Day Three

I got a new Japanese cell phone. Too lazy to take a pic at the moment so I'll just do that later.

(Ha, it's only day three and I'm already tired of this blog!)

I also signed up for a one-and-a-half month gym membership at the local Gold's, upon advice of Sharon, who wisely said that "imagining you doing yoga in a tiny little room with your foot constantly kicking the crockpot does not make me feel happy for you." It's true, my room is too tiny to do yoga--let alone any kind of movement faster than a slow crawl--unless it's the type that doesn't require any type of lateral extension. What's funny is that the employee who signed me up remembered me from two years ago! I was like, really?? She said she remembers my big piercings. Large gauged plugs is still a rarity in Japan, evidently. (Last time I was here even my teachers asked that I remove my plugs so they could take pictures of the big holes in my ears...) Luckily, when signing up for the gym this time around, I didn't have to go through the full body inspection to evaluate my tattoos like last time. I would think if the employee remembered my piercings she would also remember my ink. But maybe she thought it would just be easier to strategically avoid mentioning it. After all, on the questionnaire form I had to fill out for new members, she told me how to answer the yes/no questions, even though the form they gave me was in English! For example, one of the questions is "Do you have any health problems in the past or at present?" She said, answer NO. But who hasn't had any health problems???! Anyway, whatever, at least she made the process painless and non-humiliating, so I thank her for that!

One of the things that I was thinking about as I was walking to and from the gym was how living in a different country really messes up the daily lifestyle choices that you make at home. Especially the small, yet not insignificant, ways we try to maneuver through the politics of everyday life. For example, back in the States, I try to support small independently-owned businesses when I can. But here in Japan, I buy a lot of things in the big corporate retail establishments. Lame, I know. But it is most convenient. (That's how they getcha, huh?!) I thought about this as I passed through Noge-cho and saw this small veggie grocery store run by an elderly couple. I remember this store the last time I was here, cuz it is located right next to Horiyoshi's studio, and I was happy to see that they were still in business despite all the economic issues in this country. So I thought to myself, I should get produce here instead of the big grocery store by my apartment. I decided to pick up some of their lotus root on my way home. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked by used CD shopping and by the time I got back to the store they were closed. Argh! Next time...

So that's my life in Japan. Carrying around a new corporate mobile phone. A new corporate gym membership. Some food from a corporate grocery store. Man, this is depressing me. Even the damn CD I bought today is on Sony. *sigh*