For some reason Webgard and Radiohead go together really really well. I started at the beginning and didn’t stop till I had the last post finished. In the middle there was dinner but more about that later.
For one thing he has a post about monkeys and I can never get enough of monkeys, they rock. Alive or dead stir fried or in a zoo either way they rock. And I think this year is the year of the Monkey. Go on have some fun with your monkey.
Next best post is Ketchup cause it was totally logical and the one female friend I showed it to said what an asshole. Complicated is the exact reason why I try to never have political stuff on my site it just is too complicated. I think it was more sad than fake but it needed a picture someone should draw something after reading that it just screams out pencil sketch. Legofish doesn’t see how some people can write about other stuff at a time like this. I can sympathize with that feeling but at the same time beside donating money there is not much else that we can do. Neema has done such a great job that I feel anything else would be redundant. I’ve emailed all of my friends and asked them to donate, beside that I am not sure what else we can do.
Now on to dinner this is a very easy dinner and even you can cook it .
Hardware: Chicken, potatoes, onions, black pepper, red pepper, salt
Software: a deep dish, oven.
Take one whole fresh chicken and cut it to smaller pieces. Put it in the oven and put the oven on broiler with the skin side up. After about 10 minutes the skin will be crunchy, turn it over add your potatoes back in the oven. 10 more minutes and the potatoes will have turned a nice brown color, add in the onions salt and peppers and turn the oven down to 400-450 degrees. Let it cook for about 45 minutes and turn the chicken around once during that time.
That’s it you are done enjoy.

Oh and if this post doesn’t make too much sense the bunny is for you.

In the 5th grade we smiled at each other and you winked at me from afar. One day I came home and you were there waiting for me. Instead of doing homework I would stare into your bright eyes for hours I’d take you to bed with me if mom didn’t think I was too young for it. Through the years we both grew and changed. You got smarter, funnier and better looking you would mesmerize me for hours. Other things came up but somehow we would meet up always, in different countries speaking different languages. The last few years have been tough. You started to get sleeker, you seem to forget your roots from those early days that we spent together or maybe I have changed. Last week it was the final week, we parted for good. I’ll always have a spot in my heart for you. But I think I am done with video games for good now. I’ll miss it.

If you live under a rock and haven’t heard about the other quake go to nica and donate some money. Neema had a good round up of all the sites.

First I hope all the CA friends are ok after this. We definitely felt it in our office. Just part of the fun of living in CA.

So I struggled a bit with this latest entry first because of the jet lag and the amount of work I had piled up. But I seem to be finally back to normal while things at work have settled down somewhat.

First Geishas are not prostitutes. Of course it’s not as simple as that, they are not prostitutes by Japanese standards which may differ from those of Americans. Geishas are technically trained courtesans who study for years to attain their ranks. They start out as a Maiko and after they have finished their studies they become full-fledged workers. Now a Geisha might take a special client as a sex partner he is called the dana. And as part of her graduation ceremony the dana might pay a large sum of money to the house that she is associated with for the privilege of her virginity. But Geishas will not have sex with all of their customers only the dana. Many of them work until they are 50 or older and some marry the dana after they retire from their trade.
They are however being replaced by hostesses who require no training what so ever and can make a pretty good living.
You might ask what a hostess is, well she might be a prostitute by American standards but really her job is much more of entertainer than a prostitute not that you wouldn’t have sex with her but that’s not the primary purpose of spending your money. If you wanted to have sex you would simply go to one of the various massage parlor/strip clubs that are simply everywhere.
By everywhere I mean everywhere there are massage parlors everywhere, there is a red light district but all that means is the massage parlor/strip club places outnumber everyone else 5:1.
Now at first I thought this was a weekend activity but they are just as busy on Monday night as they are on Friday. The typical Japanese work day seems to be start at 8 work till 8-9pm go out for dinner and drinks and afterwards go out to a massage parlor or some other sort of female entertainment. I was trying to estimate how many girls work at this trade and thought about 20,000. Now if you have seem the Lord of the Rings you know what kind of a difference 20,000 men would have made in that war. Well it turns out that I was wrong. There aren’t 20,000 night courtesans in Tokyo. There 500,000 yes 500,000. That’s an army of massage girls and strippers and hostesses.
This is one of those things that the guidebook barley mentions and yet you wonder how the hell could you miss it. The hourly hotels or the love hotels as they are called are pretty obvious once you know what they are for.
Sex in Japan is everywhere compared to the US, if a store sells any sort of video they have a porn section. If it’s a porn store then it’s 6-7 floors of nothing but porn dvds. Pretty amazing when you compare that to the US. But so long as you don’t try to impose your own moral standards on the place you are fine. No one drags you to any of the houses of ill repute but I think if I was there longer and if I was working with guys instead of girls a trip or two might have been expected. As it was both of my co-workers were female and they were very matter of fact that this was part of Japan and that the men were free to go there if they so chose. I think as Japan is becoming more western this is definitely changing, either there will be less of these places or a more equal number catering to women. The girls I worked with were vastly different, while one was quiet and deferred to the guys the other one was very much take charge and at one point berated her boss that he wasn’t doing his job properly.
All and in all a very fun and interesting week seeing Japan from a work perspective.

