“u cannot promise many pictures of japanese girls thn pull “down time” bs.” 

Okay, okay, here they are:

View the entire album here.  I’ve talked to a couple guys and they say Korean girls are better looking, while Japanese girls have the nicer bodies.  You be the judge.

Here’s the first installment of photos.  It’s a collection of Harajuku fashion from Tokyo.  The Harajuku girls (and boys) are known around the world for their wild and crazy styles.  Their way of dress is also labeled "cosplay," or "costume play".  I think a lot of the tourist who took pictures of the cosplayers thought they were weird and freaky, and I overheard some making fun of them.  When I heard the ridicule, I’d think, "That’s laughable coming from someone wearing a sweat soaked t-shirt, khaki zip-off shorts, and Jesus cruisers (Birkenstocks).  You wish you had as much style as them."  I think the whole scene is really cool.  I admired their different outfits and would think, "Wow, I never would have thought to put those pieces of clothing together, but it looks great."  My favorite style was the "gothic lolita" look.  If you’d like to learn more, check this out:  "Behind the Scenes – Cosplay in Tokyo".

One thing I have to warn others about, are the bars that have a table charge.  On the first night I got into Tokyo, we went out for drink with two people Raswan knew.  There was so much to choose from in Shinjuku, so we randomly picked a place and had drinks there.  After sitting down, we were given a small bowl of green beans.  We thought, "Cool, it’s a free side dish."  A drink for each of us and two side dishes later, the bill comes to $80.  (Yeah, it’s Tokyo.)  We look at the bill and wondered what the $16 charge was.  The waitress tells us it’s for the green beans!

The four of us tried to argue that we didn’t order them.  The waitress, in her broken English, said it was part of the "table set".  What?!?  We didn’t like it one bit, but what could we do?  We were in a foreign land, didn’t speak the language, and weren’t aware of the "rules".  Then another day, Raswan and I walked into a bar for an afternoon drink.  The waitress brought us each a small bowl of boiled bean sprouts.  Oh, oh.  WARNING, WARNING!  Ras asked how much it was.  "350 yen".  "Oh no, we don’t want this."  "Sorry, table charge."  He then tried to ask whether the dish was 350 each or for the two bowls.  "Umm, two."  "Oh well.  We’ll just sit, have a drink, and leave."  When we finally went to pay the bill, the 1/4 cup of tasteless sprouts were 350 yen each!  It wasn’t about the money, but that fact that we didn’t want it, it didn’t taste good, and it was forced upon us. 

This also happened when a group of us walked into an establishment that looked like a restaurant.  Once we sat down and were served a small dish, we immediately asked how much it was.  "400 yen."  We stood up and walked out.  The staff were befuddled, but we weren’t falling for another "table charge".  After those incidents, we only went to bars that advertised "No cover charge" on their signs outside.

Click below to see more pictures of what I ate.

*** A bandanna – or small hand towel or handkerchief.  It’s hot, and you’ll be sweating a lot.

*** Plug adapter – If you’re coming from Korea, you can buy an adapter at a hardware store for 500 won.  The plugs in Japan are North American style.  If you buy it in Japan, it’s $4-$6.

*** Cash – All the money I brought with me was in yen.  I found it much easier this way.  There was no need to look for a bank or wait in long lines to cash traveler’s checks.  I had one instance when I ran out of money and had to look for a ATM at Shinjuku Station.  You’d think it’s be easy to find one because it’s such a large station.  There were not many, and the two I tried wouldn’t accept my MasterCard – only Japanese cards.  After 45 minutes of running around in the heat, I finally found one.  What a hassle.

*** Cotton clothing – very breathable and the best kind of clothes to bring.  Another alternative would be quick drying clothes, like workout tops.  If you plan on going out to some nicer clubs, some don’t let you in with very casual clothing.  If you want to have options for a night out, leave your Birkenstocks at home.

*** A coin purse – Most of my daily transactions were with change.  You’ll get a lot of it, in dollar and $5 coins.

Other tips:

There are many lockers in the subway stations.  Normal sized lockers are 300 yen for the day.  If luggage is left overnight, it’s another 300 charge.  Lockers are emptied out by station staff after 3 days.  I was able to put my large backpack in the largest locker at Shinjuku Station for 700 yen.  It was expensive, but convenient for me.  The large lockers are usually gone by the middle of the day.

I was surprised that there wasn’t more English in the subway stations.  The Korean subway system is more user friendly for foreigners.  In Japan, you would look on the subway map to see where you’re going (most of the time it was in Japanese).  The map will tell you what price ticket you should purchase.  We couldn’t read Japanese, so for 70% of the time, we would ask Japanese people around the station how much a ticket to a particular stop was.  Japanese people always helped us when asked.  There were also times when they would offer to help because we looked so confused.  There was one man who walked us to the place we were looking for, and another woman who called a hotel to get directions for us.  I was really impressed by how nice people were.

