Lost in Translation

i finally had that moment where i felt completely out of place. i went to nakano to this huge multi-level department store with just about nothing but anime, manga, games and toys. (joel, i still couldn't find your toys - i did see a movie toy of optimus but i left the sheet at nari's, so i wasn't sure if it's the right one!). i more than enjoyed myself, just walking around and taking everything in. and window shopping doesn't really get old. it mostly hit me in the anime and manga book stoes - thousands of serials, and i can't understand a single word. this is vastly different than my european travels, where at least if i didn't understand the language, the characters were recognizable. not so in japan. some of that manga looks great! ranging from fantasy, to yakuza crime stories, to sexy time, to who knows what! just about none of it was in english. i ended up buying some anime art books; pictures do speak a thousand words. i may get some porno manga, but at least i understand what's happening, if i can't decipher the dialogue i can make it up as i go along. maybe it's the gay geek talking, but some of those gay manga comics are way hot.

following hours in the nakano shops, i had an amazing lunch of noodles and marinated pork in a sweet chili broth with some gyoza on the side. i spent that time working on my plans for this weekend - i am going to get in some pre-Fuji hiking and see some of the neighboring towns. Lonely Planet says they are goregeous. i will ask Nari for advice. he has a friend coming in from britain tonight, so i think the three of us are going to hit the town. tomorrow, he is taking his niece to see Wicked, performed entirely in japanese.

following lunch, and some video game playtime in an arcade, tokyo got a little rain. so here i am, ducking into an internet cafe where you can rent manga and a booth, and have a private space for as long as you want to pay for (80 yen per minute) (currently, 1 dollar = 105 yen). these cafes are open 24 hours and provide a place to sleep if you miss the last train home - the chair reclines quite nicely and the cushions are rather comfortable. but that is one thing i would change about tokyo - there is a bustling nightlife and many people live far from center city - why are your trains stopping service at 1am? who wants to leave the bar at 1230? if nights are anything like last night, not I, I say. toodles.