Sorry, I have no pics yet since I havent got a way to connect my phone to the pc.
Ive had a veritable feast of new experiences over here so far, mostly from the hedonistic side of life since my uncle is an absolute maniac. He`s like my internet persona except a little more polite but 100 times more deviant. Its been a blast so far though.
Nagoya`s infrastructure is like an American city, its all gridlined with neon lights. Im staying slap bang in the middle of downtown so I get to see a lot of the inner city everyday. I have a bicycle that I cut about on to get me places, it feels like Im playing real life GTA3.
Food is cheap, too feckin cheap for a fat barsteward like me. A sandwich in the shop costs 1.00-1.50 GBP (cant find the pound sign). Thankfully the sushi culture isnt in your face and every food preference is catered for so I can eat as I please. The restaurants are nice, especially the proper ones where you sit on the floor. Still struggling with chopsticks tho, and the natives pick up on that quickly and sort me out with a good old knife and fork. They think we`re barbarians for various reasons (like using a washing basin in a sink and filling it up with water to wash dishes whereas they just run hot water over each dish... wtf) but theres nothing more barbaric than trying to cut your bloody food with blunt sticks.
My uncles friend continually hammers home that they`re "a nation of spastics", and unfortunately its partly true. They dont allow smoking on the streets yet you can smoke in almost any building including restaurants and not many have segrated areas for non-smokers. Good news for me, but it means Im smoking more than I used to, and at 1.40 GBP (!) a packet I can afford to. They have vending machines on every street corner too, selling both cans of beer and cigs. Its a little bit backward when you consider how strict they are on underage drinking and smoking...
The subway is pretty cool. Went to Fujigaoka the other day at the far edges of the city and about 3/4 of the way there the tube popped up into daylight and the last leg of the journey was above ground. The concourses are pretty weird - theres a continual "ping-pong" as if someone is going to talk over the tannoy, yet no one does. Was very surreal for my first time alone, as I was walking through this huge undergorund station and it was empty, just hearing the pingpong and thinking I was in the film 28 Days Later or something.
Im pretty disappointed with the price of technology tbh. Ive been to all the major places that are reknowned for being cheap yet the price of PC components were only marginally cheaper than the UK. Though I did see a radeon x1900 XTX for under 400 GBP which I think its pretty cheap for a 512mb card? HAving said that, the price of non-pc home entertainment is pretty cheap and abundant as you`d imagine. Theres little east-end of london type market stalls everywhere that are bursting at the seams with TVs and videos. Mobile phones here are totally different which I was surprised at, and the SIM cards are all hardwired in which is a pain in the hole. Was looking at some phones the other day and most of them have 2M pixel cameras\video and the newest ones have an mp3 player with the storage capacity of an iPod nano. Must get one for myself
Broadband here is bananas, Im in the middle of convincing my uncle to subscribe to Yahoo and their minimum package is 3mb. The top end is a whopping 50mb ADSL line and costs about 25 quid a month. Oh and the upload is friggin 12mb!! Helllloooo bit torrents
Have to shoot off now, Ill keep you posted and try and get some pics.
I cant communicate with any of them, and the ones that do speak english all hang out in the foreigner bars (read american) which have really hostile atmospheres and are generally full of twats. I dont react well to hostile places when Ive got a drink in me so Ive been steering clear of them.
