Homocon

Okay, I fess up -- ever since the midterm elections, I've been nothing but tired of the news, and especially the political news. Having to watch Charlie Rangel and Barney Frank mouth off while faking an understanding of basic economics is frustrating, to say the least, so I'm taking a break.

Apparently, I'm not the only blogger suffering from political burnout, but I'm recuperating in Japan!

This is the first time I've visited Japan, and the BF and I are hanging out at the nearly brand spanking new Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Tokyo. The flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo was over 12 hours long, and while we've been here two days so far, we haven't yet fully adjusted to the time difference. It's 6:45 p.m. Tokyo time, yet 1:45 a.m. Los Angeles time, and I'm having to fight off the desperate desire to lay down and go to sleep before our 8 p.m. dinner reservation! Even 2 cups of Blue Mountain coffee aint doing the trick . . . perhaps it's time to raid the room's refrigerator for the bottled Green Tea.

One thing to note so far: the Japanese love the idea of Christmas. There are Christmas trees, holiday wreaths and Christmas window displays in all the department stores. There was even a store we walked into where an organist was perched in front of a gigantic old-style church organ playing Christmas carols for all the shoppers. The Japanese economy is beginning to pick back up after the dark years following their own post-90's bust, and the Apple store we ducked into to find power-cord adapters for our MacBook Pro laptops was bustling with shoppers. A huge Japanese fashion department store we strolled through today featured floor upon floor of citizens busily spending their Yen on very Los Angeles influenced rocker/biker threads -- I almost felt like I was shopping at Fred Segal, only the prices were better.

Thank god the dollar has held up against the Yen, though neither the BF nor I can speak a word of Japanese. We were initially approached by several very friendly and polite salespeople, but it quickly became apparent that I had no idea how to ask, "Hey, do you have these jeans in a size that Barbaric Foreigners can wear?"

Sigh. Language barriers are an economist's worst nightmare.

The second thing to note: everything is so clean! The streets, sidewalks, delivery trucks, taxi cabs, hell, even the Starbucks we walked into puts anything I've experienced in the United States to shame, including the flagship Starbucks in Seattle's Pike Place Market. The pastry case was scrubbed and gleaming (no fruit flies, scattered crumbs and smudgy fingerprints all over the glass), the staff was obliging to our language difficulties beyond all expectation, the floors were swept, the tables wiped, and the coffee drinks themselves were better than what I get in the U.S.

And it's startling to hear the entire staff say "thank you" as we walk out the door. Wait. Did they just say "thank you" . . . to me? Just for visiting their establishment? And buying one latte? Howard Schultz should come visit Tokyo more often -- perhaps the Japanese could teach him a thing or two about how to keep the company's stock from plummeting any further.

Third note: where are all the obese people? I swear, is no one in Japan overweight? Considering how fantastic all the food is we've had so far, it's incredible to me that I have yet to spot one fat ass waddling down the sidewalk.

After the jump are a few quick snapshots. I hope to post some more as our stay continues.