New And Shiny I: TWENTY-ELEVEN

Hey guys! Welcome back! It's been quite a while, it's a new year and all that jazz... And this is where I should say "happy new year!" ... lol as if I would actually wish you one - maybe Paula would  ^^
Anyway, a lot of funny, weird and crazy things have happened lately.

Lets begin... with today.
We're back at university. Yay! The smile of death has gotten itself a new hair cut - looks definitely better!

Anyway, since I'm one of those people who like to plan things thoroughly and to have a comfortable schedule, I chose to come back only this morning. Via DeutscheBahn! Yay! German Railway Services really rock. Wisely, I chose a connection where I didn't have to change trains until Mannheim. Good thing since in Cologne we somehow lost the last half of the train and got kept up by the mandatory suicide in Frankfurt... What's it that makes throwing yourself in front of a train seem to be such a great idea, anyway? I mean - hello? That's disgusting! And no one of those egoistic assholes thinks about the engine driver - they're fucked up for life after such an incident. Really. Can't you just go and overdose or something? There're countless options - human life is actually quite a fragile thing.
Anyway, in the end I was only delayed by about half an hour and even got to bring my luggage home before I had to go to Uni... I took the last turn and the first thing I see when I set foot onto the street I live at - a guy violently throwing up all over the street... Oh yes, welcome home. Here I thought moving to such a white-bread area like the one I live in would spare me such sights but apparently...not. Ah, it's always nice to get a warm welcome - this had even a home made touch to it, it came from the heart... LOL
Anyway, let's skip the details.

Actually, I was supposed to write a Christmas Special... blame Paula that I didn't write anything - she introduced me to failbook's Treasure Isle - she should have known better because since Christmas I've risen to level 66 and know the works better than most of the other TI addicts... ^^ Anyway, Christmas... For starters - My family loves tradition and family events and all that. So I had a very, very German Christmas - minus the church, we all find that kinda boring and my mom doesn't want to go if the rest of us is having fun at home while she's freezing her ass of in that pitiful excuse of a church we have down in the village. Anyway, I got home on the 23rd. My dad and my brother had already gotten the tree which was kinda sad since I wanted the fun with the chainsaw... well maybe next year.  So my dad and my brother are both equally male and have the typical testosterone vision that makes you rise above every possible sense of aethetics a human being could possibly have. Read: the tree was ugly. Like really really ugly. xDDD It was crooked and didn't have much green left on the lower branches... But my mom, already used to such trees, just got some pretty fir branches and then had a private show of "Pimp My Christmas Tree"!
The next morning my sister and I got to decorate it, she but up all the glass balls and candles and stuff that generally belongs on a Christmas Tree and I put up the fun stuff - ugly plastic birds, a whole hoard of wooden elks, cookies and i even slipped in some old silverware ^^
Tadaaa:

In Germany Christmas begins on the 24th and you get your presents in the evening of that day ^^ For me Christmas usually lasts at least three days. I have lots of family and everyone is coming, arguing with each other and generally stressing each other out - this year everyone brought their dogs. And they don't like each other especially since my lovely grandfather likes to feed his from the table and the others aren't even allowed to beg let alone to be fed when we're eating... It really needed a mastermind to see that one coming...

Anyway, when all that shit was over it was almost Sylvester. I went back to HD on the 31st and went to Paula's to start the evening with bowle, vodka and all other kinds of funny things...
I had been the one to do the all shopping... and suddenly (out of the blue, I swear) Paula asked if I had brought fireworks... whoopsie... I knew there was something xDDD
well... FAIL! There we sat on Sylvester with nothing but 50(!) sparklers and no lighter ^^
Later we had to melt the lead for the lead poring on the stove... no lighter - no lit candles... figures ^^ - lead pouring is a very traditional way of telling the fortune for the new year here in Germany, I got a lizard and a rose, Paula got two scythes, which probably means she'll die and come back as death himself ^^
Anyway, we still made it and are now part of 2011 ^^

