Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Ben’s Jewelry! This is the front of GR2. Believe it or not, it was a jewelry store way way back when I was little. I actually remember the place. The facade got removed today and we found out, there’s actually really nice architecture to the building. We got columns! So now it’s up to figuring out a design for our space. What will we do? How will we not mess it up? Are you a designer with ideas? Hit me up quick. We have a cat and dog adoption about to get underway! So the dudes are ripping stuff down and then this cans falls out of the front facade. Why is a beer can even in there? Look how old it is. 88 Olympics – Seoul – which Bud commemorated. Check out the Budweiser font. Classic.
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I didn’t quite finish telling my trip story. The last day, it’s a day when my plane is taking off. Luckily it’s at 6:30pm, but the train takes off at 3:30pm. So what do you do? I tweeted it, and I got some condolences. Yeah it’s a tough thing to figure out. You don’t want to waste a day, but at the same time, it’s not quite enough time to do a lot of things. Some of you said, have a good meal, or get stuff for the plane ride. Here’s what I did. The shrine you see above. I went there. But that was quick and a diversion. I met with the king of turtles. Dr Koieyama. This man knows how to operate on turtles! I asked if he went to school for it and he said no, he learned it on his own and is the only doctor of his kind in Japan. That’s amazing! See the turtle in the tank? So rad. If you bring a turtle in, he puts on that metal tray and gets busy. We’re at a little sweets shop next to the shrine. That’s Kohei again. Yes, he and my friend Nao, ditched their work to hang out with me for just a bit. This shop is quite old and cool. I liked how Nao said, “I’m going to use it.” Meaning he’s going to use the spot to take a companion friend as a cool gesture and to look cool. That’s Nao eating some mochi balls in red bean. This is amazake. It’s non alcoholic and it’s a sweet rice drink that’s fermented, and sweet but without the use of sugar! Amazing. The bad thing about the last day is getting into a rush. So doing all these cool things, and then going to a camera shop made the time fly by. We weren’t in the right area where my train was taking off to the airport. We had to get on a train, then transfer and then I had to retrieve my luggage from the locker! We were scared. Luckily the Rapid Express came and it stopped only once. We were timing that fact that I literally needed to run to the locker then run to the platform, and I might make it within literally a minute. Trains aren’t late in Japan unless there’s a suicide on the tracks. The quick ending. The train pulls up, Nao flies out with the key to the locker and Kohei meanwhile figures out where the platform is at. I’m trailing behind running. By the time I catch up, Nao is already being a Samsonite monkey and is ripping by barely fitting bags out of the locker. Lightning fast and a funny sight! Kohei is helping and then we all run to the platform. We get there with three minutes to spare. I get on my train and my trip comes to a close. Not so exciting, but it was stressful at the time. Lesson?...
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When I take the train ride from Tokyo to Narita, I always think these things: I’d like to live in a place like the above photo. A rural place, with rice fields, that looks hundreds of years old, not too many people around, a river, and a river bank to walk on. Ironically, there’s a dude in the photo perhaps walking his dog doing and living the exact thing I just mentioned. I want to live in a little hamlet village adjacent to this rural place. It’s 15 houses deep. We might know each other, but that’s how it is. To survive, we have to be good and fair to each other. We might need to share things. There might be a tiny shrine in the area. A store might be sort of far away, but not too far. There are other hamlets like ours and we know them, and are courteous. Once in a while, we all hang out together, perhaps at a festival. The train that flies by, those are the people who have places to go and are super busy. We’re not like that. We have a rice field and it gets us by. Not too far away is this temple. It’s big and sticks out among the tall trees on a hill. Everyone in the bigger town is shadowed by it. It’s as if it’s a beacon watching over everyone and keep people in check.
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Yeah Cosplay at the Wonderfest happened. But I guess I got tired or something. The photo below tells it all. The girl though looks tired too. Compared to the rest of the folks who wear mostly black on black, I stand out. I really should pay attention to blend in better. Maybe for next time.
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