Japan Vol. 1

So I have been in Japan for all of two weeks now. These are my general impressions of this whacked out country that defies any expectations one might have had about it!

1. The men are hot. Gorgeous, in fact. Not only do they dress impeccably well, but their hair is constantly groomed and their faces are really beautiful. I never thought the men would be terribly hot, but turns out that practically all of them are hot. Although all I can think of is my beautiful Mac.

2. The dress sense. Amazing. From the outright whacky (men prancing about in skirts and leotards) to the really classy (oooo – the way the men wear their scarves. rowr). But the women too. From flitting about in skirts that barely cover their… erm…. vajayjay areas to kimono-clad women shuffling about in a hunch-like manner. It’s all so very different, and one finds oneself just people-watching because they’re simply so easy to people watch!

3. The sense of time. EVERYTHING is on time, and it’s literally to the minute. We South Africans are simply just not used to it. If a bus says that it is coming at 13h34, it will be there at 13h34. If it says it will leave at 13h35, it will leave at 13h35. It’s a bit odd. Especially for me, who has never really been a stickler for time and instead embraces the laissez-faire nature of African time.

4. The shopping. And, no, this isn’t just normal shopping. All manners and forms of practically anything can be found in crowded five-floor department stores. I think my favourite item of shopping so far bought has been the Y1000 (R70) fake glasses. The Japanese LOVE to wear fake glasses and experiment with different frames.

5. The food. You think Japanese food is sushi, neh? HAH! Sushi is but only a small part of it all. Sarah has been instrumental in expanding our conservative taste buds, having tasted everything from ‘Soup Curry’ to ‘Genghis Khan.’ And yes, it’s really called Genghis Khan.

6. The cold. Fuck me, but it is cold. And I far prefer the climate of sunny SA. I find myself scuttling from warm-place to warm-place because it is simply too cold to be anywhere else. We have had a few days of heavy snow here and there, and I have only managed to fall down once on the ice that inevitably forms after a day or two of snowing. It’s pretty, and I do love the snow, albeit only looking at it from the warmth of the Starbucks in the Susukino area of town. hehe

Of course I have many more observations of Japan. But I think this will be all for now.

Just one more thing… I passed all my courses (YAY!) and I now officially have a law degree. This feels a little weird to say because it makes me sound like I am 37. I am an old person now. sob sob woe is me.

But am excited for next year, and have been thinking about all the stuff I will be putting up in my new cubicle at work. Already I have a poster that I got from the ‘Brits Beats Club,’  which is this REALLY awesome miniature club in Sapporo with a live band that plays British music, and a calender from Japan.

That is all. I lovest you blog. Even thou I hardly attend to you. hehe

 

The Starbucks where I love to sit and watch the people crossing the street amidst the falling snow

Point-by-Point by Tom Cat (Volume 6): Devil of Exams – BE GONE! *poof*

These are arbitrary ramblings because I wish to ramble….

1. I am as happy as a bee because I finished my exams today. I should now hopefully be in possession of a law degree. How is that? One day I was in school, the next day I was writing the last exam of my law degree. Alas I cannot say I am a qualified attorney or advocate…. But I can say I am a qualified legal advisor. heh heh. My exams (I think) generally went well, but I don’t really want to say so because when I do say so I end up doing really crap. And I cannot afford to fail anything, not just because… well, you shouldn’t fail anything, but because it would involve me having to come back from Japan early to write a supplementary exam. This could not only mean that I might have to write an exam on my birthday, but it would mean I would have to fork out a gargantuan amount to come back on an early flight.

2. Which leads me to my second point. I am also happy as a bee because in two weeks I should be shopping around in Osaka for a new camera (which will lead me to point three in a moment). I don’t think I have ever been so excited for a holiday before. Japan looks like an absolutely fascinating place, but I think what is going to make my holiday particularly exciting is that I’m going to be going with two very special monkeys of mine. What also makes me excited is the lights – oh, the lights. Observe a photo I took from the user ‘Magician’ on skyscrapercity.com. It is of the lights in Shinjuku, an area of Tokyo that looks just up my alley. yay.

