March 8, 2007

• Japan Trip: The Finale

  Man, this Japan trip was like the Prestige. I just saw that movie and it's still fresh on my mind. I mean, remember when I went to Japan a year and a half ago? And then I disappeared? And then all of a sudden I came back? You didn't see that coming did you? SURPRISE ENDING. And then you find out I've been blogging the whole time. Also, Borat was just released on dvd, but I haven't seen it so I guess I will have to stop comparing my sad little life to movies now and get on with the update.

  
  

  Friday would be my last night in Japan. I met up Jeannie at Roppongi Hills by the large spider sculpture. It looks like something out of War of the Worlds.

  

  We each had um, rice balls. With tuna or something. I didn't realize rice had a gender.

  

  Then we went to eat at Coldstone. Did you know that if you tip them, they sing? They do a hilarious rendition of Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah in broken English, worth more than its bargain asking price. I wish I had recorded it because I actually had to listen to it twice.

  

  After dinner, we headed out to the Mori Tower and art museum. For the asking price of $15 for an elevator ride to the top with free admission to the museum, it's more than a bargain- it's a spectacular sight to see. The view tops that of Tokyo Tower and the Shinjuku office building. This is my favorite snapshot of the city, handheld. I wish I had brought a tripod.

  

  View of the Tokyo Tower

  

  

  The spider sculpture at night.

  

  Mori Tower at night

  
  

  I was coming down the escalator and managed to pull off this candid shot. It's my favorite shot of Jeannie this trip.

  

  Afterwards, Jeannie and I met up her coworkers to eat at an Israeli all-you-can-eat restaurant with live bellydancing. Jeannie can caption her coworkers.

  

  

  

  So when I first met Rika, while we were chatting I would occasionally hear her say "Ta-ta-daaaaa!!!" before saying another sentence. So I would think, oh, that's a cute Japanese expression- so enthusiastic! I told Jeannie this and she almost fell down the stairs laughing- apparently Rika was actually saying something like "Tat ka da" (Jeannie, you'll have to correct the spelling on that one) which means something to the effect of "Hold on, let me think."

  

  So then Jeannie tells her coworkers and they all bust a gut laughing and so here's Rika posing and saying "Ta-ta-daaaaaaa!!!" Her coworkers must think I'm such a fob.

  

  See that face? That's the kind of face where someone comes to you with bad news like, "I broke both my legs", but they have this booger totally hanging from their nostril and it keeps flopping around as they say it but you can't do anything about it but try and put on this concerned expression because you want to seem empathetic. That face is about 2 seconds away from laughing at that misfortune.

  

  

  

  As per my worst fears, the bellydancer pulled people from the crowd to dance with her.

  

  Luckily, Jeannie's friends took one for the team. Well, except that they enjoyed it.

  

  

  

  Jeannie & me

  

  Bye!

  

  We then rendezvoused with Margalatte and Tu's Live Crew in Roppongi for my last night in Tokyo. We started out at the sticker machine. This pic makes me laugh because no one is looking at the camera except Jeannie, and she is cheesin'

  

  Geez, how much space is in this photo booth?

  

  Margalatte has been in Japan long enough to develop a reflex where any time a camera flash goes off, she instinctively pops up and flashes the peace sign

  

  Haha, my gangsta face is so stupid

  

  Editing the photos after

  

  Ok, fine, I have a stupid face in all my photos. I think Jeannie posted the other ones earlier, but I am too lazy to submit this post and then scroll down and then come back up to this post and link it.

  

  

  

  Haha, I like how Tu will randomly flash the peace sign at any given moment. Such is the power of the Japan effect.

  

  I am not quite sure who he is throwing the Longhorns sign at now, but that face is awesome.

  

  We went out til around 4 AM. I was dead tired and we stayed at a Japanese restaurant until the trains started to run again. I had this delicious tempura plate with udon.

  

  

  Mike was so hungry the camera couldn't catch how fast he was moving his chopsticks

  

  Yes, the bowls there were enormous

  

  Tu fell asleep but immediately began throwing the Longhorn when it was time to leave

  

  We pulled our belongings out of the lockers in the subway around 5 AM and parted ways.

  

  

  

  

  Look, Jeannie has a penguin shirt!

  

  Jeannie had bought me flowers at the airport while waiting for my flight to arrive to welcome me into Japan. I guess Japanese customs are different. I was kinda hoping that in Japan, when girls meet guys they give them robots. The flowers still looking pretty good a week later.

  

  At the airport we ate weird octopus balls.

  

  And octopus thing in dough.

  Anyway, that's the last of my photos. I suppose this is goodbye then. It's been fun and thanks Jeannie for letting me alienate your readers and hit on all your female readers. To all you guy readers, I just wanted you to know that I am diplomat in Japan regime and I have come into possession of large sum of money by a Mr. Yamamoto [deceased]. The bearer of his inheritance has not been found and you are the possibility next of kin. I have therefore, been delegated as a matters of trust by my colleague of the panel to look for a next of kin into whose account we would transfer the sum of US$21,320,000.00...

  • 3:00 am
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