An American Japanese in Tokyo

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I get jiggy and artistic like doing Tokyo at night shots out of my hotel

You could dine well for years after the apocalypse if the vending machines survived.

The next day a friend suggested that perhaps it was because I look rich.  I think not, I am dressed far worse than 98% of sleek urbanites living in Tokyo.  This didn’t make me feel any better.

I was really sick by then and the day’s activities were not very clear.  Jared and I went to a huge motorcycle shop and the giant Autobacs store, and then Jared left to do some antique shopping. Since I didn’t feel that metro and urbane, I went to the famous giant Shinto Shrine at Asakusa. 

I was supposed to meet up with Eric Hsu from XS Engineering and Toshi Harima of F&F 3 fame but was feeling so ill, I bought some food out of the vast arrays of vending machines and called it a night.  Japanese vending machines rule.  You can get an amazing variety of stuff out of them; drinks, cigarettes, an assortment of hot and cold food, cameras, beer, wine, noodles and many other things.  Vending machines are everywhere.  The strangest things I have seen in Japanese vending machines are raw meat and cooked plain ground beef.  You can even get a cold 40 out of a machine in Japan and chug it down while walking down the street.  I didn’t see any gin and juice though.

Just because I was sick and confined to the room doesn’t mean I could not eat well,	Japanese vending machines sell just about everything.

One of the entrances to the shrines at Asakusa	Main big ole shrine	You go in here and chuck money in this thing and make a prayer to get good luck or fertility or something

Another shrine on the grounds, the different levels of the pagoda are supposed to represent the different levels of goodness you can achieve through reincarnation or something like that.

Here is where you throw your money	This is a pot of burning incense, you are supposed to breathe the smoke and wipe it on yourself to get good luck for the year.  The smoke is also supposed to cure your ills	A close up of the pot, the smoke didn’t work, I got sicker.

To determine your luck for the year you can shake this metal container until a stick falls out, you read the number on the stick and get your fortune out of the corresponding numbered drawer.	If you have bad luck you tie your bad fortune onto this fence so it can’t get out and screw you over.
Of course you can buy your good luck for the official shrine sanctioned luck charm store.	Now there were all sorts of booth around the shrine selling many trinkets and things to eat, here are some decorated bananas, at least I hope thats what they were.

Legend says that this figurine represents a Buddhist monk named Daruma that meditated so hard and long his arms and legs atrophied and fell off.  When undertaking a venture, you fill in one of his eyes, when you complete it you fill in his other eye “enlightening” him.  They you are supposed to have good luck.  Or something like that.  Surprisingly I learn this in a Quality Engineering class studying Japanese Quality Assurance methods.