Another Birthday

I have to admit, April 8, 9, and 10, are three of my favorite days, when I am in Tokyo.

April 8th is the Buddha’s Birthday. You can read up on this one on those Interwebs.

April 9th is normally the prime day for cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo. This might have changed. Who knows?

April 10th is my birthday.

You throw these all together, and you discover that you have given your Japanese friends PRIME EXCUSE NUMBER ONE to get you RIGHT ROYALLY RIP-SNORTING SCHNOCKERD for three whole days. Do I miss this? Partially. There are other things I miss. Little things.

For one, I doubt this changed, but many houses use kerosene heaters. You can smell this kerosene in the streets on occasion. The only other time I smell this is on a flight line, Whether a civilian airport, or a military base. I might be out there on that tarmac, however, I feel like I am in Ome, Kamakura, or Towada City.

Contrary to the American myth about Japan, they tend to have BETTER restaurants than in America. They tend to do better with the chains that American companies brought over. DENNY’S in Japan tends to have a better menu than in the USA, in my opinion. MCDONALD’S fries actually taste HEALTHY. There are other chains, like MISTER DONUT, who claim American roots, however, you see none of their outlets in the USA. Can anyone out there can find a MISTER DONUT in the USA, or send me a PIC? These chains, though their branding might be comical, do not disappoint with regards to what’s on the menu. They even have been getting better at making PIZZA. Now, if they will just stop putting MAYONAISE on them.

Now, I suggest that people go to YAHOO! Japan Directory. Specifically, the Shopping and Services section. (I have hyperlinked it, as you can tell in the orange letters, so you don’t have to navigate through the Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji to get to it. I suggest you use FIREFOX so you can see more of the path in the status bar, if you need friendly English navigational help.) You will find some merchants that sell some really neat stuff. I mean stuff you simply do NOT see in America, or, at LEAST, the equivalents in the USA are not as cool.

The majority of places I have been to, whether visiting, or living, in the USA, just don’t match up. I am not much of a holiday celebration guy, but, these are MY favorite three days…

Special mention goes to GOOGLE EARTH, and to DOTNETNUKE.

I now return you to your regular websurf…

 

Sunday Morning

Normally, I go to sleep early. My regular time is 3AM or so, however, on SUNDAYS, I tend to go to sleep around 10 – 11PM Arizona Standard Time. Right now, I am watching some classic inspiration in the form of Anime.

I am watching an episode of BUBBLEGUM CRASH, which was, in my opinion, the UNFINISHED offshoot of the BUBBLEGUM CRISIS series. The first thing, after several years of them not being watched, is the attention to detail the artists did on the city. All the areas of Old Tokyo that had that architecture that Godzilla liked to knock down, (Including the buildings with the BATHROOM TILES on the OUTSIDE of the building) WERE. All were replaced by a marvel of graphic artistry. The immediate scenery, such as computer systems, machinery panels open to show all the wires and such, were in complete detail. I even compliment the 2040AD series of having this detail. Much like the game VAMPIRE: BLOODLINES inspired me to take an impromptu trip to Los Angeles back in 2005, This series further inspires the Tokyo trip.

One thing I like about some of the anime out there is the fact that they will have names that, though there is a reason for the name, older people, not into anime, will scoff and laugh. They tend to not have heard of the series mentioned.

When I declared, back in May 2006, that I was going to start my series, the one person helping me out with some issues involving me being laid off from my job, mocked and scoffed at the name. I said to him, “Ever hear of these anime names? “Bubblegum Crisis, A.D. Police, Cowboy Bebop, Blue Submarine #6, Serial Experiments – Lain, and (Here’s one for you) Boogiepop Phantom?” His reply was that he had never hear of them, because Harold’s ideas will go NOWHERE. I explained to this “Person”, that those were the titles to anime (And some MANGA) that were hits in both Japan AND America. His response was that if they WERE actual anime, then the Japanese wouldn’t be so foolish in their naming conventions. Well, at the time, I had ALL of these in my library, and I showed them to him. When I explained to him the name of MY series would blend in well, he still shook his head in disbelief that there were things named like these were.

Well, this guy DID mention that if I am ever known in this particular business, that he does not want his name associated with me. FINE. I make that one a blanket policy. If what I am trying to get going goes anywhere positive, then whose who treated me in the same manner as that guy did will get the same blanket treatment:

“WHO? I am sorry, there isn’t anyone at this company who even knows who you are. You DEFINATELY have the WRONG NUMBER. Check out our website for further details on our upcoming releases. Have a nice day at your grid coordinates on Planet Earth. <click>”

I am currently watching a video with the original BUBBLEGUM CRISIS Japanese voice actresses singing songs from the series. these were recorded in the late 80s – early 90s. I was up in Aomori Prefecture from 1990 to 1992, so, these videos remind me of some of the Girl band concerts I went to. The two best ones I liked that Japan put out (And most of America missed) were Pink Sapphire and Princess Princess (There is an animated series with the same name, so, unless you add the name of the lead singer, Kaori Kishitani, when you Google Fu this band, you will be inundated with hits from the series, and not this great band.).

So you will know, The member of Pink Sapphire I liked a lot was MIKI ISHIDA, the bassist, and the one of Princess Princess that shared that same pedestal was TOMOKO KONNO, the Keyboardist.

Well, I might as well post this now, before I fall asleep and forget. The TERRIBLE thing about Sundays, is that when I am preparing myself for the day, I don’t have to BE at work, until 3PM, however, I am not coming back to the house until after work, so, I am getting ready for work around 7AM! Ugh…That’s how these things are done, I guess.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled websurf…

Back from the STAYCATION…

Ugh…Well, I am not going to go into this too much, because someone out there has a wooden kitchen utensil with my name on it, so I have to be nice. Someone who was living on the property came back from one of his GALAVANTS all across the country (On someone ELSE’S GAS, on someone ELSE’S DIME…), and, from TUESDAY until Saturday morning, totally trashed my STAYCATION. The side effect of which, was my JOY to be back at WORK.

Unless you have your own business, the worst part of any VACATION/STAYCATION is traveling back home (If a VACATION.), or going back to work (If a STAYCATION). Well, I was not so lucky.

Hopefully, The Kalamazoo trip will be nice…

I cannot wait for the STAYCATION.

This Friday starts the STAYCATION. If I am still working under my current employer next year, my vacation time should be all saved up for the Tokyo trip, in April.

<– Nice Google Earth pic

Above is part of the NIHONBASHI area. The inn that I will be staying at will be in this area. They have a REAL GOOD DEAL. I must make sure that, with the exception of Vol. 1 of the story, and the LLC being formed, I need the following before I set foot in the boarding gate:

1. Plane Ticket (Goes without mentioning)
2. Room Reservation
3. JR rail pass (I plan on being there for about 18 days.)
4. Travel Insurance (Just in case…)

Add to the fact that you want to buy a LOT of stuff that you cannot find on Planet Phoenix, then you still need to have some serious funds. This time, however, since I am going to try to pack MODERATELY light, this will not be happening. I will probably attempt to find two or three CDs that I cannot find in the U.S., that I lost almost ten years ago, but that’s probably it.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled web surf…