Work preview and Hachiko

Finally got to go in and see what T. O. Entertainment looks like. Of course I got horribly lost for half an hour first (damn google maps), but I did manage to find it on my own without help in the end. Needless to say, I think the place is a pretty typical Japanese office (sans the fact that you can wear casual clothing) with various bouts of zany-ness thrown in for good measure. I think they are going to be working me hard (I was only supposed to go in for "30 minutes" and that turned into "3 hours"), but it may actually have some fun to it. Within said first three hours, they had me start watching a movie they are bringing out called "RoboGeisha".......... of which I lasted about halfway through before deciding that my mind couldn't take much more. So I get to watch the rest Monday. Oh and apparently we have a "Shiro Robot" model in the smallest of our meeting rooms. All the people seem pretty quirky, and the boss most of all. They seem to have a similar sense of humor.

Also saw this incredible band called "Johnson's Motorcar" perform out in Ikebukuro. With the violinist from FL, the main singer/guitar from Ireland, and the box drummer a Japanese chick, they were absolutely intriguing. I bought a CD for 10 bucks to hear more of their music, but it's this interesting Irish rock fusion type thing. I'll post the video I took of them once I get i up on Youtube.

Oh, on a side note. It's really freaking humid here. Like ridiculously so. To the point where if I step outside of anything airconditioned for a second, all of my pores open up and it's the great flood all over again, with no olive branch in site. It's a handy way to detox, but makes it somewhat inconvenient if you want to, you know, stand up without taking the chair with you. And it doesn't lessen when it rains. Dah! On the plus side, Firework festivals should be going on over the next couple of weeks. So I'm really, really looking forward to that.

Something amusing today. I went and paid about 20 bucks to see "Hachi" with some friends down in Ikebukuro. The movie itself is an odd mix of deep Japanese story set in the quintessential American family movie. And there is something interesting about having Richard Gere cater to a dog. If you don't want to cry, don't watch it. Come to think of it, don't watch it in a country that doesn't let you blow your nose in public either. That became rather inconvenient. But this movie single handedly moved an entire theater of Japanese people (and a handful of gaijin) to tears... for like 40 minutes. From the sounds of sniffles, I really doubt there was a dry eye in the house.