ultra-randomosity about Tokyo
Sep. 1st, 2006 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sereneSeriously, these are really majorly random. Skip at no consequence to
you. I never could work up the energy for any kind of organized trip
report, and then I thought of something I wanted to post, and now I've
forgotten it, so I'll just post some stuff and if I remember it, cool.
1) I cannot even convey the heat and humidity we encountered. I worked
really hard at not being air-conditioning-wimp, but sometimes I succumbed.
Ninety degrees, ninety percent humidity, day and night, even at midnight.
It was amazing.
2) The only thing more amazing than the heat/humidity was the hospitality
of our Japanese hosts. When they weren't feeding us or putting on a show
for us, they were giving us gifts. Constant. Gifts.
3) The food. OH, the food. Nearly no sushi, but somen and ramen and rice
and fried octopus balls and sweet preserved fish and goodness only knows
what else. Oh, and one fun thing they did at our welcome party (Did I
mention we had two welcome and two farewell parties thrown in our honor?)
was to set up a half-tube of bamboo with a hose at the top, and send balls
of somen down the chute. The participants had to try to catch somen in
their chopsticks to dip in the sauce. Let me see if I can find a picture
of this:
Here's one, and here's another.
4) I spent the flight to Tokyo thinking I might possibly be pregnant.
This turned out to be a wonderful experience for me, because I realized
that I really didn't want to be pregnant. Imagine my joy when the final
period of my 30s showed up a couple of days later.
5) I want to see about learning to do Taiko drumming. I had a spiritual
experience being in the drumming performance and the subsequent class.
Maybe it was just the heat. :-)
6) Heated toilet seats in August in Tokyo are not just wrong, they're
*dangerous*!
7) Not to worry; people with disabilities are definitely sexual creatures.
(This will not be news coming from me, but still. Good to see.)
8) I spent a lot of the trip feeling old and uncool. Much as I felt in
high school, actually, and I was mostly fine with it.
9) Fundy roommate. Very nice, very sweet, very much tried to be as
accepting of me as she could. Had a lovely time being her roommate. Yay
for cultural exchange.
10) Read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
final_girl's book
while seated (fully clothed) on one of the aforementioned heated toilet
seats. You should go buy it.
More later, if I think of it. I'd like to talk about Auld Lang Syne, and
octopus balls, and queerness, and postage, and cicadas, and the old
washing machine, and...
you. I never could work up the energy for any kind of organized trip
report, and then I thought of something I wanted to post, and now I've
forgotten it, so I'll just post some stuff and if I remember it, cool.
1) I cannot even convey the heat and humidity we encountered. I worked
really hard at not being air-conditioning-wimp, but sometimes I succumbed.
Ninety degrees, ninety percent humidity, day and night, even at midnight.
It was amazing.
2) The only thing more amazing than the heat/humidity was the hospitality
of our Japanese hosts. When they weren't feeding us or putting on a show
for us, they were giving us gifts. Constant. Gifts.
3) The food. OH, the food. Nearly no sushi, but somen and ramen and rice
and fried octopus balls and sweet preserved fish and goodness only knows
what else. Oh, and one fun thing they did at our welcome party (Did I
mention we had two welcome and two farewell parties thrown in our honor?)
was to set up a half-tube of bamboo with a hose at the top, and send balls
of somen down the chute. The participants had to try to catch somen in
their chopsticks to dip in the sauce. Let me see if I can find a picture
of this:
Here's one, and here's another.
4) I spent the flight to Tokyo thinking I might possibly be pregnant.
This turned out to be a wonderful experience for me, because I realized
that I really didn't want to be pregnant. Imagine my joy when the final
period of my 30s showed up a couple of days later.
5) I want to see about learning to do Taiko drumming. I had a spiritual
experience being in the drumming performance and the subsequent class.
Maybe it was just the heat. :-)
6) Heated toilet seats in August in Tokyo are not just wrong, they're
*dangerous*!
7) Not to worry; people with disabilities are definitely sexual creatures.
(This will not be news coming from me, but still. Good to see.)
8) I spent a lot of the trip feeling old and uncool. Much as I felt in
high school, actually, and I was mostly fine with it.
9) Fundy roommate. Very nice, very sweet, very much tried to be as
accepting of me as she could. Had a lovely time being her roommate. Yay
for cultural exchange.
10) Read
final_girl's bookwhile seated (fully clothed) on one of the aforementioned heated toilet
seats. You should go buy it.
More later, if I think of it. I'd like to talk about Auld Lang Syne, and
octopus balls, and queerness, and postage, and cicadas, and the old
washing machine, and...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-02 01:31 pm (UTC)*giggles*
Date: 2006-09-02 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-02 05:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-02 06:12 pm (UTC)