Avocado, mangosteen, kiwi, and mango

Here are some fruits. The avocado isn’t really that weird, but I put it in since it is a slightly different color than the ones we get in the US and I bought it at the same time as the others.

Next is the mangosteen, this was a first for me to see. Apparently they have just started importing them to the US from Puerto Rico (wikipedia!).

Next is the golden kiwi. It has a slightly pointed tip and the color is more yellow on the outside than the one I am used to.

Last is the standard mango. Color is much different from the red/green one sold commonly in supermarkets at home.

Let’s crack them open!

Pepsi shiso, wtf

Wait! Almost forgot about this gem. This is Pepsi shiso. Shiso is a leaf that is common topped with daikon radish and served with sushi. It has a minty, parsely, that kind of flavor. Pepsi thought it would be a good idea to use the flavor in a drink combined with a sickly Mountain Dew sweetness. Ughhh. I could only drink a few sips.

Cut golden kiwi

The kiwi was very yellow, but had the same texture as the regular green one. The taste was similar, but was more subtle and sweeter. I still prefer green.

Mango, skinned

Thinking about it, the color of the mango on the inside is pretty much the same as the common variety in the US. The taste was very similar too. This one was a little overripe so it is kinda hard to tell. I need to do a side by side mango comparo.

Mangosteen

Finally the mangosteen. Apparently not related to the mango, this fruit is supposed to be the opposite to the durian in the fruit world. The outer shell was kinda like an orange, but the skin was kinda crunchy, anyways it isn’t edible so who cares. The fruit is white and divided into sections like an orange. There is one large seed in the large segment (bottom segment in the photo). The taste is mild and sweet. I thought it was like lychee and peach. Texture is kinda slimy, but it melts in your mouth.

That’s it for now, again, don’t buy or drink Pepsi shiso, you will regret it.

Still alive. Actually I am doing better than ever. Summer is kicking in and it feels like Hawaii, which is nice if there were beaches I could walk to, but is sucky when it is all concrete and working.

I reeeeeally wanted to post earlier, but I promised myself that I would hold off until I accomplished one goal.

That was to get my driver’s license in Japan. Check that off, it’s done.

After failing twice, the first time was for going over a stop line by about 6 inches and not rotating my head enough for checking before turning, the second for not going fast enough (I was being careful wtf) and not moving to one side of the lane before turning. Pretty ridiculous, but I am guessing that test performance doesn’t have much to do with passing since you have to pay to take the test again $$$.

That nightmare is over with and now all I have to look forward to is the anal rape of getting a suitable ride and paying the subsequent taxes.

Possibles:

- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV-VI

- Subaru Impreza STI

- Nissan Silvia: S14 K’s, S15 Spec-R

- Nissan Skyline: R32 GT-R GT-FOUR GTS-t, R33 GT-R GTS25-t, R34 25GT-t GT-R (This won’t be happening, they are still ~$30k)

- Toyota Celica GT-FOUR ST205

- Honda Integra Type R

- Honda Civic Type R (no SiRs need apply)

Excluding the R33/34 GT-R these are all possible, I could probably do the GT-R, but my quality of life would suffer greatly.

So that is what I have been up to.

Oh yea got a girlfriend too.

I took an opportunity to visit some relatives in Tokyo for the New Year’s holiday (more info coming soon) which brought me into the streetwear Mecca of Shibuya/Harajuku. In Japan most places shut down for New Year’s, NY eve, and apparently the 2nd of January as well. This resulted in a smaller heat update than the originally anticipated epic clothing post. Also on the 2nd of January, when I had some time to go shopping before leaving for Kansai, there were crazy sales everywhere. This meant there were long lines just to get into certain stores giving discounts. I stopped at a few select locations, but if I had more time I would have browsed more, it is insane shopping there, a truly unique experience.

