#66 Finally trying Japanese conbini fried chicken

Transcript

They're very nice. We can start off with a drink I've never seen before, almond breeze, blue diamond almonds, almond breeze. And I was like, hey, I guess if that's just a almond, something, almond drink of whatever kind, I'll still try it because I've never had it. But I pulled out those little Google Translate, you know, and it's like pointing it through the window of a vending machine at writing on a can, you know, graphic design. It's like, is this going to work? But it definitely said something about coffee taste. So I'm like good enough. That's what I was hoping. Almonds, that's all well and good, but I do hope there's a coffee component.

A hundred, a hundred and twenty yen in a weekend, hot style. It's still pretty warm out, very beautiful, clear day. Definitely above 10 degrees.

Don't necessarily need a hot drink, but I don't not need one either. This has actually been pretty nice because this winter has been insanely beautiful. But it's still kind of at that point where, you know, the hot drinks from the machine, it's still just a pleasant thing. It's not like you're freezing to death and you got to buy drinks just so your hands don't turn to ice cubes. In fact, it's not at all like that. Now that I'm walking around, it's like kind of be closer to like, I don't know. I guess I'm not the greatest with temperature, but it's really nice. It's not even a little cold. But still having this nice little warm can in the hand, ain't bad. Sometimes though, stuff does come out of these machines that you can barely hold. It's like, what the fuck? I wonder if that could be with the soups and things. Like, maybe it's more important that they stay really hot. But anyway, let's try this bad boy.

Hmm, it smells almondy. How have I never seen this before? This seems delightful.

Hmm, and it tastes delightful. Sweet, but not crazy sweet. And yeah, just the almond this just gives it this slightly different taste. Hmm, that is very nice.

So I think my plan today is just to stay in my basic neighborhood.

After all, the insane wild travel I did yesterday out of nowhere for no reason. But I noticed in the continuing adventures of who's sharing the bunks in my little Airbnb room with the four bunks in it. So it was Australians, eh? That's seven-courtney hours difference. It was two Australians and a British guy. I think British, I don't know. It doesn't matter, because they're all gone. One day, today it was all Germans, the telltale sound of German. I don't know very much German. Mostly just KMFD M lyrics, but you can tell. You can tell German from a mile away. Still no more snores. All good. Man, I'm just thinking if those first people had stayed this whole time, what a nightmare disaster. Instead, it's all been like not bad, you know? It is a little weird being packed in with people. I am starting to realize maybe this just really doesn't suit me. I really can't sort of get comfortable. But the place itself is kind of cool. I really don't mind it. The locations cool. The people are just kind of coming and going and they're not snoring. So I can't really complain. But I thought that was interesting just that those those folks were only there for the one day. And clearly they just got in because, you know, they were still talking about the time zone differences and how much it whacked them out, how jet-like they were. So I got to assume those folks yesterday they were probably doing a similar thing to what I did in Senk and Jaya, where I just booked a place that I knew I could get to fairly easily from the airport. And then I only stayed for five days, which was also quite a short amount of time for me. So they must have been doing any similar thing because this is a very easy place to get to. Not hard to get here from the airport. Which I guess come to think of it, I also came here from the airport. I was less concerned this time because it wasn't like first arriving in Japan. This was just coming in from Fukuoka. I knew I'd be in the swing of things by now, so it wouldn't be that tough to get to wherever. But it did help a little bit. It's like, hey, it's right by the sky tree. I can do that. That's no problem. So they must have done that for one day and then headed on. Which is definitely different from how I do stuff. I definitely do stay at places longer periods of time whenever I can. And like I just said recently, also it occurred to me that with these Airbnb fees, it's like, oh yeah, there's actually also quite a benefit to not moving constantly. There's a lot of extra fees that add up if you only stay briefly. But if they were 5:00 only staying here for one day, my guess is having never spoken to these people and only overheard them talking as I was drifting off to sleep for one night. But it must be that they're not staying in Tokyo. Otherwise, I don't know why you would just get a place for one night necessarily. But if you're just going on to Kyoto or Sakai or something, that makes a lot of sense. Who can know though? I never had a chance to find out. And I was considering going to a Tully's, there's a little Tully's near me that I didn't know about. Marked it on my map just in case because it's not super duper close. But it's so nice out and as I walk around I haven't even put on my little stretchy gloves. I mean, it's probably right on the border. I could put them on. But I have not, so if I'm just going to go sit down somewhere with a laptop while it's still pretty outside and nice and clear sky beautiful, I'll just head over to the river, I guess, because I was also like, what am I going to, I guess now that the beautiful dream of the soy ginger mackerel is over. I guess it's just back to my old friend, Daily Yamazaki, the one near me that has a bakery right in it.

