Angel, who was studying abroad in Nagoya, and Deron, who wasn't studying abroad in Nagoya, stopped by for a visit last week on their trip around Japan. Therefore the responsibility of entertaining them fell on me and Miki. We deftly executed said responsibility by making them wait around for us for a couple hours en total. The rest of the time we fed them ramen, looked at various music and clothing outlets, and karaoked.

At one clothing boutique for ravers, Angel found a kimono made out of wetsuit material. She also found this pink mantle thingie (think short sleeves and a collar, nothing else); probably about ¥35 worth of material priced at ¥3500. That's a 10000% mark up! I could buy a large Giga Meat pizza, a side of popcorn shrimp, and still get change back at that price! Needless to say, no one bought the mantle nor the Giga Meat.

Miki, Aaron, and I took a trip to the NHK studios. NHK is Japan's government sponsored television network. For only ¥200 per person, NHK offers a tour of their studios where you can watch them record their shows, act as a news broadcaster, wear the costumes from a samurai drama, be a voice actor in a japanese dub, and even watch any Doumo-kun commercial you choose at the touch of a button on a giant monitor.

In the dubbing booth, Aaron and I acted out a Japanese dub of Sesame Street. He was Big Bird. I was Telly. We were both awful.

NHK has also pioneered the first 3D movie screen that doesn't require 3D glasses. It's pretty cool once you figure out how to hold your head in the exact-position-and-do-not-move.