internet any day

Originally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

murasaki ringo


Get ready, yes its coming to a few silly people who read my words. Yes its coming. I will have very fast internet, very soon. The result of this is 1) tons of useless updates 2) a massive stream of content you can browse to kill time... I will be uploading my pics and stuff to a new section of my website (trumpets!) "murasaki ringo" ... at the moment, nothing is there but that will change soon. Also I will have all sorts of other stuff there that maybe 1 or 2 people will look at?!


Some pointless links from the stratasphoogle: anyone want to join the green rabbit army? I was talking to someone at work about cockney rhyming slang, but little did I know you could do it automatic on the net! Wow, we can all be cockneys now! (and links from that page let you be any British accent for that matter wooo! and if you want to find a quick list of british slang, jump to this page that i got the cockney link from.) And finally please see someone's pet pig. Just like that y'all.
[[links missing]]

In other news, it has got so humid here in Japan. Its the liquid always slightly wet with sweat state-of-existance. Or if I am at work, the air conditioner is so strong that I am almost cold. Winter inside a summer. Of course if you are also here with me, you know what I am talking about. Cant quite remember the reason I sat down to updates this diary. Oh well. Pointless update number 257! and the beat goes on...

DAAG!



19:59:00 | permalink | comments (8)


add a comment

The link works Dansen : )
Steph


steph, the link should be working now... and i am still working on stuff, so its still in the process! thanks.. more to come!
dansen


Steph again, I watched your movies -- what a treat! "Drunk fish tank" comes up as "document not found" when I click on it, though, but it could just be my connection. What is a drunk fish tank?
Steph


I like your photos too. Weird grid though.
Diego


I love your new murasaki ringo -- I can see so much more detail in your photos now --how cool!
Steph


Singapore was always humid too. It was a little tough when it was hot and wet. Hope you get your interset soon!
Diego


I guess that over-cranking of air conditioners is universal because I've been suffering from the same thing here in NM. It seems kinda weird to lug a sweater around on a really hot day, but I've decided that it's better than getting a cold in the middle of summer ; )
Steph


Cool. It was probably me
Aaron

living in the rain and heat

Originally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

rain rain rain internet?!


Last week we were hit by Typhoon Number 6... And honestly, I love rain. I know, I know, its annoying to get soaked on your way to work, but I really enjoy rain. The sound of it slamming down, and especially when it drums against the metal roofs of a station, the world lost in a blur of water. Or walking in the rain, yes, I like walking in the rain, as the streets flood and begin resembeling small rivers, small streams streaking down from clogged drains. I stood in the rain, watching, and trying fruitlessly to capture a picture expressing it. I ended up taking several hi-res videos of it (too big too upload i think) that was bairly able to capture the 360ﾟ sensory experience of being attacked by crying clouds.



I went to see "Lost in Translation" with Vicky last week, and I know a lot of people already said their thoughts about it (including an excelent review of it by Diego on June 22) but I thought I would add my thoughts to the pile... first, and I guess most important, I was entertained, I thought it was a fairly beautiful film. Honestly, however I thought, atleast from my point of view, Sophia Coppola gave a really twisted, distorted view of modern Tokyo. Partly because most of us wont be staying in multimilion doller hotels, or checking out fancy art-smash rich people parties, etc etc... but also through blatent racisim (or softly stated as stereotype closeups) used as movie content, because their was little else to add to this fluffy movie. I personally would have liked more abstract shots of tokyo, but that dosent sell to a bigger audience so the stereotype cloesups allowed Sophia to have content, but I think they also hurt her movie. And let me say again, only about 40% of that movie was the Tokyo I call home. Of course, nothing is wrong with a fresh view but living here it felt like watching a fake sometimes... like when I watched Austin Powers 3 (and I think even The Last Samurai did something like this) and they had Mt.Fuji in Yokohama, for most people that was a fact they might not have noticed, but for me it made the movie feel fake (ok, I know Austin Powers is totally fake anyway... maybe they tried to do that?!) Anyway, enough said.



