Yeah, baby. Power my beauty. There are a gazillion vending machines all over Japan. You can clench your fist, look up to the sky like Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the wind" and scream "As God is my witness, I will never be thirsty again!"
I have now started speaking Japanese. It's quite easy really, just emphasize the last consonant, add 'u' where you see fit, replace the 'r' with an 'l', smile, and follow through with a quick succession of bows. And so today at a 'resuturan', I ordered 'reddddddu wainnnnn' for my blonde trophy 'wife' Hil while I gulped down a cold 'coca coora'. I is local, ayt. And this is my 'hood.
People are staring at us on the streets. Not in a perverted or agressive kind of way but with the baffled look that says "What is a hot, sexy, and handsome young man like him doing with a girl like that?" My Okinawan celebrity/Koreanovela looks definitely trumping Hil's Nordic beauty in this part of the planet.
Because of my Anglo-adjusted body clock I've been taking walks around the city during odd hours. Nagano looks like any another concrete city in the Philippines. Except for one important difference that truly grabs your attention. It is spotlessly clean. Not a single cigarette butt or candy wrapper on the streets. I saw street sweepers at 3am and wanted to ask "What exactly are you sweeping? It's already clean, you can serve sushi on the pavement!"
I have relapsed into my 'mochi' addiction. The guys at the 'Daily Yamazaki' 24-hour store near our hotel now know me as the 'mochi man'. Seriously, who does not love that gelatinous rice cake with the luscious red bean paste in the middle? Give me mochi or give me death.
Iced coffee has kept me and my sanity alive in Nagano.
I went shopping. I was going for that 70s rock star look. Japanese fashion is very androgynous. I went to that 'depato' store called Comme Ca and got my own personal 'fashion' assistant. It did not matter that I was only ever going to spend no more than 20 quid and was looking for that classic 'Japanese Engrish' label.
Three Minutes Happiness.......nine months later, you get a baby....
That is whack yo.
Mini-Godzilla. The evil Shaider/Biomen nemeses have sent this monster to destroy the city. This was at 6am. And I stayed to watch for 30 minutes. Damn, I am such a geek.
Time Space Warp, ngayon dinnnnnnnnn! Alien leader unleashes 50-foot monster to destroy the city. Can Shaider, stop him? Tune in after the commercial break.........
There really is Suntory Whisky!!!!.....now to find my Scarlett Johansson.