What is it Like? or Coolhunter Javantea
by Joel R. Voss aka. Javantea
April 12, 2006 21:59 JST
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Tokyo is cool. What is cool? To explain it in simple terms, the word cool means that it has qualities which are good and appealing to young people.
First, a clarification on the idea of going to Japan and the coolness factor.
Asking the question "What is it like?", I feel much like Cartman asking his friends "I saw the Terrance and Phillip movie, who wants to touch me?" Going to Japan is a very cool experience, but certainly the first thing that comes to mind is the coolness factor. If you go to Japan, you are known as the cool jet set guy. In fact, I have taken the nickname Jet Set Javantea for when I am not in my hometown of Seattle. This is one great big step up from my previous nickname "Jav on the Run". If you're going to Japan just so that you can say how cool it is, you might be wasting your dough. But that's fine by me. I am specifically interested in finding cool and basking in the coolness. I am William Gibson's most recent book's protagonist, coolhunter CayceP.
I want to delve into the why of the coolness factor of Japan, specifically Tokyo. It could be the culture, the fashion, the architecture, the infrastructure, or many other things. Certainly, I won't be talking about uncoolness in Japan.
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Useful Japanese
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Lively if not Live from Japan
by Joel R. Voss aka. Javantea
April 6, 2006 11:22 JST
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Now I have survived the first 48 hours in Tokyo, Japan, I'm in good enough shape to discuss the first 24 with you. I'm eating some BIG Cup Noodle Curry from Circle K in Kanda (神田).
Here is my list of goals for the first 24 hours:
Primary
- Eat (食べる [たべる] taberu)
- Get onto the Internet (インターネット inta-netto)
- Find Asakusa (浅草)
- Get key (鍵 [かぎ] kagi) to room
- Get to room (部屋 [へや] heya) in Asakusa
- Get lost (迷 [まよう] mayou) in Tokyo
- Get unlost (見当たる [みあたる] miataru) in Tokyo
- Find Akihabara (秋葉原)
- Read Manga (漫画 [まんが] manga)
On the plane I met a nice Japanese man who lives in Tokyo. We talked about Tokyo and a few things. When I got off, I went through customs quite easily. They speak English and they are quite helpful. Before exiting the airport I met a nice American who was in a similar position as me trying to find an ATM to buy a ticket. We found a confusing atm that gave us our money eventually. Note to traveller: 1 yen (円 [えん] en) is approximately 1 penny, so 30,000 yen is $300 US depending on the exchange rate.
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