I guess that's the winner. So yeah, fuck it. Let's go over that way. Swing by there. Go to the Samita. And I can just sit around outside. I don't need to sit in a Tully's. This is not inclement weather.

Man's one thing, so a van just went by spewing out the sound of a pre-recorded message. I noticed there's two guys in the car. It wasn't even a lady doing a live spouting of stuff. And I don't know what that was or what that one was about. It's definitely a rare occurrence. But I remember when I very first got to Japan in 2019, when I was staying at Naka Itabashi, by Ikabukuro, and there was a bunch of that going on. It was right before golden week, or maybe it was during golden week. And I think maybe I heard it's like, maybe it's like a government stuff, like promoting a candidate or something, but just coincidentally, the first couple of days I was in Japan, that was happening a lot. And I was like, dude, what is going on here? Is there going to be this all the time? Is there going to constantly be these nice quiet neighborhoods? I was in a really quiet area at that point. Is it just going to be ruined by the fucking people spewing stuff out of loudspeakers? What the hell is this? But then it did not stay. It just stopped after that. And that was it. And I haven't really experienced it much at all this time. In this fall, late October, November, December time, maybe a little here and there, but not enough that I even really noticed. But yeah, that was just very weird timing that I just had this really weird first impression of like, oh geez, how come I haven't heard of that? Surely someone would have mentioned if there's constant loudspeaker trucks driving around all the time, but then yeah, they just just disappeared all of a sudden after a couple of days. But yeah, speaking of this idea of staying at places for just one day or how I tend to stay at places for much longer, man, yesterday was such a weird day. See previous episode for details, but I woke up at 530 in the morning and I was like, ah, fuck it, let's go have an adventure. And by a little after six, I was heading to the train and then I rode the train all the way to Ome station way in West Tokyo. I didn't get there till about nine o'clock. Then I hiked over a mountain and I got done with that by about one o'clock or so and then I walked to a train station on the other side of the mountain and I came back and the whole thing was so weird feeling. It was great. It was really cool. I'm glad I did that weird little adventure, but I definitely don't think that's going to be much of a repeat performance or a repeat way of approaching Japan because even though it was really cool, I guess the way like before I got to come back to Japan, how when I just came here at the one time in 2019 and then after COVID, I couldn't come back. So Japan took on this like dreamy quality. The like four years I was stuck at home in lockdown where it started to feel like did that really happen? Was all that stuff real? It was just such an unusual country and I had such a good time there and everything is just so memorable. I mean so much so that I still can't believe I'm doing a podcast every day that I've been here. I just assumed I would run out at some point and I might still, I guess, but that I just feel like there's always something to say, something to notice. That's why I decided to do this podcast is because it was like that the first time and I wished I had captured it a little better because it was so hard to remember. I was only there for three months the same as this time 10:00 but so much stuff happened that it was like hard to contain it in my brain and it's like man was that real? Was all that real? What the fuck? So yesterday also because I was so tired too because I really didn't sleep much before I went on that ridiculous adventure. That just happened yesterday and it already has that sense of it feeling like a dream. Like did I really do that? What the heck? Even as I was on the train leaving Akiruno and I went by the old Airbnb and I'm like there it is, there's this neighborhood, there's all the mountains and stuff and I barely have time to notice. I'm on my way out and it just feels weird because it's such a complete change of venue. I mean tying it back into your name because I went to your name steps the other day and I rewatched your name. It really does feel like that like the way the guy lives in Tokyo and the girl lives in the countryside it's two different worlds like the two types of Japan in that sense rural and city. They're so different they're like completely different places and that you can just go do that on the normal subway. I mean it took a while. The trip back was pretty fast. I got like an express on that one. Is two or three hours really that long to suddenly be hiking over a mountain? You know? And that still on the edges of the mountain, on the edges of just the pure outdoorsness is still convenient stores and drink machines. You know you still are clinging on to that side of Japan right till the last moment when you let go when you're in the woods and then you're not in the woods that long and you're back into that side of Japan. But even that has got that countryside vibe. It's still got all this stuff you know it's got the things that you recognize from the city but in much smaller supply and just mixed in with nature and it's just so fucking good. Whereas even here in the city I mean I'm coming up to a park right now the city's no slouch either. They're just different as all I'm trying to say. I don't know why I'm having such hard time explaining this. And traditionally what I always do is just go to an area and just settle for a bit, explore it, get to know it. You know while I'm here I'm settled here I'm learning this area. Then when I head back out west I'll be there for I should check how long I don't know longer the better but I'm not sure how long I'm out there. Then I'll move on to Yokohama, then I'll move on to South Korea apparently because I got nowhere else to go because Japan's going to kick me out. But it's always like building on yesterday's knowledge okay I went this way and this happened and now tomorrow I can go this way and see what happens and I can see how this connects to that and you know build out the puzzle put the pieces together and the Ohme trip just felt so weird because I was just there complete change of venue, complete change of lifestyle, complete change of the type of day whereas literally climbing up the Ridge of the mountain and following survey markers and like like oh geez I hope this works and now I'm just back in the city it's just like what the heck what the heck like it feels so weird where what logically should happen is I should go back to Ohme and I should go on one of those trails and I should go a different way now that I got the basics down now that a more or less know how it works I should be building out that puzzle I should be adding to that experience and you know maybe not like the very next day maybe take a day off in between Ohme trips maybe go somewhere else go to Okutama go to wherever but just add to the area that's definitely what feels more natural to me that's definitely what I like to do much better because this feels so weird it's just like whiplash it's like man I was just hiking on a mountain yesterday the great big crazy wood rendering plant and the two whole people that I met when he was up there and now I'm in the city and I'm just walking through a park and there's people all over and traffic and whatever city stuff It's like, dude, I want to go back to Ome, but I can't go back to Ome. It's too far away. It costs $11 and it takes two or three hours. Which really, yeah, more like it costs $20 and it takes four or five hours or whatever for the full experience. See, I don't know. I don't have any particular point. I definitely don't regret it. It was a fun, weird thing to do and it's just cool, I guess, as an experiment, as an example. If you do want to go clear to the other end of Tokyo, as far as the train can reasonably take you, you can. It's not that hard, it's not that big a deal. Well, what the heck is this? It was just that, as I walked through this park, this is just a little south of where I usually go with the museum and stuff. And I was like, I definitely don't recognize this park. I don't know what this is. And now speaking of south, maybe, has this turned into an adventure?