The new year started with the very chaotic event of Jessy moving to New York - or well, just to Bergheim, which was turned out to be just as complicated... LOL
I trusted my sweet little car, well, actually my dad's car, to some... err... not so experienced driver who managed to drive like 8km without releasing the hand break >.<" And I swear it hasn't been the old one since then! My poor baby! D=
Somewhere during de-packing most of the boxes because someone had thought that 30kg are a handy weight for a couple of girls and lots of fun with all the stuff we found in said boxes Paula and I abandoned that party to drive north. For me, I had to babysit my little brother, the dog and the house since my parents were on vacation and for Paula, she went to visit a friend in one of the most 田舎...err... towns for the lack of a better word. I brought her there and drove like 50 times around the central bus station with the great name "City Treff" (city meet) ^^

So I went home, had fun with my brother, did what a good babysitter does - bought him beer and we stayed up way to long for it being a school night.
Some time during my stay at home a friend came over and since my little brother was at school, we thought it might be a fun idea to take a shower together (cough cough). Well.... apparently I hadn't read my textmessages otherwise I'd have known my brother was coming home early since he had thrown up during maths at school (too much beer? he swears it was because of the food at the cafeteria... still probably the beer. ^^)... Anyway, I got out of the shower, let my brother in, sent him to bed and went back to said friend and the shower... a little later the bell rings again... my brother opens and YAY MY GRANDMA! I was just beginning to become a little frustrated with the general situation when they chose to sit down on the sofa right in front of the bathroom and wait for me...! GREAT! So I got out of the shower once again, told my friend to stay completely silent and went of with only a towel and dripping wet. My grandma just wanted to invite us for dinner and my brother just wanted to stick around, so I sent my grandma home and my brother back to bed... but yeah, it kind of killed the mood. FAIL!

...so yeah, my holidays have been almost a little too much fun for my tastes... ^^

Paula just had the short version, she worked, was bored without my awesomeness around, worked some more, spent Christmas with a friend, visited some other friends and got back. ^^

Naturally, both of us didn't get done anything for Uni during the holidays ^^ surprise, surprise ^^


...so apparently we're more than late - which is why I'm gonna post this now and you'll get the usual fail-blog part later ;-)
Be nice to us! As most of you, including ourselves, often seem to forget, we're nervous first years and there a exams in about two weeks and AAAAAAAAAHHH!

much love+hugs

~ Paula + Yôshi

Life in H(igh) D(efinition) II

Hey Fans!
We're really sorry for not posting anything in sooo long! We were kinda busy... doing... stuff. Well... actually, we were out partying our drunken asses off... pretty much what we've been doing right from the start - university rocks.
Actually, writing is kind of hard right now since we're feeling slightly sick from eating way too much pasta. ... gaaah who gave me this much to eat and why are there things in this world called cinnamon ice cream stars?! Btw... try those. They're multiple orgasm made of ice cream.
Well, fail of the week: We had a date at Aldi. Aldi is this discount super market chain which is kind of... the cheapest of the cheap. There is this awesome guy in our history course: Mameshiba. (We named him like that because he has a pencil case with a mameshiba design) Actually, Mameshiba deserves his very own special entry... but I'll come to those special entries later, there are other people like my lovely betrothed, who are to get their special first.
Anyway. We had a date with Mameshiba at Aldi. We actually even met another girl from our course. This is so ridiculous. Well, I guess you need some more detail to understand this. The Aldi store we're talking about is on the furthest end of the last outskirts of HD. Right before Land's End, right before the edge, before you fall off the disk. The people you usually see at said Aldi are of the wary kind, hidden under large hoods and behind large shades, looking grim and being the uncomfortable kind of silent, inside said Aldi you feel like The Stranger, The Alien. The Intruder. It's an atmosphere like this one scene in Once Upon A Time In The West, where the stillness is the most tangible in the room, where everyone is just Waiting. For everything, for anything. And this is just the atmosphere you'd want to have a romantic date, right? A date with toilet paper and milk cartons in your cart and your shopping list as the leitmotif, as the red thread of your conversation. How surreal can life possibly get? xDDD
You write useless stuff on failbook and end up going on a date at Aldi. The decadence of youth is truly devastating.

