Suprise Holiday

Today has been a quiet day because, as I found out late yesterday afternoon, April the 29th is a national holiday. To celebrate the birthday of an Emperor who died in 1989, the people who cook my food and teach me Japanese took the day off and left me in the lurch.  I didn't have anything planned and, not wanting to spent too much money (I've spent enough recently..), I had a quiet wander around Shakuji Koen.

That's not to say it's been an unpleasant day, far from it. Looking round the shops I saw all sorts of charming, odd and delightful products, some of which I'll detail for you. My first stop, just out of curiosity, was the  English learning section of a Japanese bookshop. Most of the items were your usual "Hello, how do you do, my name is Nakamura and I come from Yokohama" type language books, however I found one magazine which specialized in teaching expressions and sentences straight from films as well as some highly situational 'Adult English'. My favorites in the M rated category (which those of a fragile disposition should feel free to skip) were:

'Women keep coming onto me in strange ways!'
'Sorry,  but I'm looking for more of a physical relationship'
and the ever handy
'Do you want to make love before or after dinner?'

There were some other gems but, as my English is already pretty good, I didn't buy a copy so cannot remember them.

The next 'object of interest' that I found was in a shop called Passport. Passport is an odd place specializing in classy bags and children's toys. I wandered in by accident, thinking they might sell travel goods for Cambodia. They didn't but I wasn't disappointed for on one of the aisles was a section devoted to bath balls with small plastic suprises in the middle. You plonk them into your bath, the ball fizzles away and inside is a toy. The selection was enormous with plastic donuts, plastic ice creams, dinosaurs and sheep surprise bath bombs all available. The best of the bunch was one in the shape of a tenpura'd prawn. The prawn's tenpura shell fizzles away in the bath, revealing the prawn within. I haven't looked into postage prices yet, but I'm quite tempted to buy one for my little brother Cameron before I leave.

Among other highlights, I bought myself a "Carrot, Purple Carrot, Raspberry and Grape" drink in a health food shop, which was surprisingly tasty. I also saw a place called the 'Turn Thick Shot Bar'. I have no idea why it had that name but as usual I had to laugh and as usual I got a lot of mystified looks from passer by. Often I can see the logic behind these Engrish names. Shibuya's funky Triple Napalm Bomb hairdressers sounds striking, Black Man brand underwear is based on an trite stereotype and Calpis sounds a bit like calcium. Turn Thick though? Where is the sense?

I wonder if the Japanese in English tourist information booths is quite as bad...