ONE HUNDRED! (Hyaku, cento, cien)

Yes, I've made it to 100 posts on this blog! I wish I had a bigger way to celebrate, but for now I'll leave you with a few recent photos instead.

• Top: Last week I had my 1 year anniversary living with my host family. We went out to dinner and then drove to Odaiba. Odaiba is the largest of some man-made islands in Tokyo bay, originally created for defensive purposes during the 19th century. It was re-vamped in the 1990s into the high-end shopping/leisure/entertainment district that it is now. This was actually my first visit; someday I'll hopefully make it back during daylight hours, but as you can see from the photo, the night views of the Tokyo skyline are pretty much spectacular.

• Left: There's a bookstore located a couple floors below my school that has been known to host celebrities as they make their way through Tokyo (Michael Jackson is supposed to be among them). A couple of weeks ago, we noticed lines and lines of people standing around. I went downstairs to see what was going on, and all I could make out was that they were paying $30 for tickets to see something scheduled for the following Monday. Later, one of our Japanese staff went to find out the rest of the details and it turns out that these guys were all waiting around for tickets to shake hands with a famous Japanese actress, whose name I can't remember. (I had wondered why there were no women in line...). Sure enough, three days later the photo above was all you could see on the downstairs patio outside the store. I have to also draw your attention to the fact that this image is another testament to the Japanese proficiency at making lines. No ropes/cones/store staff, etc. This is an entire country of people who are programmed to make these perfectly straight lines and then stand in them waiting patiently...
• Right: This is my co-worker Eddie demonstrating how to eat mini cinnamon rolls from McDonalds when you live in Japan. I love chopsticks! (See this post if you want a look at one more example of chopstick usage.)

And now, I'd also like to take this monumental 100th post to introduce a new series:

"A Nap in Japan: Japanese people can (and do) sleep anywhere"

Most of the photos, you'll find, have been taken on trains, although if you stay tuned to future posts you'll see some other creative locales. I've been gathering this collection since a few weeks after I got here, two years ago. It's about time I shared some of these gems with the world. The pictures that follow are among the biggest reasons why I find Japanese people so darn entertaining.

• Left: I took this photo on my way home from Kyu-shogatsu (Chinese New Year) last February. These guys were on their way home from a group fishing trip.
• Right: This guy was probably just on his way home from a night on the town.