The new pad

We've recently moved flat in Tokyo, which usually means basically handing over about $7,000 for a cardboard box with cardboard walls, that is too damn hot in summer and stupendously cold in winter. We are still waiting on roughly $5,000 in deposits and stolen rent that our last landlord has soon to supposedly return. If it doesn't come back I will be eating Natto for the next 6 months. The old place will be missed but the evil landlord (Mitsui Real Estate: approach with a very shitty stick) has left such a nasty taste in the mouth that it overrides the sense of nostalgia for all those wine and cheese parties and nights lounging on the sofa basking in our gorgeous surroundings.

In the meantime, I do have a pot to piss in, though the curtains need stretching a little...

Not holding out too much hope

Japan, as many people may have noticed/heard, is going through the biggest recession for 60 years. And how are retailers coping with all this upheaval? Well, the jury's out as I have not seen one single sale, and have not seen one single thing with a discount price on it. I even went to Akihabara to the huge Softmap store - there were at least 6 assistants on each floor rushing around, and about 10 customers in the whole shop. Whilst looking at an expensive lens an assistant approached me. I told him that if he knocked off 25% of the price I'd take it - he laughed. And so I walked out. Lord knows how these shops stay open but it certainly isn't through sales.

And then this caught my eye - in Ikebukuro - another of Tokyo's huge shopping metropolises. Bugger all bargains it should've been called - there was nothing with more than a 5-10% discount. If they're not going to be reasonable then neither am I, I thought, as I tightened my grip on my wallet and trudged off home.

Naive? Moi?

In Japan, one finds that any product can just about have any name going. Hence my previous photo of, for example, the Daihatsu Naked. But Naive Lady? When taking a dump? The mind boggles.