There's a huge bridge, Kiba Park. Oh, okay. Yeah, literally, I'm just a little south. The museum I was using as a landmark is part of this park. It's just like half a block north of me. So I didn't realize there was this big park under here, barbeque spaces and all this, such and such. All right, well, fuck it then. Let's go, let's go to Daily Amazon. Lucky. Let's grab some curry bread and whatnot. Let's come back to this park. I think there's not a ton more to it, according to the map, but whatever. Good excuse to go explore the hood a little more. Yeah, that's a good example. This is what I mean. I know about this location and that location. And then, oh, wait, there's an extra little thing, like literally right behind that I didn't even know. There's so many little details you can miss and so much little stuff.

And those oh may pass, like there were so many different paths. And they all seemed very inviting because even though I had a really hard time getting started, the mountain itself is really very small. It's a lot smaller than all the ones I was on in Fukuoka. Maybe about the same as the one in Desaifu. But yeah, and just city stuff on whatever side and little landmarks and things. I mean, I did have to walk through kind of nowhere's bill for like 45 minutes or an hour to get to the train. There's not much going on outside the mountain, but there's basic civilization. It doesn't seem like the kind of place where there's a lot of worry that you're going to get lost or anything. It's no biggie. And there's just all kinds of mountain trails and stuff. And it's like, shit, dude. Hey, whatever though. Really, I mean, this is just a prelude to when I head back out west from my next Airbnb. Obviously, I know what I'm doing now. Obviously, I know what my mission is. But it's just such a strange feeling to have the mission, to do the mission for one day, and then be yanked out of the mission. We're pulling out. We're pulling out of the mission. Oh, my mission. You get back to it next week.