Oh, maybe some of you wondered why there's gonna be a special about my lovely betrothed ^^ Well, no, it's not Paula - she's just the bride's bouquet. Nooo!
As you all know, moving to a new region in Germany means different beer brands! I didn't know any of the brand from around here before... Now I know Welde. Welde is kind of a cheap beer but it's drinkable, really. And it has prophetical skills! You ask the bottle a question, like "Will I fail next week's oral exams" and it'll answer with yes, no or a question mark. So we got us one of those for the first time a couple of days ago and everyone was like "you have to ask it a question!!!" and I was like OMG and they were like WTF and we were like OMG WTF! ... not. Well, as you probably know, you're never able to think of something funny when you need to. At least I'm helpless like that. So I just asked "Will I marry Jessy?" and the Welde said YES!
JESSY MY LOVE! ...and since Paula needed a role, too, she can be the bride's bouquet. Aren't I a nice kinda girl?

GAWD I'M TIRED!
Maybe I should sleep more and party less... I guess for now I'll have to go with sleep more because partying less isn't the option this week. There are way to many parties we'll just have to be seen at! And I'm a hilarious drunk! :D I have more fun than everyone else at the party... Well except for one friend you surprised me with her elaborate language skills in Japanese on last week's 話す会 (はなすかい) or get-together-for-drinking-and-speaking-(japanese). Tamago-chan, you're just too crazy! xDDD Sentence of the night: "Fuck desu nee..." My facial muscles were so sore the next day from all the laughing that night.

...did anyone notice that I'm just talking my ass off because I really have nothing to say? Like nothing at all?!

Oh, well, I could do it like a true Japanese - I could talk about food.
Does anyone of you know about "Matschbroetchen"? It's a usually a brioche, a bun made of sweet white milk dough with a squashed chocolate marshmallow in-between the halves.

Here, have a look, it's absolute bliss for your taste buds!

Paula says I'm disgusting... but really!

Oh, maaan, I got sidetracked again... Have I mentioned that Paula's grandma makes the best christmas cookies ever...?

Oh, THE CHRISTMAS OFFENSE IN HD!!! xDDD

People are so crazy around here... >.<"

...and have crazy hobbies.

Especially those hanging Santas are somewhat weird... The small one hang exactly on eye's height... so you can always run against your very own Santa! Oh well, it might come in handy when you're late for work: I'M SO SORRY BUT ON MY WAY TO WORK I RAN INTO SANTA CLAUS! xD And it wouldn't even be a lie >.<" I, personally, think all this christmas stuff is completely overrated. I mean, WTF? Since the 10th of September (!!!) you can get Christmas candy and all that shit... Who needs that stuff? ...okay, I admit it, on the 10th of september I bought myself some of the first cinnamon star cookies and ate them all with my dad and my little brother... anyway, I'm still against all that christmas hype... it's just so.... unnecessary! I mean, if it weren't for Coca Cola's  idea to turn Santa red, we'd still have a brown christmas... whatever.
Oh, and guess what, I found most of those ugly in my street... figures I live in the craziest part of town... I mean, if they don't have their Santas they'll have something else... Like this:

My neighbor's seriously got plastic horses. Green plastic with red roses painted on it... and it's fucking UGLY! Really! What do you guys think about having huge plastic horses in your backyard?! I guess, I shouldn't be all that surprised, though... Everyone has at least a German flag somewhere or some weird "Jesus loves you"-sign hanging somewhere... very suspicious.
In the stairway of the house I live looks very ... normal... or conservative... it only smells a little suspicious xD the guys in the basement flat (veeery cozy, no mean windows where the neighbors can spy on you...doing...stuff...)
I swear the wallpaper gets more colorful with every minute you spent in that stairway xD

Anyway... I'm really tired...
I'm gonna stop here for now, have fun guys!

