Sunday, July 10, 2005
longest. day. ever.

mood: x________X
listening to: bad japanese drama. again.
gaijin count: 121

Today was such a long day. I took 12 frickin' subways. I wouldn't be surprised if that was some kind of world record. Here is my day:

Sogo Rehabilitation Center (home) -> Motoyama
Motoyama -> Nagoya
Nagoya -> Fushimi
Fushimi -> Japanese Semi-Ghetto (I forget the name)
Japanese Semi-Ghetto -> Yagoto
Yagoto -> Sogo Rehabilitation Center
Sogo Rehabilitation Center -> Yagoto
Yagoto -> Motoyama
Motoyama -> Nagoya
Nagoya -> Motoyama
Motoyama -> Yagoto
Yagoto -> Sogo Rehabilitation Center

I woke up at 8:30 so I could meet up with LORNE, HAL, Flaming Red and Kind of Tall at Nana-chan in Nagoya. We were planning on studying Japanese. LOL. Yeah right. When I got there HAL said that there was a library in Japanese Semi-Ghetto (although we didn't know it was a Semi-Ghetto then, obviously). To get there we had to go to Fushimi, switch lines and go north. Before we left I cashed some traveler's checks, and then we headed off.

At Fushimi we bought some crap at a conbini. We then eventually made our way to the next subway to Japanese Semi-Ghetto.

Kind of Tall, pictred above, able to stretch his legs on the oddly empty subway seat. Then again, it IS Sunday.

4 or 5 stops later, we emerge from the subway station to find ourselves in the Middle of Nowhere (a.k.a. Japanese Semi-Ghetto, as I have stated prior). We walked for what seemed like ages, asking random people along the way where the frickin' library was. And old man told us it was very far from where we were. We had been walking for about 25 minutes when we reached downtown Japanese Semi-Ghetto. Here are some of the better aspects of town.

Is it just me, or does it look like this playground is where you would find a murdered corpse? o.O;

This town was uncharacteristically deserted compared to other Japanese towns. It was trés eerie.

We stopped by this little fountain for a rest. My feet were killing me, and there was no library in sight. We were semi-lost. The only reason why we weren't totally lost was because we still knew where the station was. We sat here for about 10 minutes wondering what to do.

I found this sign very funny. It says GIVE!! YOUR BLOOD! on it, in case blogger made it too small to see. (by the way, I'm testing this whole blogger image uploading dealio).


Poor HAL tripped and cut her knee. ;-; It was soon afterwards that we decided to keep on moving. Somewhere. We weren't really sure where. LORNE and Kind of Tall wanted to head back to Nagoya to go and have Mexican. I was beginning to agree with them. However, HAL was determined to find the library, or at least a place to study.

We walked further down into the Japanese Semi-Ghetto, when I spotted a Manga Café. Everyone unanimously decided to check it out. People were hungry, and HAL suspected that we could study there.

Now, I had heard of these Manga Cafés, and I must say, my first thought was that many young people and perhaps some dorks would hang out there. I thought it'd be a good place to meet many high school kids, since it seemed to be that kind of thing. Right?

WRONG.

When we entered it was kind of dark. We proceeded into the area and there were shelves upon shelves of manga, and tables where people could eat, read, and play video games. There were also computers and small TVs that you could use, for a price of course. We got a table and sat down. It was then that I realized that my little perception on Manga Cafés was to be proven dead wrong. Or at least Manga Cafés that are located in the Japanese Semi-Ghetto.

Once again I was encountered with many middle aged men perverts. Smoking. And reading, naturally, porn manga. When I glanced to a middle aged man about 3.5 feet away from me, I saw that there were a naked women with GIANT breasts smeared all over the pages of what he was reading. It made me cringe. A lot.

A view of the café.

