david and goliath
I've got a few stories to tell, but first let me sum up the mood of the moment. I love it here. Aside from the awkwardness and fear of culture shock and the language barrier, Tokyo is pretty awesome. I don't even mind the lack of nature so much since I can get places like Chinzan-so in under an hour and out of the city almost entirely in the same time. I'm having a great time and I can even imagine myself wanting to come back to Japan in the future to do further immersion.

Right now I'm stupidly sore. I knew I was overdoing it yesterday at the gym (so weeeaaakkk!) but I kept going anyway. So my legs hurt wicked bad and I can't move much. But that's OK since I spent most of today inside after I slept late and just watched anime, studied and ate the food my sister kept making. YUM. ASIAN FOOD.

I managed to go out in the evening to Shinjuku to shop for my sister Liz's b-day presents and some omiyage (souvenirs) for my family. Her present will be late but I know she'll enjoy it! If one thing makes me feel better about being in Tokyo it's getting out and shopping. I know it sounds contrary, but buying things gives me a feeling of success and control here. If possible, I think Japanese culture is even more consumer oriented than American. I do love to shop. Really, I do. But not for boots and bags and such, although I'd like to if I had the money and the fashion sense. I like to buy little things, like good cheese and crackers for a snack. Stickers. Books. Postcards. Gifts. Trinkets. And, of course, desserts. (OMG OMG MMmmMMM) It all adds up, of course, but in a way I think window shopping and making small purchases to sate my urges is worth it for the sightseeing experiences it allows me to have.

Like I said, Japanese department stores are NUTSO. Seriously, you don't even understand. They're just so... HUGE and so... unlike anything in america. They're more like malls in themselves than like, say, Sears or Saks or the Bon. There's store after store after department and so on... 8 floors of it. And the things they sell! Wow. I like the restaurant/ grocery floors the best, where I can ogle the cakes and peruse the dishes of all the various restaurants thanks to the unbeatable trend of plastic food here. Oh, thank GOD for plastic food. It looks just like the real thing (Except, actually, it's more expensive) and it's the only way gaijin can really manage to understand what a restaurant is serving unless they're adept at kanji. The department stores at Shinjuku are so far in my opinion, the best. Totally nutso. But then, I haven't been to Ginza yet. Wednesday!

What's even MORE insane than Japanese department stores is Japanese television. These guys will watch anything. I saw a game show wherein contestants, including famous comedians, attempted to master tongue twisters and counting games (think drinking games) while sitting in a circle and proceeding clockwise from a selected "starter." When someone messed up and broke rhythm, they got clocked in the head with a pencil. SMACK! (Think junior high...) On the same show they proceeded to have a rap-off with different contestants. Except they weren't actually rapping... they were doing these comedy routines to music, of which I understood nothing.

I also saw a children's TV show clip of which the purpose was to inform kids that baby Hippos eat the momma Hippo's poop. Not shitting you. They first had a quiz after showing a momma Hippo pooping to ask, "What does the hippo do with its poop? A) Eat it, B) Smell it and say, "Eeew!" or C) something else I can't remember." THEN, to grind the point into the kids' heads, there was a DISCO song with ANIMATION about HIPPO POOP. I almost peed myself laughing.

Now, TONIGHT, I watched boxing. Kickboxing? Whatever. Apparently, it was some "world championship" but I think that really means "stuff we only care about in Japan." See, there's this guy here. A black guy. Real big. Named Bob Sapp. Know who he is?

Didn't think so.

Well, anyway, apparently he's an ex-NFL wannabe or something and came to Japan after his dreams of celebrity were dashed in the states. He made it here though. Big time. Now he does everything from commercials to game shows to boxing. Yeaaap. I was rolling my eyes about it for the last week until I actually saw him on TV tonight and found out how awesomely likeable he is. And Big. Scary big. Calls himself "THE BEAST." It makes me laugh. ^^

So most of the boxing was, you know, boxing. Some interesting parts, some not. Then Bob Sapp and this other guy came on. Last, of course, because they were saving it. Oh, Oh, but first there was this other dude (I forgot) who was acting all cocky the whole time and saying in his interview segments that he was SURELY going to win and LA-DI-DAH. So lo and behold he came out into the ring and decked the other guy good within the first minute of the first round. The guy when down all right but then what did Mr. Cocky-face-Russian do but punch him square in the noggin while he was down. UH-UHHH Mr. Cocky-face. This is Japan, you know? That's DISHONORABLE. So he lost bigtime and was PISSED. So I get the whole "don't hit 'em while down" thing but it seems MUY MUY important here.

So Bob Sapp comes out to the dahhhh dahhhh DAAAA NAAAAAHHHHH music (think 2001... bum bum bum bum....) and gets into the ring with this little tiny spry black dude. Very good looking guy. They had some clips of him before the match that showed his style and it was really apparent that while he was half Sapp's size he was about twice his speed and could kick really REALLY high. Like forehead easy. A classic David and Goliath match.

So he and Sapp wrestle. It was really apparent that Sapp wasn't prepared for the speed of the dude and he got really tired out. They made it through the first round OK. I was glued to the TV. Second round came and Spry Dude kicked Sapp straight in the noggin. Sapp spun around, dropped, and came up bleeding before the bell. I was biting my nails. Sapp was all like "uhh-uh, man, uh-uh" and then he got pissed. Punched the little dude right in the head. But oops, he touched him AFTER he fell even though it was right apparent he WASN'T getting up again. For a while. Doctors everywhere. Some looking at Sapp who's one eye was half open and couldn't follow a finger for a damn. Some trying to get the other guy to stand up. It was great. I'm no boxing fan but that was a classic match. So cinema. So cliche. I wanted to cheer. But, ARGH, Sapp lost! And he wasn't even TRYING to be dishonorable. He was just mad. *weeps for the unfairness of it all*

Bah. BAH, I SAY!!!!

I don't know. I don't "get" Japanese TV but I sure love it. It keeps me entertained while I take notes (bad Kat!) and it helps me learn. Like, you know, subconscious language immersion or something. A TV is always on somewhere in this house. I have to learn to talk over it, in Japanese even. I can't even talk over an American TV program in the US. Yeesh.

So I may just be a stupid foreigner, but I'm adjusting. Every now and then something will happen, it seems, deliberately to throw me off balance. Like yesterday when I got to the clinic (after getting lost and asking for directions, yay)... I walked in the door and a little kid (probably middle school aged) saw me and point-blank said to his mother "GAIKOKUJIN!!" (foreigner), like I was some sort of retard who couldn't understand him or something. Jeez, if this were another planet I STILL would have understood that. Little brat. I'll gaikokujin YOU. Right in the EYE. Punk.

Eh-HEM. Anyway. Tomorrow I'm going to Kamakura, rather than Yokohama, as was my other option. Kamakura was recommended over Yokohama 10-to-1. Since I can go to Yokohama any time, I'm gonna go see the Daibutsu instead. I hope no one in the Yokohama group will be too offended. ^.^'

Oh, yeah, and I got some Totoro pictures on my phone. You betcher butt I'm never gonna be without a cell when I come back to the states. Weeeee.

Oyasumi!