Old Friends
I realized tonight, while eating dinner, that there is no way I would be able to successfully return to the States and not lose my mind. You see, I was having my dinner at Sukiya, a chain restaurant here in Japan that serves two of my favorite Japanese foods: Gyudon and Japanese Curry. It's also somewhat like fast food, but really, you couldn't compare it to your local McDonald's or Wendy's. Unlike American fast food joints, the food is tasty, marginally healthy, excellent service, and you can smoke in the restaurants. That last bit is the aforementioned reason I would have difficulty returning to America.
Japan is very much a smoker's country. You can smoke anywhere, and really, it brings a tear to my eye thinking of how wonderful such a thing is. You can smoke in bars, restaurants, on the street, on train platforms, and even in some government buildings. What more can I ask for? I truly am in some sort of paradise.
In addition to smoking still being socially acceptable, I've also found my two friends Pall and Mall over here. Just like in the U.S., they are delicious, slow burning, and cheaper than most other cigarettes. Oh how delighted I am to be reunited with such comforting and inexpensive pals. God bless you, Pall and Mall, and God bless you Japan, for not yet having given in to the evil forces of the "pinkies" (those of you still with pink lungs).
For those of you that know my musical tastes, you'll know that hip hop was never among my favorite musical selections. That was before I discovered the beautiful amusement that is Japanese hip hop. While I've heard some of it before, and indeed it was always worth a laugh, I never listened to it en masse until signing up for Tsutaya, a movie and music rental place (Another reason to love Japan: you can rent cds, and at the cd rental place, they sell blank cds at the counter. Ingenious!). For lack of anything better to do, I picked up some random selections in the hip hop section. I highly recommend such award winners as Soul'D Out, Rhymester, and the wonderfully named Kick the Can Crew. Band names just don't get any better than they do here.
I had realized tonight a small amount of... I guess irony... that I find amusing (but others may not, but I don't care, it's my blog. I am not here to amuse you. What am I, your Japanese clown?). When deciding upon a high school for me to go to, I had wanted to go to Shaler Area High School, the local public school, because they offered a Japanese language program. My mother wanted me to go to North Catholic High School, so that I would be closer to Jesus and the Catholic church. Unfortunately, she won out, as she's my mother. Now, fast forward a little over 10 years, I don't know Japanese but I need to, and I have a certain amount of contempt for organized religion, the Catholic church in particular, while living in a country that's about as secular as it gets. Go figure.
Japan is very much a smoker's country. You can smoke anywhere, and really, it brings a tear to my eye thinking of how wonderful such a thing is. You can smoke in bars, restaurants, on the street, on train platforms, and even in some government buildings. What more can I ask for? I truly am in some sort of paradise.
In addition to smoking still being socially acceptable, I've also found my two friends Pall and Mall over here. Just like in the U.S., they are delicious, slow burning, and cheaper than most other cigarettes. Oh how delighted I am to be reunited with such comforting and inexpensive pals. God bless you, Pall and Mall, and God bless you Japan, for not yet having given in to the evil forces of the "pinkies" (those of you still with pink lungs).
For those of you that know my musical tastes, you'll know that hip hop was never among my favorite musical selections. That was before I discovered the beautiful amusement that is Japanese hip hop. While I've heard some of it before, and indeed it was always worth a laugh, I never listened to it en masse until signing up for Tsutaya, a movie and music rental place (Another reason to love Japan: you can rent cds, and at the cd rental place, they sell blank cds at the counter. Ingenious!). For lack of anything better to do, I picked up some random selections in the hip hop section. I highly recommend such award winners as Soul'D Out, Rhymester, and the wonderfully named Kick the Can Crew. Band names just don't get any better than they do here.
I had realized tonight a small amount of... I guess irony... that I find amusing (but others may not, but I don't care, it's my blog. I am not here to amuse you. What am I, your Japanese clown?). When deciding upon a high school for me to go to, I had wanted to go to Shaler Area High School, the local public school, because they offered a Japanese language program. My mother wanted me to go to North Catholic High School, so that I would be closer to Jesus and the Catholic church. Unfortunately, she won out, as she's my mother. Now, fast forward a little over 10 years, I don't know Japanese but I need to, and I have a certain amount of contempt for organized religion, the Catholic church in particular, while living in a country that's about as secular as it gets. Go figure.
posted by S A B at 3:01 AM
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