Saturday, January 28, 2017

Tokyo Travelogue, Volume 1: I Have a Pen, I Have an Apple

Much like the globetrotting love machine that is Zman, I find myself in Japan for a work trip this week. I flew out Friday morning on a 14-hour direct flight, landing at 3 PM local time in Tokyo Saturday. I was told to take the extra day to acclimate to the 14-hour time zone difference. I was unable to sleep on the flight, so I pushed myself until 9 PM last night. I then promptly slept until...330 AM. Sub-optimal. On the flip side, no wait for the stationary bike at the gym at 445 AM today (Sunday)!

Tokyo is big, clean and modern. I am excited to explore a couple cool neighborhoods today and eat. A lot. Of course, I can't start until the breakast places open in two hours. Again, this is sub-optimal. And of course, since this is Japan ,there is strange Japanese music everywhere. Like this song that I heard yesterday and was able to find on the world wide web (you'll figure out how I was able to track it down after you hear it). It has wormholed its way into my head, finally pushing out the phrase "drip drip drip" from the Chappelle R. Kelly video that was stuck in my head for a couple weeks.

This video is Japan in a nutshell - kitschy, catchy and really fucking strange. I am trying to keep my head from exploding - the dancing, the outfit, the stache, the whole thing. PPAP indeed. And it's SFW and safe for kids.

28 comments:

zman said...

This is like poorly executed dancehall.

Marls said...

Swint danced like that back in the unit M days.

Marls said...

Shlara is apparently bringing the tribe some luck against UNCW today.

rob said...

very impressive win for the wrens over previously unbeaten (in the league) uncw. whipped 'em by 20. shlara's gonna need to follow the tribe around for the rest of the season.

rob said...

tr, you gonna liveblog the aussie open final for us? be a shame to make zman have to get up at 3:00 am.

Whitney said...

Get up? He won't be still up? Not four years but a lifetime.

TR said...

Tempting, considering it's at 530 PM Tokyo time. I'd probably have to find a pub for that, as my room TV options are not strong.

I may be able to watch FA Cup soccer tonight, although the early games (Millwall-Watford, Fulham-Hull City) are whelming to underwhelming.

rob said...

don't badmouth fulham, man

Mark said...

Today has been kind of a shitty at. Watching the Warriors still makes me very happy though.

zman said...

I don't think I'll make it to 3:30. For what it's worth I started getting after it at 5:30.

zman said...

For what it's also worth, I think Fed and Rafa are exhausted at this point. I have idea who will win, but I do predict that it will be a sloppy slog with lots of mis-hits and clanked shots off of frames. The tennis equivalent of a one mile foot race between Clarence and me.

rob said...

gonzaga hasn't trailed in over 190 minutes. even in a crap conference, that's nuts.

Shlara said...

The Tribe looked great today--it was really fun to be there.
And, I don't want to be a buzzkill, because we don't get too many opps to enjoy a 20-point win over the top team.....

But I do want to call your attention to this. Trump shuffled the National Security Council today--Steve Bannon is in; the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs---they are both out. See WSJ for details.

rob said...

yep, that's today's real story.

zman said...

Teedge is still on the NSC though, right?

Danimal said...

Will go ahead and second my choice of Ted Cruz over Donald Trump if given the choice.

rob said...

federer, goat

zman said...

Rod Laver might disagree.

rob said...

how's he gonna beat federer with a wooden racket. c'mon, man.

zman said...

He upgraded to a Pro Staff.

https://youtu.be/INxLlmtk9-I

TR said...

Just slept 9 hours. Unfortunately it's now midnight. Hoping a nibble on an Ambien gets me four more hours. Jetlag is no joke.

rob said...

just listened to test #74 while out on a run. is it me, or is there some tension between cunningham and stacy? dave, please tell us the band isn't going to break up.

rob said...

if you haven't seen the photo of chris pronger mashing justin bieber into the boards in a celebrity hockey game, i can't recommend it enough. the look on pronger's face is priceless.

rob said...

i also hope you were watching uva/villanova. that was cool.

Mark said...

That was an entertaining basketball game for sure.

Unrelated: duck bacon is delicious.

TR said...

I caught the fifth set of Nadal-Federer. Rafa was up 3-1, and then Roger won five in a row. hard to know when Roger finally broke Rafa's spirit, but it appeared to be in the sixth game. Rafa was still up 3-2, and had ad-in. Roger won three straight points to win the game and tie the set.

Roger's precision was still amazing up to the very end. He had Rafa on the ropes big-time.

Mark said...

I've become very proficient at smoking pork belly. This is both a good and bad thing. Also pickled red onions for the first time this weekend. My wife is steaming bao buns. I might gain 5 lbs tonight.

Dave said...

i need to catch up . . . luckily tomorrow is an exam day.