January 31, 2003
SUI on Sat.
Instead of sharing stuff after the matter, for those in Tokyo, I'll be at SUI this Saturday. Here is the flyer. Kojo-san (Space Walker) will be spinning.
銭湯 Sento 2
I had to be discreet and ended up hanging out in the changing room for quite a while until I got a moment to sneak up and take these. They don't reveal much anyway, but still. Didn't want to freak out anyone.
What I enjoy most is seeing the social interaction. I sat next to 2 women who were friendly neighbors:
"So how is your health? It's been cold lately so we have to be careful, don't we?"
"Yes, indeed. How is your husband? Didn't he have a cold?"
Then later, I saw them washing each other's backs. And I could tell from their conversations that these ladies were just neighbors...not necessarily close friends. But meeting each other and discussing daily events at the public bath is, well, just normal.
My parents are bath freaks. Seriously, they go around exploring various Tokyo neighborhoods and take their bath stuff so if they find an interesting Sento, they take a bath! During random conversations, you may hear them say, "oh yeah, the sento in Takadanobaba has a good outdoor bath, but the sauna wasn't up to par..." Anyway, I remember going to their local bath once, and as I was minding my own business soaking in hot water, a lady came up to me, squinting at my face (since she apparently usually wears glasses) and said, "are you Kennedy's daughter?" She was 'bath buddies' with my mom (meaning they only meet at the bath) and wanted to introduce herself.
Oh yeah. My bath must have problems with 外人 (gaijin, 'foreigners') because I found a poster about how to properly take a bath. For example, don't wash your clothes (!) The poster's title is Enjoy Bath With Manners.
The changing room has a huge mirror so I took advantage to take a picture of post-bath me and my faithful phone.
銭湯 Sento 1
We're getting to the coldest month of the year and although it may 'look' nice outside, the temperature bites. And there's nothing better than soaking in hot water to warm your soul. Last night, I went to the public bath...a one minute walk from my apartment. Real regulars take their stuff in their wash bucket...but I just have a plastic basket and I roll my PJs in a towel. There's something very comforting about walking to the sento and seeing neighbors heading to/from there with their bathing paraphernalia.
So you walk in, park your shoes in one of the lockers (that have beautiful wooden 'keys'), and pay 400 yen.
January 29, 2003
lunch at desk
Not much exciting stuff going on at the moment, so I thought I'd share my lunch with you. The basement of my building has quite an array of restaurants, but I like to get little dishes at Salad Bag, located right next to McDonald's and its 59 yen hamburgers. Today, for a total of 750 yen, I got a salad with little fishies in it (they are fried; Japanese version of croutons?), shirae konyaku, and a shrimp/ broccoli stir-fry.
On my way back up to the office, myoga (Japanese ginger, 'Zingiber mioga')producers from Kochi prefecture were giving out free samples. I have no idea why they thought giving a bunch of office workers their produce would be a smart promotional gig. Most workers are men. I bet there will be a lot of forgotten myoga in desk drawers today...