for something more coherent, check over at http://drinks-w-rob.blogspot.com in a little while.
It will be more drinks oriented but that's the deal.
Time for some memories made in the lovely land of #Japan. Hashtags aren't really necessary but it's a cool place out here.
Nervousness is a strange emotion, I'm sure we're all familiar with the so-called 'butterflies in your stomach' feeling but it's worth touching base, before the trip I was unsure of what I was going to do. Everyone has their own opinion of how you should spend your time in a foreign country. Or what that country is like and how their experiences would be mirrored in your own.
Japan is practically the rule for this as so many people dream of going there or have gone so many times they could call it a second home.
Maybe not entirely the truth but that's certainly how it seems.
What do you expect of japan? A world of rolling hills, with little old ladies washing the street. Super polite people at your beck and call? red light district covered in sexy clothes and geisha-esque prostitutes? Well, if you believed any of those to be likely or true you should get a reality check. I don't think there's anywhere in the world that could quite live up to those hyper-stereotypical concepts.
Japan for me has been one long shopping street that reminds me of the old shopping centre near where I grew up. Little shops here and there, a supermarket, tea and coffee shop, a couple of cafes and all the rest.
Mountain high shopping centre isn't really that much different now it's just a lot more modern.
Bremen St, Kawasaki, has similarities to home in that there's a criss-cross of streets, full of fairly affluent houses (and the families that live inside of them) and an assortment of most if not all the different shops you would need to live a comfortable life.
The difference between Japan and Australia really hit when you realize how far you need to walk.
~20 Minutes walk in Bayswater would get you from my old home to the station, Here in Japan it's less than 10 to the nearest station and about 15 to the next nearest station.
Sure it's not like that everywhere but for the city areas that's pretty much the deal. Train tracks and tiny roads web through Tokyo and surrounds and getting places is really easy if a bit expensive.
Easy but expensive doesn't quite begin to account for it. The IC (or RFID) card that I've got here taps in a millisecond and shows me my current balance in a font I could read without my glasses as I rush through a busy station gate.
Myki, Last I used it was impossible to get right and the balance numbers where frustratingly tiny.
I can't be fair to Myki. its just not possible. it's an absolute failure and japan has basically reminded me that ignorance isn't bliss. it's just setting yourself up for a really harsh wake up call.
So Japan has it pretty good right? Well. No, not really. For a start there's a very different help culture around Japan, it's easy to see how you could get lost in the solo, bachelor, life here. There's every sort of reason not to be outgoing. Not only does everyone keep to themselves, there's a politeness culture here that can be rather stuffy, stifling perhaps. Phone off when you're on the train. Especially if you need to stand near the priority (disabled) seats. Keep to the left (or right, where signed) Don't cross the road on a red light even if no-one is there. Be quiet, keep your music from leaking out beyond your ears. Dinner is a very solo affair if you're eating out. There may be space for you and your partner. Family if you're at a larger restaurant. but in general you don't walk into a restaurant and see huge placings for groups. There is places for that sort of thing but it's not just anywhere.
Fair warning, this is still a limited experience and sample set of some part of Tokyo.
Just need to keep adding up the experience. I went to a maid cafe, at the insistence of my friend, I went along with a sort of nervous excitement. I wasn't going to have a clue what was happening. I barely knew any of the language. Even now I'm struggling to get by on the handful of phrases I learned beforehand and since landing.
It was amazing to watch a 20-30something year old guy fawn over the maids in a respectful fashion.
Respectful.
I wont lie, my opinion of maid cafes was dire. I thought it a place where women were degraded and ogled inappropriately by horny guys. Overly sexualized bullshit that no-one should condone.
I'd not be alone but it's fair to say that what I experienced was very different. It was a cafe with a new type of performance art, yes it was cute but also rather amazing. The particular one I went to, Maid dreaming had a few important rules: No Touching was definitely there and emphasized. There were certain ways to ask for attention (such as to make your order or the like) and the girls performed some sort of mini live concert every 1/2 hour or so.
