it`s not my first time in japan, but it has been over sixteen years since my first and only trip to the land of the rising sun. i don`t know that i can exactly call these first impressions, so maybe i`ll just label them my "oh. right. that"`s.
first oh. right. that.
this place is clean. i know you`ve heard that before, but this place is clean. ka-lean. and this observation is both empirically valid and reliable after doing no more than retrieving my bag and hopping into an expressway-bound toyota after leaving the airport. there is not a single piece of litter on the road or in the median. every car appears to have been recently washed. even the neon signs of the love motels look live they`ve been dusted recently. and i just couldn`t help but look around and think and wonder and wish that if all the tiny, well-dressed people could climb out of their shiny office buildings and all the uniformed highway attendants could step out from their adorable, miniature little highway booths and if all the happy drivers could stop their tiny little vehicles right then and there and congregate on that immaculately clean expressway asphalt, we could have an absolutely splendid tickle fight.
slow down, yoshi
it doesn`t matter if i`m running on six hours sleep from the previous night (we don`t need to mention jetlag, even if i am, in fact, mentioning that) or if i`m still full from dinner the night before, cause it`s time to wake up and hit the tsukiji fish market. this is a huge tourist draw despite the hour and it makes sense that they would do all in their power to dissuade that. for one, people are working. another is that apparently (well, not apparently, as i happen to know at least four people who have done this) some of the tourists visit the market after a night out at the bars and clubs. standing there dead sober, i could see the danger with all the hustling of the early morning workers. they are carrying tuna. they are chopping tuna. they are filing through with hand-pulled carts. they have mini-motorcycles. there are miniature lorries and pickups and there seems to be a small cavalry of guys zipping through on these vehicles that basically look like a wooden platform attached to the back of a standing oil drum. and that`s when it hits me: there is no way any other culture could have invented mario kart.
holy maguro
a big newsmaker (i even read about this in the states) was the record price fetched for one particular tuna at tsukiji. ¥55,000,000 (north of $700,000). obviously, it`s pretty big. and pretty tasty, as per its fat content. as i sat down to have my own bite of it, i learned that the winning bidders overpaid as a form of advertisement. all the local and national media covered it, ensuring that sushikanzai (translation: sushi addict), a chain that is more or less the local equivalent of applebee`s, would have great press for weeks. an additional reason was that by overpaying and taking a loss by offering its pieces far below market value, the restaurant was gambling that its generosity would translate into a prosperous new year. as a beneficiary, i certainly hope it does.
linguistics
i nominate japanese as one of the world`s most beautiful languages. it`s breathed more than it is spoken, coming out with crisp consonants and soft vowels in between. if i were ever to write and compose some intricate dinner theater piece where all of the characters were fluffy cats and in time-period costumes, the dialogue would be in japanese.
where it counts
while withholding from the rant i am certainly capable of, one can`t help but notice that somewhere, or maybe even everywhere, in the last thirty years the u.s. fell behind. way behind. if you take apple out of the picture, it`s pretty bleak. while we spent the past thirty years devising new ways to trade paper, this part of the world was innovating. they got more efficient transportation, better technology, and more comfortable waste disposal. literally. they`ve got heated toilet seats over here.
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