First stop was ATMOS, legendary shoe and clothing retailer. Small boutique store, no sales offered, and straight-forward stocking system (i.e. you can tell by looking at a tag whether or not they have your size, no asking like a fool). Just how it should be. Sales really are a tool for retailers to rid themselves of unwanted items that didn’t sell as expected in the first place at their price point. I have grown to despise sales in general, I never feel like I am getting what I want, always like I am settling. I would rather buy one item at regular price that I want than buying three of a similar item that I am always going to know that there was something better. You can usually only wear one type of clothing at a time, why not make it special? There is my justification, here are the results. I have had the same light water-resistant jackets since high school. Weak. To update this area of the wardrobe I found the last remaining ATMOS Ruster jacket in Olive color. My wide shoulders proved useful and the XL fit well and after a short deliberation I was sold.

The jacket looks even better in person than when I saw it on the internetz, the olive outer weave has a black base that makes the fabric respond like a TVR paint job in certain lighting conditions. But not in an ostentatious sort of way. Everything on it feels like quality and solid when I wear it.

The next stop was UNDFTD, or Undefeated if you like vowels. I have been to the store on La Brea, the one in Harajuku didn’t have a waterfall, so LA wins that round. The reason I went there was to pick up some sneakers. Normally I don’t look to hard at New Balances, but these 574Js have been given the moniker of Man vs. Wild, taking inspiration from  the Bear Grylls life experience show. I would be surprised if he ever wore these but nonetheless they are a celebration of his beastly-ness and struggle through adversity. Designed by UNDFTD’s Eddie Cruz and they are a hybrid of NB’s M574 and H710 shoes.

The shoes are a little loud color-wise, but I like the contrasting off-whites on the sides, and honestly I don’t mind the bright blue and orange. Safety is #1 kids. On that note, the ‘N’ on the sides contains the same 3M reflective material as all NBs, but with the orange plastic covering it sends light back with a sick reddish color. The UNDFTD lace cover is a really nice accent as well as the tagged insoles with the wilderness pattern shared with the midsoles. These shoes are only sold at UNDFTD Japan locations, so you stateside suckas are outta luck.

View from the villa room

The villa had an attached onsen, this one was the real deal, fed by a natural hotspring. This was not all ours and we had to share it with the local community. Interestingly enough if a father and young daughter go to a bathhouse together no one blinks an eye when he takes her into the men’s bath. I’m not pedo, but this type of thing would never fly in America. Just be confident most Japanese girls have seen a boatload of dick and will be able to tell that yours isn’t normal. Also of note, I seem to be getting super light headed after baths nowadays. I will have to adjust my bathing technique. After the bath we returned and had nabe, which was really good on a cold night. The rooms at the villa were decent and had two beds and an interesting shower/toilet seen below.

Oh, there's a toilet in shower? That's odd.

I see, the toilet is there too, and you have to pivot the sink to cover/reveal it? Super.

As you can see it was a ton of fun using the sink, toilet, shower, or any combination of those three. Onto the leaves. First, we went to this park area where a fuckton of people had decided to do the same thing and looked at some motherfucking leaves.

Bridge over the peaceful river. The bridge was closed, otherwise it would have to hold the weight of 1,000 Japanese (~12lbs)

Ballin' tree with an equally ballin' reflection in the water. Straight gangsta.

Peaceful river with boulders. These boulders were HARD like real G's.

Red leaves. Blood 4 Lyfe.

Gold leaves. Latin Kings: King Leaf son!!!

After the tourist spot we headed over to Okayama City for some lunch (curry) and to check out the old district of town (also curry) that had many English-influenced buildings and lots of other nice structures.

This is the real hood. Prison with no bars. Blood in, blood out.

What is the best way to embarass your family? Put them on this boat while thousands stare at them.

Possibly the sickest roof tiling ever, I would put that on every exposed surface I own if I had the means.

America take note. If you have pretty trees and interesting masonary on your bridge no one will write 'MS-13' or '88' on it. I promise.

