日本 [Japan]:駅のゲートを修復 Station gate repairs

I don't know about you, but it's not every day that I'm given privy to the inside of every-day machines, like the ticket gates at Maihama station, so whenever I come upon these situations I can't help but be excited and try to capture some photos to commemorate the occasion. These are machines we rely on, day in and day out, as we go about our daily routines, run our errands or dash off to explore new parts of the city, and without hard-working servicemen and women they'd rapidly decay into unusable hunks of rust, I'm sure. It takes maintenance, and lots of it, to keep a city as densely packed and rapidly paced as Tokyo (and all of its surrounding suburbs that feed the workforce into the city proper) running smoothly. My respects to these folks, who often go through life quietly tending to the gears of society without much fanfare or praise for all their diligence. 

And that's a crying shame that they aren't given more respect, too. It's not always glamorous work, keeping cities going, but someone has to do it. It saddens me so much that people, especially in my home country back west, seem to denigrate and insult these very necessary jobs that facilitate the lifestyles we're used to. The world, nor society, would function very well if every single one of us were to become doctors or lawyers. Who would ensure our roads are smoothly paved, or our bellies filled with something hot, tasty, and quick? Laborers, servicemen and women, food-workers, without them we'd all be much worse off! So, next time you see someone directing traffic, maybe give them a smile and a wave for their efforts to keep you and the other drivers safe. 

またね

Until next time!

💘

XOXO,

NAU

Korea: Simple noms at work and home

Tornado potato!!! These are one of those foods that you see in all the travel blogs and videos espoused as a "must-try" street food... I had walked by a few places that sold it, but never stopped to buy one for myself. Well, lucky for me, one of my amazing coworkers at Fun Caricature grabbed one for me to try while they were out on their lunch break! I think they got the onion flavor? Whatever they chose, it was delicious! To make these pretty looking spirals of spud, they'll take a whole potato and cut it in one go before deep frying it to crispy carbtastic perfection and drenching it in flavored powder fresh out of the fryer. Delicious. It's a bit of a novelty- I mean, it's just a glorified potato chip / french fry hybrid, but you only live once so get you one if you ever get the chance. Live a little. We can always eat more kale tomorrow, right?

 

Of course, a girl can not live by potato alone... though some have tried... so I had to round out my night after getting home with some more carbs- ramen. I gussied it up with some form of crustacean I found at the market, along with soybean sprouts. It's not fancy, for sure, but it was an easy way to stretch my budget and get a little more bang for my buck. Kongnamul, or soybean sprouts, are extremely cheap and fairly healthy. I'd add a heaping amount to any bowl of ramen, so that the bowl was more bean sprouts than noodles! If I had it, I'd toss in an egg, too, and some green onions. Since I had the crustaceans/mollusks here, I opted to skip the egg this time. Not every day living abroad is going to be an epic adventure of hiking a mountain or eating unusual new foods that you picked live out of a tank. Sometimes you just want to go home from work, kick off your shoes, eat some junk food and watch a bad movie. It's okay. This is real life. 

 

Check back next time for more adventures!

🍜

XOXO,

NAU

Japan: Fune party 2012-10-19

For many years the Tokyo branch of the Arribas company threw holiday parties for their employees. In a rare meeting of upper management and makers, artists and their handlers were welcome to join the managerial staff in an evening out together sponsored by the bosses. This was the first, and last, holiday party I attended with the company in my three winters with them, as the tradition seemed to die shortly after.

Oh well. The times, they are a'changin.

I'd covered this evening in a previous post, but now I can go a bit more into detail and provide more photos.

Tokyo Disney Sea 2012-04-26

For two and a half long years I worked my tail off at Tokyo Disney Sea.

Despite working in the park, I was never allowed to explore beyond my area and I most certainly never got free entry into the park. There are strict regulations about costumes and the regions they inhabit so you'll never see a Mermaid Lagoon employee in full costume hanging out in the Mediterranean Harbor. 

Because I worked for Arribas and not Disney directly, I couldn't even use the Disney employee parking lot for my bike. I got an awkward warning from a guard one night and a note I couldn't read.

Bummer.

But it was still worth taking the time to visit the place I worked at, at least once!

So one overcast spring day my friend Yuka & I met up at the guest entrance of the park we worked in.

After dutifully (albeit grumpily) paying our $45-50 some odd bucks (with a local discount), we entered for a day of fun. Our friends Noriko & Naoko were both working, but promised to meet up with us when their shifts ended. 

By the way, did you know that the Japanese Disney parks are cheaper than their U.S. counterparts? Now you do!  Not everything is more expensive in Japan. ^_^