This is what you used to see on New Year's TV programs in Japan in the 1980's: Japanese impersonators with black faces singing soul music.... They wouldn't even be any good at imitations, but if they had black faces and kind of sounded like the originals, then it was close enough...
Japanese Louis Armstrong - Watch more Funny Videos
Oh, how much this country has changed.... You don't see stuff like this anymore.
From today, December 29, 2010, most of Japan will be on holiday. I will be heading off to the in-laws home to learn patience.
They don't drink, gamble or smoke cigarettes.
One time, several years ago, I woke up on New Year's morning and started drinking beer. I had finished two tall cans of Asahi beer when my mother-in-law said to me, "Are you alright?" I brightly answered, "Sure!"
Like I said, these are people who do not drink at all, so they thought that drinking from the morning was extraordinary and that two tall cans of beer was a ton of booze. And here I had always thought the Japanese were heavy drinkers!
That night my wife (who doesn't drink either) complained to me about my drinking and told me not to drink so much in front of her parents.
OK. No problem. Whistling the entire way, I put on my shoes and walked about 1 kilometer down the hill to the 7-11. There, I felt like a university student again, as I bought cigarettes and beer and stood there smoking and drinking in the parking lot.
It was wonderful! What a lovely day!
I sat for a while and had a few more beers. I was feeling good! I stood up, with beer in hand, to walk over to the other side of the parking lot to look around. As I did, I took a huge swig of beer.... Just then, as I lowered the beer, dripping off my chin and wiping it with my sleeve, a car drove by, right in front of me, and the two people in the car were staring at me with mouths gaping wide open.
It was my parents in law. They looked like they had seen a ghost.
I lowered the beer immediately and tried to act nonchalant, but I was caught red-handed!
Oh, how embarrassing that was! I couldn't believe it!
My mother in law asked me not to drink in public and asked me if I wanted a ride home. What could I say? I got in the car, tail between my legs like a dog who pissed on the rug, and rode home, not saying a word.
The next morning when I woke up my wife told me that her parents told her last night that they were very concerned about my drinking problem. And wondered if I should go see a doctor about my problem...
I laughed... "Ridiculous!" I thought. I don't have a drinking problem! My in laws have a drinking problem...... And that drinking problem is me!!!!
Happy New Year!
Showing posts with label All you can drink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All you can drink. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Japan Prices Going Back to 1980
Whenever I walk around Tokyo, I always try to take photos of things that are interesting to me that I can use for this blog...
But, I've been here so long that I'm used to just about everything I see...
Excepting, recently, signs that the economy is really tanking are popping up everywhere.
Here is the sign for a drinking establishment near Suitengumae Station on the Hanzomon Line that is advertising "All You Can Drink" service for ¥900 for women (USD about $10.80) and ¥1,300 for men (about USD $15.60).
That's unreal!
At just about any decent place in Tokyo, one drink is about ¥800 ~ ¥1,000 (about $9.60 ~ $12.00 USD). I had never seen prices this low. I took a closer look at the poster and saw that they had lowered the price already 3 times (underneath the 1300 yen mark was a paper that said 1500 and, below that, was another one that said 1,700!)
Dirt cheap! You say?
Well, not 50 meters walk down the street, I came across this sign for "Tachigui soba" (stand up soba restaurant) that was advertising their standard soba bowl for ¥200 (about $2.40 USD)!!!
Consider this: How many places can you walk into and have a meal for $2.40? Also consider that, at a convenience store in Tokyo, one Cup O Noodles costs ¥138 (about USD $1.56!)
How could they possibly stay in business!?
More signs that the economy, in spite of rosy government figures, has really taken a turn for the worse.
You want to know why it is this way? Read Gary North.
But, I've been here so long that I'm used to just about everything I see...
Excepting, recently, signs that the economy is really tanking are popping up everywhere.
Here is the sign for a drinking establishment near Suitengumae Station on the Hanzomon Line that is advertising "All You Can Drink" service for ¥900 for women (USD about $10.80) and ¥1,300 for men (about USD $15.60).
That's unreal!
At just about any decent place in Tokyo, one drink is about ¥800 ~ ¥1,000 (about $9.60 ~ $12.00 USD). I had never seen prices this low. I took a closer look at the poster and saw that they had lowered the price already 3 times (underneath the 1300 yen mark was a paper that said 1500 and, below that, was another one that said 1,700!)
Dirt cheap! You say?
Well, not 50 meters walk down the street, I came across this sign for "Tachigui soba" (stand up soba restaurant) that was advertising their standard soba bowl for ¥200 (about $2.40 USD)!!!
Consider this: How many places can you walk into and have a meal for $2.40? Also consider that, at a convenience store in Tokyo, one Cup O Noodles costs ¥138 (about USD $1.56!)
How could they possibly stay in business!?
Standard bowl of soba: ¥200. I wonder
if they charge extra for sliced green onions?
More signs that the economy, in spite of rosy government figures, has really taken a turn for the worse.
You want to know why it is this way? Read Gary North.
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