Haven't posted in a while. Perhaps because after the trip to Kyoto everything seemed somewhat tame.
Although I did go to a conference in Osaka the next week. But Osaka, to be frank, was nothing particularly interesting. It... FELT different than Tokyo. More like a US east coast city, maybe. And for some unknown reason they stand to the right on escalators instead of on the left like the rest of Japan. Oh, those silly Osakans...
Anyway, about once a week outside my apartment I hear a truly old-fashioned tradition go by. Whereas in america we have the ice-cream truck and its silly carnival jingle alerting kids to its presence, in Japan there are the "yaki-imo" trucks (roasted sweet potato), which has a load-speaker over which the driver shouts in a singsong voice "yaki-imo! oooiiishiiii, yakiimo! Irasshai! " etc...
Anyway one goes by my apartment once a week or so.
But today I actually walked past it, and to my dismay, the sing-songy voice over the loud speaker wasn't the driver of the little truck... it was a recording.
When I stopped to think about it, it's really quite representative of how Japan treats its traditions as a whole. I wouldn't be surprised if the sweet-potato vendor gets subsidized by the government just to stay in business.
In other news, I plan on going to comiket... And this time I'm doing it HARD CORE. Yeah, you know you want to come. Right?
P.S. I am soo getting that limited edition Hatsune Miku muffler.
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