Kabuki-cho - Sin City of Shinjuku

Shinjuku Kabuki-cho 

There are three districts in Shinjuku. One of them is Kabuki-cho, which is a neon-light infested red light district. It's filled with love hotels, clubs, bars, arcades, strip joints and people. So what's a love hotel? Love hotels offer a discrete way of renting out a room for a few hours. What you do in it, is totally up to you. They may have vibrating beds, jacuzzi, or sauna depending on how much you decide to pay. Overnight stays are extremely expensive and aren't usually admitted until 10pm to maximize the profit from the day trade.

Getting there was easy, from Yokosuka, I took the Keikyu line to Shinagawa station and transfered to the Yamanote line. It is 2 stops after Harajuku and 3 stops from Shibuya. It was a mega adventure for me and Soco! As soon as we got off the train, we were hit with the aroma of BBQ pork in some kind of sweet teriyaki-like sauce. Not wanting to stop at the first place we saw, we decided to keep walking. But first, we had to find a bathroom. Oh darn, where the heck can we find a bathroom??? Soco didn't want to squat in a Japanese style toilet, so we went on a mission to find a western style bathroom. About an hour later, we found one in a Taito arcade filled with cigarette smoke. Well, choking on second hand smoke was kinda worth it. After that, we headed on to a restaurant that served Ramen noodles and fried chicken. It was pretty yummy. Soco noticed that the kitchen was upstairs so that the food was actually moved through an elevator after the cooks were done preparing it. The waitress used a palm pilot to make order entries and it somehow wirelessly sent the order upstairs. How efficient! After the food, me and Soco strolled through Hanazono Shrine and took some pictures. It was pretty awesome, lots of old looking buildings and trees surrounded by the towering urban landscape. After that, we checked out San-chome, which is Shinjuku's gay and lesbian district. Soco noticed this strange person walking past us and said, "That's the wierdest girl I've ever seen." Taking a second look, I noticed the broad shoulders and said outloud that that was a she-male! It is so wierd how a guy can try to look like a Japanese girl and fail miserably. Anyways, me and Soco stayed up all night and rode the train back. We fell asleep and almost missed our stop in Yokosuka-cho station. I opened my eyelids and saw "Yokosuka" posted on the sign outside, everyone had already gotten off the train and the last person was getting on. I yelled to Soco, "WE GOTTA GO, NOW!" We ran outside and the doors shut. Soco went to the vending machine and got a milk tea and I spoiled myself with an Asahi Beer.


Juraku 

Japanese Dishwashers and Breadmakers

Japanese Dishwashers and Breadmakers 

Here is another picture of the types of kitchen appliances that are sold in Japan. Since most of their customers have tiny houses and apartments, American style dishwashers don't exist... well, at least I haven't seen any since I've been here. But with their small size, they save lots of water.

I haven't been able to log on to my computer that much because my job is taking up much of my free time. But I'll do my best to log on whenever I can to upload a daily picture. Today, me and Soco will head off to Shinjuku. My tourist book says a lot about it, so I'll check it out and take plenty of pics.

HOMES Ikea-like Furniture 

High Tech Rice Cookers

300 Dollar Rice Cookers 

Almost everything out here is high tech...even the rice cookers! In this picture, you'll see some $300 rice cookers. Regardless of all the complicated buttons, electronic sensors, timers and shiny stainless steel bodies, their sole purpose is to make steamed rice.

Japan Apologizes for Wartime Misdeeds

Japanse Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
 

I read an article today about Japan apologizing to China about what happened in the past 60 years after violent protests in China about Japanese presence there. Some angry protesters smashed windows and destroyed some of the Japanese restaurants and missions there. Well recently, Japan sent out their "Richard Gere look alike super-star" Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to apologize to all of Asia for their actions, but even his charisma wasn't able to loosen the rusty relations with the Asian nations. Actions speak louder than words. The formal apology from Japan's Prime Minister wasn't enough.

My Job at Naval Hospital Yokosuka

Here is the website for the hospital I work for:

http://www.nhyoko.med.navy.mil/

The picture of the hospital looks kinda big doesn't it? Well, it is. Well anyways, my job is to repair, calibrate, and maintain medical equipment in that entire building, plus the ships of the 7th Pacific Fleet, Clinics in Negishi, Sasabo, Iwakuni, Atsugi, Fuji in Japan, Chenhae Korea, a clinic in the Phillipines, and Diego Garcia.... and also the dental clinics for all of them too. For all these places, there are only 9 techs. Only 5 of us actually fix equipment and the rest of them are usually on leave or do administrative type of work. It is pretty stressful and I usually put in 12 hour days. I don't usually get a chance to update my blog very often. Well, when I get a chance, I do go out on the weekends. It may be worth it. I'm getting a lot of hands-on experience which is good. I'm glad I'm only doing three years here. I wouldn't want to settle down in Japan.


