*Burp* When will this end??

You know you'll never grow out of Japan when less than 24 hours after you get home from Tokyo, your mum cooks you dinner that includes a enormous hairy crab from Hokkaido that your dad brought back from his overseas trip a while back. As you can see from the pic, this thorny fella aka The Crabster, is almost as big as my kitchen wok. The sweet and juicy flesh from just one section of the legs is tantamount to the entire flesh from one of the chilli crabs from Long Beach Seafood. I'm still shaking my head in wonder at why those Japanese I know are so crazy over our chilli crabs when they have easy access to something as Gigan-tula as The Crabster. Imagine getting real crab meat stuck between your teeth, or getting crab breath, or burping crab... Life is so good.

Back to the main point of my unusual post on a Sunday, this recent trip has got to be one of my best trips to Tokyo in a long while. With travel companions who are easy and spontaneous, ie easy to manipulate, it makes my job as a guide just a little less stressful and a lot of more enjoyable. As I have said before, I'm a tourist too, not a fucking tour guide. I get a minor kick out of seeing the first timers to Japan spending all their money and enjoying themselves so much. I feel as if I have accomplished a personal mission of spreading my love for Japan. Last I heard (just this evening), my friends are saving up for their next trip. Hey, JTB should employ me for loving their job so much eh?

There are many personal firsts in this trip : 1st time travelling with J on the same flight and not puking, 1st time spending all the money I desire on myself and only minimally for others, 1st time spending entirely My Own Money and not from MOM, 1st time spending so much on food, 1st time trying out the UFO Catcher machine and actually catching something(s), 1st time on a roller coaster that goes 360, 1st time on one of the world's largest Ferris Wheel...

As you can see, I'm still too high to start work tomorrow.