This tree is slowly turning from tree-Hulk to tree-Bruce Banner.

Poison Ivy was later found inside hanging upside-down bound and gagged.

They may look calm and docile, but these swans fucked up some other bird that had the audacity to touch their river. WHITE POWER.

The trip was fun and got me out of Himeji for a while, which is always good. As awkward as looking at leaves was it was interesting and something that I don’t get to see in the EVERGREEN state very much.

I will try to take more photos. Maybe I will try to document my daily routine or something. Maybe. Probably not.

Here is some topical music:

ENCORE:

Here are some pics from one my bike rides up Mt. Hiromine north of town. The ride was one of the hardest endurance exercises that I have ever done. Once we got to the top and onto the trails it was usually pretty fun. There were good spots to get some speed and I really pushed my biking limit. I did things that I was sure I wouldn’t be  able to do, but once in motion I did technical climbs, narrow paths, and up and down sections without wiping out as my brain told me I would.

The view from halfway up the road section going up to the top. I was very tired.

So tired

So very tired.

The dangers of the mountain. These non-poisonous spiders liked to place their webs in the middle of the trail and place themselves around nostril level when you are on a bike.

My German dominatrix, Stefan. He helped push me up the mountain. Thanks Stefan. (BTW the spider is named Stefan)

I present you the TRD Toyota Harrier. Or as you Yanks know it the RX330. You have never seen one like this.

Recognize the gold rims. I could actually stand seeing one after the other of these in US instead of those nasty 330s.

I also bought an XBOX360 today, so once I get internets I will show y’all why you are indeed all faggots.

]]> http://heatonthestreet.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/leafer-madness/feed/ 1 bennihana dsc00919 dsc009201 dsc009211 dsc009221 dsc009231 dsc00924 dsc009251 dsc00926 dsc00927 dsc00928 dsc00929 dsc00930 dsc00931 dsc00932 dsc00933 dsc00893 dsc00894 dsc00895 dsc00911 dsc00915 dsc00916 dsc00917 http://heatonthestreet.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/new-heat-nov-2-11/ http://heatonthestreet.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/new-heat-nov-2-11/#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:52:55 +0000 bennihana http://heatonthestreet.wordpress.com/?p=261 ]]> It had to begin sometime. After going around to some different shops around town I have begun to find acceptable retailers to begin to unleash my clothes buying fury. Here in Himeji the selection may to not be the same tier as Osaka, Tokyo, or even Kobe, but it will have to serve as a starting point. The mission this week was to primarily to establish sizes. Therefore I stopped by Spinns, which sells new and used clothing, I picked up M size and L size shirts, for less than what I am aiming to pay for “quality” t-shirts while I am here. Also went to Takeo Kikuchi store to pick up a knit hat since it is getting cold.

This weekend I had my first opportunity to do some actual mountain biking. End result was a mixed bag. I had fun overall and it was great exercise, some of the downhill sections were very fun and the ride down the road off the mountain reminded me of an Initial D race, except on a bike and with limited drifting. The downside was great, the ascent was tough, to put it lightly. As fun and fast as the descent was, the ascent was equally leg-cripplingly arduous. For me at least. If I go up every weekend I may get to a point where it isn’t bad. This would mean probably dropping some weight (read: upper body muscle), thus will most likely not happen.

View from vantage point on the way up the mountain, much to my disappointment this view did not give the boost of energy I had expected

So, the million dollar question is what am I doing to really stay active. After carefully considering whether to pay twice as much to go to the gym across the street from my apartment or stay on the cheap and join the gym about 1.5 miles away I went with the penny pincher option. This was no bargain by US standards, ~$40 a month, and this was WITH company discount. So yeah. Most interestingly the gym is owned by Konami, and shares the same logo with the games division. This of course means that

Solid snake spots me if I ask him

this mofo would work out here if actually existed (maybe!?). The facility has a pool, sauna, japanese-style bath, two activity rooms, cardio equipment, and most importantly an extremely limited weight/machine area. The treadmills and some of stationary bikes actually have Konami logos on them and have a variety of visualizations with ~FF7 level graphics. As with most places in Japan there are several no shoe zones. Since I wear my “trainers” to the gym anyways it means I have to carry my shoes around. This is probably against the rules, so I will claim ignorance until they force me to stop (more on this method later). The amount of rules/customs there make me miss the freedom of working out at college and other gyms in the US. Some examples are:

- No shoe areas as mentioned above, in my mind anything that touches any floor inside a gym is instantly a biohazard.