This would never fly in Australia. Dare I say someone would have to be thrown out by the bouncer every few seconds and the girls would be scared of sexual harassment everyday. Eventually the bad press would kill the business entirely as people are either too afraid to work there or too afraid they'll be kicked out "for no reason"
Time to break from all that and get on to the world at large. I'll probably do a photo dump and just caption everything as we go but it doesn't hurt to keep pointing talking about different things that have come up.
One of those is the difference in parks, rivers, creeks and other green spaces or waterways.
Back in Australia there's natural waterways and there's modified spaces. The main way to tell the difference between the two is how well they're kept.
Natural spaces are so full of rubbish in various states of decay that I can't help but want to cry. And then throw a temper tantrum about how badly people treat these things. Man made or modified places are usually retarding lakes, they're kept a bit cleaner because rubbish is a little more obvious and the whole idea behind these places is to catch and clean the water of some of the rubbish that flows through. But hidden in the orderly scrub and rock formations are concrete blocks and wire fencing. You'd be lucky to find fish swimming there and the waterfowl (read, obnoxious water birds) feed on both the scraps left behind by humans and the plants that manage to grow.
I'm not a professional when it comes to aquaculture or aquatic habitats so I won't damn them too much. But more often than not they're just as ugly as proper fully obvious and functional systems would be so that's my 2cents.
Over here in Japan the story is just as frustrating for a different reason. Most of the parks are gravel and bitumen, the green spaces are actually temples or people's gardens. The rare space of actual green parks here around Tokyo are specifically designated. Places like Yoyogi park where the garden is kept with some care. There's similar places around Melbourne city too. Small playgrounds for kids here are just that, small. In Australia, a number have disappeared to make room for houses or have shrunk out of safety concerns.
Reminds me of another concept that perhaps in Australia, repression or de-normalization of some acts may have an impact on our psychological welfare leading to an increase in our desires to act out of line. something perhaps for another time but the essential difference here and there is that there is a little bit of normalization of bedroom acts, at least as far as literature is concerned. It's fairly obvious and easily accessible even it's slightly censored on the outside and there's warnings to those under-aged that they're not allowed.
Well. I've gotten to a point where I've diverged over enough different topics that I'm just going to hit publish. I'll come back and do some more stream of consciousness writing later as it's a great way to work out my thoughts
It will be more drinks oriented but that's the deal.
Time for some memories made in the lovely land of #Japan. Hashtags aren't really necessary but it's a cool place out here.
Nervousness is a strange emotion, I'm sure we're all familiar with the so-called 'butterflies in your stomach' feeling but it's worth touching base, before the trip I was unsure of what I was going to do. Everyone has their own opinion of how you should spend your time in a foreign country. Or what that country is like and how their experiences would be mirrored in your own.
Japan is practically the rule for this as so many people dream of going there or have gone so many times they could call it a second home.
Maybe not entirely the truth but that's certainly how it seems.
What do you expect of japan? A world of rolling hills, with little old ladies washing the street. Super polite people at your beck and call? red light district covered in sexy clothes and geisha-esque prostitutes? Well, if you believed any of those to be likely or true you should get a reality check. I don't think there's anywhere in the world that could quite live up to those hyper-stereotypical concepts.
Japan for me has been one long shopping street that reminds me of the old shopping centre near where I grew up. Little shops here and there, a supermarket, tea and coffee shop, a couple of cafes and all the rest.
Mountain high shopping centre isn't really that much different now it's just a lot more modern.
Bremen St, Kawasaki, has similarities to home in that there's a criss-cross of streets, full of fairly affluent houses (and the families that live inside of them) and an assortment of most if not all the different shops you would need to live a comfortable life.
The difference between Japan and Australia really hit when you realize how far you need to walk.
~20 Minutes walk in Bayswater would get you from my old home to the station, Here in Japan it's less than 10 to the nearest station and about 15 to the next nearest station.
Sure it's not like that everywhere but for the city areas that's pretty much the deal. Train tracks and tiny roads web through Tokyo and surrounds and getting places is really easy if a bit expensive.
Easy but expensive doesn't quite begin to account for it. The IC (or RFID) card that I've got here taps in a millisecond and shows me my current balance in a font I could read without my glasses as I rush through a busy station gate.
Myki, Last I used it was impossible to get right and the balance numbers where frustratingly tiny.
