Amusing Afternoon in Harajuku

I went to Harajuku today and had a wonderful time. Except at lunch. We went to a sushi conveyor belt place, since Brittany really wanted to, and I was starving, so I didn't care (it was around 2:30)...but this place didn't have any cooked fish, haha. I tried some sushi with a small amount of white fish (I think it was yellowtail?). It had wasabi and I dunked it in soy sauce, and was able to eat it, but then I got this strange looking thing and almost puked when I ate it. I had to choke it down, and my eyes were watering a lot. Blegch, I can't do that. I tried to enjoy it, I did. Bit I just couldn't deal with it. I didn't eat the second one, and didn't eat anything else after that.

The good parts of the day, though...we went into Kiddy Land (or at least the first floor), and it was awesome. I got two pairs of tabi socks with designs on them. Then, we went back to Takeshita Street (the famous one everyone knows about) and I found some wonderful, wonderful boots. Not practical for snow (it's snowing right now) or rain, really, but I love them. I'll get a cheap pair of rainboots tomorrow, maybe. I also bought a new purse/shoulder bag. It looks cool.




At one point, Brittany just disappeared (I was looking at clothes), and I was really irritated since my phone had died earlier, and so I couldn't text her to find out where she'd gone. But I hung around for maybe five minutes, and she came back with some guy dressed up weird...he turned out to be some DJ (DJ Buo, I think his name was?), and she had run off because she saw DJ Sisen (this dude: DJ Sisen who is apparently her favorite person in the world) walk by, so she went after him and got to meet him and talk with him a little. And got a picture with him. Brittany is a radio DJ back in the States (DJ Riyozake) who hosts a jrock show, and so while she's here, she's doing a ton of scoping around for the Japanese DJ's she's heard about, as well as finding music to bring back for her show. She's also interviewing Blood sometime soon (I forgot when), and she's going to try to get an interview with Merry, and with Versailles. I haven't heard music from any of these bands, though I have heard of them. They're just not my style. Anyway, she was SUPER happy for the rest of the time we were in Harajuku. ("Did I mention I met DJ Sisen??") It was so hilarious. I completely forgave her for deserting me, because I know I probably would have been the same way if I saw someone...like Hyde...walk by. *laughs* But Buo was walking with us for a while...which I found REALLY sketchy, and was I kind of iffy about the whole situation, but it turned out fine. I just didn't like the fact that some random guy we'd never met was walking around with us while we shopped.

Uh oh, the "One Pound Gospel" show is on...with Kazuya Kamenashi who is a boxer (HAHA the skinny twerp) and he's in love with a nun. O.o And there's this whole Valentine's Day theme this episode. Ohhh dear. Sister Angela (they refer to her as "shista~") was going to give Kame some chocolates, and then she saw another girl giving chocolates, so she rode off on her bike, angry. She was going to throw away the chocolates, but some highschool (middle school?) boy (though he looks like a girl) saw her, and she gave them to him instead. Then the kid (he's the son of the boxing coach) told Kame he got chocolates from Sister Angela, and Kame started freaking out. Oh man, this show is so bad that it's hilarious, and I can't stop laughing. Aww...now the high school boy is getting bullied by some other students. Poor kid. Wow. This show is intense. Now there's some huge drama about Kame liking the nun (or something like that), and he's sparring (boxing) with another guy...and then he got really upset, and their brawling turned into hugging, and he was semi-crying, and then the other guy punched him out. (Can you tell I'm half watching the show, half writing this entry? Sorry. I'll stop.)

I'm getting kind of tired of seeing Johnny's boys everywhere on TV and on huge signs and in stores, etc. Oh. For those of you that don't know, when I say "Johnny's boys" I mean "Johnny's Entertainment" or "JE" boys. JE is a huge, huge music company here in Japan, and they manufacture boys bands (or idols) like nobody's business. All of the boys are super pretty or kakkoi (cool doesn't really fit them, but kakkoi seems to fit better), and are scouted out or audition when they're munchkins (I've been using that word a lot lately when I talk about little Japanese kids, I've noticed). Then they're trained for years, during which they do a lot of commercials and act in dramas, and then they eventually debut as some band. They have really strict rules (I don't know if this is true, but the boys aren't allowed girlfriends...or at least have to be REALLY secretive if they have one), and while their contract is going, they're basically owned body and soul by the company. Johnny's basically owns the music business here. They even have their own shelf in the music stores. And if someone goes up against a Johnny's band during a single/album release, the Johnny's band is most likely going to come out on top. I found this article just now, and it was really interesting and informative, though a little dated. http://nippop.com/features/feature_id-33/

Here's the snow. Sort of. Sorry for the really dark picture...but it's night now, obviously, and I didn't want to have my flash go off so all the neighbors could see. Click on the picture, and maybe it'll be clearer when it's full size.

I didn't have any food in the apartment, other than Morning Bread, but I didn't want to walk to the conbini, so Brittany made us miso udon for dinner, and it was SO good. I'm going to buy some miso paste so I can make yummy udon, too. She said she wasn't sure if she was supposed to cook it with the miso paste, but I told her, "who cares, as long as it tastes good." If there's one thing I can do, is boil water and cook noodles. -_-' I'm a hopeless case, I swear. It's a good thing that there's ready-made food available close by, otherwise I'd probably starve.