Went to a club tonight for a night of DJs and bands. It was a small hole-in-the-wall, like so many local clubs. Cover charge was ¥1500 (about $12), and included one drink, which the bartender made into a quadruple. As he was pouring, he lost his balance and fell, luckily, onto the chair behind the small bar. Exuberance or inebriation? It was hard to tell.
The closest grocery is just a block away from my apartment here in Nagano. Although it’s part of the large Seiyu chain, this particular store is kind of crummy. It’s small and the selection isn’t great. The atmosphere is just this side of seedy. I go there often because it’s convenient, but I’m never entirely happy about the experience.
Tops on my list of complaints is the aural cacophony one is assaulted with while shopping. There are at least three different soundtracks playing at once, on top of the constant refrains of “Irasshai mase!” (roughly translated: “welcome to our establishment”) any time you pass an employee. One soundtrack in particular—the loudest of them all—drives me crazy, and I’m including it here so you can decide for yourself whether I’m justifiably irritated or just a crank:
Seiyu Jingle (350k MP3)
Two days a week at Seiyu—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—the store has ¥100 days, where select merchandise is marked down to the low, low price of ¥100. On these days, the store turns into a sort of video game, where the object is to negotiate one’s way through swarms of tiny grandmothers erratically and veeeerrrrrry slowly pushing their carts down the isles. On these days, the Seiyu Jingle turns into a an apt accompaniment to a cousin of that classic vid game, Frogger.
More than a decade ago, while I was visiting Prague in what was then still Czechoslovakia, I was thrilled to find escalators that whisked people along at speeds at least twice as fast as those found in the U.S. Shooting up from the depths of the subway system, I always visualized riders being launched into the air at the top, like human cannonballs. That’s my kind of escalator.
Of course, high speed escalators don’t fly in safety-conscious (and litigious) America. Nor are they found in Japan. But other mechanized dangers do lurk in the land of the rising sun.
Take automatic sliding doors and elevator doors. In this country, the former petulantly refuse to open until you’ve come full stop about two inches from the door. The latter, on the other hand, should be nicknamed the “jaws of death.”
No elevator I’ve ever ridden on here has had an electric eye to stop the closing of the doors if a person steps between them. So the only thing stopping the doors once they’ve started closing is a warm body (or, if you’re lucky, a quick button-pusher who’s already made it safely inside).
Automatic sliding doors are a danger of another sort. There’s no walking into a building without breaking your pace, no Starship Enterprise “whooosh” as a door slides quickly open. It’s more like a border crossing where you have to stop and show your passport. I remember an incident in Japan when my family (including my grandparents) visited in 1981. My grandfather walked right into a glass door, mashing his nose in the process. Whether it was because he expected it to open or because he didn’t see the door I don’t remember. But I think of that incident every time I find my nose bushing against a door that should have opened five seconds earlier. I’ve taken to waving my hand in front of me in an effort to trigger the door just a moment earlier, which must make me look slightly batty—another crazy foreigner.
The “Secure Beneath Watchful Eyes” image is from a campaign in London that’s meant to make people feel safe while using the public bus system.
How could anyone not have known the image would be more worrying than it is comforting?
This is a photo of Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who has blessed the slap-on-the-wrist settlement between the Justice Department and Microsoft.
Something about this photo strikes me as slightly bizarre. I think she may really be Captain Janeway in one of those space-time continuum episodes, where she’s aged and returned to 21st century earth to intervene in a major legal battle that has repercussions for the future of the Federation. Okay, you’ve done your dirty deed, Janeway— to go back to the future and to the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant.
I never did like Voyager…
Madonna’s publicist:
"It’s a public hanging by the critics, an assassination," an indignant Rosenberg said earlier this week. "Give the girl a break already! Stop being so mean!"
I was listening often to NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered via the NPR web site. But there was a delay before NPR would post the shows online, and I hated having to use RealPlayer.
Then Sean told me about KCRW, public radio from Santa Monica College. Not only do they provide live streaming of NPR, but they have an MP3 stream, which means I can listen in iTunes. The timing is perfect, too. When I wake up, All Things Considered is on; when I come home from work, I can tune into Morning Edition.
KCRW also has an excellent music stream. But wait, there’s more! They have a world news stream, as well (which, unfortunately, requires RealPlayer).
Not so long ago ago, I did a fair amount of complaining about how hot and muggy it was here in Nagano.
Different season — different complaint. It’s cold!
The temperate fall season here was tragically short-lived. This past week has brought temperatures not normally seen in this area for another couple weeks. Snow fell in towns not far from Nagano the other day, and one ski resort between here and Tokyo is optimistically pumping out artificial snow.
Speaking of snow, I just entered my name in a lottery for a cheap season snow pass to all ski areas in Nagano Prefecture (that’s a lot of options). Two hundred lucky people will be allowed to purchase this pass for ¥30,000 (about $250). I’m not holding my breath, but I am practicing a few basic Japanese phrases that might come in handy should I get a call.
In the meantime, the air conditioning unit in my apartment has been switched over to heating duty, and my favorite knit wool socks (thanks Tama!) have been pulled out of summer hibernation.
Speaking of temperatures…
When I arrived here, in the sweltering heat of June, I scoffed at the heated toilet seat.
“What a silly, useless thing,” I thought.
Like the seasons of the year, how things change. I flipped that switch back on for the first time the other day and it won’t go back off until next summer.