東京 (Tokyo)

This weekend I joined 35 million of my favorite people to experience the craziness of Tokyo, specifically the ward known as Shibuya. Our first stop was a store called Don Quijote, which is sorta like a mixture between CVS and Spencers... Any good night out requires the perfect accessories, and we settled on some futuristic sunglasses. These sunglasses may have been our best purchase all weekend... *cliff hanger*.

One of my desires was to go to what's known as a Host Club. In what would have to be total awkwardness, women go to a bar where they are able to talk to a handsome young man they've designated as their "host". The host makes commission off the drinks he sells... clearly my alcoholism would serve once again to destroy my finances. First-timers get a special price and a chance to meet all the hosts. This video gives a good idea of what I'm talking about. Please note that they are speaking exclusively Japanese... *foreshadowing*

Most host clubs in Tokyo are located in the red light district called Kabukicho. Most people would consider the red light district of any city to be especially creepy and seedy... in Japan, it was Japan-dangerous. Japan dangerous means it was probably about as dangerous as Vegas during the day and twice as clean. Here's me and my friends rocking our glasses in Kabukicho.

As we wandered, I began to recognize a basic problem with my goal... our complete lack of basic conversational Japanese. Since none of the clubs were open to people who didn't know at least basic Japanese, our host club adventure ended before it ever began! My wallet was probably relieved... if it was capable of having feelings.

About our glasses...

JAPANESE PEOPLE LOVED THEM. Seriously. The girls were gushing over them, squealing "kawaii!" (cute!). The guys would stare amused while muttering one of these words under their breath (ordered in popularity):

1. X-men
2. Terminator
3. Cyclops
4. "We have a place you can dance on this planet!" **
5. Electric Girls

** Spoken by a Nigerian promoter

I was actually pretty surprised no one said "Star Trek", but maybe it just isn't popular in Japan.

We ended up going to another bar and met a Japanese pharmacist-who-did-not-practice-pharmacy who invited us to a party in a club called Vanity. Vanity was basically a trance/techno club that seemed pretty exclusive. Our Japanese friend, though, was insane. At one point he asked each of us, "Are you horny yet? When will you be horny?" Japanese Rico Suave at work.

After that, we went to bar that my friends frequent called Propaganda. While there, we told the owner it was my birthday (it's not) and we were rewarded with free drinks!

Our night complete, we promptly fell asleep and prepared for a second day exploring Shibuya. Our first stop was the famous Shibuya crossing, supposedly the busiest intersection in the world. 

 

There's me, walking across!

Also in this area is the famous Hachiko statue. If you haven't heard this story before, be prepared to cry... or at least 5 seconds of depression. Basically, the dog (named Hachiko) would wait every day at Shibuya station for his owner to return. When his owner died of a cerebral aneurysm and did not return to the station that day, Hachiko continue to wait every day at the station for nine years. Here's a photo of his statue with some random school children.

That day, we decided it might be hilarious to go to a Butler's Cafe (Click here). Basically it's a Host Club Light, but filled with European guys who speak English and treat you like a princess. After an arduous search (seriously, it probably took us 2 hours to figure out where it was), we found it! As we walked in, we were greeted by a guy dressed up in a butler outfit who asked if we had a reservation. We did not, but after seeing the tray of tiaras on the side (to complete our princess identity), we decided it might be just a little too awkward and left. 

On our wanderings, we did find another type of club -- a CAT CAFE! Yes, friends, there is a business that is a room filled with cats and you pay to hang out with them. Of course I did it. Despite the barrenness in this photo, it quickly filled up with people. Apparently they also have dog cafes and owl cafes. 

My cat fetish satisfied, we then headed on to a cafe called the Lion Cafe. This place was pretty awesome, and according to my friend, really creepy at night, not because it was particularly scary, but because it was set up (inadvertently) like a haunted house. Rows of pews faced a giant speaker which played classical music. Strict silence is enforced, and most of the people there were working on their computers or just sitting quietly listening to the music.

I snuck that photo in. And in the last random moment of the day, one of my old friends from medical school was in Tokyo with his girlfriend. I met up with them in Akihabara, the technology/anime part of Tokyo. There, we experienced the female version of the host club, known as a maid cafe. They aren't allowed to have their photo taken, but in this innocent street photo you can see a few. It's like Where's Waldo, only for finding dressed up girls. 

The maid cafe was as awkward as you might think (or maybe not... depending on your tastes). Basically you ordered food or drinks, and certain food or drinks came with 5 minutes of conversation with your maid. Oh, and apparently when we entered the cafe, the maids yell out, "The Masters are home!" Ha! I ordered a dish with eggs over rice, and the maid drew an anime-type photo of me in ketchup on top. We also had to do a spell to make the food taste better... it involved making a heart shape with our hands. Thankfully my friend's girlfriend speaks Japanese so we were able to enjoy our 5 minutes of conversation with her. It was quite unusual... I think my curiosity for these types of places has officially been quenched. A good overview video by the same girl with the Host Club is here and the idea of the spell is here (careful, a few curse words). 

An exciting weekend that left me exhausted!

