I thought I knew Ikebukuro station, I really did. But it never ceases to amaze me how there's always something in that gargantuan building that I haven't seen.

When taking a new line, I came across this most curious haircut shop. It advertised ten minute haircuts. I'd never seen one before, so maybe they aren't too popular. But there was nevertheless, a long line of businessmen waiting to have a trim. You can just see from the photo that each stall has a type of flobee, vacuum style hose attached to it. I still saw employees sweeping hair up off the floor, however.

What was even more novel--that this store had directions on how to get your hair cut there in both English and Japanese. It probably goes without saying that people who really care about their hair would avoid this place like the plague. But for those men who simply wait their hair to look like it did before--short, I don't think the process could get much easier.

And I love how the instructions state that the cut will take only ten minutes. The clock only starts from when you're actually seated with a barber, ie. the entire process will likely take much longer.

Like some restaurants in Japan, this place uses a ticket system. The employees don't handle money, the machine does. You simply hand them a ticket that the vending machine gives you, and you're good.

Japanese WiFi has been a bit of an issue for me. In addition to being unable to find free WiFi anywhere other than a small room in Narita airport's Terminal 2, I found the home wifi setups to be somewhat of a puzzle.

In America, the WiFi names tend to be things that people thought up on their own. Cute names like PinkRoom or Jenna'sNET. Or, the default names like Linksys and Netgear. But wherever I went in Japan, the WiFi names were all technobabel. Garbage names that were little more than random strings of characters--these were everywhere!

As a computer guy, most of what I did was reset and setup routers for people. I wondered how literally every home in Japan had such professionally done names. When I finally found the answer at a friend's house, it surprised me.

I guess the popular wireless routers here come preconfigured with both a specific SSID names and login passwords. Or at least that's the conclusion I came to when I found the stick on the bottom of a friend's wifi router. In Japan, they don't do any setup! It's probably the best way to do things. Or at least the most efficient.

To illustrate what a crazy world we live in, my next post is about the cost of sushi.

I paid for sushi for three at a "kaiten" aka conveyor belt sushi restaurant, Kappa Sushi. It's not all you can eat, but I always stuff my face as though it were. In addition to being able to grab whatever you want off the belt, you can special order anything, and a small toy train rushes the plate to your table.

I went to town: tuna; shrimp; crab; corn; sukiyaki; fried shrimp. Oh my god, the fried shrimp is to die for, still hot when it gets to you! When was the last time you ordered something fried that came hot n fresh?

After about ten plates, I was stuffed. What did it cost? Two thousand yen, aka $26. I'm talking fourteen plates of sushi here, three people fed. In America you would spend that much on a roll or two. So to recap, TIL in Japan, pizza = expensive, sushi = cheap.

So I'm in Tokyo, just hanging out with a friend, and I get hungry and think, "Why not order a pizza?"

We hit up the Dominoes website of all places. Yes, Dominoes. I always feel bad when I 'waste' my time in Tokyo on Western businesses. But fear not, because the pizzas are way different, and we wound up buying a "Cheese Melt Bolognese" pizza. With a side of chicken drumsticks. Remember that in Japan there's no tipping, and delivery costs are included. But still, we're talking about one large pizza with a side.

Say it with me, "That pizza's worth WHAT?!"

4,670 yen! In today's dollars = $60.75! Good god man, Tokyo is going to put me in the poor house. First beer, now pizza. How in the hell can food be so expensive?

I know food is expensive because Japan is an island and imports from the mainland, but let's not forget the Federal Reserve devaluing our currency against foreign markets via inflation.

Happy New Year! Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow, how great a New Year feels, when you get it fresh on this side of the International Date Line. It's like getting licked unconscious by Victoria's Secret models. Oh, Western World, how I wish you knew what you're missing--you only thought your New Year was new, but by the time you get it, it's really been around the block!

I was having dinner with the neighbors when they tried to make conversation. They said, "The most popular dog name in Japan is: poochie. The most popular cat name is: tama (balls). What are the most popular cat and dog names in America?"

I thought about it for a bit too long. What is a popular pet name? Nothing came to mind, except, "Blue. A popular dog's name is: Blue. I don't know about cats." In truth, I only know of two Blues. The first is Blue's Clues. The second, from a quote in a Stephen King novel I read years ago.

...I'm telling you so you'll know
Old Blue's gone where the good dogs go.

I remembered asking my parents about why the dog was named Blue and they told me it was a popular name. Then, just the other day, watching Our Idiot Brother, a dog named Blue was referenced in one of the songs.

Which begs the question: anybody know a popular cat name? Or is there none?

So I went out for a big night in Tokyo. Ikebukuro, to be exact. And where do my friends tell me to meet them? TGI Fridays. I came all the way from America to meet them in a TGI Friday's and order a corona.

Then I got the bill and nearly had a heart attack. The corona cost 798 yen! In my head, I roughly calculated it to be a TEN DOLLAR BEER! Indeed, with the current exchange rate the cost of the corona, alone, was $10.25.

The five Heinekins? $51.25 in US dollars.

Needless to say, I don't plan on going to TGI Friday's in Tokyo anymore. Nor do I particularly want to order coronas.