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Tokyo Silence · 26 July 04

First night in Tokyo, and everytime I open my mouth I feel like I’m screaming. It’s just shockingly quiet here in the commercial hotel corner of the Shibuya district. Even when it’s crowded.

36 hours since I’ve laid down in a bed. Life feels fuzzy around the edges. My mind’s in the inbetween space. The body’s landed, but it’ll be awhile before I really get here.

Fellow JET Will and I decided to hunt food tonight, but we snowballed into a massive dinner crew. The two of us had to break off from it. Wandered down a crowded neon-lit street near Shinjuku Station, packed with hip twenty-somethings. Looked like Williamsburg squared.

As we got near the center of town, we hit the Time Square effect, where lighting is so bright that you can’t tell night from day.

Engrish everywhere.

(Unrelated to the environmental group.)

Caught a street band named “Double Orange”. Which is just as silly a name as any from back on Bedford.

Went into a restaurant with no English signage, but lots of pictures. To order, you just inserted your cash into a vending machine and pushed a picture of what you wanted. The pictures were too small to really know what you were getting. I lucked out with a pile of soupy seafood and a side of dumplings. Will got a similar soup but a seriously pungent side dish of tiny fish and seaweed. But the food was plenty.

The main strip was full of arcades. The “Gameworld” fun palace had six floors organized by gender; they alternated between male and female-centered games.

Locals gamble on digitally controlled model horse races.

Any time a real thing is hard to find, seems like they just simulate it. With extreme attention to detail.

Back outside of the arcade, I still couldn’t get over how quiet it was.

The lack of car alarms is disturbing, makes me miss Brooklyn.

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The Quarter-Japanese Kid hits up the homeland | I'm Oriented