I love you, Mrs. Moorman

Lady with her small dogs and carpeted dog-palanquin in Ginza.
Man with several impossibly huge bags of aluminum cans roped to his bicycle, in Kawasaki.
Nifty Japanese cargo truck- the whole side opens up to facilitate loading and unloading.
Steven Seagal, apparently in a Japanese zombie movie called "Zangeki." The text reads "Steven Seagal" "This old man... cuts down zombies."

The Keirou no Hi parade in Shibuya, with the float (of a crouching samurai), dancers, and one of the world's busiest Starbucks in the background.
Another shot, showing the taiko.


I liked this guys clothes. This is in Shinjuku.

So, I got to embarrass my high school Japanese teacher on Japanese national television. Maybe. Let me back up a second. So I took the Tokyo metro out to Ginza earlier today to meet with the television crew from TV Tokyo for the interview. I talked to some of the other foreigners while we were waiting to be interviewed- apparently, they had been nabbed by scouts for the program all across the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. One girl had been accosted twice for the same program by a scout in Harajuku and then again Akihabara.
The interview itself was actually really fun- the interviewer was immediately engaging and humorous, and really helped us be at ease and speak confidently. I say us, because Maya and I were interviewed as a couple. Anyway, no surprises- he asked me about things that had surprised me about Japan (thankfully steering clear of the topic of "failure" that was listed as a potential question), and I told him honestly about the time I was surprised by the singing Kawasaki garbage trucks. He asked me if I could sing the tune, and I unhesitatingly refused (with a smile).
He talked with Maya for almost too long about her racial heritage (seemingly unable to get around how Japanese she looks), and then the conversation somehow turned to Mrs. Moorman, dear Moorman-sensei. He asked what we learned in the class, and I told him- basic everyday Japanese. "Do you remember anything in particular you learned to say in the class?"
Oh no. I thought for a while, and then something unfortunate came to mind: "Do you like it big?" (This is from a panel that Moorman-sensei drew with the dialogue: Person A: "It's so big!" Person B: "Do you like it big?" )
Again unfortunately, the interviewer immediately understood the humor of this and, laughing, asked "This is a woman teacher, right?" and I said "Yes. That's also just the kind of person she is." So. I love you Moorman-sensei! Hopefully no-one you know will see the program, or they'll edit that out.

Anyway, that's all I really wanted to write about. I had a seven hour adventure last night that took me from a failed withdrawal at Citibank (in the gleaming, multi-monolithic financial district of Tokyo), walking penniless and aimless for seven hours in the Japanese dark, from the manicured grounds of the Imperial Palace to the Diet Building, then into the heart of Ginza, all the while on and off the phone with Citibank, mum, private bankers, and the mysterious masterminds in New York, trying to get my card working so I could at least withdraw enough cash to get dinner (I had about 30 yen in my pocket; about 34 cents).
About half an hour before the trains stopped running, I was at last able to make the withdrawal (the specific problem was stupid and avoidable, but I won't go into detail). I made the last train home to Shin-Kawasaki and showered on the way to bed.

Something of noteworthy cuteness that I spied while I was walking: at a major construction site near the Palace (the site was unfortunately walled, so I couldn't get close enough to take a good cell-phone picture), there was a full-size hydraulic shovel with the words "I Must Work Hard" written in English in big black decals up its arm. And hard it worked, well into the night.

I didn't mention something- yesterday was a national holiday- "Keirou no Hi;" "Day of Respect for the Aged," and two days ago in Shibuya (the day of Wandering After Kebab) there was a huge parade/ festival replete with gigantic Japanese drums, fifes, dancing, and a float. I took some photos with my phone, but I had no idea the quality would be so low! I changed the settings on the phone so that pictures I take now will have over ten times the quality.

I've spread the photos about the blog in no particular order. I just realized that I forgot an adapter I need to use in order to offload photos from my camera-camera, so wait on those! ^ ^

Cheers!