. I like haddock so no complaints here. To be honest, I can't tell the diff between cod & haddock.

Funny how the rest of the world can live fine without eating an endangered mammal but the japs can't. I'm sure once, long ago many more countries enjoyed Whale, but there's only a few stubborn countries left now, like Japan & Norway.

If i had the means to tackle all of the environmental issues then I would, but right now all I can do is turn my lights off when I leave a room, eat organic fair trade products & other such things.

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

good!
now stop with macdonalds, nestle and all that veal :P

[warlockdreams.livejournal.com]

I thought Nestle were only responsibe for human suffering, like what they did to the african women with the milk thing?
You wouldn't catching me eating veal if my life depended on it, people that eat it either don't know what happens to the little cows or they're disgusting specimens. Veal, yuck.

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

silly boy - I know you wouldn't eat the baby veals :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_insecure_/]

macdonalds have quite a good record as far as animal welfare goes, they led the way whilst KFC continuously refused to make any changes

[http://users.livejournal.com/_pyromancer_/]

TBH, whale numbers aren't as bad as they were. I gather the main argument against whaling isn't that there's likely to be a shortage of whales, but rather that killing a large marine animal by firing an explosive harpoon into it isn't exactly the most humane form of slaughter.

Personally, thre's no risk of me ever eating whale, as I find all forms of seafood abhorrent. Nothing to do with conservation or ecology, it's just that to me all forms of fish taste of yuck!

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

WHALE'S NOT FISH!!!

sorry. I'm a pedant :P

[http://users.livejournal.com/_pyromancer_/]

Well, I suppose I could have written:

"Nothing to do with conservation or ecology, it's just that to me all forms of food derived from marine or freshwater species of self-propelled creatures, including (but not restricted to) the classification known as fish, together with various marine mammals, taste of yuck!"

but that would have made a rather unreadable mess of the sentence, plus as I've never actually eaten whale I don't actually know that it tastes of yuck, but I can imagine that given how all forms of fish do so, at least partly because of the marine environment they grow in, it most probably does.

:-)

[cloneboy.livejournal.com]

really?!?! one whale burger for me then please

[warlockdreams.livejournal.com]

Well the argument is against both really. The harpoon thing isn't very humane, plus the numbers. I'll take your word for it that the numbers aren't too bad... but they could be better surely? Humpbacks are still an endangered species.

What I'm saying is that even if they didn't use harpoons & instead used more humane ways, I'd still be against it.


What Sarah Said hehe.

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

there was foie gras as well if you'd like to add that =P

[http://users.livejournal.com/_pyromancer_/]

Just because you can fit into size L Japanese Lolita costumes does not necessarily mean you should

goths are the same the world over. there are clearly only 10 or 12 different goths on earth. I swear we meet a Japanese version of Fudge

large, deep hot mineral spring baths make your boobs float

the japanese do not appear to have heard of VNV nation

it's possible to get sick of fish pretty damned quickly

Not necessarily in order:

Pictures!

Fear!!!

Beware the Floating Bresticle Fetish.

Fish is evil and should be consumed only by penguins.

it's even more shocking to see turtle on the menu

Only if it's teenage, mutant, and ninja.

if you don't look out of the window in a curry house in toyko you could be in a curry house here

There is only one permitted design of curry house in this quadrant of the galaxy. Anyone constructing any alternative versions will be exterminated.

There are no more bear ears

There are Giraffe ears. having 4 bumps on the top of your head seems like extra value

I trust we'll be seeing this demonstrated at the club at some point? (fx: ponders if it's too early to mention that it's Transmission on the 12th of April) :-)

the cute has got recursive - everything wears a costume. I have an uber cute seal rendered paralisingly cute by being in a removeable pink fluffy bunny costume. neal has the same seal in a bee costume. and a hello kitty in a CAT costume... erm...

The world won't end in darkness, it will end in an unending tide of recursively cute cuteness.

Btw, did you see the cute "pee and poo" on sale anywhere?

Glad you had an interesting holiday - sounds amazing! Though I suspect I'd not survive a trip to Japan, I simply do not do fish. Wonder if it could be survived on a diet of apples and chocolate?

Btw, got the postcard - thanks! Much appreciated you taking the time to write and send it, esp given how bad I am at sending postcards.

Btw2: Of course it's only now, after you're back, that I suddenly realise I should have proffered some coppers and requestred you bring back one of those Japanese schoolgirl outfits. Doh!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_insecure_/]

i think it is a sad reflection on the state of my social life when i am really looking forward to seeing the giraffe ears :oD

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

:O