(no subject)

[moominmolly]

1. Frozen my ass off on top of an active volcano, in the snow:




2. Wondered what the hell a golden turnip was doing balancing off the Asahi beer building:



3. Found a souvenir thingy with my name on it in hiragana! I could never find them when I was a kid, despite having a reasonably common name:



4. Drunk Mucha-themed coffees out of a vending machine:



5. Played House of the Dead III in its native environment, a shiny Japanese arcade:



6. Wondered whether all young Japanese schoolgirls have magical powers, because they sure do look it:



7. Eaten sushi off a conveyor belt (okay, I'm sure dozens of you have done this -- I even did it in Amsterdam -- but it was still SO COOL):





8. Seen a little slice of New Orleans inexplicably lodged in Kyoto Station (I love seeing non-English words I know spelled out in katakana):



9. ...


you just KNOW that font would have crosses through the Os if it were in this alphabet.

10. Marveled at how late-evening light can make even deer shit look beautiful:




I think that this list might be hard for me to make if I weren't in Japan right now. I can think of a whole host of things I've done that not many of you have done, but in general, I prefer to share weird and interesting things with partners and friends, so a lot of you have been there for the good stuff. :) Or, at least, the list I would make might consist entirely of dull things and stuff I did before the age of 18.

Comments

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Mucha-themed coffees existed before today, and yet now they seem so necessary.

[obra.livejournal.com]

WTF? The Cafe Du Monde is also a Mister Donut? I don't think that was true when I was in Kyoto. Do they have beignets yet?

Also, that's a turnip? I thought it looked more like golden sperm.

[regyt.livejournal.com]

I've done #7 (there's a place in NYC I like) and #10 (in Sag Harbor).

[beowabbit]

I’ve done #7. In fact, I’ve eaten spam sushi and hot-dog sushi off a conveyor belt. Hawai‘i is an amusing place.

[coraline]

#4: want!!!!!!

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

and I love the fact that your ten-things meme is illustrated.

[fanw.livejournal.com]

Mucha themed drinks! How can I live without them?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

They do have beignets!

The Mister Donut is a separate shop, just to the right of the Cafe du Monde. I didn't have a beignet, I had a tofu donut at Mister Donut (surprisingly good).

It's not a turnip. It's apparently a re-interpretation of beer foam, in the form of inscrutable slightly-ugly art. I just thought it looked somewhere between a turd and a root vegetable.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

If I can find them again, I'll bring you one :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

We did, in fact, drink the drinks for you. :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I admit, I was strongly influenced by the photos I had lying around waiting to be posted.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

In NYC? Yay! Cool!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

That sounds revolting! :)

[regyt.livejournal.com]

It's called East and it's unsurprisingly on the east side, around 26th or so. Give me a buzz if you're ever around and I'll gladly meet you there. Tuna is cheaper on Mondays!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Oh, and #10? Also cool. :)

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

*bouncing up and down and applauding*

You are so cool.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Hee hee hee! Thank you! *grin* I shall save this comment for a moment where I'm feeling very uncool.

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

Definitely cool. You're right about #7, though - we did it in Madrid.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

What is mucha that all these people are so excited about it?

Is it more exciting to see non-English words rendered into katakana than English words? :-)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Mucha is an artist I'd never heard of before going to Prague (http://www.mucha.cz/index.phtml?S=home&Lang=EN). He did an incredible set of windows (http://www.people.virginia.edu/~hp8n/2002scans/Mucha.jpg) in the St. Vitus cathedral that I got to see. It's just kind of an unlikely person to put on vending machine coffee cans.

Is it more exciting to see non-English words rendered into katakana than English words? :-)

Yes! I couldn't tell you why, but it's much funnier to me.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Specifically, in a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant owned by a traditional Japanese man, in Madrid. Great place, we recommend it. I'd always wondered what you'd get if you walked into a Japanese restaurant in Madrid and ordered "toro." Now I know.

