dear Jon
Did I mention I adore Jon Stewart? True, the Daily Show has gotten a little less funny in recent years, but it’s not to say they don’t have a good few moments now and again. I finally caught up on a little the other day as I realized I needed to clear some room from my DVR.
I don’t hate McCain, really I don’t. But this is a great clip of the DS ripping on him.
Tokyo - day 4
It’s pretty late right now, and frankly, it’s a little too tiring to write a full blog. Instead, I will just post this video from visiting Tokyo Hands store today. Let’s just say everything you ever wanted is in this store, you just don’t know it yet. How I spent almost $30 just in pens and stationary, I have no clue. But the health and beauty floor was just too cool not to video record.
PS: Every night I’ve come home, my hair smells like meat and soy sauce.
Tokyo Hands - Health & Beauty Section from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.
Tokyo - day 3
It’s been 3 steady days of chaos so far. Yesterday, David and I had our meeting with Sega …which lasted 3 hours. One thing about Japanese meetings, apparently you never wear your shoes. Thank God I got a pedicure. Also, thank God they replenish your green tea midway, because you get the slow sense of exhaustion from jet lag even faster when you’re watching a 3 hour presentation on 3d graphics.
After another meeting, we ran late to a dinner date with Hiroko, David’s good Japanese friend and fashion writer native to here and her Finnish husband. They took us to dinner, and what a dinner it was.
The place was called “Alcatraz ER” … and yes, it was a medical prison themed restaurant. Weaving through the streets of Shibuya, Hiroko even had to use her cell phone GPS to locate the place. You know Tokyo is confusing when even the locals need maps. I especially find it difficult, since there are no street names, but rather the blocks are numbered.
We find the place, near an especially quaint part of the city, located deep in a cluster of “love motels” on the 5th floor of a building.
The entrance is dark, and to enter, you have to press one of five buttons indicating your blood type. When the doors open, you are in a prison ward, with cute servers dressed like nurses and men as doctors. After handcuffing David, and pretend injecting me with a giant syringe, we get guided to our table, which is actually a jail cell. Menus are given, and in order to summon the server, we need to make noise by hitting the pipe against the jail bars. Ahh the joys of themed eating in Japan.
Alcatraz ER Medical Restaurant from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.
Tokyo - day 2
What can I say, it’s been a really interesting trip thus far. Yesterday, David and I had to meet with our resellers to do some work for our upcoming meetings this week, but from about 5pm on we had the night to ourselves.
In trying to get to them, we learned a few “fun facts” about Japan.
- No where really takes American credit cards
- This includes anywhere that sells a Suica Card, which is a multi-ride card for easy transportation in Tokyo
- Suica means melon. Why this cards is named this, I have no clue.
- The only places which does allow you to withdraw American money from your inferior American ATM card are bank machines located a the post office. The post office is CLOSED on Sundays. Wooo!
- Jet lag is hidden until about 6pm, then it hits you like a bulldozer.
- It’s rude to have your chop sticks face someone at the table when you rest them.
Well that’s about it. Today we have meetings and we’re still trying to confirm travel for Kyoto this weekend. Though it’s looking less and less likely as the Japanese have their Spring break now, and it’s such a popular place hotels are all booked.
Here’s a video from our dinner last night. It’s Teppan, and it tooks us 40 minutes to find. Remind me to brush up on the Hirigana and Kanji.
Teppan Meal in Shibuya at Ten Restaurant from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.
