TOGA

It was my birthday. I'm 25 now.

I built this eki on rock & roll

I'm really sold on this waiting room, they look like they teach the science of chill.

STEP IN TIME, STEP IN TIME!

This poster looks like it was fun to put together. I've never seen a tipsy businessman with moves like that, though.

LET'S GO SHOPPING

How many trips to Loft does it take to pick a bento box? It's a very important decision. You only have 2,000 yen. You have to figure out what kind of lunch you'll be packing. And how the box will fit in your bag. You know? And you really only need one. You're not gonna come buy another bento box. I couldn't decide so I just got the cheapest of the finalists.

"Im looking for a bento box, it cant be pinku (thats japanese for pink) or any girl color.

It has to be of 2 or more kotoba (thats japanese for 2 compartments) and has be be chibi (small) sized.
And has to be really kawaii (cute). Also It has to be about 10-20 bux.

And you have to post pics of it first (i want to make shure it's kawaii [cute]). And it would be nice if it came with matching chopstick holder (WITH chopsticks).

OH! and it CANNOT have any cartoon pictures, or be made out of plastic. It has to be made of ceramic, or something like that.

Also it would be nice if it was made in japan. and not in china or corea (korea) or whatever.

I have found a bento box similar to the one im describing in e-bay, but it was 1 kotoba, and i dont want my gohan (rice) to touch my other things (it can get wet and i would not like that, plus 2 compartments looks more kawaii)"

This is like my third choice, they were out of the slim one in green and out of this one in blue! But it has 2 kotoba and will take ii care of my kawaii gohan yo.

life has no beginning

I'm suddenly addicted to these paper lotion moisture face masks, even though I can't read the package and rarely know exactly what I'm putting on my face. So far, so good.

That's what's in those packets. They were a hundred yen each so I thought I'd try them out and see if my face dies. And that yellow bottle is MOIST HAIR MILK. I am always so happy when I smell like my idealized vision of an elegant old Japanese grandmother -- recently I realized the people who tend to be smelling my hair here might not find that so delightful. Fuck 'em.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Yesterday it was fucking snowing. WTF. But today was beautiful. I tried to call my mom in the morning. She didn't answer, but her ring tone was Boston's Long Time/Foreplay. It put me in such a good mood. Let me share that with you.

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! Summer! I'm ready!

I'm always relaxed and productive at this kissaten. I went there after lunch to work on lesson plans. I'm adjusting to a major lifestyle change this month. For the last year I've been working at a bottom-rung teaching job, part-time, miserable work, no money, and so much free time. It's been an extremely interesting. I'm not sure if you can tell or not. I know some of you can, haha.

I don't like jobs. I'm almost 25 and I still say that, and you shouldn't bother telling me to grow up. I want to live my weird life and write however I want and that's it. I just have to keep finding ways to get away with it. For now I'm compromising because I get my own class of older kids who speak native English and I get to teach them literary analysis however I want. I was hoping this would help ease the pain of waking up at 5:30 and getting home at 6:20 and going to bed at 10:30 and having no time to work on anything of my own. I was right. I don't have as much time to get into trouble but I am really fascinated with the way everything looks right now.

Plus, no more school lunch, so I get to pack my own! Don't make fun of it. You got camarones in your bento? Creo que no.

I also made cornbread today! It was so good. I love these cans of baking powder. I meant to learn to cook Japanese food in Japan but I didn't find it all that fun, for some reason.

Great Article on Japanese Host Clubs

I forgot to publish this post. One of my top favorite Japan blogs, Tokyo Moe, shared a link to this great interview with a guy who does group portraits of hosts.

Japanese host clubs in photographs.
Or, "More Hair Than Face."

CNNGo: Where does that specific host style come from -- with the feathered hair, dark skin, etc.?

Numata: I think they are imitating popular male idols like those from Johnny's Jimusho. There is a lot of crossover with gyaru-o style. And I think they try to match their customers' style which is very gyaru. When I started taking pictures though, the hosts didn't look very gyaru-o. They just wore suits and didn't have that crazy feathered hair. There are still a lot of old-school hosts who look like enka singers. The guys before the gyaru-o came in looked like Takuya Kimura. The mainstream hosts now don't really have that fake tanned skin anymore though. It depends on the place, but there are many guys who look like Visual-kei bands too.

This seems so straightforward but I'd never thought about it before. What will hosts look like in twenty years?

NI-CHOME PART-NI

Probably the most accurate so far in this series. I had been up for about 24 hours and was running on a pint of whiskey mixed with like, fruity Calpis or something? I know. Believe me. It took some serious peer pressure to choke that shit down in the middle of the street.

Special thanks to this guy for stopping with his posse to fab up the occasion. Free publicity for you, my fleeting friend:

That night was fuckin crackers.

Weekend = Much Better

Fuck bad days!

1. Hanami in Inokashira Park with Amanda

2. Favorite ugly sweater + favorite old dress + cheap sunglasses + no makeup = YUSSS

3. Ganbanyoku. This was my third time. I love it. I want to do it all the time. It really does make your skin look and feel amazing.

4. Laser Hair Removal. I got it on my bikini line. It fucking hurt but I was stoked the whole time because how rad would it be to just forget about your bikini line forever? Sorry I don't have a picture for this, I should have showed you the blue scrunchy paper thong I got to wear.

5. Wild fucking animals

My Worst Day in Tokyo

I woke up unstable and spent all day looking stupid in a stupid ponytail and a stupid outfit. I was stranded in Tokyo Station for almost two hours because all the trains to my destination were canceled due to mad winds and nobody could figure out whether to reschedule or what. I finally ended up taking two different trains for another hour to what seemed like the middle of nowhere and had to trip through puddles looking for a bus. The bus driver was really mean to me for no reason.

My bangs got all messed up in the wind and the clammy trains and I had to pin them back on a wild bus with a compact mirror balanced on my knee while I tried not to cry. The bus dropped me off someplacee I'd never been and I had to run around looking for my school, finally arriving to the meeting 40 minutes late.

Afterward I was advised to walk to a different station for a quicker trip home, avoiding delays. I got lost in the rainy back roads of the urban backwoods carrying a 10lb textbook with the wind blowing in my face, my eyes watering all my makeup off while I yowled to a friend over the phone.

I finally got to a station and shuffled onto the right color of train without paying attention. A half hour later found myself at the end of the line in Chiba. Heartbreak. I dragged myself off the train and across the platform to the one going in the right direction and refused to move. Until over an hour later when I realized I'd managed to take one of the trains that ends before my stop and was now heading back toward Tokyo.

This was the worst commuting day I've had yet in Tokyo but the worst part was being in a weepy awful mood the whole time and finding out my new co-workers are friendly and normal native English speakers and having to scramble to rediscover my social skills after a year of working in an isolated corner of hell. I was not so successful. I'm so excited about my new job but I must have made a horrible first impression because all I could think was Don't cry, don't cry, soon you'll be home eating scrambled eggs.

Today fucking sucked. Tomorrow: hanami, ganbanyoku, my first laser hair removal, and coffee. By 4PM I will be made of gold.