Tokyo Images

[Nigel Kersten]

On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 4:19 AM, Peter Korsten <peter at severity-one.com>
wrote:

> Op 13-12-2015 om 13:37 schreef Nigel Kersten:
>
> deeplfo is right. The stereotypes are there, but there's SO much more to
>> Tokyo. Every time I visit I convince myself I need to move there, and I
>> suspect if I'd visited in my 20s I'd still be living there, even given the
>> eventual barrier all non-Japanese folks experience.
>>
>
> A former colleague of mine moved to California, where he met a Japanese
> girl. Following him on Facebook, and seeing him walk around Tokyo in a
> (quite gorgeous) kimono, and getting his Maltese surname etched into some
> super-special knives (the kind you use for a specific kind of fish) by an
> ancient Japanese craftsman in Kanji, is quite a sight/./
>
> I remarked that, considering that his future in-laws had given him a
> kimono, he should buy his girlfriend an ghonella, which is a traditional
> garment that Maltese women used to wear until the beginning of the 20th
> century. There can't have been too many Japanese wearing one.
>
> As I said, it's on my bucket list. And I'd probably look very mundane in
> Akihabara.
>
>
Akihabara is full of tourists and the maid cafes are full of totally
mundane looking nerds, Western and Japanese. Globalization has meant you
can find most of that stuff on Amazon or Ebay...

I actually didn't really enjoy it on my last trip, and left pretty quickly.
It's absolutely worth visiting at least once though. Harajuku is way more
interesting in terms of fashion, and has the most amazing synth store I've
ever been to.... but you can still find all those things online.

This is why I obsess over food when I travel. Shopping is the same
everywhere, but food is almost by definition local and un-exportable,
especially when you avoid tourist places at all costs.

Yesterday was incredible here in HK. preserved egg and pork congee for
breakfast,  beef rendang, char kway teow, wrapped chicken pendany for
lunch, and char siu bao buns for dinner.... I'd be surprised if I spend $50
USD on meals for the entire day...

Back to reality at the end of the week...
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