Author: Justin

Countdown

Exactly two weeks to go until I put my life in the hands of JAL and escape on a ten day adventure to Southeast Asia – I can hardly wait! My pal, T, is flying to Bangkok on the 25th, and I’m out on the 27th. We’ll meet up with Nam the next day and we have no plans other than hitting up the Chattuchak street market the first weekend, them joining up with T’s ex, Natty, for a nice, dusty drive to the border of either Laos or Cambodia… I’m leaning toward Cambodia at this point; I want to much around the ruins before the next wave of kidnappings kicks off.
I was going to buy a D70 for the trip since they hit the sub 90,000 yen mark, but it seems that Nikon is bringing out a new, improved version (oh, so shiny! and new!) right around the time I leave, so I might put off buying a new camera until the next big trip. Oh well, it just means I can be more fearless with my old one (the one before it drowned horribly on a kayak outing, so there is precedence).
I love going to Thailand because I can pack ultra light and buy what I need there… The days are passing slowly, slowly.

The Office

Having heard great things about original UK version of The Office, and not-so-great things about its American remake, I promptly illegally downloaded purchased Seasons 1 & 2 of the UK DVD-rips DVDs and (ahem!) legally procured all available versions of the American show (up to episode 3) to find out for myself.
The verdict: I can understand how easy it is to jump on the naysaying bandwagon about remakes (my personal nightmare as realized by Hollywood: La Femme Nikita), but I strongly suspect a lot of the people talking shit haven’t even seen the UK version. I laughed as much during the American episodes as I did the UK ones, and think that if anything, they compliment each other brilliantly – even the subtle contrasts in office environment, for example, offer a peek into the core differences of our societies (I don’t imagine there will be many mid-day drinking scenes in the office in the US version, for instance). The overall comedy styles are quite different, but more importantly, they are entirely compatible. Sometimes seeing the same scene in the UK version as performed by the US cast makes for great comedy in itself. I think a lot of hard work by the cast and creators has paid off for both versions.
Now I’m just waiting for a “The Kaisha” spinoff starring Salaryman.
(Thanks to Mandy for getting me interested in this show; Wattstax review coming soon)

In the Inbox

From the girlfriend (who never bothered to get her driver’s license until now):
“How are you doing? It is very hot today!
I am happy to be driving everywhere, I can turn left and right and turn around!
Unbelievable!
(Don’t say that I can’t drive anymore! Bitch! I can do if I want to do! hahaha!)”
Is it obvious why I love this woman (and are these awesome English teaching credentials or what?).

Spin Cycle

Ten days ago, my girlfriend went back to Thailand to gather material for her doctorate.
Nine days ago, I woke up with a hangover the size of Uluru and felt nauseous as well as lonely.
Eight days ago, I washed a huge pile of dishes and decided from then on to use the same frying pan, plate, and set of chopsticks until my girlfriend gets back in mid-May (actually, I’m kind of lying because the plate has hardly been used).
Seven days ago, I did a load of laundry but forgot to hang it out to dry (there are no dryers in Japan as the Shinto and Buddhist faiths explicitly prohibit static electricity).
Six days ago, I added more clothes to the damp load in the washer and cycled it again, but forgot to hang it out to dry.
Five days ago, I added more clothes to the damp load in the washer and cycled it again, but forgot to hang it out to dry.
Four days ago, I added more clothes to the damp load in the washer and cycled it again, but forgot to hang it out to dry.
Three days ago, I added more clothes to the damp load in the washer and cycled it again, but forgot to hang it out to dry.
Two days ago, I added more clothes to the damp load in the washer and cycled it again, but forgot to hang it out to dry.
Yesterday I ran out of boxers. Normally I would just recycle them since I’m in bachelor mode, but I haven’t had to recycle shorts for so long that the thought of it actually bothers me a little bit. I packed the entire wash into a huge trash bag and walked to the laundromat looking like a hobo. When I arrived, there was a girl sitting on the dryer, and I was of course wearing no shorts under my blue jeans…
THE END

Hitori de Hanami

Yesterday was my company hanami. I didn’t feel much like drinking from noon, so I went at around four-fifteen. It’s only about fifteen minutes up to the top of Magata-yama, where it was being held, so I bought a tall can of Asahi at the bottom of the hill and hiked up. I looked for my party for half an hour and they weren’t there, so I sat under a secluded grove of sakura, sipped my beer, and went back home.
The people at work obviously have no idea what a real hanami is.

Jackpotting Japanese Vending Machines

High school dropouts, strung-out junkies, and fucked gaijin, behold:
mamalemon.gif
This is all you need to jackpot vending machines in Japan.
I’ve seen evidence of it poured down coin slots of every make and model of jihanki, but passersby usually mistake it as simple vandalism rather than evidence of (usually attempted but not successful) theft. Hearsay in my college dorm was that older machines are more likely to produce coins (via return slot) than newer ones, and lengthy debates were held on the question of whether other brands of dishsoap would work as well as MamaLemon, pictured above.
Basically, the entire jackpotting phenomenon* exists mainly because:
A. Japanese college students are unchallenged, lazy, immoral dumbfucks
B. The 500 yen (approx. $5) coin makes it worthwhile
*Not to say this is as widespread in other areas, YMMV. Also, not everyone notices shit like this; I just have an eye for it.