We ordered melon sodas, and some ice cream. We talked for a while about some stuff, but I couldn't get my mind off of the perverts in the room. They were probably all part-time chikans. I swear to you, Japan has a huge Porn Problem. Everywhere you go - bookstores, movie rental places, DVD places, even kiosks with magazines stocked with porn. There are even porn vending machines. You can buy DVDs of porn by just putting a couple o' coins in the slot. Bingo. Instand porn satisfaction. What is even grosser is that apparently near where LORNE lives (the Real Japanese Ghetto) there is a vending machine with dirty underwear in it. DISGUSTING. THAT IS DISGUSTING. HOLY SHIT. But whatever. I digress.

So I dunno how long we were in there, but I had this baseball thing to go to. I didn't want to have to drag Messa along, so I left alone. However, I had a little problem. I forgot to bring extra feminine items with me. So I thought that I'd make my way home to pick up some stuff, and then proceed to the Dome to get a hot dog or something. I agreed to meet the others at Nana-chan again at 3:00. I left at 1:00. "I have plenty of time!" Or so I thought.

I walked what seemed like miles back to the frickin' subway, and boarded. I headed for Yagoto, so I could board the Meijo line to Sogo. However, to make a long story short, the house was locked, there was no one home. I tried picking the lock, but it was in vain. I called Host Madre. She said that if I had called sooner I could have gotten a key. Crap. I was sweaty, feeing disgusting, and without feminine products. CRAP. What an idiot I am.

However, I am also quite smart. I enjoy outsmarting my bad luck. So I headed to Jasco.

At Jasco I saw a Gaijin. However, I swear I had seen him before! And I had! It was when I was with Rei at Jasco the week before at McDonalds. I decided then that any Gaijin I saw more than once would get a special Gaijin nickname. I have henceforth dubbed him McGaijin.

Anyways, I purchased some feminine products, but then I realized what time it was. 2:40. There was no way I could go to the dome. I was already going to be late meeting everyone at Nana-chan. So I quickly made my way to Nagoya. It was then I conjured up this fake itinerary of my day to tell the Host Padres.

When I got to Nana-chan I was nearly 25 minutes late. They were still there, though, watching some people preform on the streets. It was then I saw and old drunken man dancing wildly. I took some video of it, but I have no where to host it. Once I find someplace, I'll tell you where it's up for download.

Anyways, we watched this man and this band for a while, although eventually the drunk guy left. Even though the bad sang kid-songs, we became their Gaijin posse. However, Kind of Tall and LORNE were very antsy to leave to get Mexican food (we found a Mexican restaurant! YES!), and frankly so was I, so eventually we left. Around 4:20 or so (I forget, really) we came upon the restuarant. I had a taco, french fries and some nachoes that we shared. It was bliss. By the time we left it was around 5:00 maybe. LORNE had to leave to go back home, but Flaming Red, Kind of Tall and HAL and I were still available for a little while. We headed into this electronics store where there was a FFVII Advent Children preview showing. It looks really good. We looked around for a while. I accidentally walked into the, of course, porn section. I was surrounded by pink, manga women with HUGE breasts, and horror of that variety. I tried to get through it, but there was a dead end, so I ran out the way I came. LOL.

Kind of Tall is planning on buying the white PS2 that is very small. It's cheaper than the real PS2 here, surprisingly. It's really cool. There was a lot of really cool stuff there, minus the porn.

Sooner or later, we split up and left. Kind of Tall went off with Flaming Red to the JR, and HAL and I headed off to the Higashiyama Line. However, it was only 6:30 when we got on, and I said to the Host Padres that I'd be home at 8:00. So I decided to go back to Jasco to pick up some things with my newly cashed cash. I hadn't been shopping in a while, so I made it a plan.

By the time I got to Yagoto, I had about an hour of free time. I picked up a bag (which I really needed, a good totebag - and it was only 1092 yen!!), and 4 packs of stationery, and some stickers. I also bought a fashion magazine (S Cawaii!) that had Ayu on the front. Then I headed home.

I got home at 7:45, but oh well. 15 minutes early is better than 15 minutes late.

And so, there is my longest day ever. I'ma go read now.

<3<3

-Erin