鎌倉市 (Kamakura)

For a nice day trip, I decided to venture down to the city of Kamakura. This city used to be the capital of Japan (about 900 years ago), and today has plenty of temples and also the "Giant Buddha"! This city was first founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo (remember this name!) who at the time was a very powerful man in Japan and created the Kamakura shogunate (a Japanese feudal military government). 

This is a SUPER LONG post, so be aware. Also, before we begin I think we should understand a little about Japanese spiritual beliefs... most Japanese identify as non-religious, but the two major faiths are Shinto and Buddhism. I think most people know about Buddhism, but briefly Shintoism is the belief that everything in nature (even rocks) contain the presence of gods or goddess (called kamis). Most of the temples are a mixture of Shinto and Buddhism.

Toilets and Masks

Looking at the picture, you may think this was taken during a SAR outbreak. You'd be wrong. Japanese people LOVE their surgical masks. This comes from a culture that's very concerned with public health, and so as not to contaminate others with their filthy germs (how rude!) they wear masks. I ended up buying some to wear because I could feel the evil eye penetrating me with every cough and sniffle I made maskless.

The brand I purchased is the "family mask" (ファミリー マスク) in the slightly small size ("やや小さぬサイズ") -- I'm guessing that means "medium". There is an entire section dedicated to masks and among this brand, if you're the dad or the kid there's one for you too!

As an aside, the Japanese written language has three forms: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Kanji is the like Chinese writing and represents more of an idea, while hiragana and katakana are phonetical. Katakana is used for foreign words, so you can actually tell what the word is just by sounding it out! Don't believe me? Try it:

サイズ -- pronounced Sa-i-zu (pronounciation guide here). Say it aloud and I think you'll guess that it's the word for "size", and you would be right!

マスク - pronounced ma-su-ku (don't pronounce the "u" after the "s".

Now you know Japanese... ha.

On to the toilets! You will find an interesting sight when using the toilet...

Let's take a closer look at those buttons on the side there, shall we?

I think they speak for themselves, but you can get yourself washed and everything. I think my favorite part is the "flushing sound" - you press it and it plays a sound of a flushing toilet. I guess the Japanese women, in an effort to conceal their unfeminine plopping/tinkling sounds, would repeatedly flush the toilet. In an effort to save water, the toilet makers of Japan created this button! What heroes! I've included the photo of their description in English.

But there is still YET ANOTHER toilet you can find in Japan!

Yes, that is a toilet meant for females. It's considered more sanitary because no body part has to touch the toilet (Japanese people are very interested in cleanliness), so you just squat to pee while facing the wall. So while you're peeing you can also get in a good quad workout!

箱根小涌園ユネッサン (Hakone Kowakien Yunessun)

My first big weekend adventure! My friends from the clinic and I went to the Yunessun in Hakone. Yunessun is the name for one of the onsens (温泉) which are hot springs which are often sex-divided nude hot baths. Yunessun (mostly) does away with that for a fun family-centered hot tub park! It. Was. Awesome.

This is us in front of the mascots (Spa Koneko, which translates into "Spa Kitten")... Japan seems to love their cat mascots. I'm not really sure why they have box-like heads but there you go (also they apparently have towels for bodies). I think the ones above are Boxappy and Bonjour-Non (girlfriend cat), but they have a giant family as shown in this lovely mural.

Anyway, Yunessun has three parts: Yunessun, YuTopia and Mori No Yu. The Mori No Yu is the traditional nude spa but we didn't go there. Yunessun is the part composed of fun little Roman Bath Theme hot tubs... one of them was filled with so much salt that you could easily float! It burned the skin though, let me tell you.

The best part of the Yunessun portion was the Doctor Fish... little fish that nibbled on your dead skin cells. Apparently the older you are, the more dead skin cells you have, and the more the fish love you (the old lady next to us had about 70% of the fish nibbling on her). The sensation was insane; I had to stop myself from jerking my foot away as the fish worked their pedicure magic. We also went down a water slide and met a four year old Japanese girl who spoke English and Chinese (her English was flawless)... I felt inspired.

The YuTopia part was by far the best portion... flavored water! There was a wine bath, a coffee bath, green tea bath and sake bath (as shown below)

How did people stop themselves from just getting a straw and slurping away, you ask? Well, they weren't really filled with wine, coffee, green tea or sake... though I think there was a little mixed in with the water, which was mostly color-enhanced. So that's how. I was a little disappointed, though considering the number of bodies in each pool it would have been too gross. My alcoholism has its limits after all.

We also sat in a chocolate bath and were lucky enough to be part of the twice daily show. This show consisted of a lady walking out with a bowl of melted chocolate, putting the melted chocolate in our hands, and us proceeding to rub it all over our faces, hands and bodies, before washing off in the chocolate bath. A similar event happened with wine (a guy poured an entire bottle of wine over people's heads).

I'm not really sure why we did it, but we did. I think that's also why the water was vaguely like the thing it was supposed to be. Apparently the individual bath ingredients are supposed to help the skin. 

Did I mention that this was outside in 30 degree weather? That's probably why it was awesome to slip into the hot tub and get warm again.  The other really nice thing about this place was that you were given a wristband that, via magnetic forces beyond my intellectual comprehension, unlocked your locker and acted like a charge card in the food court (you just swiped your wristband and paid later on). 

