Adventures of a Vagabond

It’s about 10:30a on the 27th here. John is still sleeping (with flights and everything, it was a really long day).

Akihabara was pretty cool yesterday, but nothing mind-blowing. Most of the electronic gadgetry I saw there could either be found in the US or had very similar versions in the US. The big electronics gap that people speak of seems to have narrowed significantly in modern times. The stuff was pretty overpriced too.

What was cool: Home appliances. The space-constrained Japanese have some very unique designs for washers, dryers, dishwashers, refridgerators, etc. Those of you that know me well will know that I was oogling over all of this stuff. I have pictures that I’ll try and post later tonight.

Traveling in Japan has been interesting. In Bangkok, many of the people there knew broken English. Most places had English on their menus (this is a testament to how much Thai people rely on tourism). No such luck here. All the menus are in Japanese and the staff speak only Japanese. We had reverted to a lot of gesturing and hand waving. It wasn’t until late yesterday when we discovered that the bigger food places had English menus upon request, which saved both of us (esp. John, which his fast-metabolism and constant seeker of sustinance) a lot of trouble.

Okay–time to go figure out what we’re going to see today.