I was reading the Asahi Herald Tribune, which is basically a reprint of the New York Times, and I found an article on the front page about work-place bullies (find a copy of that article in a different paper here), and they mentioned an anti-bully group in Bellingham (where I lived last) that I had never heard of before, it was called "The Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute" ... I reaseached it, and they seem to be real? weird, you learn things about where you (used to) live all the time?!... hmm. yes. what? you didnt relally want to know that? oh.



Anyway, last cool thing to note... I should have internet in less than a week?!?! Finally! I am happy, and I really will update more often! Really! I think...







SAYA LUCU.....! TIDAK INTERNET?! SAYA MAU INTERNET !!



00:18:00 | permalink | comments (3)


add a comment

I kind of had the same feeling as you Dansen about "Lost in Translation". While I connected to some moments in the film such as the shots of Charlotte gazing up at the lights from the taxi and staring at all the buildings below and trying to take it all in. However, I felt the same about, not all of us stay in a ritzy hotel with room service. I did however appreciate the cinematography given the difficulties they probably would have had. I was amazed at the shot of Shibuya crossing when Charlotte is walking across. I doubt they would have been able to get the entire crossing free and to be filming in a very public place in the middle of the day with a lot of foreigners and a crew, I was surprised that they managed to get a shot where no passerbys looked at the camera. However, I thought the storyline was a little weak in some places and gave into too many cultural stereotypes. I also got the feeling that Sophia is a little egomanical at times. I've actually visited her store, Heaven 27 in Daikanyama and it appeared to be a little bit of a shrine to herself. When I went there they were playing the Lost in Translation soundtrack, which was also available for purchase in the store and there were photos taken by her everywhere not too mention select CD's, books and magazines that seemed to be carefully handpicked for being somewhat obscure and undiscovered. Then I came across a book monogrammed with "SC". I opened it up and it said in very minimalistic san serif print something like, "things I liked in 2002". Then there were all these pictures of her famous extended family, various movie stars and designers etc. and she was selling it (basically it was like a small store catalogue) for around 2000 yen. It was a little creepy but I guess everyone has obsessions. Just look at us posting comments to this blog. Anyway, I preferred the "Virgin Suicides" to this one.
Tanya


What do you mean they had Mt. Fuji in Yokohama. You can probably see it from there if it's a clear day. You can see it from parts of Tokyo to, such as the roof of Asia University or my old dorm.
Aaron


The Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute in Bellingham? I've never heard of that either, but if any city is going to have an institute like that it would be Bellingham! Albuquerque could use a program like that!
Steph

Strange comparisons

Originally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

cutting edge digital life


I was walking to the internet cafe tonight (still no interent at my place) and as I walked past the small group of prostitutes that always huddles infront of the station, a strange comparision came to me. The work of the prostitutes, in some ways, resembles my work as a conversation english teacher... OK, don't be a sick freak and start commenting about sex with students (I'll delete those comments if you do) I mean it in a simply logical sense. I am a teacher, but its not like a college teacher, its quick, direct, and to the point. They have sex, but its not like with a partner you know and trust, its most likely quick, direct, and to the point. They have a wage that is higher per hour than your normal worker, so do I. All of the prostitutes in front of my station are non-japanese, foreigners coming to work in a market where their basic skills are required. Me too. I could keep going, but I dont think I have to. Its weird, huh?



I also want to say something that isnt quite clear to me. But I was surfing along through this amazing cosmos known as the internet, and I slipped into a random stream of videos uploaded by random people. I am using a really fast connection, so I bounced along for awhile, and I came across this file. It seems so surreal to me, so perfect it almost seems like a short movie. In fact, I think I will now consider it a random short movie contained inside a random moment. Am I freaking out? Check it out and see what you think. (And any other videos if you want to bounce around, I cant say they are all safe, I have no idea.)



Anyway, I am enjoying my moments. Enjoy yours! DAAG!



00:13:00 | permalink | comments (5)


add a comment

I love your picture of the ramen!
Steph


Oh yea, and the videos... Are they all Windows media? Windows media doesn't stream very well. I don't like it...
Aaron


Did you see how much Gmail accounts are selling for on eBay now? About 5¢. They just reset my invites to 5 again too.
Aaron


Dansen, is everybody talking at you? Can you hear a word they're saying, or only the echos of your mind? Did you ever see "The Midnight Cowboy"? I don't think that you're prostituting yourself by giving fast-paced English lessons.
Steph


The videos are kinda bad, but it's an interesting concept. Comparing yourself to prostitutes is kinda strange, at first I thought you're talking about selling yourself out or something. Didn't you want to do a documentary about male gigolos? Dansen dansen dansen.
Diego

seeing sokichi and yuka

Originally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

and also my new zealand album!


