Our school just replaced most of the computers in its labs. The Blue-and-White G3s and Indigo iMacs were replaced with eMacs, and the ugly old crappy beige Compaqs were replaced with ugly new crappy gray Compaqs. I love how computer companies look at Apple and go: “Oh man, they’re silver now! We gotta make ours silver!” “I thought they were supposed to be candy-colored and translucent!” “No that was last year! Hurry up and make our computers silver!” “Uh, wouldn’t that cost us money?” “You’re right, just mold our existing front panel in silver plastic and put it on the same box as before.” “Yes sir!” Anyway, this is the mountain of styrofoam packaging from some of the Compaq equipment we got, that was out in the hallway of our computer science building for a few days.
I’m living with my friend Jon here in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, though our address says Green Bay. Jon, thanks to the anime and comic _Hikaru no Go_, has gotten quite interested in the game of Go. Jon consistently destroys me, but I reciprocate in Capcom vs. SNK 2 on PS2. He built this board and I picked up some crappy glass stones to use on it. We prefer creativity to quality; I replaced our toilet chain with a rope of duct tape.
Here are [Hachi][1] and Brian trying to re-assemble all of the Evangelion capsule toys I gave them. I’m back in the USA, and it’s less weird than I thought it would be. Most times I feel like I never left, except now I have all of these little toys that I’ve accumulated. I guess I always acclimate to my surroundings quickly, no matter where I am. As the weeks go on, though, I find myself missing Tokyo. I’d love to walk down to Shinjuku and battle crowds; I’d love to go into Matsuya for a plate of 290-yen curry; I’d love to walk past a shop and see Matsuura Ayaya singing on a little TV. Just being in Japan is an adventure, while just being in Green Bay is just being. Both have their merits, but the grass is always greener on the other side and all that, though grass isn’t something I really associate with Tokyo. You know what I mean. [1]: http://www.kuiki.net
Some of you know that my stay in Japan was only planned for ten months. Some of you also know that those ten months are up. It’s terribly sad to leave behind the people and places I’ve known in Tokyo and around Japan, but there’s also a lot waiting for me back in the United States. The nice thing about going abroad is that I was able to become acquainted with a new place. The sad thing is that from now on I will no longer be able to stay in either country without missing the other. I’m not sure what’ll happen to this site now. I could just leave it, in hope that I’ll be back again soon. I could continue taking photos of “the little things” here in Wisconsin, but I’m not sure how much fun that would be for you guys. Let me know if you have an opinion. Either way, it’s been a lot of fun being in Japan and a lot of fun showing it to you. Thanks for checking it out with me.
These chemical bottles with assorted names and notices written on them are in the next room over at the Photo Club. I’m sure they’re very important and very toxic.
Tets had me bring his name-stamp in to the Photo Club room one day. He’s the president of Photo Club and they needed his stamp for something. Maybe you already know this but in Japan it’s much more common to use a tiny little stamp instead of a signature. Everybody has one by the time they’re old enough to be needing to sign things, and they’re these custom-carved little intricate stamps that come in a nice case with a red ink pad and everything. These stamps are called hanko or inkan. I wonder if it’s harder to forge a signature or to steal a hanko. Anyway, when I got there there was no one around, and as I let myself into the club room and snuck around, I could hear some music playing from deeper inside. I knocked on the darkroom door several times but got no response, so I went inside and found an empty darkroom with “Let My People Go” playing on a boom box at maximum volume. It was weird. I snapped this picture and made a quick escape.
Check out these dwarves.
Classic [Engrish.][1] [1]: http://www.engrish.com
A masterpiece. I feel honored to have come across it.
For new year’s in Japan they have this dancing dragon thing that will pretend to bite your head, which indicates that the following year will be a good one for you.