Oh, wait - I just remembered something! Do you guys know about the problems you can have with a toilet...?
Well, for those of you who speak German - sit down, make sure it's okay to laugh loudly where you are, don't drink or eat while reading and don't read immediately after eating something. Here, have fun! Toilet-Fun

Anyway, I'll try posting more, I'm sorry we left you alone for sooooo long!
Try motivating me with comments and such... *hint* *hint* *waves a fence post*

Until we meet again,

~ Paula and Yôshi

Life in H(igh) D(efinition) I

Guys! We're back. Finally. First I have to say I'm flattered (Paula is, too, btw) because... There are people waiting for us to post something new, fans and friends and everything! You guys rock! We're thinking about making some merchandise! Would anyone be interested in buttons with our mascots on them? We'll also have hoodies (for ourselves). So if you see us walking around with them guys on our backs – talk to us!

Anyway. Do you know the phenomenon that once you start studying at university you seem to be out more than ever? I mean, during the last three years my partying habits were relatively tame a kind but now? I seem to be on every fucking party out there and I love it. The most useful vocabulary I learned this semester is 二日酔い　（ふつかよい）which means “hangover”, even though, it's usually Paula who's hangover since I'm usually still pretty much drunk the next morning ^^ hehe... fail. And every morning after, we say “We really should party less and study more” … and off we go to the next party. I mean, why only going out on weekends if you can go during the week, too?! I say: Who wants to be lazy has to be brilliant. Let's see if I am. Brilliant that is ^^ I do have my doubts, though. But I'm pretty sure I'll be able to say “what an awesome life” someday. (I actually already say that all the time, I like being me :-P )

Soooo... what to write today? I'm kind of... unmotivated ^^ It's 3:30 pm and I'm still lying in Paula's bed, happy-raping her plushies, especially The Bear and I have established an heartfelt relationship and I can proudly say I'm on top. ^^ Though, we will write our 作文 (essay) today, which means, @all you lazy Japanology-Nerds: GO DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

It's about why we are studying Japanese... Yay! It's so my kind of topic (no irony here) because I'm awesome when it comes to talking my ass away about a topic I know nothing of!

Whatever.

We thought, it'd be great if we posted something about our daily life this time. I guess we really can say “our life” because when I met with some people on Friday and didn't bring Paula they were kind of shocked... fail... XD... so just for you guys out there: Paula and I met about four weeks ago, and have been kind of attached at the hip since then, although, that's just thanks to me – I have awesome people skills and am sooo likeable and nice and an all-over fun person – you just have to love me! :D Whoops, don't tell Paula I wrote this, she'll hit me or something!

So talked forever, told nothing: here comes Life in H(igh)D(efinition) I

First I have to say, I love it when guys lie at my feet. It's a caress to my ego and makes my inner self squeal in utter glee. And the other thing is, I like guys, I could hold an five-hours-monologue about why I think guy's are awesome. (Boys, this is your cue, bring me beer and a steak!)

However, as nice as having guys lying at your feet is, I was really said about this one doing so. One day I sit next to him, reading Voltaire, eating Hachez and all-over laughing my ass off about Voltaire's sense of humor, and the next day he's just lying there. I was crestfallen.

Who does whit like that?! He was my friend, man! And the most stable one I could find! And yet it was one of the shortest friendships I ever had! So not fair!

Apropos friendships – do you guys know this “Oh, he's such a dog-person or she's such a cat person?” Contrariwise to common assumption I'm not a dog person but a cat person :-P I'm a fucking mystery! Oh, well, today I'm a Panda Person, when I looked into the mirror this morning... errr... late afternoon... all I saw was a Panda looking kind of... run over. The bags under my eyes are that bad... any tips and tricks? (Except for partying less, I know about that one). Oh, just in case you're wondering, Paula's a dog person – she forced me to mention it, she keeps dissing my non-existent number one pet, the cat.

HD isn't the place to be as dog, though, it seems. The dogs I see all look kind of like I feel today:

Are those really dogs? They look like the kind of pillow you throw out after a home party because you don't know why it's so wet and weird smelling...

Btw, the poor quality of the pictures is thanks to my fucked up cell phone camera ^^ bear with it, you'll see them a lot.

