First off,
apologies for the
delay this week. This move is turning out to be a bit more
difficult than the last one, since this one I'm doing under my own
steam, without the assistance of my noble employers. Some
computer stuff didn't get moved right away, which left me without the
necessary stuff to load pictures, which...
Y'know what? Forget it. Let's move on.
The rainy season has started. Apparently, the above scene is what I have to look forward to for the next six weeks. Yippee.
Here's that crossing at Shibuya (not Shinjuku, as I had erroneously noted before.) It's a bit sparse due to the rain. Only a few hundred people a minute.
It can't be a good sign when you see a sign called "Gas Panic" above a restaurant. Maybe that's the inspiration for this T-shirt:
I'm speechless.
Here's a toilet in the train station at Warabi. "So what?" you may ask. Well, that thing on the right is a seat for infants. This, at first blush, seems like a good idea. Until you think about the deeper implications: basically, you're expected to give your toddler a front row seat to Mom and/or Dad letting one go. The potential for mental scarring is unsettlingly high. And that's even before you get to:
"Press to wash bottom." I'm not going to comment any further on that one.
In other news, I recently witnessed a rather odd phrase:
I know what those words mean, but it still doesn't make sense.
In other words, don't mess with Cornhead. They Ain't Stop.
Here's Hoppy the Frog, warning about the dangers of gastric distress after a long night of eating confetti:
Either the English teachers who came before me were absolutely dreadful, or their students just didn't care.
Apparently, the name "Fes" has a universal definition.
OK, enough snarking. I'm in the process of
moving (hopefully for the last time) to a place called Kawaguchi, this
time to
an actual house.
That's more like it. My roommate, Blair, worked on film sets in Australia before coming here, so he's not only a movie geek with rather high standards for AV equipment, he built everything you see here. Including the projection screen.
Yes, that's the TV.
Even the entryway is nice:
Kawaguchi has its own mascot, like Hammertime for Ageo. I don't really know what to call this guy, so I'll just call him "Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing." It's a little odd how everything here is promoted with cute cartoon characters.
Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing is seen here showing his support for something or other.
Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing is also a good role model for children.
Only problem is, Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing has a temper when he's had a few.
...but Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing isn't the only one who's taken up drinking:
Twinkie Man at the start of a night he'd rather not remember. It's not like him to open his skull in public.
Fortunately, unlike Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing, Twinkie Man is a friendly drunk.
That's a guy named Dave and a woman I spoke with for hours but can't remember the name of. If Twinkie Man hadn't kept feeding me beers, maybe I'd have a better memory.
Once again, I am exhausted. I've started working the early shift, which has the advantage of giving me afternoons off, but has the disadvantage of making Midnight past my bedtime. Email me here if you like, and maybe Twinkie Man will respond. Until next time.
Y'know what? Forget it. Let's move on.
The rainy season has started. Apparently, the above scene is what I have to look forward to for the next six weeks. Yippee.
Here's that crossing at Shibuya (not Shinjuku, as I had erroneously noted before.) It's a bit sparse due to the rain. Only a few hundred people a minute.
It can't be a good sign when you see a sign called "Gas Panic" above a restaurant. Maybe that's the inspiration for this T-shirt:
I'm speechless.
Here's a toilet in the train station at Warabi. "So what?" you may ask. Well, that thing on the right is a seat for infants. This, at first blush, seems like a good idea. Until you think about the deeper implications: basically, you're expected to give your toddler a front row seat to Mom and/or Dad letting one go. The potential for mental scarring is unsettlingly high. And that's even before you get to:
"Press to wash bottom." I'm not going to comment any further on that one.
In other news, I recently witnessed a rather odd phrase:
I know what those words mean, but it still doesn't make sense.
In other words, don't mess with Cornhead. They Ain't Stop.
Here's Hoppy the Frog, warning about the dangers of gastric distress after a long night of eating confetti:
Either the English teachers who came before me were absolutely dreadful, or their students just didn't care.
Apparently, the name "Fes" has a universal definition.
That's more like it. My roommate, Blair, worked on film sets in Australia before coming here, so he's not only a movie geek with rather high standards for AV equipment, he built everything you see here. Including the projection screen.
Yes, that's the TV.
Even the entryway is nice:
Kawaguchi has its own mascot, like Hammertime for Ageo. I don't really know what to call this guy, so I'll just call him "Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing." It's a little odd how everything here is promoted with cute cartoon characters.
Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing is seen here showing his support for something or other.
Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing is also a good role model for children.
Only problem is, Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing has a temper when he's had a few.
...but Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing isn't the only one who's taken up drinking:
Twinkie Man at the start of a night he'd rather not remember. It's not like him to open his skull in public.
Fortunately, unlike Happy Yellow Spiky Ball Thing, Twinkie Man is a friendly drunk.
That's a guy named Dave and a woman I spoke with for hours but can't remember the name of. If Twinkie Man hadn't kept feeding me beers, maybe I'd have a better memory.
Once again, I am exhausted. I've started working the early shift, which has the advantage of giving me afternoons off, but has the disadvantage of making Midnight past my bedtime. Email me here if you like, and maybe Twinkie Man will respond. Until next time.