Sunday, January 28th, 2001
Today's annoucement from Echo is that she is going to Shinjuku. When I ask if she wants me to come along, she just points and half turns away, "Of course, why else do you think I said it?" So we go to Shinjuku with two goals in mind: a MD player cord from Yodobashi Kamera of Sakura Kamera, and a gift for her dad from Tokyu Hands. Sakura Kamera doesn't have the cord, and the next thing you know we are playing video games. This was the first of two missions we created for ourselves: to find a "geh-mu sentah" that has Lester's favorite Star Wars video game. No luck, but we had a lot of fun trying. We played a two-player drifting game, and Echo was tough to beat in her Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, but I just nipped her at the end of both mountain highway races in my hachiroku, a panda Corolla Trueno. Second, we go to a very nice watch store. It starts with pretend pen shopping, "Oooh...I think I would take that gold and black one there!" Then we started looking at some watches. I find one I like, and Echo starts making me try them on. I am beginning to get nervous around $300, but I tell myself to relax and have fun. Echo is really getting into the part, and we are enjoying the act. A few display cases further down, and we are back to window shopping...in the $1500 range. Upstairs I find a $12,000 watch! This store also has some very nice cameras, and some funny watch ads on the walls.

A little while later and on the other side of the train station, we go into a very Peak Sportsish outdoor store (scary, huh?) but it carries very few of the same brands. Most of the equipment and clothes seems to be Japanese market outdoor brands I don't recognize. I see both Eagle Creek and Specialized, and am surprised that things seem to be only ten or fifteen percent above Corvallis prices. Then, heaven forbid, I go into the Gap in Shinjuku; Echo makes me do it. I am instructed to wait in the men's department while she shops for herself on the kid's floor. I idly start thumbing through some $100 jeans that I (gulp!) like, hmmm....78cmx78cm...80x78...what size is this? 81x78, 81x82, no...WAIT! That's like 32"x32"...Hmmm...Any 81x91's? Oh well, probably not and I don't have the money anyway.

Echo and I split up for a while so she could shop for her family, and then we went to an izakaya for dinner. After dinner, we go back to Echo's and watch the movie "Rogue Trader." Echo is very excited about the movie because of all of the stuff about money and investing. Having lived here for a while in her house, I now know more about Echo. Apperently she studied economics in school in China, and now works for a financial consulting firm in Tokyo. They don't actually manage money; they just get paid to tell people how to manage money. She also studied both Japanese and English in school. Her father isn't a diplomat (or at least he isn't right now.) However, he is a fairly high-up general in the Red Army! Ahem! I think she must be even a little bit older than me, given all of the subjects she has studied. She has a younger sister who also lives in Japan, in Osaka, but she is only fluent in Chinese and Japanese!

Echo is very interesting to talk to about China...her attitudes about Japanese history and culture differ from mine, but that isn't too surprising. It is fun to blow her away with my (admitedly limited) knowledge of Chinese history, culture, and attitudes. She is practically kissing my feet by the time I am done venting my frustration about most Americans lack of understanding about the Chinese, and lack of a will to take some Chinese history and culture classes and try to learn. It is encouraging to talk to someone Chinese who appreciates America, and who (like me) hopes America and China can coexist peacefully, each continuing down their own path. He agree that there is no need for heroics, self-righteousness, or any attempts to change each other, and we chuckle about that for a while.

January 29th, 2001

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