Aliens in Odaiba

Ended up going to my field trip alone this month (no students) but since it was an exhibit that i really wanted to see, i went anyway. The Science of Aliens exhibit is being held at the Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Odaiba until about mid June. If you get a chance to check it out (this is a travelling exhibit on loan from the Science Museum in London), i definitely recommend it.


i don't think i was supposed to take any pictures but i snapped a couple anyway. here's the Aliens alien! very cool! (and very scary, even as a prop)


and lots of aliens as they are represented in films (yes, that's an Ewok you see here) and television.


There was this super cool video showing of this alien like organism called a water bear. they move around like bears with 8 legs and munch on all kinds of things that make they change color. very cool! here's what they look like:


the exhibit also had an interactive component that showed what other viable planets would be like. you could "touch" the thing moving around that you wanted to know about and a menu would come up that you could work with. Japanese AND English too! take that, science!


after the exhibit, i decided to take a walk around Odaiba and see a bit more. considering that the whole island is built on a giant trash island, it's quite pretty. lots of greenery!


weird pointy phallic statue:


i think this is a question best left up to someone else . . .


Yum! boba drinx!


post aliens, i got to see some dinosaurs . . .


and some of the most creative condoms i've ever seen. i wonder if they're flavored . . . .


(from left to right: condoman condoms, titack condoms, and star condoms. at the bottom it says "a long time ago in a galaxy for for away . . ." For away indeed.)

Going Green

So i've reently decided to go as green as i can at home with the price of utilities going through the roof. the cost of living in Japan (like everywhere else in the world) is going up up up so i stopped by my local Bic Camera to get a bunch of eco efficient lights for the house. now all of the regular bulbs in my little apartment are low wattage. yes, each individual bulb is slightly more exy than your standard bulb but i hope it pays off in the long run. they work fine, it's just a bit dark when you first turn it on. it takes about a minute for the bulb to "warm up."

i continue to use gray water for flushing the toilet. japan actually has a neat little built in sink at the top of the toilet. when you flush, clean water comes out of the top where you can wash your hands and drains into the tank below for the next flush. plus we have a 2 liter bottle of water in the tank which makes each flush use less water.

been using a bowl of soapy water to clean my dishes as well. i used to run the water the whole time but i realized how much of the stuff i waste. i've also gotten J to stop doing the dishes because a) he washes the inside of the cup but fails to clean properly around the rim where it's the most dirty and b) because he runs the water a lot. yes, it's extra work for me but i end up washing it again after he does it so might as well make him stop doing it altogether (i hear those of you smirking that i'm a control freak).

the veggie garden on my balcony is also getting bigger, a student brought me a few sprigs on mint which have begun to show roots and the jalapeno plant and 2 kinds of basil are also starting to come up. it's all organic, no pesticides and extra junk, which means a few leaves will get eaten my the little critters in the pots but hey, we all gotta give a little.

aside from the ecological factor, it makes sense financially too. although i'm not quite on biodegradable soaps and TP yet (probably will be within the year), i hope the green thinking works out in time. remember, it takes a while to see big results but it all adds up!

A Very Gay Birthday

the lovely niel had a very happy birthday on the first of this month so to celebrate, we all headed for drinks and dancing at arty farty's. happy birthday dah-ling!

Trip to Naka Minato

my uncle took me out to naka minato in ibaraki which has a big ol' fresh fish market. after taking grandpa to his short stay facility, we ventured out for a long drive out to the country side.

but first a pitstop at the highway rest stop where i got my uncle to pose with the Mitokomon cut out. apparently these guys used to walk around japan as a pseudo-vigilante group.


fish fish and more fish!! i LOVE wet markets! so much fun!



baked uni (sea urchin)!


we had lunch at the kaiten sushi place upstairs. it was weird, i'd never been to a moving sushi place that had the sushi travelling though a space station like tube. very futuristic! and tasty!



more market pix



giant raw oysters! one of my absolute favorites!!! these were huge and were sooooo FANTASTIC!!! i'd go back there just for these.

YUM!!

they even had some controversial whale meat. on sale!



we took the mountains roads back to the city. through the backroads, we went through a couple towns that made some very cool pottery. check out this giant toad!


and one of the coolest things was this lamp in the shape of a bottom feeling fish. so cool! too bad i have no space for it in my tiny ass apartment.

Faux Pax at a gallery opening

D has an artist friend who had a gallerty opening in Naka Meguro. he makes these little headless men out of different mediums. most of them were cendles. very clever.



this is what they look like when they die.


purdy lights!



i don't really go to these kinds of things so i was a) underdressed and b) out of my element. D had a bunch of his gorgeous looking friends around (very sweet girls) one of which made me feel not so bad after ruining a 7800 yen t-shirt (someone had spilled wine on the floor which i didn't see and accidentally dropped the white t-shirt over it. ooops). and another girl was totally understanding as one of my wild hand gestures went awry sending her piece on cake to the floor. hmmmm, i don't think D will be taking me to any more of these things . . .


Here's the artiste. If you wanna check him out, he's a french dude named Thibaut (pronounced kinda like T-bone) Rocher. Sorry dude!