en-us http://www.keithwatanabe.net/index.php Keith Watanabe's Website http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/11/d71b4cd8aadb66bfd36aa40d992bcefe.html Wed, 11 Feb 2004 18:49:28 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/11/d71b4cd8aadb66bfd36aa40d992bcefe.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/13/3e97e598666f7119430811dc499dcd59.html Fri, 13 Feb 2004 21:18:41 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/13/3e97e598666f7119430811dc499dcd59.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/14/b30367154bdc85b4d3f86d787f2ae121.html Sat, 14 Feb 2004 11:39:13 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/14/b30367154bdc85b4d3f86d787f2ae121.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/29/6ca16548e2f3203a355c99c0df30c6a5.html Sun, 29 Feb 2004 02:00:48 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/29/6ca16548e2f3203a355c99c0df30c6a5.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/3/1/f267a059b2d4aa2b25e490a45e817b7e.html Mon, 01 Mar 2004 13:01:04 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/3/1/f267a059b2d4aa2b25e490a45e817b7e.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/3/9/c3996ec82508b31867d4ca0288b20196.html Tue, 09 Mar 2004 00:45:01 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/3/9/c3996ec82508b31867d4ca0288b20196.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/3/13/83e94386a7a00f84f386ca4d2fad6f89.html one who thought of this but Disney Sea absolutely stinks. So my girlfriend had her birthday on Wednesday and said she had two choices: Kamakura or Disneyland. Well, I hadn't been to Disneyland (nor Disney Sea) so I decided the later. Then she mentions that Disney Sea is also there so I figure, hey I've never been to a Disney Sea before, so let's try it! Let me tell you: what a mistake! Okay, I'm no fan of Disney (check out my rant about Eisner), but I gotta make my girl happy. So sucking it in like a Real Manly Man, I took the hit in the pocket and off we went. The benefit for me was that it was a Wednesday so the worst crowds were gone. Plus, it's three years after the park opened so things should be a lot better. The gate wasn't crowded at all which to me is a great sign. However, the price sucked! 11000-en for two tickets! Later I checked the website for my company and found that we could get discount tickets/membership through my company. Duh! So that was really fucked. We go inside and it's pretty freakin' cold. First, we're near the oceanside (it's Chiba) so the wind is blowing at a pretty high speed that day. At least it was clear! And there wasn't anyone inside. It's already 2 pm so I'm antsy (I have no patience). Inside, there's really not many people wondering around. Looks good too. Then we just arrive when the parade hits and I decide to take a quick peak at the merchandise section. Wow, what a disappointment! Everything has been completely localized for the Japanese (except for a few typical items like stuffed animals, shirts, etc.) The candy just was Japanese style. Senbei and small "biscuits." No wonderful fudge shop or the home cooked scent of yummies. So I eschewed this while a group of people started dancing in clothes that would make Rainbow Brite go blind. Secretly, I'm wondering how much these guys get paid for doing this? Anyway, even my girlfriend gets bored of these antics and off we go! First thing we try to hit is this log ride thing (something about the center of the earth). Goes nowhere fast as the wait is at least 2 hours and the next fastpass was much later in the day. So we try the next "main attraction" which is the Indiana Jones ride. This one was at 4:40 or so! It was already 2 something and I'm like, "I'm not waiting 1 1/2 hours!" But there wasn't anyone around! What the hell? Deciding that there's better things to do in life than standing around all day, we try to hit some smaller rides. We get on this boat which wasn't so crowded ("only" 10 minute wait on a fucking Wednesday!!!) and this thing goes like 30 seconds to the next "port." What? That's it????? Well, at least it's better than waiting around for 1 1/2 hours. So we start walking around again. End up going towards that Little Mermaid setting place. There's this crappy ride that my girlfriend suddenly wants to go on that basically goes up and down, like masturbation (which is probably what the engineer was doing when he engendered this "stroke of genius.") Anyway as I'm observing this thing, I notice that it's only 15 seconds. No kidding! A fucking 10 minute wait for 15 seconds of masturbation! Who thought of this thing? After that we hit this "rollercoaster" that was part of the Little Mermaid thing. I'm watching this tiny piece of Japanese architecture and realize that it last like 15 seconds. Is there a pattern going on here? I mean, these rides absolutely blow! We check out a few more of these "attractions" (including the Aladain magic show, the Little Mermaid puppet show) and get to the Indiana Jones ride. Okay this better be something....maybe more than a minute. I think I remember going on something like this in Disneyland in LA.....and it was MUCH longer. Or maybe I have alzheimers. But at least I didn't have to wait too long WITHOUT fastpass. And these "shows." What were they? They sucked! You had these goofs dressed up in pathetic costumes piloting these puppets and probably hoping that the audience were stupid enough not to notice them (considering the majority were Japanese females waving at them, they at least succeeded in some of their assumptions). But this thing was just cheesy beyond belief! Maybe I'm spoiled or something but something just wasn't clicking for me here. And the food....we ate at the Mexican place. Just god awful! My Chichunga was sweet! at least if you import, import the way it should be. About the only thing i liked up to this point was this hot dog roll and my strawberry popcorn. the rest of the place was just ridiculously and obviously mismanaged. someone in that place (besides Eisner) was making a shitload of money for idiots thinking that this place was cool. Coming back we hit the obligatory gift shop. I felt really bad for my girlfriend in some ways at this point. She's just a normal person who's been brainwashed by her culture and the evil media exported exploitation of the West to come to believe in these characatures. So I bought her a small pooh doll, which I thought wasn't enough considering it was her birthday. But she asked for not more. And here in this shop people including yours truly was helping to feed capitalistic imperialism. I made some horrible comments about some not-so-good looking girls being "cho-inaka" (meaning really fucking country and inept). but basically they were buying in huge bundles because this to them was such a big thing. And the other day Eisner was kicked off the board and probably most of the people there didn't know or really realize the impact of that vote. It really tells you something about how this country operates. In many ways, I feel bad about the people's perspective being dronelike. On some levels they can be really analytic. Then you give them something like Disney and they lose all common sense of decency and revert to commercialism. The other thing this place told me was just how cheap Japan can be. There's some kind of characteristic in Disney Sea that really struck me as what Japan can represent: spending a lot and getting very little back. Japan is a wonderful place, believe me, but being an outsider from a place that has much resources has taught me just how badly I've taken things for granted. if i had the opportunity i'd love to bring many of my friends back to the states with me to show them the full garden that americans enjoy.]]> Sat, 13 Mar 2004 02:15:45 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/3/13/83e94386a7a00f84f386ca4d2fad6f89.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/4/14/9af69e4ba267f3f526b43c1753ba0bdd.html Wed, 14 Apr 2004 03:14:24 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/4/14/9af69e4ba267f3f526b43c1753ba0bdd.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/4/29/ddc8a44be2b64fe0d48445c4898809a0.html Thu, 29 Apr 2004 11:20:35 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/4/29/ddc8a44be2b64fe0d48445c4898809a0.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/5/5/c3f6a0f29170109aa7bfcb66d2518fea.html Wed, 05 May 2004 12:11:31 -0600 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