Sunday, June 15, 2008

Unrelated Events: Umeshu, Tea Parties, and Blood

梅酒



A swell blog Blue Lotus gave a recipe for 梅酒 (umeshu), a kind of booze we drink in Japan. It's 梅酒 season now, so here's the attempt. Takes about a year to get good. Yeah, it was a boring day. FYI, 梅酒 is tasty and really cheap at restaurants, which makes me question why I just spent $30 on raw materials to make about $15 worth of booze.



This car doesn't run on gasoline, it runs on concentrated cuteness. By which I mean "me vomiting a little in my mouth." Which is code for good times.



i-what now? This medically sealed box contained actors demonstrating the use of the Windows-touch cell phone. Actors using the time honored tradition of mime.



Just when you thought it couldn't get more awesome than a live advertisement for some bullshit... the dancing begins.



The best (only good) part was that there were like 100 people seriously watching this spectacle, taking mental notes. The only people laughing at it all were the foreigners.

Why was I in Tokyo Midtown? TMT as the cool people call it? Afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton!



What...



the...



fuckity fuck?

I have a friend who organizes tea events in Tokyo. To sum it up, drinking tea and eating cake. This is how the other half live, folks.



What is the panacea for ultra high blood sugar levels? Reduce that shit!



I was excited. June 14th was worldwide blood donation day. It has been about 5 years since I gave blood. Why?



またはいれずみ.... gotta wait for at least a year after getting tattoos.



Hello Kitty wants your blood!



The Shinjuku blood donation center has special events. You can get palm reading, 10 minute massages, and hair and nail treatments on certain days.

So after negotiating the standard questions (do you sleep with dudes, stick needles full of drugs into your veins, travel to Africa frequently...) I was ready to go. Then...then...then...

They god damn rejected me.

Cause I'm not fluent in Japanese.

Even though I had a friend with me who could translate.

They gave me some free rice crackers as a parting gift for coming in though.

~The End~

1 comment:

thegypsie said...

Is this still an issue now? I don't understand why they wouldn't let you donate blood if you were not fluent in Japanese? Does that carry through your blood and therefore make the transfusion receiver less fluent in Japanese? Or was it something simple like they wanted to make sure you knew how to answer the questions asked correctly as a safe guard to ensure they get good blood?