Definitely going to places low and steady wise is what I prefer for sure. Because yeah, I wonder like the whirlwind super trip, like Anna and her brother are my favorite examples because they shared their Google doc. I tend to rory with me. So it's still on my phone if I want to look at it. They're like 50 places that they went all across Japan. It's like, holy shit. I must be what their whole trip felt like. Oh, we're here. Now we're here. Now we're here. Wow. Wow. That is kind of cool too, but that's certainly not my vibe. Slow and steady. That's my vibe. Oh, man, there's a washroom in this park right here. Why that's relevant is that there's another washroom, sort of on the way to the daily Yamazaki that is one of the worst smelling, most pee-smelling washrooms. I mean, nothing compared to that one on that mountain in Fukuoka. That one was insane. This one is just, you know, they're just, it's not quite cleaned quite often enough. I kind of got to hold my nose just because it's a little too pee smelly.

But little did I realize right here in the shadow of the museum is a bigger washroom in a nicer park that I predict is not going to smell like pee. However, I will not take the recorder in and record myself being. I will turn it off.

Holy Lord, it got cold so fast. So this park that is just to the south of the big museum. Pretty freaking nice. I guess I did skirt along the edge of this the day that I tried to walk to Tokyo Bay. But yeah, if you do the proper bit, it's got this big, cool bridge in the middle that goes across the street that cuts through the middle of the park. Besides that, it's just a nice big park. It's actually got garbage cans. That's pretty rare, you know. That's why I'm here right now actually instead of standing outside of a convenience store like I normally do. Just watching the world go by, which yeah, like again, with the temperature. That's what I did just earlier at Daily Yamazaki. Just stood outside about a whole bunch of crap. And Boss Coffee had a strawberry latte that back in 2019, one of my favorite things was the UCC brand strawberry latte. But it was a temporary item. And then I saw a banana one on this journey, but no strawberry. So I was like, let me try Boss Strawberry. Not as good. Something is just a little weird about Boss Coffee. Something that's a little off about it, but it was still okay actually. It wasn't bad. I wish I could have got it warm. 20:00 But I didn't need it at that point because it was hot. I was standing outside. I was like, James Island Bob, just standing outside the front of that fucking store, eating all my stuff. I'm, yeah, I'm just watching the neighborhood go by and it was like hot. It was like holy shit, the sun is burning, burning down on me. So then I came to this park. And yet not only is it just a nice park in this big cool bridge in the middle, I realized as I crossed, if you go the other way, if you start from the bottom part where I am now and you move to the north, you get a beautiful view of the sky tree. It's like framed by the big archway of this bridge. It's like fucking cool. But it's so nice and so warm that I just sat in this park and I just did a bunch of editing. And that's what I did till the sun fucking was going down. And then yeah, the cold dude, it's starting to pick up a little now though that the sun is just about fully down. It is like that transition period. It's death like my hands were so cold and I was thinking like, yeah, the whole thing was cold as you just got to be prepped. And I think I am prepped except for maybe my hands. My little stretchy gloves are just not enough. My hands were kind of hurting. It's really cold. I was thinking like, is it going to snow for Christmas? Could it actually happen? You never know. But yeah, it's like maybe I need to buy bigger myths at some point. I might if this keeps up, but it's just weird as hell because it was so warm earlier today. Just another thing that a weather pattern that doesn't exist in Canada. You can't be. It's warmer in the day, but it's not warm. I could add a friggin t-shirt on earlier today and then all of a sudden it's like, Jesus, I'm going to die. So as the sun was going down, it's like, Jesus, I got to, like I was really thinking too of like, Jesus, if I have to use the washroom later. Man, I hope I can find a washroom. Like, suddenly I'm going from like, ah, squat toilet to whatever. It's all good. To now I'm like, man, I wish I could get to like the the amazing bathroom like by OG station that's super duper fancy pants and all enclosed and has heated toilet seats. I'm like, I could go for that. If I had to sit on a cold toilet seat right now, Jesus. Let's see my fucking life flash before my eyes. So with that chill in my bones, I was like, maybe I can find a convenience store with seats where I can just get like some, I haven't had ramen in ages. I haven't had any since I left Fukuoka because I was just making it at home in my, in my Airbnb. Now that I'm communal, I haven't had any. So if I could find a place with seating, I could make, you know, get a ramen, get a fucking boiled egg, get a chicken breast, do the whole thing up, super fancy pants. But I was like, whatever, I'm just going to the first one I see because it's freaking cold. And I saw a Lawson's across the streets. I hopped over and now because it's cold, they've really rolled out the chicken, the fried chicken on force. So this is one of those things I've never tried and probably for the best because surely it's more healthy to just eat rice dishes and stuff. I know Chris Broad of Abroad in Japan is always talking about how much he loves family-mart chicken, the family chickie, but Dogen of Beppu. He's the guy who did a video about how Japanese, the health laws for making shit like this are different in Japan and that there's like trans fats and stuff that we've long let go of in North America that are in this Japanese foods. He said it's really not good for you. You shouldn't eat a lot of this convenience store shit. So I kind of thought it was better that I just don't have it. But it's right there today. It's all heated up and ready to go. It's like, fuck it dude. It's chicken time today. And yeah, for whatever mysterious reason now is it's getting really dark. It's not as cold. I don't have gloves on right now and I'm not dying. That transition period. Man, that was cold. And then I also got winter limited, some kind of lemon tea. I don't know. But let's start with that actually. Let's try this. It is a Kirin brand and it's got nice lemon taste. And yeah, I figure anything that says winter limited, if I can only get it now, let's do it, dude.

