Okay, I'm alive

Woo, I'm back in Tokyo!

So I'm living in a different part of town than we were last year, this time closer to Ikebukuro and downtown. This is good news if I have to commute to work, since last time it took an hour just to get to the main hub of Tokyo (shinjuku) and transfer from there.

Anyways, even though I lived here for a couple of years, my year in New York was enough to refresh my 'gaijin eyes' as I like to put it. And hillariously, Takeshi is finally seeing things with American eyes. The most amusing things he said were 1) "Woah! People are SO SKINNY here! Like, creepy skinny!" (me: 'dude, I've been telling you that for years')
2) "I kinda miss the grumpy american grocery clerks" (me: WHAT?! even I don't miss them!)

Anyways, I am happy to announce, after seeing adorable, pokemon-like mascots for everything from Customs-immigration, to Nerima City, to the police and firefighters, that Japan is indeed the Land of the Cute. Things are cute. products are cute. even People are cute. (I happened to see some maid-cafe girls, in their skimpy uniforms, taking a break at the 7-11).
Feeling the pressure of the Cute People, I succumbed and got my hair done at a nearby salon, and it looks awesome! It's super-straight, with a hint of layering.>:D But I digress.

I forgot the sheer mass of vending machines, there is statistically one for every twenty people. I also forgot about how everything (moving trucks included) talks. Even my bathtub has a little speaker telling me the temperature, in Japanese of course. The result is a very cute, slightly irritating cacophony, and combined with the bright lights and signs of a city that never sleeps (think of a NY Times Square that goes on for miles and miles!)... it's easy to get sensory overload. Luckily our apartment is in a pretty quiet neighborhood.

Oh, for those of you that were wondering (I was).... there is STILL a massive line outside of Krispy Kreme doughnuts in downtown Shinjuku. Tee hee!

Jya ne!