This post was orginally posted on June 16th, but it vaporized. The user Urth was smart enough to check google's cache (I guess thats what he did) and let me have the post again, all comments have been copy and pasted back in again. Its almost like new....?!



This evening I hung out with yuka and sokichi, i hadnt seen either of them in a long time so it was really great to see them... first me and yuka waited for sokichi to finish work, ate a yummy nikuman and stuff, and then we met him and talked about anything from japanese music (that was easy) to quantom mechanics (thats not so easy to do in Japanese, its not so easy in English!?) and then we went to Karaoke and they both sang great and i was stupid and screamed my way through several weird songs. The karaoke room was in this litteral "karaoke tower" ... six floors of karaoke rooms... we were up on the 5th floor and our room had a slightly dirty window that looked down on the busy street below... it also had a glass box that hung out over that space so if i crawled up into it i could watch the street 5 floors below me... freaky! it was cool hanging out with them....

I finally found a host that will let me upload my New Zealand Photo Album ... check it out and leave comments here if you wish. I had to upload a fairly low-reseloution version because i cant find anywhere that will let me upload my 14MB acrobat file. Anyway, I have work tomorrow and so I guess I should go for now. Still no internet in my house. When will they install it?
SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI !



22:34:00 | permalink | comments (5)


add a comment

diego.. .whats weird? tanya... i am doing the borrowing phone line thing so its even slower than renting a phone line, complicated and annoying...aaah!... and i couldnt find a host to put my big version of my album, when i get a chance I'll try to upload it somewhere were it can show bigger pictures.... vicky.. yeah, a karaoke tower! it was awesome! aaron.. i didnt MAKE her come to tokorozawa, and you should have came, would have been fun dude! thanks for comments everyone, anymore welcome too ^-^;
Dansen


I wanted to go too, but you make Yuka go all the way to Tokorozawa, and I didn't (and couldn't spend 2+ hours on the train to get there.)
Aaron


ohmygod! karaoke tower! thats so fascinating!! ahh i wanna go to karaoke~
vicky


Who is your ISP? I think mine took two weeks and that was ASDL I had to rent a phone line too. The internet in Japan is really fast compared to back here. Your album looked pretty impressive but the pictures were too small, I couldn't really see anything.
Tanya


Yeah, the flash album is kinda weird.
Diego

trying to get into the swing of it

Orginally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

i love indie media


ok, so I still dont have internet in my place, it will be a few more weeks or something... but I was using the internet at an internet cafe near my house, so i thought I should post something to get into practice for my daily blog updates once I get the net!



i think i will miss coming to this intenet cafe, sometimes they call me by name (which is a little creepy because I never told them my name) and once the dude who always checks me out asked me if i could get home safely because it was late and there were no trains to my house (i gave a different address for my contact information when becoming a member of this cafe) so they must be looking at my info? a little weird, but friendly I guess. tears, I'll miss this place!



I love weird indie media... how about this chunk of pure digital-era entertainment. Someone over at the university of Arizon, decided to convert bad jokes into movie shorts. I love this about uber-indie stuff! woo! so, if you have a fast connect go see their version of this infamous joke (well, atleast I know I have told a version of this while drunk a few times...link source)



The weather has been freaky, which is classic for this season i guess. One day it will be hot and humid, almost melting me, and the next cold or rainy. And I have seen more bugs, which is a bit creepy, honestly, when they surprize you, even though bugs are amazing things, well designed little crawlers.



Piyo and Sokichi will visit my place together next week, so I am very excited. I havent seen either of them in months, so my excited-level is: yay yay yay!