new pictures have been posted, will post longer entry over the weekend.
still jet lagged a bit.
Pictures are here.

More parks and more temples, it’s just fun to walk around and see all the shops. Tokyo is every womens dream it’s amazing how many places there are to shop from bazars to malls to high rise buildings. I’ve stopped using the guidbook and now just go to a big station, take a random direction and walk around. In this fashion I ended up at the Belgo bar a small place that specilizes in beers from Belgium. One Delirium beer combined with a plate of lamb later I was happily walking around the Shibuya area. I actually met some Iranian guys and they were pretty much like Iranians in LA, almost same cloths same hair styles.

The fish market was very cool. This is just a small fish market tomorrow morning I’ll be up at 7 to go to the real one in Tsukiji and hopefully take some pictures before I go to Kyoto.
I’ve also been running into strange advertisments. Here is a good example.

I can just imagine how this came about. There was a meeting with a gaijin and the following took place:
G: So it’s great to be here in Japan, what can I do for you guys ?
J: ahh, arigato. We want to make ad, very bossy.
G: ahh so something that says who wears the pants in the relationship.
J: Hai, Hai
G: well I think you guys do things a bit differently here, at least going by my tv last night.
J: oh yes we want to make extra spicy poster, maybe not allowed in the west.
G: oh man, let me tell you what would be good and you’ll probably love it. Last week my girlfriend let me shave her. Now I know I am the boss
J: shave you say ?
G: wink, wink, nudge, nudge, yeah shave her you know what I mean.
J: ahh so deus ka
G: so where do I get more of this sake.

