The Strange , Unexplainable, Down Right Wrong Things Youve Seen In Japan

[Rezz]

Haha, good story Rezz.

I am surprised that you haven`t learnt that the older you get, the more you actually have the right to do stupid things.

It's not that I haven't learnt it, it's that I don't accept it

[Beer Baron]

One thing that really gets me is the ultra-nationalists. They are an embarrassment to this country and no one does anything to stop them.

They have been going nuts this week due to the anniversary of the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Driving past the US Embassy 3 or 4 times a day.

Earlier this afternoon, the biggest bunch of them I have ever seen were protesting down the street from the Korean Embassy. They were much more aggressive than any I have seen before; Revving their cars at the police and one of them even hit the barricade which the police use to block them from reaching the Embassy.

I can sympathise with that problem. when I was living in my friends apartment in azabu I had to deal with these fkers. The first time I was there I had arrived at night, and had got the key from him in aus. so I found my way to the apartment, walked up the street into roppongi, got smashed, stumbled into bed early in the morning. about 11am on a sturday morning I'm woken up by all this shouting over a megaphone. It was way to fast, and my language far to poor to understand what they were saying, but it sounded like maybe a baseball game was on nearby or something. anyway, I step out onto the balcony and this is what I see.

you can see in the pics they were just leaving when I finally went inside and grabbed the camera, I had been watching them for a while. there was probably 8-10 vans and cars all the with giant farking megaphones. and this is 100 meters from my apartment! nasty. they wake you up every bloody weekend. the guards and barricade are stationed there what seems like 24/7. on one side they have the extend-o barrier and a 4WD with a lookout on top, and on the other side is a bus with riot police inside. They are there because the russian embassy is about 200 meters down the road and they used to drive up to it and spout their mumbo jumbo there. so now instead they stop them at the corner. imagine the cost of having those guards there eery week. and it's a bastard on a saturday morning when you are trying to sleep in after a big night out.

[Beer Baron]

oh, and here's the street view of that corner too.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...RF8LOKoHOT360yw

[cereal]

I can sympathise with that problem. when I was living in my friends apartment in azabu I had to deal with these fkers. The first time I was there I had arrived at night, and had got the key from him in aus. so I found my way to the apartment, walked up the street into roppongi, got smashed, stumbled into bed early in the morning. about 11am on a sturday morning I'm woken up by all this shouting over a megaphone.

At least you were staying upstairs from Suji's and you could get a massive hangover curing breakfast...

That's really close to where I live now. I'm just down the hill a bit, in Azabu Juban.

[Rezz]

I see your ultra-nationalist Delica spacegear and raise you a semi-Vanning HiAce:

[Laurence]

laurence hehe , poor guy. did you get to where you were going on time?

No, but I got my get out of jail free bit of paper!

Check out the anti-飛び込み自殺 spec guardrail they installed!

Edited September 4, 2008 by Laurence

[GTR-N1]

Even when one arrives at Narita Airport and you go down the concourse, there is sign in both Japanese and English.

In English it reads, "Welcome Overseas Visitors"

In Japanese, it translates, "Welcome Aliens"

I hope that when I go to "Top Secret" on my next visit, I don't have to be directed to the "Alien's" toilet!

I can imagine myself having to squeeze myself between 2 apertures

ie...sitting above one for solids; and facing one for liquids!

[m3gtr]

Its kinda true though...

We are aliens.

We can do crazy shit no Japanese person can do.

[GTR-N1]

Hey,

And another time, I was on the Bullet Train from Kyoto to Tokyo BUT, BUT

...it was the 1st day after the JNR strike which meant that the f***in' thing was carrying double the passengers.

I kid you not! It was STANDING ROOM ONLY all the way to Nagoya before I could find a seat. I was the luck one in the crowd - mouth next to the A/Con

I kid you not! We were so jam packed that where I was, we were leaning 15 degrees off vertical! Ya couldn't even fall over!

I kid you not! The lady I was travelling with was berating Japanese men buried in their newspapers to stand up for a pregnant woman.

BUT BUT. Not one friggin' chauvanist would look up according to Elaine. She's only 1 metre away from me and I could only hear her voice!

By the time we got to Nagoya, our suitcases had travelled 5m down the carriage aisleway.

The trip?

Kyushu Island: Drove from north to south past Mt Aso to Kagoshima

Honshu: From Osaka, went to Nara & Kyoto then JNR (past Mt Fuji) to Tokyo. Did tours to Nikko (north) & Hakone (south)

Hokkaido: Drove from Kushiro past Lake Masyu thru Akasihawa to Hakodate. Terrain is more like Canada than the other islands.

Took 600 slides. SLIDES??? Yeh I'm that old.

But in my Skyline & Prelude, I don't feel it??? LOL

Tez

[m3gtr]

Can you hypnotize SAU and all my Japanese angst away from me Tez????

Well!???

Can ya??!!

[akeenan]

terry i dont think it quiet translates to aliens . . . 外国人　and 宇宙人　are a little different.

but hey maybe the signs have changed during my travels (13 times) in and out of that airport...

kid you not! The lady I was travelling with was berating Japanese men buried in their newspapers to stand up for a pregnant woman.

BUT BUT. Not one friggin' chauvanist would look up

finally the real japan exposed. . . not all polite and curtious .

Edited September 5, 2008 by akeenan

[m3gtr]

Not when it comes to women and its not going to change any time soon...

[GTR-N1]

terry i dont think it quiet translates to aliens . . . 外国人　and 宇宙人　are a little different.

but hey maybe the signs have changed during my travels (13 times) in and out of that airport...

finally the real japan exposed. . . not all polite and curtious .

Yes on both counts!

I was there in 1976. Fancy that... six years after I got my 1st car = Datsun 1600. Been more or less loyal ever since!

Japanese women have really lovely dispositions c.f. men who prefer to be super-yang

WTF it took weeks of USA Training for Japanese men to learn how to SMILE to improve their business acumen.

Since mid fifties, Japanese men have tried too hard to copy Macho US guys and even in baseball, to better them at their own game.

Talk More

Tez

[GTR-N1]

I wonder if this anecdote qualifies as being 'STRANGE'...

The year is again, 1976.

There are some long straight stretches of road south of f*kuoka. The hire car started to buzz interminably as you exceeded the speed limit - but you get used to ignoring it. Anyway on this highway, I could make out in the distance, the profile of a black car with a bubble appearing soon afterwards on the roof. Of course you slam on the brakes upon realising that its a cop car. But as you get closer still, you feel like a fool for being 'had' by a 'Cut-Out' sitting on a trailer!!! All intended to keep us speedsters honest without going for revenue - bless them!

Tez