Pedestrian crosswalk above a busy intersection 

My First Bazaar in Yokosuka

Samurai Suit and Drum 

Yesterday was my first bazaar in Yokosuka. Soco and I have been given plenty advice about bazaars that occur here. "Don't buy too much on your first bazaar." or "Wait until tomorrow because the items will be cheaper because the items that doesn't sell have to be shipped back to Korea." Well, after Soco had purchased a $500 Tibetan Antique Cabinet, we saw some people trying to bargain on some other furniture. Darn it! We should've haggled on the price! Oh well, the item was already discounted after seeing something similar in the building next door which was priced at $800. The cabinet is over 150 years old and it looked really cool. I'll be taking plenty of pictures of it once we have it delivered. The furniture imported to Japan from China and Korea is so beautiful and cheap! What would normally cost hundreds of dollars in the states would cost about half the price or 20% off here. There are lots of good deals and I learned to go early to take advantage of seeing all the good stuff before they disappear. Click on some of my pictures. The cabinet wood carved, furniture pictured here is intricately detailed and priced pretty cheaply. I also got to see the guy who does the Sushicam blog. He was there selling his framed pictures. I didn't bother to talk to him though, I was too engaged at looking and purchasing all the cool bazaar things!

Check out this entry of Sushicam, it's pretty funny and close to what everyone with a camera experiences in Japan:

http://www.sushicam.com/2005/April/050415/050415.php


Paper Wall Pictures 


Chinese Furniture 


Wooden Japanese Dolls 

Taco Dario at Yokohama

Soco in front of Taco Derio! 

Notice the frown on Soco's face... What the Japanese think is Mexican food is stuff like taco and chili rice. Check out the menu.


Taco Derio Menu 

Cherry Blossom Trees

Soco in front of Cherry Blossom Trees 

Believe it or not, cherry blossom trees only last a week here. So when they bloom, it is truely special. The Japanese hold lots of festivals during this time of year. Last week, there was a cherry blossom festival on base and there were literally hundreds of thousands of people! It was so packed! It was funny to see all the Japanese people carry back boxes of American pizzas. A lot of them were even taking pictures of the drive-thru window at McDonalds! Hehe It was really strange.


Japanese Picnic under the Cherry Blossom Trees 

I try to enjoy the cherry blossoms while they last. Some Japanese feel the need to picnic under these trees.


Exion with Cherry Blossoms 

Yokohama - Another Jungle of Concrete, Steel and Glass

Yokohama at Night 

Yokohama is so far, the most modernized city I've ever been to. Yokohama is known for it's landmark tower, Chinatown, ferris wheel, and diver roller coaster that appears to dive into the water at super high speed. Me and Soco decided to embark on a journey into the future and investigate the hugely popular city. I was pretty impressed at the shiny marble multi-plex indoor mall that would almost rival Donald Trump's, "Trump Tower". The waterfalls and American style stores are pretty impressive and so are the price tags. We went looking for China Town without a guide map, and failed miserably and found this little street with chinese lettering. We ended up eating at a Japanese restaurant that served fried shrimp tempura and pork tonkatsudon. It was very delicious. I accidently poured some noodle broth into my hot tea thinking that it was hot tea. It was an incident never to be repeated again. But to figure out how to eat the rest of my dish, I copied a Japanese guy who was sitting across from me. He was dipping his noodles into a soy sauce bowl with his chopsticks. It was quite tasty! Well, we ended up staying at Yokohama til nightfall and I got to experience the city at night. I took some photos and observed how difficult it was to navigate my way back to the train station. Soco kept bugging me about us getting lost, but I kept telling her just to head to the big building labeled, "Sogo". She didn't believe me and was getting frustrated to the point where she was always complaining about her sore feet. Well, we walked a total of 10 miles that day. Good thing Soco didn't convert her US dollars to yen, otherwise she would've gone on a shopping spree and spent hundreds of dollars on Starbucks coffee and clothes. Anyways, there was lots to see and do and it is worth a trip back.


Yokohama Ferris Wheel 


China Town? 

Other Volunteers at the Miura Beach Cleanup 

Non-observance of Daylight Saving Time

It is wierd that the sun has already risen before I wake up. It feels like I get to work at 9 am. But I usually feel more relaxed and refreshed. I actually love not having to observe daylight saving time (springing forward one hour in the spring and falling back one hour in the fall). I think the U.S. should follow suit. Wasn't the time system once used to help farmers? I don't know.


Outside the train station at Harajuku 

Tiny Stands and Yakatori

Tiny Stand 

Here is one of the tiny stands that you'll see if you ever visit Japan. Most of them are only 5 x 8 square feet. Today, I went to one of these mini-stands that sold Yakatori. They sold many different flavors and each stick was only 60 yen a piece. You just get what you want, eat it there (while you're standing), collect all your sticks and pay after you're done. I had a stick of pork intestine, pork heart, pork tongue, chicken tail, and pork liver. It was soo good! They fry them on a conveyor belt so each one is cooked at the same perfect rate. After they're cooked, they're dipped in the most delicious yakatori BBQ sauce. I can't help but lick my fingers afterwards.