February 22, 2005

Ah, to bask in the warm, pine-fresh glow of the Japanese equivalent to the dollar store. Here, anything from batteries to shampoo to even paper clips can be purchased here for the low low price of 100 yen (105 yen after taxes). The food stuffs like ramen, sardines and spaghetti make up 90% of my diet. So as you can imagine, I respect and worship the 100-yen store as the false god it is. Without it, I wouldn:t even be able to afford 100-yen AAA batteries, which is what I purchased just seconds before taking this shot.

But enough talk! There:s an indie to have at!

Before returning to the station, I detoured to the north to take a few shots of the construction that:s going on around the station. It may be a few years until it is all complete, and I can wait. With bitter resentment, I shall wait. Akihabara will soon have a sleeker, more modren face (as the station now shows) and the crummy, back-alley flea market feel of the city will one day fade away completely. I:ll miss it.

A final shot from the platform. You can see the pedestrian overpass has been started. I honestly believe this overpass was constructed in less than 5 days. I was contradicted on this, but who really cares? Shibuya ho!

They seem to run only the best ad campaigns in Shibuya. You may remember the Andy Williams campaign I wouldn:t shut up about back in indie_005, or you may not. I don:t know how even the mighty Andy Williams compares to the 10 or 12 pairs of jeans hanging around. But it sure does come close. And, yes, those are real. Each one being worth maybe $50. What an honest country I live in...

From he station, I walked east and then southeast for a bit. About 12 minutes into the trip to the mysterious place I haven:t mentioned yet, I saw these ashtrays by a bus stop. The grill design was pretty cool, and I snapped a picture of it. I will draw it one day.

It was 1:45pm. (More important is what today is, but I:ll get to that later.) I stopped in at a 7-11 and got some riceballs and a one-liter carton of ice tea. I came across this little temple/courtyard/park about 30 minutes into the walk and decided to rest a bit.

Kimchee and pork rice balls! They were wrapped in a layer of seaweed-paper and then given a suspicious dash of salt. Very suspicous...I sat on some stone steps and considered about turning back. Up to this point I had stayed relatively near to large roads, in case I got lost. I had no map (in true indie fashion) headed generally in a direction I guessed the college campus was at. I should:ve seen it by now. Having not, it meant I had to walk even more.

This is the official... Romanian embassy? Sure, why not. It:s the Romanian Embassy. There are alot of them in Tokyo (embassy capital of the world, I always say). Right across from the street is the...

Hoho! The Jewish Community of Japan. What a wacky street I:m on! It:s barely two lanes wide and yet such important establishments are right here! Amazing.

The time is about 2:20pm and I:m a mere 500 meters or so from my destination. When I passed these two buildings, I could see it pop up over the hill in front of me. Which meant that I had found it (miracle) and that I could finally get to some AC. Walking for an hour had it:s side effects.

That:s a nice sign the Tokyo Red Cross Hospial has got there, huh? Real dignified and "established". Yep. Time to head on in and scare some nice nurses. Well, maybe just shake them up a bit. "Scare" might be too strong a word.

From the nice lady at the admissions desk, I gained directions to the maternity ward. Which is cool, because that:s where I was trying to go. "Babies just don:t steal themsevles," as I lie about what my father always said. I walked up to the front desk and introduced myself in the most polite Japanese I could salvage.

"Hi. My name is (Marco Michilli). I was born at this hospital 23 years ago on this day exactly. I was wondering if I could have a copy of my birth certificate or something. Some kind of paper to prove I was born here. If I was born here. Can you help me with that?"

It seemed to not work. While my refined grammer and conversational skills worked fine, there was another problem. That being I:m not Japanese and have no Japanese traits or blood in me. So she was understandably skeptical, but in a not-hostile way, which was partially expected of her. She said they would confirm my "being born here" claim and get back to me in a few minutes. She asked me to write down my name and birthday on a scrap of paper which I did. She began to walk away, then turned back to me and said "Happy birthday." As she disappeared the office area behind the counter I hoped for the best.

She returned 9 minutes later saying something about how old documents weren:t on file in the computers yet and I should follow her to the basement to talk to this one guy who would help me in my search or my questions. Drat. Still I had no proof I was born there. I:m pretty sure I had the right hospital, but not 100% sure. It would really suck if I were in the wrong place, huh?

So off to the Medical Records room! A room so cryptic and secret I dared not take out my camera. So settle for this door picture while I reveal the curious fate which befell me that cold February afternoon.

I entered and repeated the little speech I gave earlier almost word-for-word. He told me he would try to help and this kind of request doesn:t happen too often. I knew this would take a little time, so I sat down and began waiting. He came back a few minutes later with an assistant and they gathered more information on my birth. They didn:t seem so interested in my birthdate and name so much as my mother:s name and birthdate. I guessed the latter and off they went to the record vault.

Far too many minutes later the assistant came back holding some faded folders in hand. I got my hopes up. His face didn:t try hard to hide his suprise over actually finding them. The folders contained the charts, notes, and paperwork pertaining to my mother:s hospital stay and my subsequent birth. Cool! I found the right hospital afterall. Cool. My birthday wasn:t a spectacular failure. Really cool! I ordered a reprint of my Certificate of Live Birth and said good-bye to the guys.

Back up the creepy stairs I go!

In case you always wanted to see a hospital waiting room... It almost feels like a bus depot, probably because of the lack of "hospial smell".

And then I had a bit of a walk back to Shibya station. I had no certificate in hand, but I soon would. Up next: Akihabara!

Going back, I followed the main road more than I did going to the hospial. I found a really easy path to and from the station. This might come inhandy if I ever go back there. Which I will. Honest.

Here:s an unusual sight: some homeless guy sleeping on the Yamanote. You can actually go for weeks without seeing this. I:m not picking on the guy or trying to make it sound, I don:t know, okay to point out homeless people slepingg in public. It:s just one of those things you see now and then. Or maybe never at all, which is why I took this picture. For those of you who may have wondered what a homeless guy sleeping on a Yamanote train looks like. There ya go. As for the smell... *ahem* Moving on!

Back to Akihabara I go! February 22nd fell on a Tuesday this year, and every Tuesday I always go to Akihabara to meet up with the Tokyo IC aficionados. Sadly, like most weeks, the groups numbers were low. There was Lawrence... And me... and by some freak chance, I was able to convince my new roommate Eric to come chill with us, and that he did. Eric is not a yuppie. He is cool, and highly dependant on his contact lenses.

My birthday dinner last year I had this feast of pizza, beer, and pizza sandwiches. The year before that it was chicken and ice cream. And this year: ramen. Lawrence took us all to get some incredibly good ramen. We:re talking "voted best in tokyo 15 years running" grade of excellence. It was great, filling, tasty and had the prefect noodles. But it left a rather heavy-oily aftertaste. Just a slight one, and I think it was just me. Maybe next time will be better.

Last shot of the night. In the Akihabara station, just past the ticket gates, Nippon Ichi:s new game Phantom Kingdom was advertised on the floor. That game is coming out... March 17th. The day I uploaded this indie.

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Birthday birthday birthday!

I can:t really say why going to the hospital I was born is such a big deal to me. I guess it:s just going to be another one of those weird things I can mention at a party during a conversation. "Oh, yeah. Did I ever mention I once visited the hospital I was born at." Pretty lame, some might say. Then again, they probably live in the same continent they were born on. So! If you do, how about dropping by it and visiting the maternity ward someday? WHY NOT!??!? Seriously.

PEACE!!