There are some places in the world that just oozes with negative aura. Everyone in there is just unhappy, and even if you can hear someone laughing, it seems really fake. These places seems to suck up your positivity, and coming out from there to the rest of the world is just such a relief. These places include, job agency, very cheap supermarkets (the ones where they don’t bother with presentations at all), and immigrations. The last train from Shinjuku is also quite depressing.

Almost 70% of people there are exhausted! People who get on the last train leaving Shinjuku usually work very long hours, day after day after day after day.
My favorite Japanese phrase is “otsukaresama.” It contains the word “tire” and it is a phrase used to show respect to those who have been working.
For all those that have been working hours end, “otsukaresama.” I hope you have someone who appreciates your effort, and get compensation that matches your effort.

PS
The reasoning behind the pic. I was drunk, and I thought to myself “woo, this is a perfect opportunity to take a picture that is very ‘Japan.’” I think it is a very Japanese sight….
When I once said that I fell asleep on the train, one Japanese person commented that “but foreigners never fall asleep on the train.” Hmmmm….. They must. I mean, foreingers take the train, right? Unless they are teachers living quite close to the school. If anyone has seen a foreigner fall asleep on the train, please tell me.

So the other day I was in a club called Womb. Had an amazing time, really.
After spending 5000 yen or so in drink (ouch!) I was in a very talkative mood and I was very very happy. The world was cheerful and spinning, and my mates were great. So I started talking to this girl. Complete stranger. I have no idea what we ended up talking, but I ended said I was single. To which she commented “well if you speak English, you would be able to find girlfriend easily.” I thought that was a very dumb comment. How can an ability to speak a language enable you to pick up girls? Okay, so if you speak five languages, that would be impressive.

Being drunk and uber-honest, I said “I hate gai-sen chicks.” I don’t think she liked it… Way to make friends! For those who don’t know what gai-sen is…. In strictest sense, gai-sen refers to those that go after foreigners. But in reality, gai-sen refers to those that go after white people. And they all act the same… I am quite sure they have more interesting aspects in their personality once you get to know them…. But from the surface view, they act very hard to appease those white people by being placating and tilting their head every time the great white people say something in English. And besides I don’t think I would like someone if they liked me for my race. I know this is opening a whole new cans of worms in Tokyo…. This is my personal opinion. If you don’t mind people liking you for your race, more power for you.
Anyway, this isn’t the first time people have said that “you will find girlfriends easily in Japan cuz you speak English.” I really don’t get this obsession towards English. I speak Spanish as well, but I’ve never heard people make the same comment about Spanish. Jesus, if speaking English gets you dates in here, those people should just live abroad. It is full of people who speak English. Full of dating potentials.
Anyway, I had an amazing time at Womb! For those who have never been there… Watch Babel. That is where they shot the film. Great club, great music, and it got nifty laser lights as well.
Peace