Richard in Tokyo - Part 2

Going to Asakusa we were right on time as the clock slided up and other parts turned around to show characters in traditional costume as we were in the densest temple area in the city. It had to be the biggest lantern I've ever seen. But we still had to pass a ton of shops to get to the temple itself.

When I was in junior high I remember seeing round glasses which would make the wearer look like he had asian eyes. Magically everyone seems to have forgotten that these ever existed. However in Asia we have the other side of the coin.

When we get closer to the actual temple entrance on the left and right are tons are lanterns showing the names of people who have donated. I really didn't expect to see this kind of building in Japan. A monk praying by the main building? I didn't know the Lions were involved in temples.

The next day at Shibuya we fought the crowds a bit, got lunch together, and wandered around from there. Later that night we passed a rice vending machine. Please read the label. Had a wonderful homemade dinner (the chicken was amazing~). Glanced at the family photos, traditional bedroom, and New Years badmittion racket. Went to the sauna with my friends' father. Saw the coolest toilet ever where you can wash your hands right then and there. One of the problems with similiar toilets in Asia is your leg can activate certain buttons unexpectadly. Another advantage with this one is that the controls are off to the side.

Back at the airport I got there in time to still get a nap before our flight. Saw another multipurpose bathroom and gazed at the posters talking about illegially imported meat. I guess it is not just the Koreans who are afraid of beef specifically.

Richard in Tokyo - Part 1

My favorite airports in the world are in Asia. The workers are polite, the facilities are clean, and things run at an efficient pace. The backrooms are sparkling are even clearly labeled. Have a child with you? Not a problem.

I met with my friend and her mother and we headed for a large building with an observation deck. I enjoy the clock on this building. This was such a new building that it was not on the maps yet. This huge green area is actually the grounds of a temple. It reminds me of Central Park. Something with the glass and/or my lens, possibly the sun, tweaked the colors in this shot. These two are connected and the closer building shows the track on the top me thinks to clean the windows. A lot of Japanese buildings show the struggle with traditional and futuristic. I never expected to see six huge fans on top of a building in downtown Tokyo. Mt. Fuji was a big hard to see but the clouds actually pointed directly towards it. I'm used to seeing 25+ story apartments in Seoul so I was rather surprised to see such few skyscrapers here. Construction. Cute little river. Even my friend was surprised to see it. The observation deck was covered with different sporting posters for the Olympics to possibly return to Tokyo in 2016.

The Imperial Palace covered a large area with a steep wall and truly deep moat surrounding it. This was the bridge in the country of it's style for quite some time. To access the palace you must cross the bridge and enter the gate. My favorite picture. Unlike the equivalent in Seoul, this is only open to the public on New Years and maybe once or twice more per year. But just like the palace in Seoul, the Imperial Palace (traditional) it located right next to skyscrapers (modern). I had to get a picture of my friend ^^ Check out the sun coming through the clouds into the city. I wouldn't see surprised to see this in a Korean TV drama.

If you look closely you can see a sign saying Cow Parade. These are internationally traveling cows that I previously saw in Amsterdam several years ago. And if you look in the distance you can see another. I think these are #38 and #39.

I couldn't get the focus right in time but I still like the shots.

새로은 이름: 함민우 - My New Name

Now my English name plays out a little bit like "Who is on first?" With Who, What, and I Don't Know being the names. Well Richard Moore becomes Ri-cha-ee-du 리차드 Moo-oh 뭐. Well the family name sounds like "What?" So techincally my name is Richard what?

Since Moore is spelled either 뭐 or 무어 my friend Jiyeon had the idea of taking the 무 from 무어 and using that as the family name within my new Korean name. That is more rare and then using something a bit more common for the rest of my name. She then sent me a list of 35 personal names.

Well I talked to my 누나 Korean sister and she had the idea of using her family name 함 (Haam) and then 민우 (Min-ou), which is actually the second name in Jiyeon's list. In Korean we take the phonetic sounds of names and then use a dictionary to see all of the Chinese charaters that match that sound therefore giving our names meaning. Well 민우 often translates together as "People Friend" so I will be taking that as my Chinese characters aka the meaning of my name. 민우 is also the second name that Jiyeon gave me in her list of ideas. Also if you say my name 민우 (Min-ou) it has a very gentle sound to it.

I am hoping within the next week or so to go to the shoe repair/keymaker/name stamp maker and get my personal name stamp made. I've only wanted a Korean name for, how many years now? And now I have it~

Engrish

Saw a t-shirt today on the way to work. It was worn by a mother of a kindergarten-aged boy. it read:
More Parties
More Boys
More Kisses

A few hours later I saw "DISH" 8 inches tall on the back of a woman's jacket.

Remember folks, words on shirts are meant to look good, not to portray any meanings.

And as of ten minutes ago I have now seen 91 Korean films. I've got another 30 used DVDs I haven't seen yet and probably another 20 on the computer. This is a lot better than in Japan where I couldn't find a single Japanese film that had English subs >_<

So Far...

So I am in Japan for the weekend. My friend that was supposed to pick me up never showed and accidently gave me the wrong phone number. 6 hours later I was able to discover the correct number but now I can't find a phone.

My other friends who live in a neighboring city aren't picking up their cell; that or I got a wrong number again.

I'm almost found the hostel but I can't seem to get there yet. Oh yeah, and it's raining.

This whole traveling outside of Korea thing isn't working well for me. But at least I'll get two stamps in my passport which is better than the US and Canada do; jerks.

Update: I'm meeting with my first friend in about an hour and I got in contact with my second group of friends.

Karaoke and Live Crabs

Last night I met some friends I haven't seen in awhile, we got pizza, and went to a karaoke room together. I've spent a good chunk of time in Korea but this was only my third time to such a room; which surprised my friends. I rarely listen to English language music and the songs I do know aren't available. I can't sing along to the Japanese songs I know due to my never learning Japanese. And the Korean songs I listen to have traditionally been too fast for me to read along with and sing out loud. I was pleasantly surprised to discover I can read and sing along a lot better than I could before. I think it helped hearing Bohemian Rhapsody sung a few days prior. Now I know how to change the pitch of the song, the speed, as well as how to skip the instrumental parts.

I was grabbing a few items this evening at the grocery store and stopped and stared for a few minutes as I watched an employee pulling live crabs out of cardboard boxes, packed with sawdust. Just like I used to see live lobsters with rubber bands on their claws at grocery stores in the States, I now watched rubber band-free crabs pulled to customer specifications and put into a plastic bag for purchase. I must admit it is true how they pull each other back down if one tries to escape.