Yeah, I mean, I believe it's a tea. But it really just kind of tastes like lemon or honey, lemony honey water kind of.

Not bad though.

But yeah, let's cram this fucking chicken in my throat because yeah, I don't intend to make a habit of this. I mean, it's just going to be fried chicken at the end of the day though. I'm sure in that way it's going to be very delicious. 25:00 You know, one that's like in a little, a little carton of like little chicken nuggets that come with a toothpick so you can stab them. Oh yeah, and I got a little thing of mayo of Japanese cupe mayo. Just squeeze on them. Why not? Let's get real gross. Yeah, I love this Japanese mayo. I managed to find a place in my hometown that actually had it. And it's a little more expensive than normal mayo, but not that much more. And it's worth it. It's a distinct taste to Japanese cupe mayo. If you've never tried it, I recommend it. You can put it on fucking anything. It's just really good. So these are the spicy nuggets and then I got one that's just kind of a chicken breast.

And I mean, I don't know. I guess if this does become a big habit, certainly it's not going to be healthy, but I'm only in Japan for another month. So if that does happen, so be it. But this might be the only time. So we'll see. The mayo is certainly excessive, but fuck it. It was right there. I'm doing it. And just goop a bunch of mayo on these nuggets. Alright, hook me up. Lawsons. Feed me my death.

Alright, well, good news for my health. I love the mayo. God, Japanese mayo is so fucking good. But the chicken nuggets aren't that special. I mean, granted these aren't the famous family mart ones, but I'm sure it's all the same. It's fine, but it's just fried chicken. Yeah, it's definitely not like amazing.

It hits the spot today. That's for sure, but I don't think this is going to be like a big craving I'm going to have. We'll see though, but that's my initial impression. Good, but not remarkable. A little bit expensive, too, getting these nuggets and the breaded chicken breast. I mean, each one is only 250 or three bucks or something, but then a drink and grab the bag of chips, too.

Having had chips in a while. Go fully unhealthy today, sodium myself up.

But the whole batch came to like $11, and I didn't even get a dessert thing where, you know, if I get just like own a giri type rice stuff, like meats just not a good deal. Meat's very expensive, where when you get something that is over half rice, probably way more than half in the case of a known a giri, 80% rice, but that's fine with me. It's delicious. And you can just buy a big whack of stuff in your bill. It's rare for my bill at a convenience store to break $10. That's unusual. Or like the other day when I bought all the stuff I could hold from Daily Yamazaki, and it was like under $8. So yeah, the fried chicken thing, it's like a premium. It's kind of, you definitely end up spending more, and yeah, it's fine. It's okay, but yeah, it's not blowing me away. It's not that great. And if these are spicy, I'll be a monkey's uncle.

You know, man, and yeah, I'm just breaking open the chicken breast now. It's a little weird that it's not in a sandwich, or it's not on a better rice or anything. It's just the breaded deep fried chicken breast, but man, they fucking grease. Holy shit. Grease time. Man, though, the mayo is so good. The mayo is 10 out of 10. I looked it up one time, and I don't remember the details, but there is something different about the Japanese cupimeo from normal mayonnaise, because I wouldn't say I'm like a huge mayo guy even. But when I found the place with the cupimeo in my hometown, it was like, oh, fuck, that's good.

