What was that? (Japan questions)

[Bosh]

Why was there a very very large truck with a Japanese flag painted on it driving around the Korean Consulate blaring slogans at an insane volume. What is this? Protesting for slackers?

Why are people feeding buckets of little metal balls into pinballish machines and then sitting there watching them rain down again without doing anything except for turning a little knob occasionally that did nothing that I could see. Can a more mind-numbing form of gambling exist?

There were a couple businesses that said "magazine" on them but they didn't appear to be selling any magazines. Just lots of pictures of girls. Some sort of strange front for prostitution or what?

Why couldn't I find any draft beer that's cheaper than a dinky little class for 400 yen . You can get a half liter for less than half of that price in Korea

Why was there an Indian restaurant with a big gay pride flag

And they the hell can't they have all you can eat conveyor-belt sushi restaurants in Korea That place was a thing of wonder and beauty

[DaShi]

Nandeyanen

[Bosh]

Originally posted by DaShi
Nandeyanen

[DaShi]

You were in Osaka, right?

[Bosh]

Originally posted by DaShi
You were in Osaka, right?

Yeah, Namba area mostly. Quite nice, would've liked to spend more time there.

[DaShi]

I need to write a book called, "Everything I Need to Know About Japan, I Learned From Anime."

Nandeyanen is sort of an Osakan comedic phrase literally meaning "Why?". And that's all I know about it.

[Q Classic]

Why are people feeding buckets of little metal balls into pinballish machines and then sitting there watching them rain down again without doing anything except for turning a little knob occasionally that did nothing that I could see. Can a more mind-numbing form of gambling exist?

Pachinko?

hehe.

The first time I read that, i saw "meatballs" instead, which makes for an even funnier image.

[Wraith]

--" Can a more mind-numbing form of gambling exist?"

Panchinko, bingo, I'm sure there are more boring, but I'd go pretty far out of the way to avoid them. Hey, just think of it like playing pinball, but with prizes added.

--" Just lots of pictures of girls. Some sort of strange front for prostitution or what?"

Hey meester, you wanna buy a feelthy picture? Come on, how hard is this one to figure out, really?

--"Why couldn't I find any draft beer that's cheaper than a dinky little class for 400 yen "

If you were in Osaka, no surprise. Osaka isn't as expensive as Tokyo (where is?), but it certainly ain't cheap, either. Besides, draft beer isn't exactly the national drink.

--"Nandeyanen is sort of an Osakan comedic phrase literally meaning "Why?". And that's all I know about it."

It's used as a kind of "what the hell?" response in the comedy routines. Have to wonder if you're an Azumanga Daioh fan ^_^

Wraith
"I'm only sixteen, and I don't know much about the world, but I do know one thing for sure. If I'm pessimistic, then the adults in this world who are not pessimistic are a bunch of idiots."
-- May Kasahara ("The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle")

[laurentius]

You were in Osaka? So, how much money did you made today?

[Bosh]

Hey meester, you wanna buy a feelthy picture? Come on, how hard is this one to figure out, really?

Really? Didn't see any pornography on hand either. Just a lot of posters and whatnot on the walls.

You were in Osaka? So, how much money did you made today?

Besides, draft beer isn't exactly the national drink.

And they were charging 600 yen for a bottle of Coors
Oh well, at least I found a place with draft Bass ale for 500 yen, that wasn't too bad except for them not being good about minimizing the head like korean bartenders.

Oh and is there a Japanese drink called soju? I think I heard people ordering it, didn't know it existed outside of Korea.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Bosh
And they were charging 600 yen for a bottle of Coors
Oh well, at least I found a place with draft Bass ale for 500 yen.

If you think that's expensive, don't come to Hong Kong.

[Bosh]

Originally posted by Tingkai


If you think that's expensive, don't come to Hong Kong.

Osaka was very nice, but I really appreciate Seoul. Everything's open insanely late (24 hour minimarts everywhere and bars generally don't close until the last customers stop buying) and I can find most anything I want (at least as much as I could in Osaka, for example the Hyundai Department store right down the street has an excellent selection of imported wine and cheese) but the day to day stuff is very cheap. I can get a damn good beef shabu shabu lunch for $5, for example, and I'm in the expensive bit of Seoul.

Basically the modernization:cost of living ratio is quite nice, except for a few things like electronics (highly taxed) and rent (big real estate bubble). I expect that Shanghai would be vaguely-similar.

[Q Classic]

Oh and is there a Japanese drink called soju? I think I heard people ordering it, didn't know it existed outside of Korea.

Yeah, there's a similar drink in Japan called Shochu.

[Wraith]

--"And they were charging 600 yen for a bottle of Coors"

If you're outside the United States, why in the world would you want to drink Coors? I mean, who goes to Germany to order Bud Lite? It just doesn't make sense. At least go for the local stuff, like Sapporo. I've never had it, but it couldn't possibly be any worse than Coors or Bud. Even if they used genuine horse piss instead of the artificial stuff Coors and Bud make.

Maybe try some awamori next time, although I don't think you'll save any money by going for it ^_^

Or you could try the anti-freeze looking stuff and try some midori. Way too sweet for my tastes, but I do love the color.

--"If you think that's expensive, don't come to Hong Kong."

Not sure about relative beer prices, but Hong Kong wasn't even on the top-ten-most-expensive-places-to-live list last year, while Osaka was number two (although Paris and Oslo are catching up). I'm sure plenty of other things made up the difference.

Wraith
"I drink to make other people interesting."
-- Groucho Marx

[Imran Siddiqui]

Wraith! Wow... everyone is coming back!