As the proverb goes, only a fool would never climb Mt Fuji, and only a fool would climb Mt. Fuji twice. Vladi and I, wishing to avoid the stigma of the first category, surmounted it last weekend. Given my record with floods in Prague and SARS in Singapore, I thought that taunting a giant volcanoe might be fool hardy. Fortunately, the sunrise was well worth it. As to the wisdom behind the proverb, the trip to the top can be quite trying. In our case, that trial sprung from the fact that -- of the 200,000 people who climb Mt. Fuji every year -- 199,000 chose to do it the same day we did. So the last four hours to the top of consisted of standing in Disneyland-like lines, taking two steps, waiting 20 seconds, taking another two steps and so forth. Even the summit had lines to the bathrooms. I guess the Japanese concept of getting out into nature does not encompass getting away from the human masses.   ¶ 8/31/2003 11:21:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

Japanese people, without exception, draw smiley faces using three crescents and one circle (so that the eyes are like this: "^ ^"), as opposed to two dots, one crescent and one circle. In the future, there will be a war over the correct smiley face design.   ¶ 8/28/2003 06:13:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

Customer service in Japan is truly exceptional. From the time I step up to the counter, to the time I leave, any given cashier will emit a constant stream of gibberish Japanese pleasantries. When exiting a large restaurant today, I counted some 16 employees who stopped what they were doing to turn and say goodbye to me on my way out. One time, at a Starbucks, I left a one yen coin at the register (worth a bit less than one penny) -- the cashier ran after me to return it to me. Returning to customer service in Prague is going to kill me.   ¶ 8/27/2003 11:35:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

According to the travel websites, Tokyo is a "Place where the urgent rhythms of consumer culture collide with the quieter moments that linger from older traditions". That may be true. More accurately, I would say, is that Tokyo is a place where everyone collides with everyone else. This place is a pedestrian madhouse! Shinjuku station has nearly two million people pass through it everyday. The greater Tokyo area is 30 million people. And I have managed to bump into each and every one of them.  ¶ 8/19/2003 01:38:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

Noting that America considers cyber attacks terrorism, and that this MSBlaster virus probably originated in America, I'd say I'm just about fed up with American-sponsored terrorism against Japan. Can't you people keep your militants in your own borders?! It's high time for Japan to launch a war on American terrorism.  ¶ 8/14/2003 09:49:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

Japan, by virtue of its racial and cultural homogeny, is able to provide certain consumer conveniences that would be impossible elsewhere. Take the vending machines -- they have them on just about every street corner, pumping out cigarettes, coca cola, beer, etc.* In most American cities, these machines would be vandalized beyond repair in a matter of minutes. They'd be broken and grafittied and have teenagers crushed underneath them. Japanese, however, can put vending machines in dark alleys, in subway stations, and just about every other imaginable location. Same goes with public bathrooms. There are free public bathrooms all over the place here. And on the subway, they hang advertisements loosely from the car ceilings -- dangling precariously over people's heads and enticing hooligans to jump up and snatch them down. But no hooligans emerge. It's as if the thought never occurred to them. All this law-abidingness makes for terribly convenient shopping. I can get the best little eel on rice sandwiches at the AM/PM just down the street, and the vending machine next to our door has seen a fair bit of action as well. 500 yen coins go flying out of my pocket as if they were made of helium. *including some bizarre, milky-white substance labelled "Pocari Sweat" which I'm still afraid to try)  ¶ 8/13/2003 10:44:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

A new blog. A fresh Blog. A blog to be proud of and sing from the mountains: "YES! YES!! I will have comments available on my blog!"  ¶ 8/12/2003 01:55:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

I went to see the Tokyo fireworks today. American fireworks are kind of silly because everywhere in America, they do all their fireworks simultaneously on the same day. So you can't go from one show to the next. The Japanese, being a more efficient breed of human being, have arranged their summer fireworks into a "season" lasting all of August. So every weekend in August, you can go with 1.4 million friends to crowd around various locations and see shows lasting up to 90 minutes. Tonight I saw the 90 minute variety. I must admit though - the "exploding balls of light" theme becomes a bit overworn at minute number 45 or so. We went for a McDonald's break halfway through. But you really have to give credit to the Tokyo fireworks people: they spend the money on the fancy stuff. Fireworks that make a catface, smiley face, saturn-type planet thing, volcanoe-like sprays of fireworks, and super-high, ear-splitting sonic boom fireworks were all on the docket. I spent most of the time trying to make artsy digital photos of the kimono girls in the audience though.  ¶ 8/10/2003 11:29:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

So I haven't written about Tokyo yet. How to describe Tokyo . . . well, perhaps start with the toilets, as toilets are indeed a microcosm of society as a whole. The toilet in Tokyo exists as a tiny little room in the house. Not much space is allocated to the toilet (nor anything else), but the devices are nevertheless packed with electro wizardry. The 'western toilets' typically feature heated seats, auto-flush detection, and an automated butt-spraying device which extends from a hidden compartment when the appropriate button is pressed. You can adjust the temperature and force of the spray, and there an automatic fan starts up to suck away any unpleasant odors. Apparently in the women's restroom, there is also a speaker system which generates a constant "splashing water" noise to encourage shy women to pee in public without continuously and wastefully flushing. When I first sat on a toilet here, I was like a little kid sitting in first class for the first time - playing with all the buttons and such. The Japanese-style toilets are built into the ground and are built in such a way so that you can squat over them without physically touching any dirty surface. They refill with water from a faucet so that you can wash your hands and save water.  ¶ 8/03/2003 08:31:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

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