And it's just that little bit, too, just that if you make onigiri at home and stuff, you know, it's never quite right. I never got too great at making the sticky rice actually stick or whatnot. But every little piece of the puzzle helps, and the mayo is definitely part of it.

Well, the breast was probably better. And the first bite. I was like, oh yeah, that's pretty tasty, but by the end of it, it's quite a large thing. And yeah, it just makes me feel like a grease boy. I'm just like getting this thing down. I had to like guzzle half of my fucking tea instead of sipping the nice winter tea as I stroll around on this nice frigid December evening in beautiful Tokyo. I had to like guzzle half of it to just like, oh, wash this down. Wash down this evil. Get this evil in my belly because it's like, just I'm just chewing it. And it's just like rivers of grease flowing through my teeth and in my mouth. I'm just like, blah. Yeah, no, I think it's safe to say that's not for me. That's not my thing. I was thinking like, you know, this chicken breast is better. It's kind of good, but I'm still thinking like, do they have just like a bed of rice in there? Could I just buy some rice and put this on top of it? Maybe that would be okay. 30:00 But then if I'm going to do that, just get one of the already made rice things that has fish, just eat the fish. And yeah, whatever these unhealthy cooking methods used in Japan, I don't know, I was thinking maybe to be one of those things like how people miss the old McDonald's recipes, like the way McDonald's fries used to be or the way that they used to make their pies or even outside of McDonald's, like even like falafel. It hit a point where it was a little tough to find deep fried falafel balls. They were just like baked because it's healthier. And you're like, yeah, you know, sure, it's healthier, but I kind of miss the old way. So I thought maybe I'd get a bit of that vibe. One of the throwback things since there's so much throwback stuff in Japan, maybe it'll be some throwback memory to how fast food tasted in the 80s or something. But no, it just tastes like grease to me. It's like that Futurama joke, the Colonel's Secret recipe, chicken grease salt. That's all it is. Even the deep friedness, I don't know, I might prefer like just a chicken breast or something. Oh, well, it's worth a try. It was a new thing. What in God's name possessed me to buy pizza potato chips to go along with this? I don't know. I might tuck those away. They'll be just fine until tomorrow. I don't think after all that, I don't think I can also eat a bag of chips. I do kind of buy, now I kind of just want to get like a normal dessert to wash that down. Something, I do think like the frozen dessert part is the best part in all those convenience stores. It's so good. Just weird little cakes and custards and creams and puddings and weird different shit. So again, my plan is to just go have a nice nighttime stroll. I'm gonna go stroll over to the Samita now that it's officially dark. That's how it takes. It just takes the time for me to eat some chicken and suddenly it's nighttime. But yeah, it's definitely the chill, that horror chill past. Now it's just generally a bit chilly. I'm gonna go walk to the Samita, walk up the bank now that all the lights are on, soak in the beauty and at some point in that journey, I'm gonna also go to another convenience store and get something deserted to kind of fight back. I don't know. Actually, that's right. I also had you can get little tiny mouthwash bottles from those places and I was just keep on tucked away in here along with dental floss. That's another thing that I don't know. Just the last time I went to the dentist, I was like, Jesus, I'm not too bad with teeth maintenance, but I just hated so much. I just had little cavities like between my teeth in the back. So it's pretty tough to get to, a tough two area. And it took a long time to develop because the dentist was like, oh yeah, I hadn't been in in four years because of COVID. I tried to call the dentist and I couldn't even get through to them. I'm like, who cares? Whatever. So I took four years off of the dentist and they said like, oh yeah, when you were here four years ago, we did start to notice in your old X-rays, like a little shadow of these, uh, these cavities starting. And four years later, they're not much worse, but you know, we should take care of this now. So it's like, okay, I'm doing an okay job. If it took that long for my little cavities to develop, that's not so bad. But I'd rather just not have this happen fucking at all. So finally, in my forties, for the first time, I legitimately am flossing every day. Something just changed in me. I've been doing it for like a year now. Just snapped to like, fuck it. Floss time. Floss, floss, floss, floss, floss, floss, floss, floss. But along with that, little, uh, having a little bottle of mouthwash is also delightful and handy. But I just used it up this morning. I used up the last one I bought from a 7-Eleven. Man, I could use it now because my mouth is a cesspool of grease and chicken spices. It's not very, it's not entirely pleasant. So that's the plan. Gonna go to a convenience store, buy some mouthwash, buy something deserty. Usually once night hits, this is when I start dehydrating. So I don't have to wake up and go to the bathroom all the time. You know, I just don't want to bother the people at my Airbnb. But I guess it's like a combination of stuff of, uh, the last batch, the batch of, uh, Germans, they didn't show up until like midnight. So all evening, I wasn't bothering anybody. Nobody was there. So that's one thing is that it's, you never know what's gonna happen at a hostel anyway, at an Airbnb, whatever. And it's like Friday night. So probably, probably if it's still them or someone new, it's party time. They're gonna go do that type of, uh, visit, the type that I don't do. So it probably is not like I'm gonna be jostling people awake anyway. 35:00 And I've got to admit, I'm starting to, because I'm there for so long. I'm there for like two whole weeks. There's really no sense of, uh, I guess like I'm going, I'm going, uh, I'm going wild. I'm losing my civility in the sense of, I figure if you're living in super close quarters with people, you really gotta try to be mindful. So if I'm the guy who day after day is constantly climbing up and down the fucking stairs of my little, my little top bunk to go pee all the time and driving everyone nuts, that would be bad. But there's been no worry about developing a negative rapport with people or whatever, because no one stays there. Everyone's just there for like a couple days.

