Martini Over Ice

I was just browsing menus online for bars with a view in Tokyo, and I came across this unbelievable drink on the menu for the Ritz-Carlton's lobby bar on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Midtown building:

"The Diamond is Forever Martini" -- Chilled Belvedere Vodka with a hint of fresh lime juice, stirred or shaken to perfection, over a crystal clear one carat diamond"

All for the bargain price of 1,800,000 yen!

According to Reuters:

"That price includes drink preparations tableside, a serenade of "Diamonds are Forever" as a cut stone slides to the martini glass bottom, and later a ring mounting by a local jeweler."

One suggestion, if your buying this for someone other than yourself, you probably should warn the woman to sip it slowly through her teeth.

The Seven Lucky Gods

Last Sunday, I visited Ryusenji Temple, which is also known as Meguro Fudoson. The temple has divine waters spouting from dragon heads into a small pond where a statue of a fudo, or firegod, stands. The thing to do is take a ladel from the nearby fountain and splash the god with water.

I also learned that Meguro Fudoson is also one of the temples in the Yamanote area that houses one of the Shichifukujin, or seven lucky gods. I got a free map showing the route to all seven temples, and I plan to walk it one day in the near future in order to collect the god figurines pictured above. The little dolls strike a remarkable resemblance to the old Weeble Wobbles, but I don't think they bounce back up if you try to knock them over. Ryusenji sells Ebisu, the god that the temple houses. It should be a good way to fill an afternoon, and it will give me something to put on my mantle. . . for the day that I have a mantle.

Seoul

I went to Seoul for two nights with Rie over the New Year holiday. It was a very short trip, but we still managed to experience quite a few interesting things. The first night we went to a the Dragon Hill Spa, a Korean sauna, which has multiple levels featuring baths, saunas and relaxation spaces. One of the first things I noticed that is not often found in Japanese Health Spas was the heated flooring throughout almost the entire building. Most of the saunas are dry type saunas, one actually felt like I was in a pizza oven, another one had walls and floors subsisting of salt crystal. Then there was the ice sauna, a good place to cool off after sweating it out in the other places.

The most memorable thing about our visit to the sauna was our decision to try out the "akasuri," in which a special towel is used to scrub all the dead skin and grime off your skin. However, the scrubbing is done by an attendant in the sauna, while you lay on a padded table completely naked. Normally, being washed by another person might be a pleasant experience. But not when its a person of the same sex, and they are using something that feels like sandpaper on almost every nook and cranny of your body. Fortunately, he stayed clear of the most sensitive zone, although the brisk pace in which he worked made for a couple close calls that could have been painful if he accidentally slipped. Not knowing any Korean made it a bit difficult to know when to turn over. I think he kept saying something like "Jup!" at that point. Finally when I the whole washing and scrubbing, as well as a tiger-balm massage, was finished, I stood up. He picked up a bottle of shampoo, called me over, and directed me to hold out my hand. Then he squirted a generous portion of shampoo into my palm. I rubbed it into my scalp, and walked back into the main shower/bath area. This was a special bonus, I realized afterwards, because the baths only supplied body soap, not shampoo.

Horses and Houses

This Google map shows where I am living right now. It's an older apartment building in Meguro-ku, Tokyo. The street I live off of is called Moto-keibajo, which means former horse racing grounds. Apparently, a major horse track was built in this area around 1908, but as residential buildings took over, the track was moved to Fuchu City in west Tokyo to become the Tokyo Racecourse.

The Origin

Braincell Jupiter. Perhaps there is a need to explain how the theory of Braincell Jupiter, alternatively spelled Brain Cell Jupiter or braincelljupiter, came about. We have to go back to Los Angeles circa 1993/94, sometime before Kurt Cobain blew his brains out and probably closer to the time that River Phoenix overdosed and died outside of the Viper Room. Most likely the idea was hatched inside a white Hyundai with tinted windows while driving down Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, or somewhere in the vicinity of Moorpark Street near Moorpark Park, the narrow park with a redundant name near the corner of Laurel Canyon Boulvard. A Mr. E, Mr. H, and I were probably bantering about Scooby Doo and Gilligan's Island or some equivalent pop culture chitchat when I saw a vision of the planet Jupiter not as a planet but as a bit of brain matter. If a braincell were as large as Jupiter, what kind of thoughts would be inside that mind? To experience those thoughts would be greater than anything known on Earth. This sensation would be dubbed "Miller-Rama!" This blog is an attempt to simulate what it feels like to enter Braincell Jupiter, a poor attempt at that. Perhaps in the future, there will be a better way to bring "Miller-Rama!" to the masses. But for now, this is what I have to offer.

