The Tokyo-Ho Japan Chronicles - Day 3

Day 3 - Tuesday, May 29th



We'll call this day the Great Yokohama Piggyh Adventure.

Sure we did other things than this but this was by far the most memorable thing that happened to us that day.

And so the story goes...

We went out to Yokohama and before entering Chinatown there was this Arcade. It was the first real one we had seen, so we went in after 9 AM to hit up some Taiko Drum Master (which is my new favourite game and at least, the one that was most fun at the arcades) and to test our hands at some UFO Catchers.

For 100 yen, we managed to grab one pig from the second row of white and black piggies and out came tumbling that pig dragging 6 others with him! It was hilarious. There were pigs all over the ground! My head hurt from laughing so hard and we made our escape from the Arcade, with two bags of pigs, a previously obtained gloomy bear, and a monkey, with the girls working at the arcade watching us slink off like dirty criminals! But hey, Beetchie won those pigs fairly. Ah, they must have hated having to re-arrange that UFO Catcher Machine.

We then headed to the Doll Museum. It was cool yet scary as expected from a Doll Museum.



::shudder::

Also, I now have questions as to who "Licca" is (not that crazed scary betch in the picture above) as she seems to be the Barbie of Japan.

Our next destination was Chinatown. The problem with this Chinatown was that while it was the dirtiest part of Japan that we had seen and would see for the entire trip (yes, even the fish market was cleaner), it was still not at the level of NYC Chinatown dirt, taking away a vital feeling of what makes Chinatown what it is.

The other thing missing was the people on the street trying to sell you CD/DVD or Louis vitton on the sly.

As far as we could tell, there were no Chinese people in Chinatown but if they were, they were all speaking Japanese. It was very odd.

Also, the Chinatown in Japan has seen it fit to bastardize pandas. They've been exploited by trying to make them marketable. Save the Pandas! By buying some useless panda junk!

Here's that damned monkey in a panda suit:



But like our Chinatown, there's a tiny section in Chinatown that some Europeans have called home. It's not Italians but Ukkers. Ah, Ukkers. I was happy to see them.

Our last stop to that day took us to a residential area not far from a busy train station where we scared some kids and made them nervous as they hurried off to their parents. We were actually a little bit lost trying to find the Ramuen Museum.

Ah, Ramuen Town. It was shady and a re-creation of a dirty little ramen-serving town with multiple ramen shops. It was small but cool and quirky. Beetchie loved it plenty.



The WTF Moment(s) of the Day:

1. I don't know what's up with that Hokkaido Mascot and its relation to Ramuen but yeah. That thing was obscene.

2. WTF's up with the 'u' in 'ramuen'? I need to wiki that.

The Casualty Count:

1. The little sumo guy I bought Beetchie fell off her bag and almost lost to Yokohama. Fortunately, due to his large ass in red sumo undies, I managed to spot him on the grey ground but he, ::sniff:: sadly lost an arm.

2. Beetchie's virtual puppy that she could not walk and later was attacked by a larger dog. Let us all have a moment of silence...



Things We Observed This Day - Volume III

1. Those goddamned Japanese bicyclists are crazy! Many times did my life flash before my eyes.

2. Licca, unlike Barbie, has had many man whores. Ken's got nothing on her.

3. I can't slurp ramen. 10+ years of ramen eating habits could not be broken in 2 weeks, no matter how polite in Japan it is to slurp.

The Day's Eats:

1. That weird breakfast with a not fully cooked egg, kielbasa sausage, salad, seaweed, miso soup, and rice. The even weirder breakfast that Beetchie had. It's not the fact that she had grilled salmon for breakfast with rice, it was the natto that made it not so good. She has now deemed herself Nattofan. It was god awful but she says that activating it was fun.

Let us all be revolted by the following picture:



2. Pork ramen from Ramuen Town. Oh that was greatness.

3. Dim sum in Chinatown. It was not the same as dim sum here because there are no carts zipping around but there are set meals that have lots of dumplings, gyoza and shumai. I was not too impressed by those dumplings because I have to say curry should never be in a dumpling. At least they were nice to look at. Stupids! I'd rather have a happily filled stomach than happy eyes when it comes to food!

4. Shumai on a stick. Mmmm. Street shumai.

5. Absinthe and a 'cranberry'/vodka combination that actually turned out to be a 'grapefruit' juice/vodka combination. Much like the T-shirt and tie combination, it wasn't that impressive. I probably should have thrown a hissy fit but they were so sweet, how could I?

Currently listening to (as I revise the draft): Man of Mystery by MUSE.

The Magical Animal

Pig Withstands Tasers, Cops on U.S. 41


GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- A pig withstood taser shots from police officers and eluded authorities for more than an hour after wandering onto Green Bay's major highway. The 150-pound pig was spotted by a passing driver on U.S. 41 at 6 p.m. Wednesday night, Green Bay Police Lt. Todd LePine said.

The animal reportedly went into traffic several times, creating a hazard, he said.

Officers located the pig about 7 p.m. and made two attempts to subdue it with a stun gun, he said, but it fled both times after pulling out the Taser probes.

A passerby who described himself as a former pig farmer tried to wrestle the animal, but the animal pulled away from him as well, LePine said.

Three tranquilizer darts were finally used to bring the pig under control, and it was placed in blanket and lifted into an animal control van, LePine said.

The animal was taken to the Bay Area Humane Shelter that evening. Police said a local attorney planned to claim the pig Thursday. The name of the pig's owner was not disclosed.

Any piggy that withstands tasers and is hardcore enough to pull the probes out of its body should live forever and not even be considered to be baconized.
Besides which, wouldn't tasering the piggy make the bacon hard? Hmmmm. Don't mess with the bacon. It's just downright sacrilegious.


And yes, the pig is a magical animal. Any animal that can give you such wonderful meats such as ham, porkchops and bacon is magical. Those are the greatest words Homer ever said.

Currently listening to: "Get Over It" by OK Go. By the way, I'm very upset with them. They announced their U.S. Tour Dates today and of course, (because why else would anything go right for me these days) I'll probably be in the U.K. on the day they're in my area.