Light Tree

Gotta get these Christmas lights pictures out before Christmas is over.

$7.50 for a Movie Ticket Doesn't Seem So Bad Anymore

On Saturday I finally got to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. This was my first movie experience in Japan. I wanted to see Inception but I never got around to it over the summer. One thing that has been keeping me away from the theaters has been the cost. A general admission ticket costs 1800 yen. At today's exchange rate, that means my ticket for Harry Potter 7 cost me $22.50, a far cry from the $7.50 I would pay with my student ID in Charlotte. Above you can see what 7.50 got me. No Stadium seating and an old school seat that didn't come up to my head and had less than comfortable padding. A lot of things in Japan related to entertainment media is expensive actually. DVDs cost around 40 dollars new, as opposed to 17 in the states, CDs cost more, and video games are at least 20 dollars more expensive. Muse's latest CD is 1200 yen in the iTunes store ($14.50). So was seeing the movie worth 1800 yen? Yes, because I've seen all but the first two in theater and I wasn't about to miss this one. No matter what the cost, not matter the quality of the theater, movies are still magic, especially Harry Potter. Although, this is only one theater and I have heard that there are better ones out there. My time in Columbia SC taught me there are plenty of bad theaters out there in the US. Sadly, movies are more of a luxury here in Japan than they are in the United States because of the costs, but you can expect me to be back next summer for Part 2.

Blast from the Past Sunday: All Smiles

This resulted in marriage.

Karaoke Booth

Yeah, an empty room second day in a row, only this one comes with an explanation. This is a karaoke booth; it fits about 6 people comfortably. There are a couple of speakers in the corners and the TV is in the corner to the right, outside of the picture. You select songs with remotes The selection of J-Pop is huge and the western music selection isn't half bad (no Guster though). As you can tell, you can also order food and drinks from a kitchen to be delivered to you, and it's pretty tasty too (well, to be fair, just about everything in Japan is tasty). Point is, in Japan Karaoke is a fairly intimate activity to be shared with a small group as opposed to sharing it in front of a group of drunk strangers in a bar. Japan does Karaoke better than we do.

My Workspace

Penguins!

Sorry, busy morning. Posting on the blogged slipped by. Here you go.

Let's All Shop at Seiyu

Yesterday I left Tokyo for the first time to travel out to Tokorozawa in Saitama. Out there, the Seiyus are much more like the Walmarts back home rather than just a really cheap grocery store. Surrounding Seiyu were bikes, lots and lots of bikes. This is only a small number of them. Speaking of bikes, mine got a flat tire the other day. Such a pain.