First off,
apologies for vanishing. I've fallen behind on
all sorts of things (the magazine, the gym, getting the bed delivered,
etc.) I also have about three days worth of laundry.
I'll spare you shots of that.
As always, it's good idea to start off with something educational. Here we see a sign letting people know, via illustrations, how to go to the bathroom:
This is, of course, accurate, since we all know girls don't poop.
Questionable idea #263,236: The Bacon Fairy.
Which kind of brings up a major point about living here: cute characters are the main method by which everything is sold. The local grocery store has an entire farm.
And if you want to teach your kids how to brush their teeth, there's a flying cheese head monster who is more than willing to oblige:
Some of 'em are downright creepy. Here's an ad for a vet that offers lobotomies for your dog.
Well, you have to admit it kind of looks like that.
"Up yours, buddy!"
A restaurant for jerks.
Now, THIS name could have been thought through a little better:
Apparently, flatulence is a selling point for restaurants.
After you've perfected your butt trick, you can hit the showers:
OK. Now then.
There is an international festival happening all month here in Kawaguchi. Last week was the Spanish festival:
They had all sorts of stuff: Japanese women dressed in traditional Spanish dress, Japanese food sold from stands with menus in Spanish, Japanese rock bands playing "La Bamba." Next week is the Italian Festival. Maybe they'll have Japanese pizza.
Twinkie Man got a little carried away with the festivities:
I didn't get too much sightseeing in, but I did manage to snap a couple of things:
A restaurant in Ikebukuro about 10 minutes after that big earthquake we had:
You can, uh, see the panic.
Actually, I was on the train when the earthquake hit. I had to be told we had one.
What makes earthquakes scary isn't the trembling, it's the buildings. If you're on ground level or thereabouts, it just feels like a big truck is going by. If you're fifteen stories in the air, however, the movements get a little more pronounced.
Years ago, about 6000 people died in a big earthquake. This, I've been told, is because of shoddy building codes which have since been rigorously updated. So unless we see a serious, serious quake, chances are the casualties will be pretty low (the quake before had something like two deaths.)
OK, after that happy news...here's a weird movie theatre showing a Bruno Ganz movie about the Nazis.
Cheery, I know. But you have to admit it's a cool theatre.
Speaking of cool but not cheery, there's a restaurant in Shibuya called the Criston Cafe. It's made to look like an old gothic church. Or dungeon.
Weird stuff hanging from the ceiling:
...and here...
This guy was hanging ABOVE me the whole time I ate. Staring.
Heh.
There were a lot more pictures, but the gargoyle above must have cursed my camera, since a distressingly high percentage came out looking like this:
Ah well. Until next time, I can be reached, as always, here. Many thanks...
I'll spare you shots of that.
As always, it's good idea to start off with something educational. Here we see a sign letting people know, via illustrations, how to go to the bathroom:
This is, of course, accurate, since we all know girls don't poop.
Questionable idea #263,236: The Bacon Fairy.
Which kind of brings up a major point about living here: cute characters are the main method by which everything is sold. The local grocery store has an entire farm.
And if you want to teach your kids how to brush their teeth, there's a flying cheese head monster who is more than willing to oblige:
Some of 'em are downright creepy. Here's an ad for a vet that offers lobotomies for your dog.
Well, you have to admit it kind of looks like that.
"Up yours, buddy!"
A restaurant for jerks.
Now, THIS name could have been thought through a little better:
Apparently, flatulence is a selling point for restaurants.
After you've perfected your butt trick, you can hit the showers:
OK. Now then.
There is an international festival happening all month here in Kawaguchi. Last week was the Spanish festival:
They had all sorts of stuff: Japanese women dressed in traditional Spanish dress, Japanese food sold from stands with menus in Spanish, Japanese rock bands playing "La Bamba." Next week is the Italian Festival. Maybe they'll have Japanese pizza.
Twinkie Man got a little carried away with the festivities:
I didn't get too much sightseeing in, but I did manage to snap a couple of things:
A restaurant in Ikebukuro about 10 minutes after that big earthquake we had:
You can, uh, see the panic.
Actually, I was on the train when the earthquake hit. I had to be told we had one.
What makes earthquakes scary isn't the trembling, it's the buildings. If you're on ground level or thereabouts, it just feels like a big truck is going by. If you're fifteen stories in the air, however, the movements get a little more pronounced.
Years ago, about 6000 people died in a big earthquake. This, I've been told, is because of shoddy building codes which have since been rigorously updated. So unless we see a serious, serious quake, chances are the casualties will be pretty low (the quake before had something like two deaths.)
OK, after that happy news...here's a weird movie theatre showing a Bruno Ganz movie about the Nazis.
Cheery, I know. But you have to admit it's a cool theatre.
Speaking of cool but not cheery, there's a restaurant in Shibuya called the Criston Cafe. It's made to look like an old gothic church. Or dungeon.
Weird stuff hanging from the ceiling:
...and here...
This guy was hanging ABOVE me the whole time I ate. Staring.
Heh.
There were a lot more pictures, but the gargoyle above must have cursed my camera, since a distressingly high percentage came out looking like this:
Ah well. Until next time, I can be reached, as always, here. Many thanks...