no secret

day 44

there's a lesson in everything, if you can dial out the frustration.

here's what i learned today: when your camera is at hip height, it doesn't see the same things you do.

so instead of the lavish spread of delicacies tempting me at tobu's 2nd food level, i have for you a couple of pictures of packaging.

photos are not allowed, so i had little choice. as you can tell, i'm still working on my 'secret mode'.

shades of twilight

day 43

good news: stella busted her camera
bad news: she took mine all day for her field trip

when she got back, this was parked outside.
it was gone in the morning.

the days are just packed

day 42

i played badminton today. at least, that's the game the other people were playing - after six months off, i'm not sure what i was playing.

it was a lot of fun - but i didn't take the camera.

afterwards, we went on a ride in search of the best local ramen. two nearby places get a mention at world of ramen.



we found both, but one had a huge line up, so we went through this unassuming doorway instead.






the interior was simple, clean, and built for one thing only.






the best ramen we've had to date, even beating the ramen museum. it's fish based though, which isn't my favorite. i think my favorite is something we call "ramen overload", which is pork based, and sends you into a coma right after consumption.






just have to post another pic of our trusty muji bikes. they take us everywhere, and we love them.






and another oddity. in tokyo, i was expecting to find all sorts of items for sale from vending machines. but in fact, it's just drinks and food. so stumbling across this battery machine was really exciting. really, the days are just packed.

2006 yonex open

day 41

okay, so here's the next best thing to playing badminton. a world open competition - something we will never see in vancouver.



i arrived early, because i hadn't reserved a seat. don't bug me about it - the reservation system is in japanese.






i managed to get floor seating - with the players - and freedom to walk up and down to watch any match. it doesn't get any better.






it's a five day event - i was watching the first day of match play - which means non-stop games from 11am until 7pm on all 8 courts.






there were three canadians entered! i chatted with bobby milroy, who's a good sport, and was kind enough to spare me a few minutes even though he'd just lost a tough game. you lose, you're out, and he was heading to china the next week for another tournament. that's him on the bottom right.






anna rice was another canadian - she's from north van. unfortunately, all three canadians lost in the first round. still fun to watch though.






because the tournament was in tokyo, there were plenty of japanese entrants (in pink). at times, there was one on every court. the crowds were still thin for the first day.






lin dan - world number 1, and winner of this tournament. it's fitting that he's alone in these two pictures - the whole game was pretty much that way.

日本語

day 40
sumimasen, nihon-go ga wakarimasen.

being illiterate is a fascinating experience. and i mean that in the most perverse way. i left the frustration stage long ago - and i'm riding the acceptance wave. now it's just natural that every day when i point to something specific on the menu, what shows up at the table is a total surprise.

i'm fine with that, but then - i'm not trying to earn a living here. or doing very much at all, really. which got me thinking - i'm missing out on a heck of a lot. it doesn't feel that way, but there it is.

so i decided to look into playing badminton.



here's my first hurdle. actually, finding out where to play was the first hurdle, and locating the shinjuku cosmic centre was the second. but i overcame those with english.

this is the schedule for the gym. i think. i depend on numbers a lot. looks like 5 gyms, 4 time slots.

i'm picking up some reading skills too. at the top is 10 moon 10 sun (fire). 10th month, tenth day (tuesday). and badminton occurs... no idea.

let's move on.






ah hah! vending machine for the gym. love the vending machines. it's just me and the buttons, no protracted bowing and apologizing that inevitably ends with confusion for both parties.

only, no pictures.

so, just like that, dead end. no idea where the badminton is, no idea how much to pay for it.






if this were a job search, i'd end up here.

rest stop

day 39

rest. domestic day. but i still went for a walk.

cultural madness

day 38

yoyogi park is where harajuku ends, and the true madness begins. on sundays, you can find most of tokyo hanging out in the park. it's like a circus, without the audience. every nook and cranny has been seized by performance.

for some reason, i only have pictures of musical things. which means i'm missing pictures of capoeira, kiting, judo, frisbee, aikido, soccer, marbles, fencing, knot-tying, and cult worship. but we saw all these, and more too. i didn't notice any archery, which is strange, because for the last few weeks there have been people all over tokyo carrying around 7' long bows, carefully wrapped in expensive cloth. i have no idea why.

we start with the rockabilly line dancers.








there were so many bands lined up on the sidewalk, they had to take turns performing because they were only 10' apart. sometimes, they'd all fire up at once which was challenging.

this one was into soft metal - which you can tell by the hat.











some of the bands were really good. we sat and watched for an hour or more.






there was a large drum contingent, which was mesmerizing.











and with drums, dancing.











this guy - not so good. which is probably why he's here. the same reason, more or less, they're all here - there's nowhere else to go.