Anyway, I should walk home and go to sleep. SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI



01:47:00 | permalink | comments (4)


add a comment

I'm definitely flying into Narita and will be in Tokyo Jul. 25-28 for orientation. Trench - maybe, don't know yet for sure. He might fly into Osaka later. We'll keep ya posted!
syrinx


I hope that you are only seeing bugs outside! :p
Steph


We'll have to slate time to do our own indie video/film stuff when I get there. Say hi to Piyo, I don't think she remembers me from our samui discussion. I may end up flying to Osaka, depending on what happens with JET. I ditto Diego's question? What did you think of Lost in Translation. I loved it. Aki and Yo (you met them at our house warming party) thought it was boring.
trenchcoat


Seems like you're some celebrity with the internet stuff! Sometimes you wanna go - where everybody knows your name...

Yeah, having internet access will be cool. Hey, what did you think of "Lost in Translation?"
Diego

hanging out with friends

Originally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

on the edge of summer


Seth came and stopped by my "youth hostel" for a few more days but he left early this morning ... or its after midnight, so I guess, you could say he left yesterday. It was good to see him, I went with him and some other friends to a restraunt on the top of the tokyo metropolitan building. I hadnt ever really eaten somewhere that fancy before, they took our shoes for us at the entrence, and it was like on the 45th story or something, and our table was against the window, the floor of Shinjuku splayed out like burning dots of light. It was surreal, to me, those kind of things are like Nature in the city.... I mean, if you have ever hiked up a tall path and looked down at a falling waterfall cascading into a brilliant stream? Thats nature, right? Well, I think cities also have moments of "ooooh" transcendence, and I think thats too often forgotten. anyway... it was beautiful up there, near the sky.

Tonight, after work, I was going to go hang out with Yusuke and some of his friends, and I was taking the same train as one of my work friends Luke, so I invited him along and we all met and went out drinking. It was really fun for Luke I think because, Yusuke and his friends just spoke natural young Japanese, and Luke could have a chance to hear slang words he had studied before. Luke was doing a great job, just talking along with everyone, it was really fun, just hanging out, drinking and talking, across cultures (honestly, I still dont know a lot about Australian culture.. check out a picture of us drinking on my keitai page). After that we bought some big-beers at a convience store and walked to the park in kichijyoji. The night was perfect, it was still warm from the hot day, but a pleasent wind was blowing, and clouds were litterly rushing against the almost full moon. It was really pleasent mixed with my beer buzz. The park was littered with guitar players and people walking around talking, we finished our beers, and then each went our own ways...



03:16:00 | permalink | comments (4)


add a comment

Most things are pleasant when mixed with a beer buzz ; ) tee hee.
Steph


I think you need to say beer maybe 20 more times :)
Ted


when are you going to korea?
trench


That sounds very awesome man. Enjoy Japan!
Urth

train rider

Originally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

and here comes a computer!


The other day, I was ridding the seibu-shinjuku train back towards shintokorozawa (you gotta love names that are long like that!) and I saw these two stoner guys were talking about something or other, and one of them accidently dropped some of his drink on the floor. It was coffee or something, and it slowly spread from around his feet. He said "shiiiit!" (in Japanese of course) and then, in typical stoner-style, he began slidding his foot around on the newly made texture of the train floor. Him and his friend just laughed about it, and it wasnt a big spill so thats all that happened. But this spill reminded me of a different spill I saw a few weeks ago, on the same train line. It was a fairly full train, and an old lady got on. She had just gone shopping I guess, or something, and she had a bag with her. She somehow ended up dropping her bag, which had a big container of milk in it. It spread all over the floor... everyone just watched, horrified, as the whole train-car began to be coated with little streams of milk. Its a big city, and in big cities people are slow to help others... I guess inside I am still a small-town kid, so I asked the guy next to me if he had any tissues (I didnt have any) and jumped up and started helping the old lady mop up her milk streams. A few other people felt guilty and tossed her some tissues... it was a surreal thing, mopping up milk from the floor of a crouded train, as it started and stopped at different stations.



I will buy a computer tomorrow!! And I hope to get internet soon after that, which will mean a lot of endless, pointless, updates for this diary. Also, I will be trying to expand the readers of this here diary, if you're new, welcome. If you are one of the "old timers" please know I enjoy people reading my random words, thank you!... More thoughts as they come to me later. Enjoy life... !





DAAG!



