Japan Report Card in NN4 (New Normal Year 4)

Prelude: Tokyo Excursion

The day began in Shimizu city, a Shizuoka prefecture port town and apparently a good place for Sushi. I have an American acquaintance in Japan who says he spent his early years here near the docks in Shimizu, “a tough town”. Riley is a big guy, about 6’2” and 220 pounds. He used to be kind of a good laugh at a gathering but now he’s a branch-covidian, constant-facebook-posting normie with a serious case of TDS. “I used to get in fights just about every night in Shimizu. After work I’d head to the wharf and eat sushi and drink beer and sake. It never failed I’d meet some asshole at the bar and we’d end up scrapping in some alley.” Sure you did, Riley.

Mt. Fuji from train station McDonald’s, with Shimizu Cathedral in foreground. (They’re minimalists here.)

Shimizu, being the rough and tough brawling town (according to Riley at least), still has the old-school train schedules on the platforms at the station. However, they are in transition, and I’ll bet they’ll go full bar-code soon.

getting you ready with the info-graphic on the right. The useful, easy-to-read timetable on the left will soon be a thing of the past, as I’ve seen on other station platforms.

Japanese trains are still clean and wonderful, and on-time!

Young Kaito, you’d be a hit with the chicks if you took off that ridiculous thing.

Underground shopping plaza beneath Tokyo Station. Majority unmasked- a good sign, especially since it’s winter, when masking has always been common.

The man behind the checkered skirt girls scratches his nose and adjusts his mask for the 17th time since lunch.

This is Tokyo: If you’re taking your baby for a stroll, you’d better dress to the 9s. Even the nanny (far right) is wearing stillettos.

It’s good to see normal stuff again. I didn’t see one mask in this group. As late as last September I still saw soccer coaches out in the fresh air wearing masks. Have we turned a corner?

If the word gets out, you’re sitting pretty as a restaurant owner. The patient Japanese will stand in line an hour for the latest thing.

After I checked into my tiny hotel room, it was back out on the streets. When I left Japan, I spent one night in Tokyo on the way to Narita and tried a capsule hotel. It was adequate but with hotels so cheap, only another fifteen or twenty dollars will get you your own room and shower without the snoring businessmen around you.

I asked this nice Jehovah’s witness lady if I could take her photo. Hence the friendly pose. Her partner has the mask on; I think they are trying to appeal to the both the free-breathers and the still mentally enslaved.

The Jehovah’s are out in force these days. What do they know? Is something brewing?

The Kanji in white behind the smile lady says 麻雀野郎 (mahjong yarou). Kyle translates it as “Mahjong Dude”. They have tables that automatically sort and distribute your tiles after each game. Long ago I learned the game with my wife and we had fun with her sister and brother-in-law at one of these places. There were always rough types at the other tables who played for money. Every couple hours or so a girl working there would say, “I’m making a run to McDonald’s. Who wants food?”

Tokyo is gastronomy heaven, and with the cheap yen, eating out is a bargain.

You can choose between independent classy:

Corporate middle of the road (or middle/high on the second floor):

Independent middle of the road:

Bargain basement corporate el-cheapo just the calories please. (but tasty calories at that):

Pay before you enter. The machine spits out your ticket and you hand it to the server.

Five bucks for a beef-bowl dinner. Two bucks for a salmon and all that stuff breakfast! Viva Japan!

So where did I go, and why was I in Tokyo to begin with?

I was there to interview Guy Gin, one of the best local writers who covers everything Covid related in Japan. We met for dinner before the interview and he chose a place that had multiple restaurants, most of them cheap, Izakaya style (greasy, delicious, order-as-you go finger food). It was chock full of university students and I was happy to see all the bustle. I’m doing a little editing on that interview and will have it out soon. Guy Gin has the whole lowdown on the Plandemic.