26.Nov.2009 Clueless in Tokyo by Betty Reynolds
Clueless in Tokyo: An Explorer’s Sketchbook of Weird and Wonderful Things in Japan is the second book in the series that I read after Squeamish about Sushi by the same author.
Once again, the illustration was always a joy to look at and the little things were fascinating to learn.
For example, the instruction on how to drink Japanese tea:
- admire bowl
- turn bowl clockwise 180 degree so the sacred spot faces away from you
- slurp your tea to show appreciation
- clean the rim with a cloth
- turn bowl back counterclockwise 180 deg
- admire bowl again
A few random facts that I took note of:
- Sumo grand champion’s ceremonial rope weighs 15 kilos
- You can rent a protest truck, get behind a microphone and blast your views around Tokyo
- Taxi’s doors open and close automatically
- Whole squads of gas station attendants hoot and hollar to welcome you like in restaurants
- When you order food for delivery, you leave the dirty dishes out of your front door after eating. It will be picked up by the restaurant in the morning.
And a few items of interest (or shock!) in Japan:
- Batteries vending machine
- Porn vending machine that’s hidden behind metallic curtain at daytime and exposed at night
- Condom vending machine that categorizes the condoms by blood type
- Schoolgirls’ used panties vending machine (eewww.. WHERE did they get those?!)
When I reviewed Squeamish About Sushi I didn’t get a chance to take pictures (or was just assuming that I could steal some pictures from the net, but apparently I couldn’t find any), but this time I did! So here I present you a few pages from the book: (taken in a train on the way to work with my iPhone, so pardon me for somewhat mediocre quality photos..)
The famous complicated Japanese toilet buttons
Japanese chick attire
Japanese masks
Are pictures really worth a thousand words?
1997, 48 pp
mee 