22:06:00 | permalink | comments (4)


add a comment

happy you all are glad to hear I'll be updating more frequently soon...! i will i will !! of course the OS is Japanese!!
Dansen


Yay! Now I will have something new to read every lunchtime! I've turned my office on to your blog too. Yes, we are all a bunch of geeks!
Tanya


Yeah! Computers are cool! Would it be a Japanese language OS?
Diego


Yea!! Endless pointless entries like me!!!
Aaaron

existing in the city as a neon sign

Originally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

and other random rants for a blog


...being a minority in a big city gives a person a lot of reasons to rant and complain, but before I start let me explain that this has nothing to do with Tokyo being in Japan, this is simply a rant about being a "neon sign" (that shouts: not japanese!) and what it feels like sometimes, it has nothing to do with my current place really, instead it has to do with being a foreign minority... a situation others deal with almost anywhere you go, so here is my perspectives of being a neon sign, followed by an after thought.



I was walking back to the train station, from work, the night had already draped over the day, and I was a bit tired. As I walked past a drunk man, he said (In drunken Japanese of course) "So whhhere areee YO-uu comin' from?" I just laughed and said "Your drunk." and kept going. Near the station, a woman working for a host club said (with a accent that was clearly foreign herself, maybe filipino, but it wasnt a chinese accent [the biggest minority in Japan i belive, does anyone know?] because I can hear that clearly now because of all the chinese people I have met that are learning japanese...) "Goodevening, please take this." I looked up and she let out a shocked gasp, backed away, and said to her pimp (who was watching the three women pass out flyers) "He's not Japanese." It was one of those neon-sign moments. Yes, I know I am not Japanese. And now my after thought, before it even seems like an afterthought... both of these experiences are explainable, the drunk... well, he was drunk and curious, no hard feelings. The hostess was maybe told by her pimp (do you call the boss of a hostess a pimp? or a trainer? or boss? whats the right word?) to only give the flyers to japanese businessmen, so no hard feelings there either... I just think life as a neon sign is interesting.



Another rant before I disapear. A few days ago, on a whim, I decided to go to Nagoya today, to have lunch with Yamamoto. On the way there I forgot the name of the shinkansen station that was closest to Nagoya, so I went to the closest ticket window and asked. He said he wasnt JapanRail, which was true, so he couldnt tell me. I asked him if he could just tell me his personal opinion, and he said his opinion was I should ask JR... I asked again and he said he didnt know, I asked if anyone there knew because I am stubborn and didnt know why someone couldnt just tell me... his boss came over and said that even if they did know they wouldnt tell me because they werent JR, which I thought was silly, a perfect example of big city politics... anyway, I went over to the JR booth but no one was there, and so I waited... a JR guy came out of the backroom, I stopped him, asked my simple question, and then he continued to exit the JR booth... as I watched he went over and entered the booth I went to first, and he either took a turn at the ticket desk or atleast was hanging out with those not-JR people... if they can hang out together why cant they answer questions about each others train lines? It was strange... but yeah, thats life in a big city, what do you expect?



Oh, and that was funny, going all the way to Nagoya for lunch (an hour and a half on superfast shinkansen train). Yes, I know I am crazy, but sometimes you have to do crazy things to keep balanced, or anyway, thats what I think.



SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI



22:17:00 | permalink | comments (13)


add a comment

Dansen - I have an idea of how you feel physically standing out. I have often felt the same way here in New Mexico... people keep asking me if I'm Irish and saying how pail I am :p It's weird for me.
Steph


Thank you for the postcard Dansen, I love you
Diego


I guess what I meant is how do you feel, I know you went into it a little, mainly through your description of the events...does it effect you every day? Do you feel like people treat you much differently all the time or just on these particular occasions? You see I will be a neon sign with out much Japanese at my disposal, I will learn and I will love to do so but just bracing for impact so to speak. I have tried like hell to start a few convesations up out of the blue with some Japanese students out here but my Japanese isn't good enough and they stare at my like I am attempting to murder them. Makes me feel like an arse and quite stupid as well. If I must feel like that everyday in Japan I want to be fore warned. I am going to Japan regaurdless, it is an adventure I would not soon pass up and I want to experience the neon sign phenomanon, I guess I am just mining you for information. So on that note and with out any real clarity of what I was trying to say, I better get back to work.
trench