3. My third point relates to the camera I am going to buy. My old camera – a Casio Exilim Z500 – died a lonely death a few months back when the lens melted. I was terribly careless with it, and certainly used it like crazy (loved it too!), so am very sad that it is no longer. I am thus looking for a new one, and I have identified two new ones that are dirt cheap in Japan.

The Z-1080 will cost Y28 800 (R1800) and will give me a 10mp camera that comes in five colours (pink, gold, blue, black and grey). In addition, it comes with a special video mode that was specially created to be YouTube-compatible. And it contains software which makes uploading to YouTube easy-peasy.

The Z-1800 will cost Y32 200 (R2012) and will give me a 12mp camera. It only comes in black and grey. It has blur reduction and will take proper photos when you’re a shaker, like me.

I’m currently leaning towards the Z-1080 because a) I’m not exactly going to take a 12-mp photo that will be like 1000Mbs big, b) I like the YouTube option on the Z-1080 and c) I like the fact that I can get it in pink. (I won’t, however. I think I shall get in blue)

4. My fourth point relates to the funny crap that is now on DSTV. The satelite provider has I think got a little nervous about the new satelite providers that are due to come on board pretty soon, and so has reorganised the ENTIRE system into one big mess. They call it the ‘DSTV Shuffle.’ Bitch, please.

It’s not easy remembering where channels are, you know. Now you have to remember that this channel is on 238, and this one is on 117. So in order to satisfy my craving for doing something mindless, I went channel flicking.

I came across TBN (Trinity Broadcating Network). There was a show about some pastor from Nigeria who was claiming to heal people. People would come on to the stage, and he would direct them to stand in a certain way (“You must stand this way… A little to the left… Right hand on shoulder”), and then the husband would say, “DEVIL OF ASTHMA, BE CURED!!!!!” And then the wife would faint (most dramatically I admit), and the crowd would roar with approval and sing hallelujah and PRAISE THE LORD. And then the smug pastor would say…. “Yah… Yah… Look at the power of Jesus blah blah blah” and then the sheep in the audience would look at him adoringly and they would cry and jump around looking like gorillas on crack.

One must ask how different this form of fundamentalism is to the crazy dude who flew United Airlines flight 93 into a field in Pennsylvania whilst repeatingly saying that Allah is on his side. I would say that is as bad, because although this ‘pastor’ is not leading his congregationg into a field in Pennsylvania, he is leading them into a path of complete stupidity where they are fixated towards a concocted view of Christianity. And the problem with this blind belief is that it can, and has led people to kill others in the name of this belief and where there is no concept at all of a middle ground.

Obviously the channel (or rather the TV programme) should not be taken off the air because it can hardly be said to incite people to commit violence against others. But I do think it incites and encourages people to be sheep in a world that needs us to NOT be one. And I do think that we in South Africa must be careful that we do not adopt a standard in our lives that does not involve questioning people, whether that be religion, politics or the fact that your garbage hasn’t been picked up for two weeks. And I think that we might find ourselves having that tendancy especially where we are merrily travelling along the road to increased economic prosperity where our shopping clouds any sense of judgement or questioning we might once have had.

5. Which leads me on to my fifth point. So I don’t know if you know, but Gordon Brown and his clan of gypsies are in big shit because somehow a whole bunch of private information relating to 25-million Britons has gone missing and might be in the hands of some dodgy person who might use the information to do bad stuff – like marry you. I have found the debates in the House of Commons to be so interesting because Gordon Brown has actually been apologising profusely for the blunder and has taken full responsibility for it.

But what I think is most astounding for me is that Mr Brown is actually taking the blame for it. And the idea is so foreign because, in South Africa, it is a foreign idea. Can you imagine just for once Thabo Mbeki or Manto Tshabalala-Msimang actually taking the rap for the many blunders they have taken? On the contrary, if they are criticised such criticisms are de facto considered to be completely unjustified and inspired by an underlying motive to disempower them. And, as was shown by the sacking of our deputy Health-minister, are often blatantly kicked out.

So yah – watching British parliamentary debate certainly does show the long road South Africa still has to go.

5. And my last point is that I have another date tomorrow with my boyfriend. He rox.