Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Gaijin Expo Adventure: GRAND SUNBURN

mood: >.>
listening to: "fairyland" by 浜崎あゆみ

Now let me tell you that when I arrived here in Nagoya, the first thing I saw were the two little green Expo 2005 Aichi mascots. (I forget their names; I just say small green one and big green one). The TV ads and promotions and specials on TV soon followed. Let's just say, apparently right now Nagoya is the place to be. Expo is literally everywhere. And I was getting SO sick of it. Host Madre told me some of her golfing friends have been to Expo 55 times. What the fuck. That's over a month of your life. WASTED.

I woke up at 5:55 feeling surprisingly refreshed and rested. Maybe because I slept for 7 hours the day before. Yeah. Probably. I got dressed in jeans (remember, Japanese people don't wear shorts. I avoid them like the devil since I don't want to be too gaijin) and a two layered tanktops (bad idea). Before I knew it, we were out the door. We didn't bother to eat breakfast at home; we brought it with instead to eat while we were waiting in the line to get in. Now, I didn't bring my cell phone because I thought "hey, I never use it, what is the point? I'm not planning on getting lost or roaming around Expo ALONE..." Well, when we were out into the street on the way to the station, Host Madre was like "Do you have your phone?" And I was like "No." And she had a little "freak out" episode, and Rei ended up having to go in to get it. o.O; We ended up missing our subway. But then again, we may have made it if Host Madre and Rei had bought their stupid Yurika Cards BEFOREHAND. Whatever.

We got on the next Subway and went from Sogo to Motoyama. Then, from Motoyama we went all the way down to Fujigaoka, where we switched to the special Linimo line that goes directly to Expo. The Linimo was crowded, so say the least. We were smushed in there like sardines for around 15 minutes. o.O; When we got out of the Linimo, we made our way to the Expo Line. North Gate, to be exact.

We met up with Saori, a college student who is the daughter of one of Host Madre's friends. She's really nice, and is kinda funny. LOL. Anyways, we sat there and waited until the Expo opened. For 2 hours. x_X; "Why does everyone line up to get into Expo??" You are wondering. Well, to explain this phenomenon fully, I must first describe the layout of Expo. The World Exposition (Expo) is held every 4 years or so, each time in a different part of the world. This year, it happens to be Aichi. Anyways, every year the Expo is held it has a theme. This year, the theme is "Nature's Beauty" or "Protecting Nature" or some sort of happy happy joy joy NATURE IS AROUND US!! thing. Anyways, Expo is made up mainly of exhibitions called "pavillions." Now, there are two types of pavillions. The first type are country pavillions. Each country (well, a lot of countries; i.e. USA, Canada, Pakistan, Cuba, Germany, Czech Republic...etc.) has it's own pavillion to show off whatever it wants, pretty much. The country pavillions are sectioned off by regions. These regiosn are called "Global Commons." Like, America and Canada are in one Global Common, while China and Korea are in another...and so on and so forth.

The second type of pavillion is the "mammoth" pavillion. Mammoths are huge pavillions, obviously. Many major Japanese countries are represented by their own mammoth pavillion. For instance, Toyota, Hitachi, Mitsui-Toshiba, etc. A lot of the pavillions choose to show all of their technological advancements. Expo, now that I think about it, is kinda like a technological contest. "Which company will have the COOLEST pavillion? Which country will come out on top??" Now, I know you are wondering "if the theme of the Expo is "Nature's Wonderful Crap" where does all of this technology stuff come in?" Well, it doesn't really. At the end of a lot of pavillions that are centered around technology, they have some sort of "let's preserve the earth!" thing at the end. LOL. Now, let's keep in mind that not all pavillions are on technology. I didn't go to all of the pavillions, naturally (lol, no pun intended) so I can't honestly tell the whole story. But I will GAMBARIMASU!!

