This is another video I took with my camera on my trip to Osaka (I had to convert the quality to get it to fit on youtube so thats why I'm only posting it now).
This is an area in Japan called an Arcade. No not the video game places, those are called a SEGA I believe. An arcade is a covered street with lots of small shops along side. Kind of like a market except they sell cheap clothes and electronics.
A couple of things to notice in this video:
1. The pachinko parlor on the right. Gambling is illegal in Japan so they have a game called pachinko which is kind of a cross between a slot machine and pinball. Anyway you play to get "tickets" then you can cash the "tickets" in for money. So its pretty much straight up gambling. They are everywhere here.
2. The fact that I am walking on the right side of the sidewalk the whole time. Japan drives on the left side so naturally they walk on the left side in crowds. Well it takes us stupid Americans a few weeks to get used to this. So thats one of the reasons for the awkward stares I'm getting (they also might be staring at me because I'm not Japanese)
3. Lastly notice how I'm the only gaijin (foreigner) in this whole video. To give you a sense of what its like to be a gaijin in Japan. If I was to walk in a crowd like this for 2-3 hours I'd probably see about 2-3 other gaijin. And thats only in the big cities like Osaka or Kyoto. I'm actually starting to get used to it though. I'm not sure if this is one of the stages of culture shock, but I looked in the mirror yesterday and was actually surprised to see my face. I've also started to see the faces of my friends in family in the crowds. The other day I was like "Hey that looks like a Japanese Shep." Or "that looks like my Dad only he's Japanese." (This also might have to do with my theory that all people look like an animal, So since my friend Slubbs looks like a badger a Japanese person that looks like a badger will look like Slubbs) Again this might just be one of the 11 steps of culture shock, or maybe its just my way of dealing with it.