I've had some experience in being a minority, and still am. I think that in Japan, the discrimination is out in the open, very direct and obvious, sometimes not even bothering to hide it. In American, it's very subtle, under the radar, and hidden. Sometimes I don't know which is better.
Diego


Difficult to put into words what I mean. I can't get onto JAN JAN anymore, I keep recieving an "Internal Server Error". Any way. Hope to see you soon. July. I will be in Montana after June 14th so my internet access will be limited.
trench


trench... experiences? did you miss my second paragraph?? :p its all about two experiences I had!! and Tanya (one of my ex-coworkers) gives a great experience of being gaijin in tokyo (in these comments, scroll down) if you want further, you'll have to wait for another post in the future! woo! :) ^.^;
Dansen


I guess am an fishing for information, experience and anecdote. I too will soon be a neon sign so I am a bit rabid over information or your take on it.
trench


First off, Aaron... Korean-Japanese arent what I meant, they are an important part of Japanese society, and could be considered a minority, but I ment Foreign Born nationals, being born in Japan qualifies you as Japanese in my book... and of us foreign borners, I think Chinese are the most? I'm not sure. Tanya, I have also had situations of being with Asian-American friends and (i speak enough japanese) have met the situation you explained, its one of those things, no hard feelings for anyone, I guess its just the way things are sometimes... Trench.. what didnt I relate? You expand and I expand... and Ted, what are you talking about? Oh, the train thing? Yeah, I understand that, it just seemed like he could help me... but i guess I was annoying. Aaron, you have brown eyes? I thought hazel.. no? anywaysers, yeah, i had a little student telling all about "foreigners" and what they expect which isnt really fair... because thats why I like to point out there is a wild rainbow of cool foreigners here! woo! anyway, peace, thanks for all the beautiful comments, any more are welcome too.. peace! ^-^
Dansen


I had some kids the other day telling the teacher about how I have blue eyes because I'm a foreigner, and the teacher was like, "What? He doesn't have blue eyes!" and just kept talking about my blue eyes, so the teacher said, "look at his eyes, they're brown, just like yours!". It was interesting.

But usually, I don't feel any more like a neon sign here than anywhere else. I think that it's actually more quite and peaceful. I can't understand most of what people are saying unless they are talking directly to me, and I can't read most of the advertisements, so the people talking just turns into white noise, and the advertisements, even though the are so much more prevalent than in America, turn into a mass of colors. I had a hard time dealing with all the noise and everything the first time I returned to the states after a year in Japan.
Aaron


I have been a minority MANY times in my life. I just seem to fit into waht ever situation I am in though. I understand about the guy not wanting to answer your question. They prob get upset about all teh people who come up and ask them about stuff that they are not reesponsible for. It seems like a simple thing that they could just give you the answer and it really is no big deal to others, but if you work at the place and constantly get asked a question about somewhere else it would prob begin to gratee on you
Ted


Elaborate. How do you feel being neon? You related your expereinces but not fully what it made you feel. I am curious.
Trench


Well, Dansen I had the opposite problem. I felt like a fake, a phoney, a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing. When I wen out with foreigners that know more Japanese than me and said "Nihongo wa amari hanase masen" they completely ignored the foreigner next to me and kept talking to me in Japanese. I don't mind so much but usually the person next to me gets really pissed off.

Then in voice they used say stuff like, "We are glad to have you we feel more comfortable because you are like us". Then I used to question why and they would say stuff like the first time they meet foreigners they're really nervous and are surprised and shocked by their blue eyes and blond hair and they can't believe that there's an actual foreigner in the room like they see in movies. Then it's strange for me because I used to have to try and tell them they should really look beyond that yet I could sort of understand that it is a strange thing for them.
Tanya


