goliath meets the japanese
friday, 28 june 2008
18h56
according to the last measurement taken by my doctor, i'm 1m83, which doesn't make me a giant by any means but i definitely feel like one in this country. in some ways, it's a good thing. for example, whenever i'm standing in line or in a very crowded place, i have a very good view of everything that happens around me, and i don't feel like i'm suffocating. i've been looking for some pijama shorts lately and, following alex's recommendation, i went to uniqlo (which mexicans in japan find really amusing because it sounds like "one ass only" when pronounced in japanese) and it was nice to realize i'm an XL-size in this country, which makes it easy to find pretty much anything, even those items on sale which are usually sold out on every other size but XL and above (by the way, i'm an M in the US!).
in some other ways, however, it's not that great. for instance, doorways are often too low and i've hit my head more than once. lamps in restaurants also hang too low so i always have to be very careful. worse than that is the effect that small japan has on food. i am never full after eating at a japanese restaurant. it's amazing because it does seem like a lot of food when they bring that many dishes that compose a whole meal -- miso soup, rice, seaweed salad, some beans or vegetables or some sort, fish... all in small plates. but it sucks because it's not that cheap and i always need to stop by mcdonald's or eat my tube of oreos when i get back home.
coffee places are funny (and by the way, it's funny how japanese keep interchanging fs and hs... not everywhere but i think before vowels like i or e... coffee in japanese is ko-hee). they have these small-size cups which, if used in america, people would think they are a joke. even at starbucks, they have the traditional tall, grande, and venti sizes, but they also have a small size, which most people order by the way!
i'm now at this seattle's best coffee branch in shinjuku and it's been a crazy day. i haven't done much but walk around this area -- very slowly. it's hard to walk any faster given how crowded everything is. shinjuku station is one of the biggest train stations in the world and it's amazing to experience the chaos, both underground and outside in the surrounding streets. inside the station, there are kilometers-long hallways packed with all sorts of stores, and outside is not much different. what amazes me is the number of high-end stores in the city. how many bottega venetas have i seen? how many louis vuitton? and how many starbucks? seriously, if i was told that there are more starbucks in tokyo than in, say, new york, i wouldn't be surprised at all!!
anyway, i have to go now because i want to walk all the way to shibuya and harajuku... but i'll write later about the party we had at my place last night (this morning?).
*** ok, i was curious and looked it up. shinjuku station is the second largest station in the world after nagoya station, but it's the busiest of the world, having handled an average of 3.6 million passengers per day in 2007!!!
image: wikipedia.
according to the last measurement taken by my doctor, i'm 1m83, which doesn't make me a giant by any means but i definitely feel like one in this country. in some ways, it's a good thing. for example, whenever i'm standing in line or in a very crowded place, i have a very good view of everything that happens around me, and i don't feel like i'm suffocating. i've been looking for some pijama shorts lately and, following alex's recommendation, i went to uniqlo (which mexicans in japan find really amusing because it sounds like "one ass only" when pronounced in japanese) and it was nice to realize i'm an XL-size in this country, which makes it easy to find pretty much anything, even those items on sale which are usually sold out on every other size but XL and above (by the way, i'm an M in the US!).
in some other ways, however, it's not that great. for instance, doorways are often too low and i've hit my head more than once. lamps in restaurants also hang too low so i always have to be very careful. worse than that is the effect that small japan has on food. i am never full after eating at a japanese restaurant. it's amazing because it does seem like a lot of food when they bring that many dishes that compose a whole meal -- miso soup, rice, seaweed salad, some beans or vegetables or some sort, fish... all in small plates. but it sucks because it's not that cheap and i always need to stop by mcdonald's or eat my tube of oreos when i get back home.
coffee places are funny (and by the way, it's funny how japanese keep interchanging fs and hs... not everywhere but i think before vowels like i or e... coffee in japanese is ko-hee). they have these small-size cups which, if used in america, people would think they are a joke. even at starbucks, they have the traditional tall, grande, and venti sizes, but they also have a small size, which most people order by the way!
i'm now at this seattle's best coffee branch in shinjuku and it's been a crazy day. i haven't done much but walk around this area -- very slowly. it's hard to walk any faster given how crowded everything is. shinjuku station is one of the biggest train stations in the world and it's amazing to experience the chaos, both underground and outside in the surrounding streets. inside the station, there are kilometers-long hallways packed with all sorts of stores, and outside is not much different. what amazes me is the number of high-end stores in the city. how many bottega venetas have i seen? how many louis vuitton? and how many starbucks? seriously, if i was told that there are more starbucks in tokyo than in, say, new york, i wouldn't be surprised at all!!
anyway, i have to go now because i want to walk all the way to shibuya and harajuku... but i'll write later about the party we had at my place last night (this morning?).
*** ok, i was curious and looked it up. shinjuku station is the second largest station in the world after nagoya station, but it's the busiest of the world, having handled an average of 3.6 million passengers per day in 2007!!!
image: wikipedia.
posted by adrián at 11:39
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