I may not have eaten cat - but I still felt sick

So I went to Tokyo area again - this time by myself in a get some fresh air cos my life has gone to fucking shits mood was ever so slightly depressing (please bear in mind these updates are a two weeks out of sync).

First I got there a bit later than planned - deciding that I could live with a three and a half hour train ride by local -- which is a third of the price of a two hour train, and meant I could enjoy looking at the countryside a bit - and write and e-mail. Instead I slept and used my gaijin aura to scare away Japanese.　I actually managed to get a booth (4 seats all to myself) for at least half the journey.

In Tokyo I decided to go the long way round to Ginza - because the LP Guide says its a nice way to see parts of the city. Crock - its a train. In Ginza I headed to Sony Plaza to check Playstation and the promise of Virtual Reality (again from LP). While I did get playstation - particular PSP mania - no VR. Though the Home Cinema set displays showing Spiderman 2, SWAT and Bad Boys II (and Close Encounters of teh Third Kind) were a bit of a consolation.

I still didn't buy one. Though I have now heard that Japanese PSPs have international capability - and wireless internet access - which is making them more and more tempting --- especially as they are so white. But there's not much wireless I know of in Hitachi, and I do not need my computer game addiction to make me anymore boring and isolational.

I stayed in the Asakusa capsule hotel again. Which is very nice. And did have a bath with several Japanese business. And through experimentation to check what buttons dio in the side of the capsule discovered Japanese domestic porn is indeed the most unsexy thing that contains people having sex in the world.

So after that joyful discovery I went to meet an ex-workmate in her home-city of Yokohama. Which is a pretty nice place. We caught up on how she is doing finding new jobs. And visited a great classic toystore with lots of handmade wooden and steel toys with 50s era style. Then to Yokohama's Chinatown - for lunch --- where my friend tried to pass of pork as cat - forgetting I can read some Japanese. Though we did find a cat resting on a windowsill next to all the plastic food menu items - which did have me worried. Also some menu items I could read still had me worried - like FROG!! I come from a land of toxic frogs and toads --- you don't eat amphibians unless you're after hallucinations.

After not eating frogn - we went for a walk around the city looking accross at teh bay and the nice parks and the new developments pushing Japan into the future. Plus a Them Park with one of teh world's biggest or highest (its starts on the fourth floor) Ferris Wheels. Given my fear of heights I thought it would be okay. I passed on the ropllercoaster once I saw what it actually did and instead opted for a big whirly spinny thing which had some wonderful name like SUPA FUN HAPPI RANDO - given my fear of heights, vertigo, and propensity to motion sickness this was not the worlds smartest idea. Although my friedn was shrieking like a teenager (She's 30) for the first half of the ride - I stepped of the colour of rice paper - but I held my ground. And I felt pretty proud of doing that - I have honestly never been on tall scary rides (except disneyland's Splash Mountain) - so Nyah.

As well as the Ferris Wheel - which was even worse as far as heights, but moved slow enough you could enjoy the great views - we went on a Haunted House on my bequest. Only because I had heard that she couldn't handle them - even if they were kitsch. Within two seconds of entering the ride - because it was so dark - she had dug her fingers so tight into my leg I swear she could have drawn some blood. And then spent the rest of the ride so scared she couldn't speak much English. Which was amusing to my evil nature. Though I have to admit the kitsch Japanese-style haunted carriage ride had some pretty gruesome scenes --- such as those freaky Juon ghosts, beheadings of samurais and some awesome robotics. However it did have a similar sense of predictability if you were paying attention.


And so that was a good change which did succeed in bringing up my spirits again.