Akihabara Curry Shop

I ate lunch yesterday at one of the branches of Akiba Curry, a curry rice shop in Akihabara, the famous electronics and assorted geek fetishes district near the office where I work. After I sat down, a bowl of three unshelled hard-boiled eggs was placed on the counter in front of me, and the waiter told me that the eggs were "all-you-can-eat." Which got me wondering. . . how many hard-boiled eggs could I eat? It's one thing if you are only going to have a lunch of hard-boiled eggs, but it's another thing if you are supposed to eat a bowl of curry and rice on top of that. In "Cool Hand Luke" Paul Newman didn't bet that he could eat so many hard-boiled eggs AND a plate of curry rice. In the end, I just ate two eggs as an appetizer, let the third one sit in the stainless steel bowl, and didn't exercise my right to free refills.

Electric Bath

Last night, I decided to visit one of the sento, or public baths, in my neighborhood. The exterior of the building was rather unusual; a modern apartment building with lots of sharp angles and decorated to appear slightly decayed. The sento was located on the first floor, inside a slanted doorway.
Several baths were available, including your typical jacuzzi-style massage bath as well as an ice cold one. In the corner of the room was the electric bath. I could see some kind of metal plate on the side of the tiles, but other than that, it looked just like a regular pool of water.
Rather than just hopping into the bath, I cautiously dipped my right hand in. I didn't even get past the tips of my fingers before my body instinctively recoiled from the shock. It wasn't exactly painful, but it made my whole arm momentarily twitch uncontrollably.
That should have put me off to the whole electric bath thing right there. Instead, I decided to wade in, keeping the water at waist height. The effect on my legs was not as strong as it was on my hand. Rather than going into a spasm, the shocking effect felt more therapeutic, like my muscles were being pummeled by dozens of tiny fingers.

Cockroach Allergy?

So about a week ago, I moved into a small studio apartment that has cockroaches. I subsequently developed a cough and a sore throat. Of course, it could simply be a cold. But my paranoid personality lead me to look up the correlation between cockroaches and my symptoms, and I learned that cockroaches leave droppings that can aggravate asthma. Although I had the landlord fumigate the place, and I have not seen any of the bugs in a couple days now, there are places where I can still see lots of roach shit. I'm probably breathing this all in. I always thought roaches were disgusting, creepy-crawley critters, but I never knew that they could affect my health.

In Tokyo Again

So here I am in Tokyo again. This time staying at a business hotel in Shimbashi. Not my usual stomping grounds when it comes to Tokyo. But this is where I've been placed by my internship. The cool thing is that it's not far from the place where Lord Asano committed seppuku, so there's a faint scent of history amid the masses of sweaty salarymen in rumpled suits. Although the "cool biz" season officially started yesterday, most men I've seen walking around and on the trains are still wearing jackets and ties. Maybe they're just waiting for the weather to get hot enough to feel it's appropriate to ditch them. Today it's only about 23 degrees Celcius. A somewhat comfortable temperature, especially since it's cloudy. Haven't taken any photos yet, but once I do, I plan to be posting at least one a day. My jet-lag this time around has me feeling more disoriented than usual. I've learned from past experience not to give my thoughts too much notice the first few days. When I wake up too early in bed, it makes me feel depressed and I become too introspective. All these negative thoughts start to harass me. It's just the jet-lag talking. Or at least, that's what I tell myself.

Got angry in the library

Is it just me, or aren't libraries supposed to be quiet? These janitor-type guys and one woman who looked like a guy were making a racket in the stacks today. Shouting, laughing, even singing. I was trying to finish a paper, but couldn't concentrate. So I packed up my bag and went searching for the culprits. When I found them, I approached and asked, "Excuse me, is this the libary?" They looked at me kind of funny and said, "Yes."

And I said, "Well, you wouldn't know it from the way you all are talking so loud."

This big black guy with a blind-looking eye then tells me, "You mind your own business. You do what you have to do, we'll do what we have to do."

Mind my own business? I thought. Do what I am supposed to do? I am supposed to be studying, since I am a grad student, and the library is supposed to be my place to do it.

I went up to the main counter, asked for a supervisor and made a complaint. Not that I think anything will change. I've noticed library staff walking through the library, talking at full volume. And other students answer their cell phones.

Now excuse me if I sound like an uptight bastard, but where are the library monitors? Where the hell is the old school librarian who always said, "Shush!" and made you feel ashamed for even breathing too loud?

This country is falling apart, and it's sad to think that so-called higher places of learning can't even maintain any high standards of manners anymore.