Robots, Aliens, Pizza, and Turkey

"Just give it electricity, and a robot can work for long hours, even doing repetitive work, and you don't have to worry about labor laws," Sudo said (from here).

I just think it's pretty crazy that quote is not from the Tom Selleck/Gene Simmons hit movie Runaway or that lesser known movie about robots by that Fresh Prince guy. The future is now! Robots are among us (if you live in Japan). I haven't had any sightings yet (that I know of) but I'll be on the lookout.

"It Is The Future. He fought the horror of robots programmed to kill."

We headed up to Yokohama today to get a new stamp on my spouse visa. My previous one runs out in January. I've never been to New York but I've heard it's a melting pot. A true melting pot is the waiting room for immigration services. I saw Koreans, Africans, Fillipinos, Chinese... I even saw a fellow American but I don't know if they want to let him stay longer. He was wearing a ballcap, sweatshirt, shorty-shorts, running shoes, and black knee-high socks with pink neon stars all over them. The Africans and Koreans were really giving him the look-over.

You don't make appointments for these types of services in Japan. You just show up, take a number, and wait your turn. The ticket dispenser displays how many people are in front of you (33 today and we waited an hour) and a little digital sign above each window lets you know what number they're on. If you get there early enough, it's not that bad of a system.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we ate at a pizza buffet. I think it was pizza. There was salad pizza, which tasted like chewy toast with some lettuce and dressing on top. There was also corn pizza (corn OFF the cob). Speaking of corn off the cob- it's pretty popular as a topping for biscuits at bakeries.

There might be some debate as to what American pizza joints serve authentic pizza. There's brick oven, thin crust, thick crust, pizza bread, cheese crust... Most agree, that even bad pizza is good pizza. In Japan, most pizza is bad pizza. The cheese is flavorless and overall, it's just kind of bland. In all fairness, I haven't had anything from Pizza Hut or Pizza-La-La (I can't afford the $30 price for one) but I have had the occasional piece from the random bakery, the supermarket variety, and the place mentinoed above (Shakey's Pizza- We ordered "The Lunch Viking!"). I've heard rumors that the Navy Base sells American pizzas and I've even seen people carrying five or six home on the train.

Getting back to turkey, I've only seen once, since I've been in Japan. It's part of a petting zoo at a nearby nursing home. It's pretty sickly looking and I'm not sure it would make for much of a Thanksgiving dinner, much less a 12" roasted turkey breast sub with double cheese (from America) on a toasted wheat bun.

Happy Late Thanksgiving to all!