Gundam Odaiba..

Never been much of an Otaku, and to be honest, the relevance of Gundam is really beyond me. Nevertheless, while in Odaiba last weekend we decided to make the short trek over to see the 1/1 scale model of the big robot that has been built in commemoration of its 30th year. It really is quite big, and as we arrived close to the turning of the hour, we were able to see it do its little head turn and look briefly up at the sky. It also squirted some steam from various parts of its body, and then it was all over. The crowd of people were as entertaining as the robot itself, and almost as big..

Picture unrelated: Enoshima..

Anatomy of an attempted nampa..

Step 1: Identify possible target



Step 2: Make wobbly-type footstep-based movements towards said target



Step 3: Attempt to engage said target in "witty banter"



Step 4: Establish "Yay or Nay" status



Step 5: Retreat to sheltered area for reflection and possible reorganization of strategy

Bad Gaijin: Youtube stylee..

Time to have a little look at how badly behaved us gaijin can be here in this wonderful place called Japan. Please note that I neither condone nor condemn any of these relatively outrageous acts, and though while I must admit to being sometimes entertained by this kind of behavior, I continue to be amazed at how things that would be more often than not punished by extreme violence in other countries, is somewhat tolerated here.

Video 1: Here we have a drunk English guy licking stuff while walking up the carriages on a Yamanote line train. An entertaining and relatively harmless way to pass the time to be sure, but if you go to the youtube page and read some of the comments, you start to see that while his behavior was mostly ignored, it's definitely not appreciated..



Video 2: This guy goes way over the line, firstly by taking the piss out of a homeless person, and then by throwing a bicycle into the front of an oncoming garbage truck. Inevitably he got his ass kicked (by the garbo) and most likely spent a few hours trying to displace blame in a police station (after the vid cuts out).



Video 3: The old gaijin Halloween train thing. This has become a tradition here in Tokyo. Every Halloween a bunch of gaijin get all dressed up and go crazy on the Yamanote line. For the most part it is harmless and again tolerated, but it's probably one of the greatest examples of foreigners in Japan really pushing the limits of acceptable (and respectful) behavior. I would go as far as to say that if a group of foreigners in Australia did this, they would quickly find out what it's like to both have their heads kicked in and be arrested.



and finally..

Video 4: Um, haven't we seen this guy before??

Things to do in Enoshima #3: Horse around..

Actually this guy took his role playing pretty seriously, for well after the requisite burial and TBS interview, he was out there paddling around in the deep brown murkiness, trying to set up a siring session like a Melbourne cup winner!

Things to do in Enoshima #1: Embarass your friends..

Make your friends into embarrassing caricatures..

Psychopathia Sexualis..

Agalmatophilia: (from the Greek agalma 'statue', and philia 'friendship, affinity') is the sexual attraction to a statue, doll, mannequin or other similar figurative object. The attraction may include the desire for actual sexual contact with the objects, a fantasy of having sexual (or non-sexual) encounters with the animate or inanimate instances of the preferred objects, the act of watching encounters between the objects themselves, or sexual pleasure gained from thoughts of being transformed or transforming another into the preferred object. Agalmatophilia may also encompass Pygmalionism (from the myth of Pygmalion) which describes a state of love for an object of one's own creation.

Agalmatophilia became a subject of clinical study with the publication of Richard von Krafft-Ebbing's Psychopathia Sexualis. Ebbing recorded the case in 1877 of a gardener falling in love with a statue of the Venus de Milo and being discovered while attempting coitus with it.

One Love: Party guy

I have no idea who this guy was, but totally encapsulated the energy of the festival, and even managed to get up on stage with the Panorama Steel Orchestra, until the friendliest security guy in the world smilingly asked him to rejoin his dancing compadres in the audience..

Sleeping in cars..

It's not that uncommon in Tokyo to come across someone sleeping in their car, with their engine and aircon running to maintain a comfortable sleeping environment. By the same token, it's not that common for a total stranger to become so opportunistic as to enter into 'said sleeping stranger's' car for a humorous photo opportunity.

That's what happened here..

Tokyo Stormtrooper

Danny Choo has an awesome blog on Japan, and can pull some pretty smooth dance moves in a stormtrooper suit as well!

Funniest english

This is from 2000, and was my favorite part of Sanma no Karakuri Terebi back then. It was also just about the only thing I understood!

Jinnai Tomonori..

..is a comedian on a show called "Enta no Kamisama" (the gods of entertainment). He's the guy that does the presentation style sketches, really funny stuff. He's also married to the very desirable Fujiwara Norika! Here's another favorite (with subs):

もりざえもん

Morizaemon posts great youtube vids of Japanese comedy shows with subtitles. This dudes sketches are particularly funny..

笑う犬の冒険 Warau Inu no Bōken

Hilarious show.. Funniest thing I've seen on Japanese Tv ever!

Fanksgiveing

Is this not a perfect example of using ones own 'voice' in writing?

John Spich

Creative writing..

Bouncing babies..

Well, she's not a baby, but she sure screamed like one. Captured this little girl's exhilarating ride at LaQua, the amusement park beside Tokyo Dome. :)