Anyway. Germany is all about Green Energy and Alternate Energy Sources and Organic Food and all that jazz. But it's also the country with the fastest cars on the highway, no speed limits, the most different kinds of beer and all that. I really appreciate that, save the planet, I'm game. I buy organic food sometimes, I try to eat the tuna that got the dolphin-friendly-sign on it. Where I do abandon all my good intentions is on the road. I'm a true German when I'm in a car. I drive a constant 20km/h-above the speed limit or, if there is none, at a constant 170km/h. I tailgate heavily, I curse in a way that makes a sailor blush and I love every second of it. That's why I can't help but laugh about things like this:

I mean, it's a great idea, he's doing way better at saving the planet than I am... still WTF?

Another thing I love about Germany is that it's a deep and mysterious forest made of signs. There are so many signs everywhere! And the way they're positioned shows if one of the signs shows an exception to the rule of the other or an addition or an in-case-of-situation... and so on. It's the confusion of a whole nation made visible. Like this one!

The white sign says 'to the customer parking lot' and the yellow one says 'trespassing of property prohibited – parents answer for their children'

…

And what exactly am I supposed to do here? Germany failed once again. Customers! I hope you know how to park your car without driving it! Best, just throw it!

Or this thing!

'Brand Condoms – 4 pieces 5,- DM'

DM! Man, DM! DM is the abbreviation of Deutsche Mark which used to be the currency here... before the EURO. Before 2001! They do know that condoms expire, too, don't they? Urgh, just urgh. Oh, wait, did they even know about latex back then? Someone have 5,-DM for me to try it?

Anyway... I'll stop for now – so you can get another update soon ^^

Remember to tell us if you'd be interested in buttons with Paula and Yôshi on them!

I'll go and take a (highly needed) shower, I probably smell just as the Panda I look like today. And I really should get out of these pyjamas soon...

Until we meet again ~

Paula + Yôshi


p.s. I did leave out the FAIL OF THE WEEK. On purpose. But right about now I figured, I'd confess of our stupidity. You guys all read this blog... But apparently we have gotten us a pretty prominent reader... ^^ There we were, innocently sitting through one of those...err... interesting history tutorials and thought it'd be a great idea to do some promotion for our blog. Well, we were incredibly successful on that one. The next day Paula found the sheet with the web address and all on the table where all the brochures and fliers about Japan and Japan-related stuff for students, post-graduates and other interested people lies. She thought I had put it there... Well, I didn't.

One of the other freshmen told us our dear Japanese professor had showed around said sheet earlier that day during the first year's Japanese Lesson... and right after put said sheet on said table at the institute... FAIL, MAN, FAIL!!! I'm here writing my brain off about butt-sex-dinosaurs and my professors are reading it ^^

@ProminentReader: Have Fun and tell us what you think! We hope this qualifies us for … […] not.

 

The Background Stories II

Fans! There we go again! Somehow Paula managed to make me write this post again, even though, it's mostly about her this time... ^^ There you go thinking you're pretty cool and independent and everything and then there comes one of those shorties and makes you do the craziest things... and the worst... you love it. That's how it went and why you've got to deal with my poor sense of humor once again. Well, bear with me. ^^

It's time for The Background Stories Part Two:
First you need to know a little about Paula's life. One word description? Interesting ^^ Well, she's been in Japan for a couple of times already and once attended Japanese High School for about a year, meaning she's great at talking nonsense ^^ And, even better, she's already made about every mistake a gaijin can possibly do... HAHA! (I so needed that to polish my scratched up ego a little...)
Anyway. In Japan she stayed with different host families... and one of them had little daughter who once was the epitome of innocence and sweetness... but then came Paula. The poor sweet child was ripped from its cradle, thrown into a world of disaster and even worse - the little girl happened to be quite fond of Paula's attempts to stain her innocence.

...

They say she's gonna be the next Sadako of the Japanese The Ring movies... She definitely got the facial expression right. I mean, how could you, Paula! She was just a young little girl who did nothing wrong in her life! Not once! And now she'll only be able to make a living as a character from a horror movie! And what if that expression stays permanently! I just can believe it!