- EVERYONE changes into gym clothes prior to working out. Even during weekends everyone changes (me included). I have yet to see someone go from front door to gym floor.

- There are rags on every machine and bench for wiping them down. This is OK I guess, I still prefer USC’s handiwipes or Pro-Robics spray bottle of Simple Green and a rag. Them rags be nasty.

There are many more small things that continue to bother me. There are usually attendants just standing around greeting people and putting pins in the machines to the lowest weight. As with most gyms they don’t want you to take free weights into different areas of the gym. This apparently includes the 10 feet to the decline bench, conviently located outside of free weight area. Since I am a greek god and need more resistance than pitiful gravity can provide when doing sit-ups I usually stick a 10lb (here they are 11lbs/5kg) behind my head and do work. On Friday I was interrupted DURING my set (wtf) and told that I couldn’t have free weights in the area. Then the girl takes the weight from my hand to return it for me as if I am going to continue my set. Yes you are not supposed to take the weights outside their padded home, but no one cares if you use them for ab exercises, it is dumb to think people would not naturally do this. It is like trying to make a river go back the way it came. That was my first encounter with the swift Konami authorities, and will not be the last I’m sure (wait til I drag that decline bench to the smith machine to do decline presses).

Overall there are usually a fair number of people in the weight/machine area. Most are men, as usual, and 95% are trim, as is the norm in Japan. There are a handful of gym rats that can match me or better me in weight. Some are nice and do their sets quickly and with regard to the limited equipment. Some others do not and use the only olympic bar in the gym for around half an hour. For this reason I have switch to a more circuit based workout plan so that I have more flexibility in the days that I go and what I do when I am there.

Another notable item is that the group exercise instructors feel the need to dress up as chariactures of group exercise instructors. This includes bandanas and ass-hugging shorts on the males and different styles of lycra suits and checkered hats on the ladies.

A final note, if you have played Metal Gear Solid 3 you may have used Calorie Mate in a desperate attempt to keep EVA alive. Well it is sold in the lobby of the gym. I do not know what came first, the use of of it in the game or Konami Sports Clubs selling it as a work out supplement. Most likely the latter. I bought the chocolate flavor, there is also cheese, potato, and some other flavors. The chocolate tasted like cake mix, dry cake mix. Here is a pic to remind you:

Fully restores health and stamina!

The gym will suffice as I don’t plan on buying any of my own equipment here. I wish they would expand the machine area, also decisions like having two leg extension machines along with abductor and adductor machines make no sense to me in a gym that size.

Also at the McDonalds’ here they have a slightly different menu. While they have all the old favorites they have included something so utterly amazing I had to experience it for myself. Its name is the MegaMac, and it is similar to a BigMac in that it has a third bun in between two layers of meat. The MegaMac continues where the BigMac leaves off and adds an extra patty to each meat layer. Yes, this means there are 4 patties within this beast. While not as big as some of the monsters at Carls Jr. and others it is still an impressive sandwich. And eating was depressing, something I will probably never do again.

The MegaMac, it will eat your children.

Onto the Saturday outing.

