Holler for a dollar, shout for some clout!

The weeks just seem to be flying by now. I've only been working a full month, only been in Japan about 7 weeks, and everything is sort of falling into place. It feels like an eon ago when I first landed, dazed and incredulous that I had finally reached my destination. I like it here. I'd better not get too comfortable or I'll become a lifer, eh?

So I went out with Dayn and another teacher last night to what I thought might be a cool place - Wakoshi. It was only 3 trainstops away and seemed lively from the station, however when we got there we realized there was one street of restaurants on each side of the station, some bars and pachinko parlors and that was about it. Next time I'm gonna do more research!

But still, we went to an Izakaya - a casual restaraunt that serves beer, liquor and various food at reasonable prices. Whenever you are ready to order (or order more) you just hit the gameshow-looking button on the table to call the waiter or waitress over. Neat, huh? It's little things like that that wow me in Japan; Why doesn't NYC have vending machines every 30 feet?

"Probably because they would get vandalized," a student once said. She was probably right.

Anyway, the place was good, and jokingly one cohort suggested during my indecision on ordering that I get sakuraniku. It literally means red meat, and I didn't know what to make of it until they proclaimed it was raw horse. The both shook there heads in disgust while I said: "Sweet! That's what I'm getting!"

So delicious. Like sashimi (raw fish) but chewier! Yum!

Since there wasn't much else to see in Wakoshi, I decided to do some documentation on the evils of Pachinko parlors - popular gambling buildings that are incredibly ubiquitous in Japan:

Visually appealing designs like this are made to suck you in.

Apparently Gaia, the primal Greek goddess of the Earth, wants you to blow your paycheck this week.

Proof of teh evil! And that guys' face just screams: "I can't stop, please...help...me...."

OK, so in all seriousness I'll never understand Japan's pachinko fascination, but by the same token I've never been much of a gambler. I visited my ex in Las Vegas twice, and I did play some video poker but after losing $100 I pretty much decided never to gamble again. There are much better ways to waste ones' money, like music and video games.

Behold it in all its glory.

After returning from Wakoshi, I grabbed one of these badboys and Dayn showed me around some more of my town that I'd never seen before (that's a diet beer. STYLE FREE!)

I had to post this just because it said "Black Sebbath."

So there's a 24-hour jeans store a mile from my house. In case I ever need jeans at 4am. Huh.

And that's the long and short. Today is Sunday, the first day of my two-day weekend. Going to the hardcore show tonight, and probably will post pics some time tomorrow. Adios muchachos



"Another day goes by to reflect our eyes, guess I realize that I'm losin my mind" - Stigmata

"I bought a pack of carefree sugarless gum and I was still worried... IT NEVER KICKED IN!
And if you have dentures, never use artificial sweetener cuz you will get a fake cavity." - Mitch Hedburg