Life in Japan - Pictures galore !! Arcades, Temples, Rainy days, etc

**Yakumo** · 04-23-2005

Now that I've got a phone that takes high quality pictures I've decided to start a "Life in Japan" thread just to give you guys a sort of idea of how life is in Japan. Don't expect anything exciting though :-D I'll probably post once a week with images I've taken through out it.

This week I'll start off with Wednesday 20th April 2005. I was woken up at 6:20am by a bloody earthquake (measured 4.5 on the scale) which is very odd for this part of Japan. Anyway, off to work I went. When I got to Shimonoseki Station at 7:30am this was the site I was met with.

What the hell was going on I though. It soon cameto my attention that the earthquake had damaged the tunnel under the sea which connects Honshu to Kyushu. I ended up waiting for 3 hours plus had some git from KBC (TV Station) try to interview me. I ended up being called by work who told me to take the day off with pay since it wasn't my fault :)

So next I went to Deo Deo to order a headphone adaptor for my phone so that I could use my decent headphones for listening to the MP4s. While there I spotted this typical effort of EngRish with all the PSPs. There was also one written in Korean.

They must of heard about me flogging them all to you guys :-D

I ended up walking about 1 mile until I got a bus since they were packed thanks to the trains being down. It was quite hot and as you can guess wearing a suit doesn't help. So I decided to buy a can of CocaCola C2 (Sort of a diet version I guess but actually very tasty).

And I bet you guys thought CocaCola only made Coke :)

So there you have it. My Wednesday of last week. More coming in the following week.

Yakumo

AntiPasta · 04-23-2005

Interesting! Keep it up!

**the_steadster** · 04-23-2005

Nice, Should be a very interesting read

**Johnny** · 04-23-2005

Keep it up Yakumo. It's great to read and see those kinds of stuff.

I'm planning to get a new cellphone with a camera just to do something like that!

**Sinjd** · 04-23-2005

Yakumo, i hate you so much for living in Japan :P haha. I spent 10 days there back in March of last year, i didn't want to leave, I got the airport, and was like NO!!! I WANNA STAY DAMMIT!!! but then I realised I had no money, and that I would get in trouble if i did :( - so back to England I came... But come august I shall return, and buy Coffee from vending machines, abuse the wonder of Manga Cafes, buy video games at a fraction of english prices, and eat Japanese food till i pop :D

Can someone explain Qoo (seeing it in that vending machine made me remember), right when i saw the ad over there, it showed a rabbit sniffing flowers and sneezing, and then he drank Qoo and was ok, and I got confused and asked my girlfriend at the time what it was about and she said "its a drink" which really did not help my curiosity at all..

I also love the weird can/bottle hybrids they have over there, so many cool things Japan has that England doesn't, its not fair :(

**Calpis** · 04-23-2005

Qoo is like Calpis IIRC, I think it's nasty

**Sinjd** · 04-23-2005

Calpis? Nasty???!!! BLASPHEMY!!! haha, to each their own, but i kinda like calpis :o - what i was meaning about Qoo, was with the ad showing anti sneezing ability, is it some sort of anti hystemine (sp!) drink or somethin?

**Yakumo** · 04-23-2005

Qoo is just a fruit drink nothing more. Calpis on the other hand is..... errrrr, well it looks like watered down milk and taste like errrr.............. no idea, it taste like Calpis or Cowpis as I call it.

Yakumo

The VGM · 04-23-2005

Originally Posted by Yakumo

And I bet you guys thought CocaCola only made Coke :)
Yakumo

CocaCola makes many more products than just Coke. There are a shitload of variations of Coke aswell. Some are: Coke, Diet Coke, Coke with Lime, Vanilla Coke, Coke with Lemon (don't know if they still make it). Coke also makes a lot of sodas too like Sprite and I think Dr. Pepper. Anyways I'm babbling right now.

Cool vending machines though, ours are pretty boring.

Edit Wait all of those are Coke products? I could see Fanta being a Coke product but not all that other stuff....

**GaijinPunch** · 04-23-2005

Don't you feel like they were singling you out of a crowd with that Engrish Warning? You ever flown on an airplane within Japan? Same thing. You're the only white person on the plane, so someone has to stumble through some canned spiel.

**Yakumo** · 04-24-2005

Originally Posted by GaijinPunch

Don't you feel like they were singling you out of a crowd with that Engrish Warning? You ever flown on an airplane within Japan? Same thing. You're the only white person on the plane, so someone has to stumble through some canned spiel.

I know just what you mean. I hate being the only English sppeaker on the plane then having to listen to the English part even though I've already heard it in Japanese.

Originally Posted by VGM

Edit Wait all of those are Coke products? I could see Fanta being a Coke product but not all that other stuff....

Yes, everything in that machine is by CocaCola company. There's more too. that machine is missing many of their drinks. It's scarry the amount of drinks they make. In the UK I think we only had Sprite, Fanta (Yes it's by Coke), Lite and err, many types of Coke.

Yakumo

**zappenduster** · 04-24-2005

wasnt there also a cherry coke loved that stuff but i stoped drinking coke and all those drinks cant come clean with the bubble now iam a juice person =)

**GaijinPunch** · 04-24-2005

Coke distrubute an ungoldy amount of beverages in Japan... even canned coffees and green teas. They are the Starbucks of the vending machine world.

**Zilog Jones** · 04-24-2005

They were trying to ban Coke in my university a few weeks ago - most of the campaign was utter shit - those murders in Columbia (which haven't been proven to be Coke's fault or anything), how they put coca leaves (which cocaine is dervied from) in Coke (even though they haven't done that for about A CENTURY, and even then it was microscopic amounts), and basically just the old "big evil corporation" wank. If they did ban it, it would just be the Students' Union (and some of the clubs who get sponsered €20,000 a year by Coca-Cola) and Coca-Cola Bottlers Ireland Ltd. who'd be losing out on money - no-one else.

Anyway, the referendum never met quorum (at least about 1,700 students had to vote for it to pass) - yay for student apathy! :smt023 And even at that, the votes were about 600 to 400 AGAINST the ban!

**Paulo** · 04-24-2005

Pretty cool...

The VGM · 04-24-2005

Originally Posted by zappenduster

wasnt there also a cherry coke loved that stuff but i stoped drinking coke and all those drinks cant come clean with the bubble now iam a juice person =)

Yes, Cherry Coke is the most popular Coke variant.