Penny Hero (dot) Net

We were sitting in line to enter a restaurant on the 8th (or was it 9th?) floor of a shopping center when the crowds and crushing bodies started to get to me. I suddenly became very dizzy. I had to close my eyes to keep them from flickering back and forth watching people pass. It was one of those odd experiences that maybe you will have a million times in your life, but for some reason that time is the one you’ll remember. Like, some kind of explosive realization of something you have been repeatedly told finally strikes you as true. It just suddenly sunk in how very many people live in Tokyo.

There are people everywhere. Passing in and out of stores in an almost steady flow. Not in waves; there is no common source, or common destination. People weave in and out of eachother’s way, bumping bags, wandering into the streets, dodging bicycles… In Akihabara district (the electronics “store” that must be at least a mile in diameter) they actually close all the streets to traffic during the day because of the crowds. It is amazing to see… but an extreme psychic drain to actually spend time there. We took a break from the crowding and went into a (three story) McDonald’s where we had to wait about 15 minutes before a seat opened up.

—-

Well… I think my language skills have improved. Er, maybe. We were walking along outside the Akihabara station, and I was looking at all the signs and buildings half-trying to read them, half just enthralled by the florescent colors. I found myself reading this one sign… it was black with bright yellow characters running down the side of this 11-story building: “大人コンビニ”. If you know what that says, you’ll understand why I stopped and started laughing uncontrollably. Of all the signs I understand completely, it has to be the one advertizing what may be the largest adult-only store on the planet. When I stopped laughing at myself, I pulled out my camera and took a picture. I couldn’t leave without a shot of an 11-story porn shop. Tomo wouldn’t shut up after that. “エッチ　だよ、エメリさん！” I think I whacked him with my fan.

Oh fans. Yeah that’s another only-in-Japan thing. There are street soliciters scattered throughout every district… at least two or three per block. Mostly they look like high-school students. They hand out fliers or advertisements or coupons on the street. In some areas, they hand out tissues or cookies with their ads printed on the labels. The least annoying are the plastic fans. They are bright and refreshing and everyone has one. I got one that is advertising some kind of “baka” chocholate candies on one side and www.hoshi.ne.jp on the other. (it has stars all over it! it is cute!). I saw a few people with Eminem fans, advertising his new album. Tomo grabbed a bright pink one with an ad for some band called “Flame”.

I bought a Dragon Ash CD. Yummy. And I bought a Judy and Mary single because I couldn’t afford an album (god… it really might be cheaper to get imported Jpop… it is BLOODY EXPENSIVE even here!) I am going to go back and buy a double disc “best of Cocco” album when I am sure I have enough money to eat during the rest of my trip.

Right now, Tomo is at a job interview. He got up at the un-godly hour of 7am and got dressed in his fancy business suit and and… he looked just like one of those infamous Japanese businessmen. Except his hair was untamed and his tie was sticking out the bottom of his suit and he carried a black canvas bag instead of a briefcase. Tee hee hee. It was so cute that I made him let me take a picture. But then when he left… I had this almost ugly feeling in my gut… some thought in my stomach… I realized how alien Tomo looked in business attire… like he was trying to put on someone else’s life. He didn’t look comfortable. He wasn’t enjoying it. He looked confined and suffocating… and he doesn’t even have the job yet. It’s just so strange to see someone going through the motions of becoming a businessman just because that is what every respectable Japanese male does at that age. But I could be wrong. Maybe this is Tomo’s dream. It is a way to become independent from his parents, and I know how much he wants that… but I just can’t imagine him fading into inpenetrable depths of Japanese working society without a fight. He isn’t a clone. He isn’t like that. Part of me hopes he won’t get a job at one of these local businesses and move on to some other industry… But that isn’t fair. It isn’t my culture, so I can’t really understand what’s really happening… the things I am appalled at may be someone else’s ambition.

Anyway… when he comes home, I need to pack. I will be staying with his cousin in another part of Tokyo for about five days. It will give me a chance to see other parts of Japan, and hang out with a non-male entity for a while too. :) plus, it will give him what I am sure is a much needed mental break from the whole girlfriend thing. ha ha. Then, in about two weeks, we travel to Kochi… *dun-dun-dun-duhhhh* where Penny will face her ultimate challenge: “The Parents”.

Until next time.