ＧＲＥＧ日記 ｉｎ ニッポン

Asakusa

I spent part of the day in the Asakusa area yesterday.
I avoided most of the tourist areas, so it wasn't all that crowded.
I had lunch TUNA STEAK for lunch at some izakaya.
I was disappointed in the taste as it was dry and not tender.
I had expected the tuna to be thicker and grilled on the outside with a red middle, but it was paper-thin and dry throughout...what a disappointment.
I stopped at BASKIN ROBBINS for ice cream and was happy with that!!
Overall, I had a good time walking around, though I'll never go to that izakaya again.

The Immigration Office

A couple of years ago, the Tokyo Immigration Office was located near OTEMACHI station.
It was a real convenient location since several subways service OTEMACHI and the building was right in
front of one of the exits.
Considering where I live now, if the office were still there, I could have arrived on foot in about 15 minutes.
However, about five years ago the Japanese government decided to move the immigration office to
SHINAGAWA.
That's fine, but the problem is is that the office is now located about 15 minutes from the station - by bus.
It's a real nuisance trying to get there.
My friends and I all believe that the immigration authority is in cahoots with the bus company.
It's a simple thought - the bus company would give the immigration authority a bundle of money to move to a remote location where bus transportation would be required. The bus company in turn has a guaranteed
1000 extra riders (at least) every day.
Is this likely? Probably not.
Possible? Certainly, given the amount of bribery that takes place in Tokyo.

Hug Me

Standing in front of WAKO Department store yesterday afternoon, I saw a person holding a sign that read
HUG ME in Japanese on one side and in English on the other.
Normally this type of individual wouldn't surprise me, but this was Ginza, not Harajuku.
Anyway, I'd assumed that it was a guy (I could only see them from the back), but when they turned around
and I saw their face, I wasn't so sure.
It could have been a female.
For 30 minutes I watched this person, and to my surprise, five people stopped for a hug.
Three of them were in a group and were hispanic.
The other two came individually and were middle-aged Japanese women.
It was an interesting sight.

It Must Be High

I was at a neighbourhood izakaya last night with an Australian friend.
Neither of us smoke, yet we both left last night smelling like a tobacco factory.
As I walked with him to the station, we started chatting about the % of smokers in Japan.
While I'm sure there are some rough estimates out there, I wonder what the % would be when having a drink (alcohol) is included as part of the criteria.
The reason I say this is that we counted last night and there were 17 men around us, spread over six tables, and 14 of them were smoking.
Wow!
Smoking in bars is illegal in Canada (everything is illegal in Canada!!!), yet people have survived.
Could Japanese bars survive with a smoking ban?