I can't be fair to Myki. its just not possible. it's an absolute failure and japan has basically reminded me that ignorance isn't bliss. it's just setting yourself up for a really harsh wake up call.
So Japan has it pretty good right? Well. No, not really. For a start there's a very different help culture around Japan, it's easy to see how you could get lost in the solo, bachelor, life here. There's every sort of reason not to be outgoing. Not only does everyone keep to themselves, there's a politeness culture here that can be rather stuffy, stifling perhaps. Phone off when you're on the train. Especially if you need to stand near the priority (disabled) seats. Keep to the left (or right, where signed) Don't cross the road on a red light even if no-one is there. Be quiet, keep your music from leaking out beyond your ears. Dinner is a very solo affair if you're eating out. There may be space for you and your partner. Family if you're at a larger restaurant. but in general you don't walk into a restaurant and see huge placings for groups. There is places for that sort of thing but it's not just anywhere.
Fair warning, this is still a limited experience and sample set of some part of Tokyo.
Just need to keep adding up the experience. I went to a maid cafe, at the insistence of my friend, I went along with a sort of nervous excitement. I wasn't going to have a clue what was happening. I barely knew any of the language. Even now I'm struggling to get by on the handful of phrases I learned beforehand and since landing.
It was amazing to watch a 20-30something year old guy fawn over the maids in a respectful fashion.
Respectful.
I wont lie, my opinion of maid cafes was dire. I thought it a place where women were degraded and ogled inappropriately by horny guys. Overly sexualized bullshit that no-one should condone.
I'd not be alone but it's fair to say that what I experienced was very different. It was a cafe with a new type of performance art, yes it was cute but also rather amazing. The particular one I went to, Maid dreaming had a few important rules: No Touching was definitely there and emphasized. There were certain ways to ask for attention (such as to make your order or the like) and the girls performed some sort of mini live concert every 1/2 hour or so.
This would never fly in Australia. Dare I say someone would have to be thrown out by the bouncer every few seconds and the girls would be scared of sexual harassment everyday. Eventually the bad press would kill the business entirely as people are either too afraid to work there or too afraid they'll be kicked out "for no reason"
Time to break from all that and get on to the world at large. I'll probably do a photo dump and just caption everything as we go but it doesn't hurt to keep pointing talking about different things that have come up.
One of those is the difference in parks, rivers, creeks and other green spaces or waterways.
Back in Australia there's natural waterways and there's modified spaces. The main way to tell the difference between the two is how well they're kept.
Natural spaces are so full of rubbish in various states of decay that I can't help but want to cry. And then throw a temper tantrum about how badly people treat these things. Man made or modified places are usually retarding lakes, they're kept a bit cleaner because rubbish is a little more obvious and the whole idea behind these places is to catch and clean the water of some of the rubbish that flows through. But hidden in the orderly scrub and rock formations are concrete blocks and wire fencing. You'd be lucky to find fish swimming there and the waterfowl (read, obnoxious water birds) feed on both the scraps left behind by humans and the plants that manage to grow.
I'm not a professional when it comes to aquaculture or aquatic habitats so I won't damn them too much. But more often than not they're just as ugly as proper fully obvious and functional systems would be so that's my 2cents.
Over here in Japan the story is just as frustrating for a different reason. Most of the parks are gravel and bitumen, the green spaces are actually temples or people's gardens. The rare space of actual green parks here around Tokyo are specifically designated. Places like Yoyogi park where the garden is kept with some care. There's similar places around Melbourne city too. Small playgrounds for kids here are just that, small. In Australia, a number have disappeared to make room for houses or have shrunk out of safety concerns.
Reminds me of another concept that perhaps in Australia, repression or de-normalization of some acts may have an impact on our psychological welfare leading to an increase in our desires to act out of line. something perhaps for another time but the essential difference here and there is that there is a little bit of normalization of bedroom acts, at least as far as literature is concerned. It's fairly obvious and easily accessible even it's slightly censored on the outside and there's warnings to those under-aged that they're not allowed.
Well. I've gotten to a point where I've diverged over enough different topics that I'm just going to hit publish. I'll come back and do some more stream of consciousness writing later as it's a great way to work out my thoughts
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