| | I'm writing this from the Shinkansen, bound for Osaka (though posting from my friend's place because my battery ran out before). Having been to Tokyo before, it wasn't as daunting as the first time. I have a 3-week JR pass, so the initial confusion on metro vs JR subways in Tokyo is mostly moot, as I mostly ignored trains that weren't JR unless necessary. Among my new experiences was Golden Gai in Shinjuku - went with two Long Islanders from the hostel. It took a little while to get there, having to pass the one shady street in Tokyo with Nigerians who promise foreigners a good time in some nearby club. Needless to say, don't go in. Go to the nearby Golden Gai. It's a series of side streets with bars everywhere that usually seat 6-10 people. Very small and personal. Only one we found was a bit bigger and usually has a small crowd around it. I made a return trip to Tsukiji Market on Monday, not bothering to wake up early and try and make the auction this time. I found a sushi place nearby (possibly adjacent to the one I went to the first time). It had a shorter line associated with it, but the sushi as usual tasted amazing, noticeably more fresh, AND they give you a huge piece of Conger Eel (穴子) for the final course. From there I had to fulfill a mission I promised myself for Tokyo: To track down the Pokemon Mega Center in Ikebukurou. (Un?)fortunately, I was sidetracked by Donki houdei, Japan's crazy novelty shop (though this one didn't have nearly as much of the crazy as I hoped for - maybe I should've bought that game where two people need to try and force a pair of underwear off of the other person though). But anyway, I found the Pokemon Center and it was glorious. Pokemon plushies and knick-knacks galore. I bought myself a few things and some gifts here. I guess the only major complaint I would give the place is a general thing where things in Japan are marketed as cute, so I couldn't find Mega Aggron souvenirs anywhere. :( Akihabara has been good to me. The arcades here are as lively as ever, and the arcade industry is still booming. New rhythm games, fighting games, and games of other genres. I spent the most time playing Tekken 7, a new Mario Kart game, Person 4 Ultimate Arena, and Gunslinger Stratos. The latter game is probably the least known in the west. It's an arcade shooter and 3D fighter in one, where your controllers are two guns (you wield both, not just one), with one controller having movement controls and the other camera and jump controls. Tuesday was a Hachiko hunt day. I started in Shibuya with the original (or technically remade) statue of Hachiko, and walked to a park near Harajuku where the sakura were blooming. But a new statue recently came up in the University of Tokyo, where the dog and his human Ueno were reunited at last. It took a while, because the statue was not on the main campus but instead near the Agriculture Department on the northern end. No pictures of University of Tokyo, but it was a weird dichotomy. Some parts were endless boring buildings and other parts were beautiful parks. It felt about the size of Princeton and was easy to get lost there. 次は関西なんや！ |
|
0 Comments
 CDO Tokyo. Full disclosure, the above photo was taken for a guest teacher, not for me.
It's been a few days here in Tokyo already, and to be honest I haven't done a whole lot of sightseeing yet. On Thursday and Saturday I dropped into CDO Tokyo. Their capoeira style is "similar" to my group's, in the sense that certain movements kind of exist in both. In actuality, it felt fundamentally different. For example, a lot more emphasis was placed on backbend escapes and kicks, which we touch upon in Quintal but not nearly as much. Besides that, I met up with two friends of mine living in Tokyo. The first, Akane, and I went to a barbecue place, specializing in those weird organs Americans would never eat. What we ate included chicken heart, cow tongue, and cow stomach, but the only thing we had that was new was cow breast. Today I hung out with a friend Jinyoung, and the two of us went and ate blowfish. Tastes a bit like octopus but not as tough. So far not dead, I'll see. The air here is really dry, and resultingly I'm really dehydrated. For the second and third night, despite having 2-3 drinks and not even getting drunk, I had a massive hangover after.
In most Asian countries, if the meal calls for rice, or usually just comes with rice. This is not true in Thailand, where they ask if you wanted rice with your meal. So this includes foods you'd think would obviously include rice, such as curry, or foods you wouldn't think would include rice, such as soup.
In America, you usually have to account for tax when paying for your meal. In Thailand, you account for the cost of the rice (usually 15-20 baht).
In Thailand, as is the case everywhere, you're bound to observe differences in culture. These differences stem from a mix of cultural norms, and in many cases in the east, a history of being occupied. Thailand, however, was never occupied by a foreign power, but instead would change its laws depending on who they are using with at the time. Of course, that is hardly the car with many of examples, but it's good to keep in mind.
That said, here are a few things I'm still adjusting to, or still appreciating: - when buying a bottle of water from a convenience store, they usually give you a straw. This is true of many other establishments. My symptom here is the act of drinking from the bottle looks crude by comparison - despite every Thai restaurant in the US and the eating cultures of surrounding countries, I rarely see chopsticks here. I've had very few meals using them. Even locals seem to use forks. This probably stems back to the changing of laws - street food takeout places have sometimes give me utensils, but not the locals. They probably carry their own or bring the food home/to work - fresh fruit blended with some ice and water, everywhere, is amazing - this is more obvious, but food (ie fruit) is usually sold fresh and ripe each day. No green bananas here. - you hear stories about scanners everywhere, and that combined with my experiences with Indian beggars, I expected a similar experience here. This is not the case. Scammers here are pretty obvious, and everyone else is extremely helpful - Most people here speak English, but the average person not as well as I expected. Still, they're usually better than most people in India - Sometimes an r is randomly inserted into words. One famous street in Bangkok is called khao san, but I've seen it written khao sarn. Similarly, an island in going to is called koh sukon or koh sukorn - food and drink usually arrive at the same time, though this might be because I'm ordering shakes - side streets are usually assigned numbers and names, with numbering for that district. Sometimes a side street off of another street is the same number
Both the weebly site and my camera's cable are failing on me. These are the two specific things I was relying on for updating this blog. Sigh
|
Neil BasuTravel, Tech, Politics, whatever I have on my mind Archives
September 2015
Categories |
RSS Feed
