Sunday, March 16, 2008

Trip to Japan #2: Resting, finally

Instant noodles, kappuramen, nomnom.

Our most generous hostess didn't want me uploading photos of her half-awake in her pajamas for some reason. I guess I'm respecting her wishes on that matter. *sigh*

In any case, we actually managed to use the subway to get to Naka-Meguro, and from there we took a taxi cab, who dropped us to the address we were given. It took a bit of walking around, but we eventually found the... I guess Maison would be an appropriate expression, actually.

Anyway, I do have a picture of the place from outside, but it took me almost two weeks before I remembered to take it.
There's where the three of us slept. The Air conditioner device pushed hot air down from the ceiling. It ALMOST reached the ground level, which is to say "not quite." In other words, it had to be on quite high to make living bearable.

It was cold, I'm telling you.

Space-wise, it was surprisingly accomodating, although we mostly just slept there. Oh, and watched some TV and played Go, and occasionally Hanne, our hostess, cooked.

...I'm getting a weird vibe from the word "hostess", but maybe it's just me. Can't think of a more appropriate one right now, though...

This here be Heikki trying some traditional japanese Umeshu ( it's from the green bottle ), most likely. We've just been to Natural Lawson, which is one of those 24/7 convenience stores common in japan. I'm not entirely sure why this one was Natural Lawson, as most of them were simply called Lawson. In any case, this is the following day, so that would make it... 2nd of February, I think. The instant Curry there is the same brand Konata ate in one episode of Lucky Star, coincidentally.

In any case, what do you think 'bout the Umeshu, Heikki?
Oh, okay then.

Reminds me, we bought a Winnie plushie from Finland. In the mean time, Hanne had gone nuts 'bout the Evil Kitty.

...
In any case, that day we visited the Finnish Embassy, I think... Lots of walking was in store for us.

This is from Yutenji. I was struck by how NARROW every street was there. It felt somewhat dangerous, even, what with cars and such. Japanese people have incredible parking skills -- on the other hand, almost every car had some scratches in them.

Another were the spiderwebs --- Er, the wires hanging over streets.

I mean, it definitely makes me think of some sort of a huge Technoarachnid, but I guess it's handy if you need to rewire something. In Finland most wires are underground these days.
Mm... I guess that may be the case in Japan, too --- but then, how much wire can there be?

In any case, my next photos are from the park in, er... Hiro-o, I think. And there's a bunch of those, so they shall get another post.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! More trip reports!

About the overhead wiring... Places where there's frequent development or nonpermanent development tend to have them. I mean, the USA has it set up like that in some manner, but Mexico's lines tend to be overhead and linked to a house through an overhead pole. That makes it easier to disconnect if the people don't pay their bills.

In Finland, where things tend to be a lot more stable, the power companies can go ahead and bury the lines. Besides, gotta keep that Finnish landscape pretty, y'know! Otherwise people'd be depressed and go all emo goth and stuff. ... oh, wait, they do that anyway. ^_^

About the word "Hostess," it's an appropriate term. If it were guy you were staying with, he'd be your "gracious host." Hostess has some additional possibilities attached to it, but that is the correct term if you want to describe her in one term. Otherwise, it would be, "this one friend we're staying with that, oh, happens to be a girl."

Esa Karjalainen said...

Well, all right, then. I'll probably post some art next before I continue on the japan-thing.