Everything has a price

The other night we were out shooting pool at this little bar called "Pool Bar" when I had to use the bathroom. After I finished, I slowly made my way over to the bar and gently placed my 200 RMB (about 30 USD) down covering the corners with my beer mug so that it wasn't blown away by the AC. Looking the bartender in the eye I said thank you and headed out the door.

High school baseball game

While Beijing spent millions of dollars on its over the top Olympic sports complexes, the baseball stadium was constructed with scaffolding. It reminded me of a few high school baseball fields pieced together. To enter you had to climb al the way up the back stairs and then go back down to your seat which had no backrest.

This was not a surprise being that China has very little interest in Baseball at the moment. They do have an Olympic baseball team, but they won't be picking up the gold, silver or bronze. From what I understand, when the games are over they'll be tearing this down. I guess there's no point in spending big bucks on it.

The game was like a lazy day at work that never seems to end. Before the 11th inning there were only four combined hits. In the 11th they used the new Olympic rule to force the game to an end. They automatically put runners on first and second with no outs. This is funny because I was just talking with my friend Dan from Pittsburgh about this and he said that he didn't want to watch baseball because of this stupid rule. Well, I saw it play out and it worked exactly like the Olympic committee planned. The game was over after the 11th. The US hammered Japan after receiving the forced crutch. The rule is pretty lame being that it completely changes the game.

Many people think that both the US and Japan wanted to lose. The loser plays Korea while the winner plays Cuba.

Upon entering and exiting the stadium I was amazed at the amount of ticket scalping. Easily, there were hundreds of scalpers. They were prepared with signs in many languages. Like scalpers anywhere in the world they were annoying.

To end on a bright note, beer (bud, tsingtao, yanjing) were all about .75 each. I paid $8.00 in Tokyo. Also, we made it out of the stadium and on the train in about 8 minutes.

Back in Beijing

We made it back with little trouble. Little trouble was that Luhan apparently over stayed her Visa by one day. The folks at the Japan embassy here in China originally told her that the first day didn't count. Well, they were wrong and we had to pay about 40 dollars in order to leave. In that instant, the friendly, apologetic, smiley Japanese were no longer the same people I remembered throughout our travels. The big picture in the situation makes me angry, but I guess the reality is that China is an enormous country and many people go places only to never leave. Essentially this is immigration. But wait, there is a right way to go about doing this, right?

Ok, just two last things on my fascination with Japanese technology. Lets go back to the grocery store. All of the items in the grocery store have a digital price tag so that all of the prices can be controlled with the click of a mouse.

Also, the Japanese have been using this bar code system that's coordinated with cell phones. The picture above is an advertisement for this system. When you aim your cellphone camera at the code it scans it, connects to the internet and downloads the information associated with that code. There are tons of ways that the system is used. For example, in some grocery stores these bar codes are on things like vegetables and meat. Aim your cell phone at the bar code and find out information about the cow your beef is coming from or where your vegetables were grown.

I picked up this mint julep soda the other day. It was solid.

ALRIGHT, enough about Japan. I'm back in Beijing where people don't bow or constantly apologize. Tonight I'm heading out to the Japan vs. America baseball game.

Birthday party at Hooters!!

Just kidding. I did, however, contemplate this idea when we were in Beijing because there is a Hooters very close to us and Luhan has never experienced such an establishment. Yes, she too can see the irony of Hooters in Asia. Can you think of a better place to have your 30th birthday party than Hooters in China?

I settled for quite the opposite here in Tokyo. A friend of Luhan`s aunt wanted to take us all out for a traditional Japanese course dinner. There were six courses, none of which I can clearly remember because I really couldn`t determine what most of the food was. There was definitely sashami, rice, miso soup, a huge raw snail and some tempura, but also many things I couldn't identify.

Afterwards, we headed to a sky lounge hotel bar on the 46th floor. It was sort of like the bar in Lost in Translation. Sorry, I couldn't bring myself to take pictures in either of these places. I like to think that I know when to be a tourist and when to put the camera away.

We have a few more days left. I'm making dinner for everyone this evening and it’s a rainy day. So, tomorrow we'll wrap things up by heading to the fish market at 5 am. The morning fish market auction comes highly recommended by J．　

baseball game at Tokyo Dome

Last night Luhan`s aunt and cousin took us to a baseball game in the evening. This is something that I wanted to do while in Japan because I know that the Japanese are crazy about baseball and have a baseball league that actually dates back before world war two. This is the only baseball league in Asia with a solid history.

Tokyo Dome is smack dab in the city and pretty much resembles any other dome stadium in America. Unfortunately since we didn`t plan in advance we could only get standing tickets which were about ten dollars a pop. After scurrying around for a bit we were able to position ourselves in right field with a pretty good view. I must say, it was tough standing for an entire baseball game, and of course it had to go to twelve innings. Overall, the Giants and Tigers produced a pretty low action game, but it was entertaining. The "beer here!" folks that we see at American baseball games were fairly young Japanese girls and they carried a mini keg of beer on their back so that they could serve draft beers rather than cans.

Right beside the stadium is this enormous rollar coaster which goes around and then through a building. We rode it after the game and I thought that I was going to die during the initial drop. You get this amazing view of Tokyo for about 3 seconds, then...

I turned 30 today here in Tokyo! Don't chuckle because you'll be there soon, if you haven't already passed.

Japan, so far...

Japan has been amazing. It's really hard to sum up what it's like living here if you haven't been here. We're fortunate enough to be able to stay with Luhan's aunt in a quiet Tokyo neighborhood. My suggestion to you is to take a vacation here at some point. Innovation, beautiful modern architecture, service galore and quality quality quality seeps from this country. Sure, you have to pay for it, but really, these folks have got their shit together. Off the top of my head, this is why:

ALL of the trains are on a time table that's on the money and they stop exactly where they're supposed to. Whether the train is express, semi-express or local, you'll know exactly when it's going to be there.

The buses also use a system (see picture from kyoto) to tell you where each bus is currently on it's route. Now, this is something I could never understand why they cannot do in Brooklyn. The sad part is that this system looks at least 20 years old.

Japanese beer is excellent, for an Asian country. They have much more of a Japanese beer selection here than what you see in the states.

You can eat a great lunch at 711 or Family Mart for 5 to 8 USD.

Besides having heated toilet seats they also do wonderful things to clean you (us eyour imagination for the details).

Just last night I was in a 24 hr grocery store at about 1:30 am and they were blasting the first Run DMC album throughout the store while Tokyo suburbanites bought their kid's lunches for school.

Thoughtful design exists in everything, even my metro card.

more...

We're in Kyoto at a Hotel, and at the moment we're watching the Olympics. This is our last evening here before heading back to Tokyo for a week. We've been out and about on bicycles and foot tearin' up the town. The heat is brutal and the sun turned me pink. In a few minutes we'll be heading out to this sushi joint we've hit once already. It's easily the best sushi I done ever had. The Japanese guys scream at you when you enter, then scream again when you leave. My favorite piece is the salmon with salmon roe. In second place is the shrimp that are literally taken from a fish tank near the sushi bar and moved onto your plate for some soy sauce and wasabi soaking. I've also been enjoying the Yakitori, BBQ skewers. I've included a picture from a Yakitori evening. When we get back to Beijing I'll post all of the pics on Flickr if you're so inclined to see them.