The biggest minority in Japan is Korean.
He's a pimp.
You're crazy.
It not really hot today, but it was soooooooo humid.
Aaron

doing nothing is something

Originally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

summer is coming this way


It was (and will be when he stops by again) fun to see Seth, but after a week of being a host again, I found myself needing some alone time. I didnt make any plans, and just woke up early. The warm pre-summer sun was shinning outside the window, life was alive; kids making noise, cars passing, neighbor's music. I laid there for awhile thinking about nothing important. My new hobby is playing around (I cant play it) on a slick black guitar... so I woke up and played a little noise, stopped and opened my window and listened to life somemore. I finished most of the book (in English, Seth gave it to me) "Lost Japan" if you didnt read that book, you should check it out, a lot of deep thoughts about old japan stuff.... recently, my opinions of being here have evolved a little. I used to never really feel like I was in a "foreign" country, and no matter how weird this sounds, I still dont really feel like that... but recently, I have been feeling a little bit more awe for old stuff. I'm not really someone interested in samurai or geisha or anything, but I am slowly thinking about history and is implications on now. history makes the us that is the now that is the us that we will become. or something like that, more on that when I cook my thoughts further.



today while i was walking around doing nothing i took two pictures and captured them in the little box known as my falling apart digicam (I dropped it several times while in New Zealand, and now only tape holds it together). I shared these captured moments here:


[[missing files]]


teman saya.... DAAG!


01:35:00 | permalink | comments (8)


add a comment

aaron dont be getting jelous and bombing me or something... ^.^;; anyway, anyone who comes here looking for you will find me and then you so its all cools.
Dansen


Googlefight
http://www.googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=getoutfast&q2=neonvirus&B1=Make+a+fight%21&compare=1&langue=us
Aaron


Someone did a search for "getoutfast" on msn, and your site comes up first, and mine is fourth!
Aaron


tanya, here mentions that topic at the end of his last book, I am going to try to have to read... i do disagree with a lot of what he says though, but he is interesting! Aaron re: imgspot.com... its kind of weird that the images go to a site with no control, what if you want to delete them or something? and that wouldnt work for keitai (i solved my keitai problem for the moment) .. why should i get trackback? and diego, your " i like to hear children playing thing" was cool, made me think "wow, he is a daddy now" and then the next kinkywinky remark made me think you still arent THAT matute (phew! i was worried!) ..best regards to all
Dansen


The second Alex Kerr book "Dogs and Demons - the rise and fall of Modern Japan" is quite good too. It kind of goes behind the politics of how Japan ruined a lot of it's beautiful nature due to politics and the government. It is kind of strange how you can get mobile phone reception almost anywhere in this country except for an izakaya located in a basement, but you can be in the middle of a forest and still used your phone.
Tanya


Take a gander at http://www.IMGSpot.com/
Aaron


You should get trackback from Haloscan.com
Aaron


Don't drop the digicam, man! I love the sound of children playing. So carefree and wonderful. Brings me back to childhood when I used to hear children play in the distance.

Alone time, eh? Use lotion.
Diego

seth is here and cellphones

Orginally from an old server that is now gone. Reposted in September 2006.

time is buzzing past me


Well, Seth got here! He has been sleeping on one of my thin futons for about a week now. (I feel sorry for him! I like thin futons, but most people think thats uncomfortable I guess.... I hope he survives!) On my off days, I have been taking him around Tokyo area, and introducing him to some of my friends... its been good for me to get out and see parts of Tokyo I dont get to that often! (and we saw an awesome sunset near the Rainbow Bridge, see a low quality picture of that in my "japan" album!) The sun was so perfect, the light golden and crispy, and the air was lush and soft....Seth will finish visiting me someday soon, and continue on his journey.... (for a day, Aaron was here too, that was three people in my one room appartment, it reminded me of when Evan and Nick visited my "youth hostel" !!)



The other day I was walking home from my train station, with Seth, and we walked past this car that had a ringing cellphone under it. There was a man slouched down inside, and the phone just kept ringing. I couldnt help my imagination... I thought it would have been funny to pick up the phone and answer it (in Japanese of course):
Me: Hello?
Caller: Hello?? Satoshi??

Me: Oh no. He threw his phone under his car, you must have pissed him off... do you wanna talk to him?
Caller: [crying] give me satoshi! satoshi!
Me: [nocking on the window of the car] hey, someone wants to say hello...

OK. That was stupid, but something like that really did come into my head. Anyway, in the morning when I was walking to work I saw the cellphone and it was smashed to peices in the same place... he must have got tired of hearing the phone ring or decided never to talk to the caller. Awww.. such is life.



Anyway, thats about all I have to say for now. Belive in peace. DAAG!



