Saturday, December 1, 2007

Japan: My Favorites

Yes. Finally. I'm about one month backdated. What I like about Japan.


Huge slab of egg on rice.

Unlike the miserable portions you find in your regular Sushi King, the egg slice (as well as other ingredient you desire) is thick and fat. And unlike the soggy left-in-the-open-for-flies-to-feed-on sushi that you get on the kaiten, in Japan, if you sit in a proper restaurant, you get nothing but crispy seaweed and fresh out-of-the-water fish. Or at least, the weather and the refrigerator does a better job at keeping the fish fresh.


Boiled egg

You won't even be able to tell if it's hard boiled egg or half boiled egg. Because the egg white is thoroughly cooked, but the yolk is not not. And you can't even say the yolk is cooked or raw. Because it's like in the middle. Like smack in the middle. Balanced. Like Aristotle's Golden Mean. Shit. I don't even know why I remembered stupid Media Ethics class.


Lots of pork!! Lots of enoki!!

Nabe is like steamboat. Except for the pork fat, it's actually quite healthy. They only give plain miso soup to start, but when you get to the end of the meal, the miso soup tastes like delicious meat and fresh veggies. All the flavor sucked out of the meat and went into the soup.


Cute Japanese babies - with bubble on lips when snoozing.


Japanese baby sucking on finger - among other things.

Don't you just adore the cuties? One thing about Japanese babies is that they don't make much noise, unlike Malaysia's spoilt brats. Not that Japanese babies aren't spoilt, it's just that they never make annoying begging and whining sounds pestering parents to buy this and that. Which makes me want to kill Malaysian babies even more. Good thing I don't have Malaysian nephews or nieces. Cos they won't be safe in my hands.


Tokyo Tower at 4.30pm. Looks like nightfall? It is.

I promise it was only 4.30pm. Of course, daylight greets you as early as 6am. And most people in Malaysia would technically still be sleeping. Still 'night' time mah.


Tokyo Disneyland at 6pm.

Looks like a haunted castle, a bit. It's 10 times prettier than the photo in reality, but sucky photographer like myself can't take a decent night photo. Blame tripod!!


Civilized city residents.

Probably because they have a population crisis over there, people know how to be civilized and stand on left and walk on right. They queue up for everything, like civilized people. And they even let someone who entered the train first sit first if there is an opening. Not in Malaysia. Never in a thousand years.


Bright neon signboards.

This neon signboard is actually only for ONE shop. A Pachinko parlour. Truly Jumbo. Forgot who told me this. Apparently Japanese husbands go to Pachinko parlours when they finish work early so that their neighbors don't mistake them for lazy bastards who return from work so early. It's almost as silly as me.


Christmas deco in Kinshicho.


Wah! So kahrurfoor!!

Got orange, blue, green, red. So pretty right. I think if we even as much as attempt to be creative with Christmas deco in KL, the light bulbs will be gone the night it was installed. It's like what, 20 sen for each light bulb? Like strike lottery you know!!


Vending machines.

There's one crucial thing tourists must know. To carry small change around. Seriously. Cos there are just too many different kinds of drinks available in vending machines. You end up being like me. Fickle, thus buy everything.

The other thing is that Japanese currency is very deceiving. The smallest note is 1000yen, which is about RM30. And smallest in Malaysia is RM1. Biggest coin in Japan is 500yen which is RM15. And smallest coin in Malaysia is only RM0.01. If you have a bunch of Japanese coins, you're considered rich in Malaysia. But if you have say 10 notes in RM, you may not be as rich as the guy carrying a bunch of coins. Beware, it means you'd spend more than you think.

P/S: Drinks from a vending machine costs about RM 3.30 to RM 4.50. And Evian is same price as every other mineral water brand. RM3.30 only. So mengada drink Evian water in Japan. Hahaha!!!

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