Apparently not all Japanese people Paula met were typical Japanese... I absolutely adore the story about "her" grandma who took her to a festival at a Sakura park and there was a hill small children slid down on paper and plastic bags. And being a proud and fine Japanese woman the grandma gave her a bag and took one herself and said "We're gonna do that, too!" And down they went... I never met that woman but I love her. She makes me believe in a better world, where a gaijin like me isn't always the freakiest person at hand ^^

Whatever. Last time I had an epic rant about cosplay, right? Paula, being a cosplayer herself by the way, had her moments with those people as well:

I think her face says everything about her thoughts on Japanese people in costumes... Man, don't you look hooked, Sweetie? Well, don't worry, I like (good looking) people without clothes better, too. I mean, uniforms and suits are indeed hot... but nothing goes over a little skin ^^ or a little more ^^

Oh, and while we're at it... Do you guys know Tokyo Tower? Weeeell, of course you do! Everyone knows the Japanese copy of the Eiffel Tower which is actually even taller than the original... fail... But do you guys know what they sell to little children in the stalls and vendors below the tower? Hehe, neither did I...

EPIC FAIL! THEY SELL BUTT-SEX-DINOSAURS TO CHILDREN!!! I almost died when I saw that one! xDDD I can so see the little children asking their mothers "Mommy! Why does the dino put his pee-pee into... " GAHAAAA! Now we know why dinosaurs really went extinct! They were all gay and there were no more baby dinosaurs - I can so see the headline of some Alien-Newspaper: Today's special: Earth - The Gay Dinosaur's Paradise ... how fail can something get?

Anyway...
Another thing about Japan is the Latin transcription of Japanese characters... somehow that's something that tends to go wrong somewhere... this mistake kind of rocks, though ^^

xD Paula's friend took this picture when she was in Okinawa... Obviously they meant not to lock that door but really, this is so much better! In some languages thele in fact is a diffelence between l and l... but leally, using the light lettel is way ovellated.

... Back to being serious, we're not here just for fun after all! This his hard work! And we must give our all!

While we're still at the topic... fail signs aren't only to be found in Japan - you can find them over here, too! And since we're in Germany right now, we decided to show you this one!

"Sackkarre" means "sack barrow" in English... ... ... EPIC FAIL!

...

I don't have anything else to say to this...


Until we meet again,

Paula + Yôshi

The Background Stories I

So... here we go... first post. You know, guys, the first post is something nothing short of evil. It nags you and chews on your nerves - what to post, how to write - after all, this is supposed to be awesome. ^^
But, what the hell, I'll just start at the beginning, or even before the beginning (is that even possible?). Here's The Background Stories Part One.
First of all, we're Paula Yôshi, or if you use the long version, Prinzessin Paula (German: princess) and Miss Yôshi. They're both quite new nick names but they already grew on us. We met a couple of weeks ago in a smelly old classroom, packed with weird people at the beginning of the semester. So yes, we're both proud students of Heildeberg University (lol) and students at the East Asia Institute. We're majoring in East Asia Studies with a focus on Japan and while Paula's second course is Sociology, mine is Computer Linguistics, which is something similar to Informatics, I'm too lazy too explain the difference now. The point is, we're learning Japanese. Paula has for about 8 years and I for maybe... 3 1/2. We're in the same language course, though, which does make my ego squeal in delight. A little. On the inside. :-P
So for us learning Japanese and getting to know the country, the people and all the other freaks like us is quite funny. I've never been as amused for such a long time before I came here ^^ my eyebrows feel like they're permanently glued to my hairline ^^ ^^ ^^... I'll get wrinkles... someday. But until then: LOL

Japan, Japanese people, wannabe-Japanese people, they make life more fun. They really do. I mean, everyone should have their own Japan-freak, don't you think? You'd always have something to laugh. (no offense to those who fit into that category, we do, too, it's great here)
Especially being in Japan is one of those must-have-done-experiences of a potential Japan-freak. I mean, who doesn't want to be able to stand at the very back of a concert and still see the stage just fine? Of course, lately there have been some taller Japanese popping up from nowhere but most of the are still cute and small and just aww ^^ Never pet them, though, I don't think they like that ^^ then again, I never tried it ^^
Anyway, Japan is great.
I bet everyone has heard about the tricky high tech hygiene facilities, also know as toilet, you find in Japan?

