I know, I know, I it must have been horrible to go a whole extra week without "Beverage of the week", so just scroll down and there you'll find it. In other news, I have been back to Saitama with one very good friend, attended a trade show with 190 000 other people (some friends included, no purchase necessary), and been to a wedding. Not my own. I think.
But, time is of the essence, as ever. The reason for this is that I have to go to work. On a Saturday. This sucks in a not small way. "What cannot be changed, must be endured", and all that honkey. Anyway. Why would you go to Saitama? Aside from the obvious reasons of "why not?" and "I'm all out of Skittles", the main reason for me and Tomo was that we "studied" (yes, I'm intentionally trying to make this paragraph the most quotation-mark-intensive one since 1998) there what is now a full four years ago. So we basically pottered around up there for a while, getting all nostalgic about things people usually get nostalgic about. Like supermarkets where the one gallon whiskey-jugs are now placed slightly across from the bikes and tvs, but at a price; you can't get puppies there anymore.
To further increase your amusement (anything for you!), here are some random pictures from Saitama, spiritual home of... Something, I'm sure.
The Happy Road. On what we who have lived up there know to be the right side of the tracks.
The bad news: Fresh bars so students can't sneak back onto campus at night to party wildly anymore. The good news: they haven't done anything about the four-foot hedge being the only thing barring entry on the north side.
In the grand tradition of this blog, guess the place where the warning sign was posted, and win absolutely nothing.One grand tour and a baseball game later (which Chunichi embarrassingly lost by one, despite me having purchased impossibly over-priced cheering paraphernalia at the event), it was time for the big ol' yearly event out in Makuhari. It was... much like it was when we were there in 2003. If you happen to be one of the 6.7 billion people who was not there in 2003, let me sum up the entire trade-show experience in one picture:
Why this sign was not present at Hultsfred, I will never know.
Why this sign was not present at Hultsfred, I will never know.Finally, there was a wedding. Now, some things of this nature you just don't see coming, whereas others can be spotted a mile (or eight or so years) away. This falls into the latter category. I guess it's pretty uncommon for people to come away from a wedding thinking "this'll never last", but in this case, I feel fairly confident in saying that these two were made for each other. If you had been there too, you would agree. On this you shall have to trust me.
Now, I had never been to Japanese wedding before, so I was probably the third most nervous person there (after the staffer who saw this random foreigner approaching, probably to spoil the party, and the guy at the back who quenched all his nervousness in liquor, making him scream out humorous things at well-chosen times throughout the ceremonies). This is a whole different level compared to the informal Swedish one I'd been to. Things I had to do to get ready:
1) Get a white tie. No, it's not a funeral, but that's the deal here.
2) Borrow a suit, since my own suits have only just now arrived in Yokohama harbor with all the rest of my junk.
3) Get a special envelope to give the tradition wedding-present: cash.
4) Learn that you can't give an even number of bills, as that would imply that the couple too would be divisible.
5) Get new bills. No old money here.
6) Get a special pen to write on the special envelope.
7) Spend two hours on the internet learning what to write on the envelope.
8) Spend another hour trying to write that, legibly, and failing horribly. Why use regular Kanji for numbers when you can write them like they did back in the old days?
9) Spend on sleepless night worrying I might screw up all the proper polite phrases used especially for weddings. Ok, so I slept fine, whatever.
Not my computer, but the fine penmanship is indeed mine.
Once all this was accomplished, the ceremony was held, I realized I could probably have gotten away with a lot less worrying. It was a grand ol' time, with waterworks from pretty much everywhere. I won't post pictures of the couple since they're off doing what they're doing and I'm not sure it would be kosher, but I'm certain you can imagine the scene: two happy Japanese people in fancy garb, surrounded by lots of other happy Japanese people. And a half-Japanese guy, some people from Taiwan, and me.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for:
Now, I had never been to Japanese wedding before, so I was probably the third most nervous person there (after the staffer who saw this random foreigner approaching, probably to spoil the party, and the guy at the back who quenched all his nervousness in liquor, making him scream out humorous things at well-chosen times throughout the ceremonies). This is a whole different level compared to the informal Swedish one I'd been to. Things I had to do to get ready:
1) Get a white tie. No, it's not a funeral, but that's the deal here.
2) Borrow a suit, since my own suits have only just now arrived in Yokohama harbor with all the rest of my junk.
3) Get a special envelope to give the tradition wedding-present: cash.
4) Learn that you can't give an even number of bills, as that would imply that the couple too would be divisible.
5) Get new bills. No old money here.
6) Get a special pen to write on the special envelope.
7) Spend two hours on the internet learning what to write on the envelope.
8) Spend another hour trying to write that, legibly, and failing horribly. Why use regular Kanji for numbers when you can write them like they did back in the old days?
9) Spend on sleepless night worrying I might screw up all the proper polite phrases used especially for weddings. Ok, so I slept fine, whatever.
Not my computer, but the fine penmanship is indeed mine.Once all this was accomplished, the ceremony was held, I realized I could probably have gotten away with a lot less worrying. It was a grand ol' time, with waterworks from pretty much everywhere. I won't post pictures of the couple since they're off doing what they're doing and I'm not sure it would be kosher, but I'm certain you can imagine the scene: two happy Japanese people in fancy garb, surrounded by lots of other happy Japanese people. And a half-Japanese guy, some people from Taiwan, and me.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for:
Beverage of the Week #2:
Name: Lifeguard
Catchphrase: "Because no other beverage looks this good in camo"
Price/volume: 130 yen for 500ml
Place/time of purchase: Saitama Univeristy/15:16
Particular Point of Interest: The World's First "Bionic Drink" (possibly)
Taste: Like it's probably gonna be the World's Last "Bionic Drink"
2 comments:
Dags att uppdatera 熊。Jag vet att du inte är busy på jobbet så det måste vara nåt annat som drar din tid ;-)
I know, I know, det är det där satanstyget Facebook som alla snackar om som suger upp blog-tiden. Och uppackningen av alla flyttkartonger. (och nej, det var inget syftningsfel, jag menar verkligen att FB suger upp uppackningen också, hur det nu skulle kunna gå till)
Jobbet? Qué? :)
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