After spending the day there, we took the train to Tokyo. In Tokyo, we ate at an amazing pizza place and then promptly fell asleep (it was a long day sitting in hot tubs). In the morning, we went to Harajuku Station in Tokyo in the hopes of seeing some anime girls. I didn't see any, but we did to go Takeshita Street, which is known for its crazy fashion (mostly Lolita Goth). 

We also went to the Meiji Shrine, which was built to honor the former Emperor Meiji who "led the industrial growth and modernization of Japan". His soul (and that of his consort, Empress Shoken) is enshrined there. 

 Below are barrels of sake donated to the enshrined deities to show their respect. 

These were votives that you can buy and write on, then hang on the Divine Tree to have your dreams come true!

Last but not least, I had to take a photo of the plastic food they put on display so English speakers could just point at what they wanted:

And that's all for today. I plan on writing a lovely post about the toilets here... yes, they really do warrant their own post. Never second guess me again! 

歓迎!

Okay, let me first apologize... I have no internet in my room of any sort, so my facebook stuff has been via my brand new iPhone 5 (yes, I caved... but I still prefer the Android). Now, let me dance for you like the monkey I am and write about my adventures!

First I just want to say that this is a screenshot of my cell phone company website...

・・・怖い。 (I'm scared)

Cliche of the Day

FINALLY made it to Seattle (next up is Atsugi in about 24 more hours), after an arduous journey that I never wish to repeat again.

The plane leaving from Pensacola was delayed 1.5 hours due to mechanical issues (cue me thinking this inevitably meant my death in a flaming pile of airplane parts), which meant I missed my connecting flight. Luckily, that was rescheduled.

This was not my most stressful part of the trip, though. On the second flight, a stewardess actually asked, "Is there a doctor on board?" over the intercom. Yes, she really did. Would I lie to you? Maybe for a cheap thrill... but not this time! This is the story behind my (un)heroic act.

We had just landed and were taxiing to the gate, when a faint cry for a stewardess is heard amongst the masses. As the passenger yells again adding she needs a doctor, I can feel the increased tension of the other passengers as well as of my anal sphincter. About four rows ahead of me, a woman grabs an older man and lays him down on the seat. The stewardess arrives, and upon seeing him on his deathbed, yells out for a doctor.

In a "What Would You Do Moment?", I'll ask my dear readers to choose between two options:

A) Stand up, run to the dying man, resuscitate him back from the brink of death to the adulation and admiration of those around you
B) Sit quietly, praying that someone else stands up, while the passenger sitting next to you (who knows you're a doctor) turns to stare at you in silent judgment.

If you paid attention to the earlier sentence "this is the story behind my (un)heroic act" then you already know what I did. All I could think was if this guy was having a heart attack, I would probably actually facilitate his death since I have literally practiced no medicine for the past seven months (nine if you count my psychiatry rotation at the end of internship.... ZING). Just as I was about to get up, two other braver souls stood up to help. "Too many cooks in the kitchen" I think to rationalize my silence. Luckily the guy survived (I think)... I guess he had low blood sugar and felt better with some orange juice.

Just to be clear, I would have helped him if no one had stepped up. :)

(And I'm not alone... sorta! Click here)

Wind beneath my wings

GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?! GUESS!!

...No, I didn't just discover the caps lock key, but rather I was officially winged on February 1st! And I don't mean growing feathers a la Natalie Portman, but rather the small gold pin version.



Before I go into excruciating, mind numbing detail about my graduation, I know a few of you aren't familiar with flight surgery wings or even what having wings means. In my great benevolence, I'll explain it a little more. In the Navy, physicians wear an insignia on their collar that lets people know they are part of the medical corps (others have different insignia), which is a gold oak leaf with an acorn on top (supposed to mean strength and development respectively). That insignia is the center piece, and is framed by the wings on either side to show the flight surgeon's "aerial ties" and signify the fact that I have managed to pass the grueling training required of flight surgeons.

This training includes, but is certainly not limited to, six months of:

1. Many, many, many, lectures on aviation medicine
2. Six weeks of Aviation Preflight Indoctrination (basically learning the basics of flight), which included survival training
3. A few weeks in VT-10, learning how to fly their fixed wing plane called the T-6
4. A few weeks in HT-18, learning how to hover in a helicopter
5. Heavy drinking and continuous whining (who, me?)

We won't mention the fact that numbers 3 and 4 were essentially ungraded events... the student pilots and flight officers get a little touchy about that. Below is a lovely picture I found on a little site called Wikipedia (have you heard of it?) that has the other types of wings in existence in the US Navy.

Moving on... the ceremony in which I graduated and received my wings involved having a chosen family member or friend pin the wings on our uniforms. After my mom pinned on my wings, Tom Skerritt appeared to give me orders to the USS Enterprise to deal with a crisis situation somewhere in the Bering Sea. The Navy is really hard up for flight docs these days, you see.

Now that my training is officially over, I'll be headed off to Japan where I'll be experiencing the REAL Navy for the first time! :)