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, waiting in line to get in. (this could be a long post...it's already gotten deleted twice...GRRRRR. Idiot blogger). Once the gates opened, you had to go through security. Which, sadly and somewhat surprisingly, was pretty laughable. Actually, all security I have been through in Japan has been really quite lame. For instance, here is what happened to yours truly: When I approached the security, there was a table set up for you to put your bag down. I put my bag down, and the security d00d looked inside. Then he was like "what's this?" And I'm thinking, "what's what? There is more than one item in my bag. Specify, man, specify!" And then he pointed to my thermos and was like "what's that?" I will now list the reasons why that was possibly the stupidest question anyone has ever asked.

a) Nearly everyone going into Expo had a thermos with them. Why? Because you cannot take bottled drinks into Expo. They make you buy drinks from their own machines/vendors for about 5 times more than what you'd pay outside. You know, making money, money, money. Anyways, all thermoses, in my opinion, have the same general shape. You'd think that they'd be smarter than that.

b) Host Madre, was standing in front of me, so she went through security before me. The same guy checked her bags, and she had the same exact thermos that I had, except in a different color. UM...something is definitley not right about that.

c) does it LOOK like a bomb to you?!?

d) do I LOOK like a terrorist to you!?!?

So after he asked me "what's that?" to me, I was seriously debating saying "It's my light green BOMB, of course! When I kill people, I like to kill them in STYLE!" But I fought back that urge and was like "Um...it's a thermos..." (in Japanese) And he was like "Tea?" (in Japanese) and I'm thinking "Do you really need to confirm what is inside my thermos? NO, it's not tea, it's poison so I can poison the water supply, and thus everyone in the entire Expo!"

After passing through security, Host Madre had too much stuff on her to run, so she was like "RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!" in a very slow motion kind of way. It was like slow motion; we were running, running to get to the Hitachi line, and then when we got there...alack, it was too late. We ended up making a plan B, which was Host Madre waiting in the Mitsui-Toshiba Pavillion line and me, Saori, and Rei going to the USA Pavillion. The USA Pavillion was tucked in the back of the second global common. I was sort of surprised it wasn't as popular as...er...Germany. But whatever. It was actually pretty cool. LOL, and funny. When we approched the pavillion, we were greeted with shouts of "Hello!" and "Nice to meet you" by the young American pavillion staff workers. Coincidentally, the state of the day theme was Texas, so they were handing out Texas pins and stuff. Another coincidence is that the USA Pavillion's theme is Ben Franklin. Ahhh...Just like home. LOL.

When we entered, there were only a few other people there. It was darkly lit in blue and purple hues. There were places on the wall with that lightning stuff that if you touch it goes to your hand. There was a big statue of Ben Franklin in the middle of the room holding a kite. It was pretty impressive looking. Also posted on the wall was a message from President Bush. We waited in this room to get into the theatre, which showed a movie, obviously. They offered me an English headset, but I declined since I already knew all about Ben Franklin, and because hearing English and Japanese mixed together would be kinda confusing, and would distract me from watching.

When we got in, we sat down on these hard seats. The room was kinda round, but the screen wasn't IMAX-type. When the movie started "Ben Franklin" began talking to us about himself and the technological advancements of the US or something. It was originally filmed in English, but it apparently was dubbed in Japanese, lol. It was actually pretty cool, because at one point this airplane flew above on the screen, and when it would have passed over our heads, a rush of wind flew in our faces. Another cool thing was when there was lightning and thunder the seats vibrated, and at one point it even rained. Yup, it rained in the theatre! I liked that because it gave a sense of reality to what we were watching. It was pretty neat. Rei and Saori seemed to like it.

After the movie was over, the next room was museum-like. It was mainly focused on the Mars Rover (a to-scale mars rover replica was placed at the center of the room), but there were also sections on the man on the moon, futuristic (and fuel efficient, to add in the "let's save nature thing") cars, and airplanes and things. A very hot American d00d gave me an explaination of the mars rover thing. It was actually quite interesting. Rei didn't understand a bit. However, I was mildly shocked when Saori actually asked a question! I think she understood a lot of what he was saying. It was pretty cool.