23:54:00 | permalink | comments (1)


add a comment

Running into situations like that are for lack of a better description, the spice of life. You catch a fragment of someone elses life and you build a story around it...I am going to put your experience in a short film, it would be a cool series of shots....
trench

summer starts to crawl this way

Reposted from other source in 2013.

.

.

So I am reading this "scary" book in Japanese called "Monster Cat Restraunt"... and yes, it's only a middle-school book... I know a lot of people can read kanji better than me, don't make fun of me, but anyway, its nice to read just for fun. Let me explain chapter two to you, its a fairly weird book. So theres this guy who has the hots for this girl (he really likes her) and they see each other a lot, but she says to him "I like hanging out with you, but dont come over on Fridays!" So, like a dork, he gets the urge to see her one Friday night and decides to go over. Its one of those creepy moonlit nights, and when he gets near her house, he crosses a bridge... and on this bridge he sees a huge group of cats dancing and singing. He thinks its kind of creepy, and one of the cats comes over to him and starts meowing, and he thinks its annoyingly noisy so he pulls out a sword (that he just happened to have with him??) and he cuts off the cats leg! The cat screams in pain, and runs off. He thinks its kind of cool, so he picks up the severed leg and puts it in his pocket. He takes his time, but eventually gets to his lover's house. He opens the door and she is laying in bed groaning. He is worried about her so he rushes over, and (lets not think he was being horny at a time like this!) he pulls back her covers to reveal that her leg has been hacked off!! He steps back, startled, and reaches in his pocket to pull out the cat leg but instead he pulls out her leg!! (this is where the story lost me, how could you have a woman's leg in your pocket and not notice?!) Anyway, in a morbidly cool way, these stories are fun. (Its a collection of short, shocking, stories...) I also bought Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (in Japanese of course, but I havent started that one, a 100YEN at BookOFF!) I also saw Little House on the Prairie, but for some reason it was translated "Little House in the Big Forest" ... is this just a different story in the same book series, does anyone know? I was thinking maybe it was hard to translate prairie into kid Japanese, since there isnt really any places like that here... hmmm. (I looked it up, in Japanese it looks like the word for prairie also means moor which totally makes no sense in the context of the story I guess? Anyway, something like that. woo woo)

On Saturday I went to Yuco's birthday party. It was an all-you-can drink party, and she had invited a lot of people from her So-So club. I went to one of their parties before (remember hearing about that last Christmas?) and its always so fun... its like a frat-party with drinking songs. I was working the next day, and for some reason I am a responsible teacher, so I didnt drink that much... but some people drank so much. Whole bottles at a time, beer seeming like water... well, I couldnt even drink water that fast. The atmosphere, was very international, people from all sorts of countries speaking Japanese and English. Aaron is in Japan now, and I saw him there! (He looked genki as ever, and so did Yuco...!) It was a warm, interesting party, even if I had to leave early because I was working the next day.

Summer is getting closer, and so I guess the Matsuri festival season is coming...? Today I worked in Irumashi (sometimes known as Iruma) and they were having a big festival... a lot of cool old, traditional-style, drums and at night they had the cool chochin lanterns... it was cool. I put some pictures of it in my "day-to-day Japan" album, and I'm going to try direct links on my page today, groovy! (click below)

.

.

Other than that, nothing much new to report. My life is alive. With the sound of music. Heeee haw! ..... Belive in peace. DAAG!

that sucked

I just typed about not knowing what to say, and then I pressed submit and it was eaten by the random chaos of the universe... my entry is forever gone. A quick summary of what i mentioned... on Sunday, I saw a very cool documentary about the Theremin instrument... if you dont know about Theremins you should follow the links to learn about it. It was an electronic instrument invented in 1919, its played by moving your hands around a box, in the air... its really freaky and interesting I think. I also said I was affraid of posting a totally boring entry (because I couldnt remember what i was going to say) so I would sign off with: Seth called me, he is coming up to Tokyo to visit on the 27th until the 5th! Cool... and also, the web is amazing if you let yourself sink into the surf... they think jesus died in japan...! and they are actually fighting about what to feed a rabbit!?! And this amazing painting of Japanese-American nisei babies in an American concentration camp (link ref). I love the net... its endless... SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI...