Archive for July, 2002

Shinjuku Station

Jul 27 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

Across the street from where Sunny’s was playing, there was this doo-wop group called Soul Smash. They were pretty good and quite funny. I only got to catch one song, which was about traditional Japanese festivals, since that night was one of the bigger summer festivals in the area. I got to walk around by myself and look at all the couples all dressed up in yukata and having a good time. Bleh.

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Outside Shinjuku Station

Jul 27 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

These guys were out in front of Shinjuku Station with their tiny little setup. They were really nice, and after their set I bought a CD. Inside the case was a photo of them playing outside Shinjuku Station. I guess that’s their main thing. They’re actually quite a bit better live. Sunny’s is their name, if you’re interested. Well, I guess it’s their name even if you’re not interested.

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Shinjuku

Jul 26 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

These people are always handing out job-finder magazines by the tunnel.

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Shinjuku Station

Jul 25 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

Yesterday’s traffic accidents (inside city) Deaths: 1 Injuries: 284

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Harajuku

Jul 22 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

I was sitting around Harajuku working on my Lit final when this punk band came out of nowhere, set up their kwipment, and started playing on this foot bridge. This is by no means an unusual occurence in Tokyo; walking around for a weekend will find you passing several free shows by small-time bands hoping to make it big some day. These guys were pretty energetic, and the crowd they drew was equally so. The fans all seemed to be wearing shirts that read “Fungus”, and they would chant “Fungus, Fungus, Fungus” between songs, so I imagine that is the band’s name.

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Subway car, Marunouchi line

Jul 18 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

“The CUT IT OUT ingredient activates when you spray it!”

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Handout for linguistics presentation

Jul 18 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

My final paper for linguistics was about new forms of communication unique to real-time text-based communication over the internet, and my presentation focused on emoticons like O_o. Everyone else covered really lame, boring topics like “Semantics: Polysemy and Homophony; Lexical Ambiguity”. Bleh.

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Angel, Harajuku

Jul 16 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

This is the photo that [Emotion Eric][1] took of the same angel on Sunday. [1]: http://www.emotioneric.com

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Angel, Harajuku

Jul 15 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

I’ve been thinking about getting a really good photo of some wacked out goth-loli in Harajuku and then making it into a CD cover for [Shattered Angel][1]. [Emotion Eric][2], some other folks, and I all met for dinner one Sunday night; Sunday is the day that people get all dressed up so I took ’em to the “Freak Bridge” in Harajuku to see if we couldn’t find some good photo material. There was this angel just sitting there, and she was really nice about having her picture taken. I tinkered around with this picture in [Fireworks][3] and ended up with a [Shattered Angel desktop image][4]. [1]: http://www.shatteredangel.com [2]: http://www.emotioneric.com [3]: http://www.macromedia.com [4]: http://jetfuel.metalbat.com/blah/intothedarkdesktop.jpg

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MIB II attraction, Sega Joypolis, Odaiba

Jul 13 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

Sega Joypolis is a three-floor indoor amusement park and arcade. On the top floor they have a number of haunted-house type thingies, some of which are redone every now and then to fit current promotional themes. Right now there’s a Men In Black II one set up, and it was one of the most fun things we did there. It was a pretty slow day, so when we arrived the two attendants were just standing around, and the guy started doing acrobatics for us while we waited. Then the girl started to guide us through. We assured her that we knew enough Japanese, but she went through most of it in a **very** melodramatic Japanese/English hybrid. I’m not sure if we got special treatment for being gaijin, but she really went over the top and we played along, screaming in horror at the lame rubber aliens.

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Jiyuu no Megami, Odaiba

Jul 13 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

The guy who sits next to me in Philosophical Approaches to Buddhism noticed that I’ve got a [PowerBook][1]. It turns out he’s got one too, and that in the USA he works at the [Apple Store][2]. It also turns out that he was planning to go out to the huge Sega arcade in Odaiba with the guy from my Japanese Religions presentation group. They invited me, and we went out to beautiful Odaiba, where I was surprised to find that they have their own Statue of Liberty. They call her “Jiyuu no Megami”, or “Goddess of Freedom”. The story goes that France gave Japan their own Liberty, who usually stands by the Seine, for one year, but Japan liked her so much that when France took her back they also built Japan their own copy. And here she is. [1]: http://www.apple.com/powerbook [2]: http://www.apple.com/retail

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Kiosk, Shinjuku Station

Jul 10 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

Hajime Chitose is a singer with a really unique voice who’s been getting a lot of attention lately. I went to Shinjuku on the way home from school to pick up her new CD the day it was released, and on my way out of the station to go find a CD store, I heard her song. It was this little stand that had been set up just to sell the new CD. I stood there and watched the video for a few minutes, then bought the CD, which came with 2 postcards. Hey, here’s an idea: the first 2 people to [ask][1] will get a Hajime Chitose postcard. [1]: mailto:jetfuel@metalbat.com

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Ichigaya

Jul 07 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

Water in Tokyo is really, really dirty. This is all the crap that has accumulated at a point where the river narrows to pass under a bridge. If you look closely, you can see a mannequin head in there.

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Scientology book advertisement, Marunouchi subway car

Jul 02 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

L. Ron Hubbard’s wacky, creepy Scientology represents. Japanese people, too, have the opportunity to become [Operating Thetans][1]. I had to do a big project on [Soka Gakkai][2] for Japanese Religions class, and I was tempted to title my paper, “Soka Gakkai: It’s Like Scientology Except You Can’t Fry Bugs With Your Mind”. [1]: http://www.xenu.net [2]: http://www.sgi.org

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Emotion Eric and my phone

Jul 02 2002 Published by under Uncategorized

[Eric][1] conveys… “interest in my phone”. [1]: http://www.emotioneric.com

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