Up at 7 out the door by 8. Fight tokyo traffic and catch two differen trains to the work location. They use different ticketing systems just for fun. Wait by the train station for client to arrive for 20-30 minutes. Enjoy the cold air/rain. For some reason the rule that being late is very very rude doesn’t seem to apply to my contact here.
Work day ended at 8-9pm, go to dinner with client finishe at around 11 back at the hotel by 12. Drop dead on bed. Repeat 5 days.
Today mercifully it’s over. I have not seen any of Tokyo but I am spending two extra days in Tokyo in order to see more of the sights, Mon-Tue it’s off to Kyoto and then on Wed back to the states.
I finally had the puffer fish and I can honestly say that it’s overrated. Best things eaten so far are the sake snaks. What are sake snaks you ask well they are tiny dishes meant to be eaten with your sake. First off it was pickled baby oysters. Raw pickled baby oysters yummy. Next up raw octopus marinated in vineager oh yeah that really hit the spot. Finally baby squid marinated as far as I can tell in its own blood. The damn thing was tiny and looking at me. Did all I could to chew it down and swallow it not thinking if the friggen thing has internal organs that I was chewing on.
On the positive side there is a sushi shop close to work and we stopped by there on Thursday. The place sits maybe 15 people, very typical of japanese places. The sushi chef has worked in the same shop making sushi for 25 years, his vegetables are grown by his mother/father nearby, some of his fish he buys fresh everyday the rest he keeps live in big tanks in the basement. Needles to say the food was simply amazing, nothing like sushi in San Francisco. When he noticed me looking at some of the bottles he had behind the back he sent me a complimentary glass of the stuff. It was called shochu and it’s a drink very much like sake, in this case it was made out of rice but it can also be made out of potato. His shop reminded me of kabab place that is located between Tehran and Kermanshah. After you pass Asadabad (Asads town) and you reach the peak of the mountain there is a tiny kabab place. I first ate there when I was 7 and there was an old man working the grill while his son took the orders. Later on his son managed the grill while his grandson took the orders. A very simple shop with only two dishes kabab and abgosht. Your cups are chipped the pots dented and the food amazing. Last I talked to my dad the grandson is running the place and it still looks exactly the same. That’s the sort of place I like to eat at every day. I was going to rant on about McDonalds destroying the world but it’s 8pm on a Friday in Tokyo. I am free tomorrow but all I can think about is the bed. how much would it suck if I just spent the night slpeeing instead of going out on the other hand the bed is so inviting…..

My meetings are exactly like the scene in lost in translation, there are 15 minute conversations and then somethnig very simple is said to me such as we want to confirm the sky is blue. Also I might have gone more traditional than the japanese. Our first meeting was in their lobby next to their cafeteria, not exactly a place of honor. A big emphasis was made about buisness cards. Apparently they are critical, you have to hold it in both hands and faced towards the person you are giving the card to, then you bow down your head and they take your card. So I am following this little procedure until we come to the one cute girl and she has no buisness card. hmm a subtle insult perhapse ? should I declare war ? Next the meeting was started, now everyone and their dog had told me to have the cell on vibrate because it would be very bad form to have it ring in the middle of the meeting. Half way through there’s the loudest disney anthem you could imagine and it’s from the cute girls phone. Not only had she left it on she picks it up and has a 5 minute conversation. Later on it was explained to me that she’s only 27 and that she’s not quiet used to the buisness etiquette. Somehow 27 is considered very young in the working world of japan. They were amazed to hear I was 27, I guess being from the states and 27 they half expected me to be a poo throwing monkey.

Why you might ask of all things in Japan are you looking at a picture of my hotel room. Well today I learned what a full day of work means to these people. I met my translator at 9, the day went by pretty quickly but by the time we left the job site it was already 8pm. A train ride and a short sushi dinner later it’s 10 pm and I have no energy to go anywhere since I know I have another full day tomorrow.
I have to say I have fully reverted to my childhood days in Iran. The whole bowing down to everyone has me in total taroof mode. I think I freaked out some of my hosts by refusing things 3 times. The other cool thing that everyone wear is slippers I had forgotten how much I enjoy that. Overall this is going to be one busy week with no time for sight seeing. It’s a godo thing I have 4 days of vacation at the end of the week to go and do a bit of traveling inside japan. Hopefully you won’t have to see any other part of my hotel cause all that is left is the bathroom

I have no idea why there is a sign in farsi in the middle of tokyo. The store was closed but it would have been interesting to see what they sell. So far tokyo is turning out to be huge. It’s home to 30 million people and they all have some place to go. Work starts tomorrow and I don’t think I’ll have as much free time to post.
I spent the day walking and taking the JR (Japan Rail) around the city. It’s a very reasonable 160 yen (about 1.60$) for each way, unfortunatly I didn’t see a way to buy a pass that worked everywhere for a week. So I’ll continue to have to buy a ticket each way. I took about 100 pictures and then the cameras battery ran out I’ll try and post some of them later.