The somewhat mundane adventures of a guy who keeps ending up in Asia... and his random musings.

Okay, so I'm here and all moved in. Classes start today (April 7th here) and I've had a bit of time to wander around the busier parts of Tokyo. Honestly, it's not that much different from any other big city I've been in before. Everything is a bit more squeezed together, but that's the only major difference. It's in the less busy districts that I've noticed the differences in more detail.

 

For some reason, the whole "driving on the left" thing only affects me when I'm in a tiny alleyway near my dorm. It could be because cars that just barely fit in the lane come screaming down these sidewalkless areas, or it could be because I'm so used to walking on the right side... either way I notice it more than on major streets.

 

In my little town, still in Tokyo but far less busy, there is a High school, a Jr. High school and a kindergarten so there are kids everywhere. Also, near the train station (JR rail kokubunji stop, see if you can find it on Google earth!) there are generally a lot of people but as you walk away from it becomes like a ghost town. It's just a tad freaky.

 

 

Now would probably be a good time to mention that I have Diabetes type 1. I mention this because I have to be very careful about my carbohydrate (tansuikabutsu in the native tongue 炭水化物） intake and usually drink diet colas and sodas because they have no sugar. Well, they have diet in Japan, albeit in fewer numbers than in the USA, but what I would like to talk about for a moment is Pepsi Nex. No, not "next", "Nex".

 

Pepsi Nex is a diet, zero calories, 1 carbohydrate cola that just came out in Japan. It's everywhere. I mean, seriously. They were selling this stuff at the Gap in Shinjuku. It tastes like a combination of overly sweet diet Pepsi and lime. Or maybe lemon.... I still haven't figured it out. But as it is the easiest to find diet cola I have bought a fair amount of it so far.

My review:

Taste: 4

Consistency: 7

Texture?: liquid

Bottle design: pretty cool actually

Mascot: The whole reason to buy it.

 

Okay, that's all I go for now. I'll edit this entry with pictures later today and erase this line.

See ja!

 

-Maru!