Photocopy the maps from your guide books prior to leaving for your trip.  At night, we’d map out places we wanted to eat at, or attractions we wanted to see the next day.  We’d write and make notes on our photocopied maps and take those with us instead of hauling around a book.  Ras would just carry around money, a bandanna, camera, and water bottle.  I’d take my purse, camera, and copies of the maps.  It worked out well for us.

Everything else I missed is just common sense for backpacking and traveling, but the above were things I noticed about my week in Tokyo.

This is a map of all the trains and subway lines in Tokyo.It’s just like a bowl of spaghetti, isn’t it?Shinjuku Station had 8 lines that you could transfer to.  I wonder what the most number of transfers at a station is.

"US War Department comic strip included in the first edition of the "POCKET GUIDE TO CHINA", a 75-page booklet distributed to US soldiers (Army and Navy) during their stay in China during World War II."

After my trip, I love the Japanese.  They’re polite, very helpful, and are so stylish.  I’d really like to go back and live in Japan for a year.

Side notes:  Here’s a couple’s 3 week trip to Japan.  Japundit would have been a good blog to have read before my trip.

Tokyo is a great place for people watching.  Many times, I wanted to take some more artistic shots, but if you think too hard, the opportunity quickly passes.  I clicked and clicked and clicked, realizing that I could go back later and choose the ones I liked best.  I never delete my bad pictures, but archive them.  With the advent of digital cameras, many people like to delete less than flattering pictures of themselves.  It’s unfortunate, because ugly or not, that photo captured YOU… at that certain moment in time… that you’ll never get back.  I have lots of ugly, awkward pictures that highlight the many chins I can have, if I’m not careful.  They’re stored away, ready to be pulled out and gazed upon whenever I need a dose of humility.

I don’t take the greatest photos, but there are those moments where I look upon something I’ve taken, and think, "Man, I rock!"  I’d like to have more of those moments and learn more about photography.  I don’t think photography will ever be a career for me, but it has grown into a hobby I love, along with digital scrapbooking, bookbinding, and paper arts.  (Bet you didn’t know those things about me, did you?)

I’m taking the next big step… I’m buying a sler.  Sler is what Ras affectionately calls an SLR.  I’ve set aside $1000 USD from my checking account for my SLR purchase when I go back to the States in a couple months.  That should get me the body and at least one lens.  I’m really excited about the whole thing and was thinking of purchasing one in Korea so that I’d have a camera for my summer trips.  Believe me, it would have been great to have it in Tokyo, but I didn’t want to rush into a purchase that big.  Plus, the word on the street is that Canon is supposed to come out with an upgraded model to the Canon Rebel XT (aka Canon Kiss Digital 2E in Japan or Canon EOS 350D in Europe).

Right now, I’m making due with my Canon SD630 (aka Canon Ixus 65) that I bought a month ago.  Yup, that’s 3 inches of goodness there.  It’s funny, but it’s only the guys who comment on the size of my screen!

It’s hard to imagine that just yesterday, I was taking pictures of this:

and this:

There’ll be a lot more reviews, insight, and pictures(!) on Tokyo in the next week.  Stay tuned…

Written on the Body: Irezumi and the Decorated Skin

Irezumi is widely considered the most artful tattoo form in the world.  Usually completed in blue and red natural dyes, the tattoos often cove the whole body with elaborate designs featuring intricate scenes that derive from Japanese myth and folklore.  The practice of creating irezumi was initiated in the 18th century during the Edo era, when authorities tattooed criminals in order to brand them for their crimes.  When release from prison, they would seek the services of an irezumi-shi, who would disguise the prison marks with tigers and flowers and other patterns, thus erasing an ignominious past.  Like their clients, tattoo artists were considered criminals,, and this practice continued until the Meiji era (1868-1912), when authorities banned tattooing in order to avoid giving visiting foreigners the impression that Japan was uncivilized or barbaric.  To Japan’s surprise, visiting dignitaries, including the Tsar of Russia and King George V were enamored of the art form, so much so that the latter had a dragon tattooed on his forearm in 1881.

Today, the art of irezumi is still widely practiced, though it is still considered by many Japanese to be the mark of criminality or of being from a lower class.  Despite these judgments, or perhaps because of them, some anti-authority outcast groups, like the biker ‘speed tribes’ (bosozoku) have begun to acquire more tattoos, though these are often of Western-style hearts or cartoon characters rather than the hand-pricked, full-body irezumi masterpieces.

Perhaps the best place to admire the handiwork of an irezumi master is in a sento (public bath), where yakuza (Japanese mafia) bare it all, just like everybody else.  [from the Lonely Planet]

This is for all the men that read my blog.  I have TONS of pictures of Japanese girls.

At the Toyota showroom.

Japanese girls… you gotta love them.