After leaving the USA Pavillion, we headed back to meet Host Madre at the Mitsui-Toshiba Pavillion.

Now this pavillion was interesting, to say the least. This is where, now that I think about it, I start cracking up. Well, I would start cracking up right now, but people would probably stare at me as if I was Crack Puppy (...did I ever mention Crack Puppy? hm...whatever).

It's hard to explain, so I think I'll cut and paste off of their website, and add in some comments.

INTRO

In the Mitsui-Toshiba Pavilion, visitors can become part of the cast of a movie themselves. Through the world debut of a movie system call Futurecast, even those with no experience can deliver surprisingly moving entertainment. Moving indeed, my fellow ameteurs.
The title of the story is Space Child Adventure Grand Odyssey. (Now if that's not the stupidest title for a movie you have ever heard, I'm looking forward to those who have heard worse. HOLY CRAP. When I first heard Space Child Adventure: GRAND ODYSSEY, I nearly died keeping myself from laughing for 5 hours) It is set in the distant future. The children of the human race (um, aren't they still human??), who had gone to live in space, set off on an adventurous journey for Mother Earth, which (if you call Earth "Mother Earth, wouldn't you say "who?") they have never seen before. Through this grand and thrilling story (I'm on the edge of my SEAT!), we can understand the importance of the existence of our irreplaceable Earth.

Notice how they added the whole "irreplaceable" thing in. Although I suppose it is irreplaceable.

STORY

Grand Odyssey, using full computer graphic images, is a depiction of the future of the Earth and space. Here is a preview of one section.

It is set in the distant future. (No shit.) The human race has created a system to look after the environment perfectly. However, as a result of the system the balance of the ecosystem has been greatly affected, and the Earth becomes unable to support human life. (Of course, the techonology ruins it all. The hypocrites. Note the addition of "help our earth and nature! thing.) The human race has to flee from its birthplace and is scattered through the expanse of space. Many generations later, a spaceship called the Mnemonic is discovered on one planet. This was the very ship that their ancestors traveled in. (Imagine that!) The "Space Children," the children of a human race that no longer knows anything of the Earth (I find that very hard to believe, but I suppose it is a necessary plot additive), use the spaceship (of course it's still operational after hundreds of years) to set out on a voyage for their ancestral world. In the middle of what they thought would be a smooth voyage, a giant umbrella-like goblin appears inside the spaceship. (CRACKS UP. First of all, how can you expect a "SMOOTH VOYAGE" on a ship that has been rusting for hundreds of years?? Secondly, WTF?!? An "umbrella-like goblin?!?" Who came up with THAT cheese?) The umbrella gets into the main computer and takes control of the spaceship. (Naturally. Isn't that what ALL umbrella-like goblins do? These people certainly need to do their research before launching their Mnemonics.) The attempts of the crew to stop it are obstructed by the umbrella one after another. (and then they all die, THE END.) What is the giant umbrella's natural form? (UM...a giant umbrella? I don't even think I found out. It was all in Japanese. o.O;) What is the meaning of the strange girl who suddenly appears? Will they be able to reach Earth?

OK, now here is one thing I need to get out. In all of these Japanese CG films and whatnot, there is always a "strange little girl" in a flowy spring dress, usually holding a small object like an orb or something, all small and innocent, but ends of up saving everyone's asses with a couple shouts of "ONEGAI!" and closing her eyes and pouring all of this power into the object, which then makes the enemy go away. However, the little girl was actually a fairy or something, or the manifestation of Earth or some crap, and ends up mysteriously disappearing because she used all of her power, and her work was done or something like that. When she disappears she usually is all like "Sayonara................................" and then the little object or orb or whatever is left behind for all to wonder. This is the typical outcome. And it pisses me off. >.>

And of course they end up reaching Earth. o.O;

MORE TO COME...