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

mucha is one of the most visible exemplars of the art noveau period of art, which a lot of people love; it is often very flowy, soft, and nature-oriented. think: lots of nubile young things with soft, flowing, long hair, dressed in gossamer-like fabrics. ;) although he was czech, most of his art just *feels* like paris in the late 1800s (to me, anyway).

i, um, love his art. :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

That sounds *really good*. Madrid / Barcelona is one of those trips we want to take together sometime vaguely soon (a few years) -- we will definitely try this. :)

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

And here I thought it must have been yet another anime subculture that had completely passed me by. How embarrassing!

[dbang.livejournal.com]

The Cafe Du Monde is also a Mister Donut? I don't think that was true when I was in Kyoto.

Wasn't true when I was in New Orleans, either. *shudder*

[harimad.livejournal.com]

There's time. Spain isn't changing that quickly, if you go 10 years from now you'll have a substantially similar experience. Unlike, say, China or Madagascar which will be very different in 10 years.

I enjoyed Spain in a very laid back, relaxed, industrialized country way. An easy trip. Always traveling by train we hit Lisbon, Cordoba, Seville, Grenada, Madrid, and bus tour to Toledo. Original plan included going to Barcelona then renting a car and driving through Andorra (to go there) and France (which has the better road) to Bilbao but it was decided that that was too much for a honeymoon. Someday.

A haiku

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Only a few can
Read her name written on it
Cooler or less cool?

;)

[dolohov.livejournal.com]

I don't recall the Kyoto-Eki Mr. Donut, but they do double up in other places. It's not inconceivable. (In fact, there does seem to be photographic evidence ;)

[dolohov.livejournal.com]

Ooh, does #10 mean you made it to Nara?

[dolohov.livejournal.com]

Is it more exciting to see non-English words rendered into katakana than English words? :-)

Yes!! I remember first realizing that the Japanese word for bread, "pan", was actually also a borrowed word :) Apparently if you look closely enough, you'll see lots of Portuguese scattered around.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Actually, no! Miyajima. Nara seemed cool, but never quite made it onto the itinerary.

[khedron.livejournal.com]

It's good & cheap! I've never actually eaten from the conveyor downstairs, I always go upstairs to look at all the possible things one can order off the menu. "Dynamite gratin", sweet potato tempura, and a thousand different rolls...

Blackjack!

[khedron.livejournal.com]

#9 is a picture of "Blackjack, Mercenary Doctor for Hire". I've only seen a bit, and I suggest you steer clear from the melodrama. =)

[reesei.livejournal.com]

But the one in old town Pasadena is cooler... _their_ conveyor belts are floating boats on system of water canals.

I didn't actually eat there, so I can't say anything about the taste of their sushi. But the concept rocked.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

There was a cheapo place in Japan called Atom Boy Sushi, that was having a fad of horrible things like vienna weiner (and mayonnaise) sushi and raw bacon sushi. But they did serve it on conveyor belts!

Re: Blackjack!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

It looks *so bad*! We were just standing there giggling at the poster. BLACKJACK!

So, I guess you've got me on #9, or something. :)

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

e.g., arigato (obligato). which surprised the heck out of me because arigato is SUCH a Japanese word.

[dolohov.livejournal.com]

I've heard that one before, but I'm fairly sure it's not actually true. "arigato" is usually written in hiragana (there's also Kanji for it, but I don't know them), and the usage predates the Portuguese -- apparently an early form of the word appears in the Tale of Genji. And if you think about it, it only sounds similar to someone who speaks English; the Japanese would have emphasized the "b" sound much more where we just sort of skip over it.

It's such a bizarre coincidence, though, that it feels like it should be true!

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

*stomps foot* darn it, it was such a cool story.

oh, well. I suppose it's also got a cool "how words get their backstories" story to it. Linguistic historiography.

[dolohov.livejournal.com]

Eh, this is the internet. Feel free to repeat it anyway ;)

But yeah, I love learning about the origins of words. I really wish it had occurred to me to study linguistics before I was a senior in college.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

All I ever wanted to be was a linguist, because someone made the mistake of telling me they existed when I was ten. :)

Re: Blackjack!

[khedron.livejournal.com]

The few episodes (maybe an entire OAV?) I saw were pretty awful -- awful enough to provide amusement value years later. *grin* But no, I hardly think this counts as "my having done it too", since you were *in Japan looking at a movie poster*, and I've only seen the show from the comfort of my home. You win. =)