So whatever, who fucking cares? You know, it's safe to say I'm overthinking the whole situation. And yeah, just the fact that my sleep schedule has been so weird while I'm there where I just like, I don't know. It reminds me of a story I heard once, uh, the comedian Patrisso Neal. He had a friend who went to jail for, it was like the gray area thing. He kind of did something wrong, but he probably shouldn't have gone to full on jail for it. Anyway, he said, yeah, this guy, like jail just, because he was not a criminal type guy. Certainly should not really have been in jail. Surely they could have found another way to punish this guy for the dumb shit that he did. And he just like, jail like broke him, broke his brain, where he stopped taking showers because he was so uncomfortable being around the other inmates and the other inmates. When they smell blood in the water, they're just like, oh, this guy's having problems. This guy's a fucking weird little freak. Let's make it even worse for him. So they started like throwing piss on him and stuff and he just became the guy in the prison who was just disgusting and would never take showers unless he was forced and like, what a just bad situation. But that came back to mind because this being at this weird little Airbnb. And again, I kind of like the place, just the very notion of being trapped in with other people. So they're just like, you're just so close to everyone. It made me think of that if like this is like the one one thousand of that, you know, it's like nothing. I'm not freaked out because I'm afraid I'm going to get fucking beaten and assaulted in prison. I'm just uncomfortable because I'm trapped in with people. And I think how it's manifesting is just to stay awake. Don't go to sleep. Just stay awake. Stay aware of what's going on around you. And it's fucking my shit up. But anyway, all that just to say on my journey to the 7-Eleven, since I guzzled down this T so fast, there's almost none of it left. I'm going to get one more hot drink. Maybe I won't get a coffee though because coffee really does fuck up the bladder. Maybe I'll just get a nice hot chocolate. And then I'm going to go walk up the river. And it's going to be fucking beautiful. God damn Japan, you're the best. So fucking good. Even if you're fried chicken is fucking sort of sick. Other people love it. So there you go. Anyway, it's a bit of an uneventful episode kind of, but I mean, that's probably about as much as I do most days. I don't know. The only difference today is I didn't go very far away. I'm still very close. I'm still in my neighborhood. I just didn't go any place. But uh, but it's a fucking great day. What a nice little day. God damn what a nice day. Like what has my worst day been in Japan? Probably when I first arrived and just the first Airbnb, like that first day, getting in from the airport, getting to the Airbnb, realizing it was this tiny little fucking pillbox of death, and then realizing there were bedbugs the next morning. Holy crap. That was like a one-two punch of this sucks. But even by that afternoon, I mean, that was the episode my first day back in Japan, and it was a great day. Like immediately, everything turned around. And then since then, it's just been a delight of just wandering around this cool last country, doing nothing and fucking loving it. So that's my plan for today. Go to a convenience store, walk up the river, possibly consider buying another pair of gloves, because I think I actually might need them. Alright, thank you for listening once again. I will see you next time, Adios.