Rave Blog from Tokyo
by Joel R. Voss aka. Javantea
April 27, 2006 13:10 JST
[permanent link]
I went to a great rave last saturday. It was at Stella, which is a DJ Bar and Restaurant. The rave was reasonably priced (1500 yen ~= $12) which came with 1 drink. The drinks were ok even if they were a bit expensive. The room was small, but fit the group of people pretty well. Don't get me wrong, this was a small rave. It has bar stools and small counters on the left and right and a sofa in the back. The show was supposed to start at 23:00, but the guy at the front said it really started at 24:00. The first DJ started spinning at 23:15.
I'm a wild and crazy guy, so I take Ginsing Energy pills before I dance at a rave. 3 pills == 1 tall glass of water is the rule. If you don't follow the rule, you'll probably be in trouble. The active ingredient that makes me high as a kite for 24-36 hours is yerba mate, which is a very energy packed tea. In the US, they sell these at nearly every convenience store for $1 or $2. In Japan they prefer the bottled energy drinks. I expect that they have similar stuff. The incorrect Japanese word for this is 薬 [くすり] kusuri/(n) medicine. The kanji is very useful to know because it's used all over the place for drugstore. Definately don't use the word 薬種 [やくしゅ] yakujyu/(n) drugs/ because it is quite similar to 麻薬 [まやく] mayaku/(n) narcotic drugs/narcotic/opium/dope. The word 草本 [そうほん] souhon/(n) herbs/ might be better, but it is still not very descriptive.
I always get the kanji 薬 [くすり] kusuri/(n) medicine mixed up with the kanji 楽しい [たのしい] tanoshii/(adj) enjoyable/fun. It's funny because totemo tanoshii was the only way I could really describe the rave.
Read more »Renting Anime in Tokyo
by Joel R. Voss aka. Javantea
April 24, 2006 17:00 JST
[permanent link]
My conclusion from Anime is Too Expensive in Tokyo is that I should rent anime or watch it on TV. I created a dictionary of useful words and practiced them. That gave me enough confidence to ask the employee at Tsutaya how I could get a rental card. I was able to do it and so can you. The cost is comparable to Scarecrow in Seattle (370 yen per day for anime). You need a passport and a handle on a few easy kanji. I'll give them to you here so that you'll be ready.
There's a form to fill out to get a card. How do you ask them for it?
ano rental ka-do apprikashun kaku wa arimasuka?
A rental card application document is exist?
They will be helpful. Just insist. Use the words I've laid out here and you should be good to go.
Read more »Eating Guide in Tokyo
by Joel R. Voss aka. Javantea
April 24, 2006 10:31 JST
[permanent link]
It's 20 days into my trip and I'm still doing really well. The food is good, the price is right. I think you can be vegatarian over here if you know the language well and have a knowledge of what button connects to what ingredients.
I haven't been vegetarian, but I've been avoiding meat-only dishes. Even that may change. Curries usually have beef added. I think that they are cooked together. Ramen often uses beef or fish broth though it could be different in each shop. Beef is usually cooked with the vegatables. The keywords are:
ラーメン ramen /(n) Chinese-style noodles
天婦羅 [てんぷら] tenpura /deep-fried fish and vegetables/tempura
蕎麦 [そば] /(n) soba (buckwheat noodles)
饂飩 [うどん] udon/(n) (uk) noodles (Japanese)
焼そば [やきそば] yakisoba /(n) fried soba
冷麦 [ひやむぎ] hiyamugi /(n) cold noodles/iced noodles
If you're going for vegetarian, here's how to do it: first off, look for the cold soba noodles. They're usually around 200 yen. You can be confident that the noodles are just wheat cooked in water. That's just grain, so you'll eventually need some vegatables, beans, nuts, etc. You can get vegatables at the convenience store. If you're a good cook, you can get vegatables at the supermarket. They even have frozen vegis for bad cooks like me. Salted mixed nuts can be bought also, but are expensive. Osembe is rice crackers usually with peanuts. As far as I can tell, it's rice and wasabi.
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April 15, 2006
This one took a while to make it into my blog (yes, I'm self-censoring), so here it is. I spent the day with my good friend. He's my father's age. We went to a bunch of places. First stops were Tokyo Tower, a Buddhist temple next door, the graveyard behind the temple, and a few notable temples. The Buddhist temple was extremely interesting. They were praying for a person who had passed away a few years ago. The Buddhist priests prayed in a song that was very moving. My friend is a Buddhist and prays everyday.
We went to the highest ground point in Tokyo which is a comical 26 meters. It's kinda funny geographical spot because it has a 26 meter tall stairway and is only large enough for a big temple and nothing else. He educated me on various things including Shinto ancestor-worship, the meaning of things, who owns what, how, and why every building in Tokyo is tall: municipal code requirement. He showed me how to pray at various temples although I couldn't do it correctly because I was too self-conscious. We went to a bunch of awesome koi ponds, certainly the best public koi ponds in Tokyo. I noticed a trio of high school boys throwing rocks at the koi proving once and for all that neither Japanese nor American boys are saints.
We went to the Emperial Palace and saw the place where the 47 samurai committed harikari. It is an actual spot and I stood there for a moment (wow). I also sat where the palace used to be during the Tokugawa era (wow).
