thank the golden arches

I never thought I would ever be thankful for mickey d’s, but after a coupe of days of the Japanese and mostly raw seafood to eat you would probably feel the same.  I eat raw cherry stones and oysters from time to time, but that is when I really feel like eating it.  They are usually dug that morning and still taste like the sea they were just in.  I wasn’t forced to eat it but I wanted to be polite, and to at least try it.  The best meal I had while I was in Kyoto was at an Indian restaurant, roghan josh…ummmm tasty.

To a westerner Japanese culture can seem a bit nutty, because it is.  They actually have heated toilet seats, which I will not complain about.  They have an ultramodern country but still treat women like dirt.  All the women that work in the office at the headquarters of my company have to wear a uniform.  Or at least the same outfit.  They wear a charcoal grey wrap skirt, a grey vest, a black top, and either black hose or knee socks.  All the women were in their early twenties, because they are expected to only work long enough to find a husband and then be barefoot in the kitchen.  I wore colors other than grey while I was there and I felt like the Japanese women were wishing they could wear colors like I was.  I could see it in their eyes.

The men wear dress slacks, a shirt and tie, and the same parka made with the company colors.  Although everyone looks the same, they still have this overbearing sense of hierarchy.  The office is just a large room with long tables and the manager of the table sits at the end.  Nothing like having your boss breathing down your neck all day.  Every morning at 8:30 am they have sort of a roll call where all the people in the department gather standing along the long work tables.  The bosses stand in front of all the workers and one person per day on rotation lead the roll call.  One by one, each team leader announces all present and/or accounted for, and then the speaker gives a little speech about what he is working on for a couple of minutes.  We had to get up there on Tuesday and introduce ourselves and state what we were doing there.  Such fun.

I did manage to find a huge fabric store.  It had three floors full with every fabric you could ever want, except for their lame collection of silk fabric.  I bought only some sewing tools and scissors because I didn’t have enough room for four metres of wool.

I am still trying to shake the jetlag.  I was more or less through before I went to Japan, and then not sleeping for over twenty four hours totally did me in.  I probably won’t feel 100% again until some time into my vacation.  I am going to bed now.  Hai!  Sayonara.

konichiwa

I wrote this last night/yesterday/this morning, I’m not really sure when it was, then again it is all relative…

I figure I am not able to sleep a wink, and I have to lug this laptop around for the next week, so I may as well blog a bit to pass the time. I imagine I am somewhere over eastern Mongolia at the present moment. I am on my way yet again to the far east. Kyoto, Japan to be exact. I am on my way to the mother ship to present the design to the Japanese that I have been killing myself trying to get finished in the last six weeks. It should be no wonder why I haven’t written anything in the last roughly six weeks. I have been pulling ten or eleven hour days plus Saturdays for the whole time. I was able bring the design to the point where I feel comfortable with it, but it still hasn’t been analyzed for structural stability, but that will have to wait. These twelve hour flights really, really suck. Especially when you are not able to sleep at all. I have also realized that I definitely need some new music. I have several gigs of mp3s to choose from but I am sick of listening to the same thing over and over.

I will be arriving in Osaka at eight-thirty this morning. We will be then taking a high speed train into Kyoto. That should be lots of fun with a million bags to schlep around. This laptop weighs a ton. I bought some new luggage this past week from Samsonite. I bought two hard side suitcases and a beauty case. I feel so girly now that I actually own a beauty case. It’s kind of old fashioned I guess, but I am sick of taking up so much room in my suitcases with toiletry bags. I splurged, I don’t care, they are all in a matching Bordeaux red. I was almost able to get away with the smaller of the two suitcases for this week, but of course, I over-packed as usual. I purposely bought two relatively smaller suitcases to prevent such excesses, but alas, it still happened anyway. I am happy that finally decided to buy some decent luggage. We’ll see what it looks like after this trip. I was able to pack all my suit coats so thaqt they will not be so wrinkly when I unpack them.

I went on a shopping spree last weekend in the city centre. I bought mostly long sleeve tops for winter, and turtlenecks. I managed to find a nice green cotton twill blazer at esprit on sale. Even though it was on sale, it wasn’t cheap, it’s all relative I guess. I also stocked up on hosiery for work and this trip especially. I have been working on a pair of wide legged, high waisted trousers with a cuff at the hem in a brown and beige herringbone wool blend. I finished the pants last Sunday and then started on making a matching vest. The vest fits a bit on the tight side and was a refresher course on how to construct one. I had totally forgotten the procedure and therefore had to re-cut and alter some of the lining pieces. I finished to the point where I could take it with me and all I need to do over the next few days is hand sew on the buttons and finish the side seams. And pull out the basting. The trousers fit ok, except for the fact that I lack an ass, or at least it is not up to what vogue considers a “normal” ass. I bought a wide belt this week to go with the outfit as well.
After this week in Japan, I only work one more week and then I fly to the states. I fly to Detroit on the 16th and then fly to Boston on the 20th. I was hoping to have the week after next off already, but work has gotten the better of me once again. I have been so pushed to the limit lately with trying to maintain some semblance of a life while working way more than I should. I am really looking forward to have the time off. I need it bad. I will be writing this week probably a lot because I will have complimentary internet access at the hotel and hopefully a little time on my hands to waste.