This is the How-to-use-instruction at the wall of a McDonalds toilet in Tokyo.
The first joke: Save water! xD Hadn't laughed so hard in ages! That's like telling the McClerk you want a low carb/low fat menue but you don't like green salad. Anyway, back to McInstruction. "Press to play back flushing sound to muffle toilet sounds (25 seconds)" GAHAAAAA NO COMMENT NEEDED, RIGHT?
The next one "Press to stop spray" Spray? What spray?! I don't want to get sprayed at with whats in my toilet!!! Reading that I actually considered not going. I was so freaked out!
Then the one looking like a nice pair of breasts over a fountain... oh... err.. they're rather ass cheeks, I guess, well, what the fuck, I didn't have such a round bottom when I was a baby! So you get your bottom sprayed with that one? Urgh. Just urgh! Oh and a bidet function. On a puplic toilet at McDs? O.o" Right about now start to believe I should be glad that there aren't any other things coming out of the toilet... Oh you can regulate the water pressure... Do people masturbate in here? By now I was quite sure I wanted to go home...
Ah, nice, you can have some music to that...? And turn the volume up?!

Really, lets change the topic. I mean, toilets! WTF!

Oh, I took a picture of this guy!

Hey, do you guys remember those pajamas you had as a toddler? These things?

Why in his right mind does he wear something like that? And what's the thing on his head? If I had to do that I'd want something where you can't see my face but no... He's proud of his job, obviously! Well, who knows. He wasn't even handing out leaflets or brochures or anything, he just walked around as a giant pink bunny-thing, somewhere in Shibuya. Maybe he's the worst I took a picture of but Japanese love dressing up. And those people are everywhere. 7:30 am, Yamamote Line, the train is packed with people going to work, to school, shopping, whatever. Don't ask why I was on a train at 7:30 in the morning on vacation. I was. Anyway. Wherever you look you see people in uniforms. School uniforms, work uniforms, World War I cavalry uniforms... wait, what?! I couldn't take a picture of him, but what the fuck? Or another time, another train, late at night, hardly anyone's on the train - the guy next to me turns around and looks at me... and hell! He had white fluorescent eyes! I almost screamed! You can't just look at me with glowing eyes! I might get a heart attack! Are they even allowed to sell stuff like that? It should be prohibited, it's a mortal threat!
Or another time, my friend and I were looking for a Starbucks (Yes, booh, we're bad and stupid consume whores, we know about the dangers of Scientology... but it's not so easy to get you fill of daily caffeine in the land of tea. Oh wait, that was China, right? Whatever). Anyway, still looking for a Starbucks.  Now we weren't in the best place to find a Starbucks - many tall office-like buildings, clean surfaces, no people. Oh wait, over there are some. Oh-Hallooo~ nice, I didn't there had been a revival of baroque fashion. Wait - the one in the one in the rather opulent and rather frilly dress is kind of flat-chested, poor girl, I know your problem. Wait - that's no girl...! Ooookay.
I mean, it's cool, like anti-emancipation or something...? I don't have anything against guys wearing dresses... but there? With only office-like buildings around? Maybe I should trust the facade of these buildings... and there's no Starbucks. And how do we get to the station now?
Why, thanks, lovely Japanese people, I, too, think street names and directions in English are totally overrated.

Oh, oh, another funny fact about Japan! They love drastic warnings. Like this here, a sign at a crossing in Sakuradamon.

It means:
"Yesterday's traffic accidents - casualties --0-- Persons"
FAIL! Well, I find it kind of funny, but I sense of humor fits under every floor mat. I think we should have an open discussion! Do you guys think, that kind of sign should be at every crossing or is it too macabre? Too bad there didn't die any people the day before - it would have been more impressive that way... well, I guess, you can't have everything ^^

So, that's it for now, we'll be back soon!

~ Paula + Yôshi