Japanese McDonalds is worth the 13 hour flight alone.
Riding the waves of jet lag like I rode the Bali waves on a surf lesson, unstable and unsteady. Like a newly born lamb that drank a bottle of whiskey in the womb and was born in the middle of a continent shattering earthquake.
Today was another culturally immersive experience, working from a coffee shop, a commute through an anime/electrical appliance district and a deep dive into some niche local cuisine.
The commute to work was on foot, although it’s snowed on the occasion and it’s fucking freezing for the most part, the sky is generally clear and the sun shines. The final leg of the walk to work took me through streets of electrical shops and anime shops, it seemed rather unusual but also very convenient to have shop after shop that sold plugs, headphones, drills, sound systems and anything else that plugged into a wall to fulfil its purpose. The anime combination again was very random but very convenient if you needed to pop out for a drill bit and a pornographic cartoon DVD (if you don’t know what anime is then Google it and try not to have a wank). This was yet again a cultural shift that was vastly different to back home, where a similar walking commute to work would have you pass betting shops, vape shops and the odd charity shop with a mouldy settee outside. Cartoon porn or lungs full of Chinese lab manufactured chemicals, take your pick.
Brooklyn Roasting Company was the final destination, a coffee shop that was the size of a large betting shop with ample tables that were equipped with plug sockets. A remote working paradise would be an accurate description, good coffee, good tunes and even better wifi. A woke generational dream some would say, but I say those people are just bitter they’ve got to commute to work on public transport that stinks of shit or sit in traffic jams every morning and night. If your commute to work is a traffic jam I guarantee you’d rather it was cartoon porn window shopping (I didn’t go inside, swear down).
Now I’ll get into the tasty details, after a hard days graft it was time to deep dive into some local cuisine. It’s very important when travelling the world to immerse yourself into local life, try food that you will get nowhere else and become enriched. Step forward Maccy Dee’s, you sexy sexy establishment. N.Y Juicy Chicken medium meal, melon fanta and a side of spicy chicken nuggets garlic pepper (that is what they were called as per the menu exactly). Just like 7/11 and FamilyMart over here, Japanese Maccies has a cultural following and reputation that Greggs has back home, multiplied by 100. The spicy nuggets were spicy from the pepper, crispy outer coating that cracked like a lightly frozen lake to uncover the softest, fluffiest chicken underneath. Delightfully exquisite. The chicken burger was of course chicken thigh, it seems only us uncultured British swines deem chicken breast to be the preferred body part of a chicken to eat. Thigh is fine, as long as you don’t mind peering into your burger and seeing a scene of purple and red meat that looks like it should still have a pulse. Nice burger overall, would give it a 9/10. To wash this nutritional banquet down I went for melon fanta, purely because I’d never seen it before in my life. It was so purple that it wouldn’t of looked out of place inside a nuclear reactor and it tasted like it could fuel a jet, nonetheless it went the journey and my urine will light the room up later but it’s all a part of this cultural journey of discovery.
Yesterday it was toilet seats, today it’s McDonalds; this is turning out to be a hub of cultural diversity you will get nowhere else. Just about to go and get my haircut, mid skinfade and finger length on the top mate, box the fringe to hide my high hairline. Thank fuck for Google translate.
Peace and love always, see you on the next one.