I went with co-workers Greg and Stefan, and an office lady Hasegawa-san, who brought two of her friends from Mitsubishi along as well. On the outskirts of Himeji City is Mt. Shosha, reading from the pamphlet I was given, is a “mountain of prayer throughout the ages”. Needless to say there were a mass of temple related structures and monuments. Also part of the Last Samurai was filmed here, and Tom Cruise stayed in a house at the top. Originally the plan was to hike up the mountain, but the ladies were going to take the cable car to the top, so we went with them, not wanting to make them wait at the top.

every one except hasegawa-san after getting off the cable car

i see goatse

the farmers cut images of Himeji castle and some sort of demonic figure into the fields

mountainzzzzzzzzz

outside view of the main shrine, monks were grinding so hard in there

view from the porch

voted best tree on the mountain for 400 years straight

one of the buildings in the area where LS was filmed

another building opposite to the previous

scary centipede, had massive stingers, greg trapped it in his water bottle then released it angrier than before

hasegawa-san and me 4 lyfethere are stairs on the other side, i had to know how they got up there

tom cruise watched tv here

the camera is level, the hill is steep and moss-encrustedstefan loves spiders, this one was huge

leaves, please inform the temperature that it is fall

ring the bell? ding ding.

Turn back the clock to last Friday, I went out with two co-workers and three Chinese members of Mitsubishi to an Izakaya-type restaurant. Now even though Chinese people eat the strangest food on the planet on average, for some reason they don’t like to eat raw foods. Fine, cool with me. So one of my co-workers orders a plate of raw meats. Ok. I trust the quality and preparation methods in Japan so I will indulge. I ate my share of raw beef, raw horse, and most importantly raw chicken. The chicken was a first. It wasn’t remarkable and otherwise forgettable.

Fast forward to Monday morning.

There was a holiday so I didn’t have work, but early in the morning I started to feel sick to my stomach. Was it that milk I drank last night? No idea. Interestingly the previous night one of my co-workers complained of feeling ill as well. Things were starting to click in my head as the day progressed and I felt worse and worse. I went to bed early and woke up at the normal time for work. I was still feeling ill, but I felt well enough to come in.

I ride to work and I am sweating a lot even though it was a cool morning. Not a good sign. I change and go to my desk. I am feeling ill and tired, but I think I will be able to make it until midday at least. My boss comes over and tells me that I am going to meet with one of the HR people that did my initial interview at USC. Kay, no worries, now I have an extra incentive to be here. About 40 min later one of the office ladies goes with me to the elevator. While waiting for the elevator to come up to our floor I am really feeling tired, I didn’t get much sleep and had the weirdest dreams ever. The elevator arrives and I go in and lean on the back wall. I can tell something is wrong and plan to hit a bathroom once we get to the first floor. The elevator stops on the the floor below ours on the way down. Damn why do people keep getting on. A man gets on. Next thing I know I am on the floor of the elevator and the door is open to the ground floor. I fainted in the elevator. WTF. Now I am much more coherent while security guard upon security guard comes rushing up to me. Fantastic. A lady doctor, very hot, arrives in a long white coat and I get ferried to the medical building in a security cart. My boss, foreign co-workers, and the HR woman all come in an see me and I end up going home after resting a few hours. I take Wednesday off since I do not want to take the chance of a repeat performance.

So what did I learn from this?

Raw chicken does this.

And that food poisoning sucks. It was the sickest I have ever been and I do not want to experience it again.

I will not eat raw chicken, beef, horse, or anything else that does not live in the ocean.

Madagascar closed their ports 5 min after I fainted.

entryway

bathroom, shower/bathtub is on the other side of the sink, I don't know why I didn't take a picture, it is more interesting

kitchen/dining/washing machine

tatami bedroom

office area / second room

view looking south, I have one balcony facing south and one facing west

this was the bathroom at the hotel I stayed at for the first two nights. it was small, BUT the toilet had a bidet and a sprayer, which was somehow different, and was totally awesome.

I don’t have much stuff right now so it looks pretty bare, that will be remedied once I get a TV, furniture, and the rest of my stuff.

Next up: uniform pictures, prepare to be annihilated.