something i've learned in japan...

we foreigners reading tons of books / manga for free online is WAY WAY better than life here in japan even though you can't get as much of it. okay so, first of all, japan is super strict on stuff like pirating, if you torrent and get caught you actually go to jail (it's not just a fine) etc. various anime streaming sites are just plain blocked in japan and i don't know what happens if you go to one that isn't blocked and they find you. bookstores and gamestores often have a "rental" option, there's also a lot of online (ex. for smartphone) manga rental sites and apps.

when you go to the actual bookstore everything's wrapped in plastic so you can't browse through it and tell if you actually want to buy that book or not. unless you're at the used bookstore. in japanese books, the summary, original title (if it's a translated work) etc is normally on the INSIDE FLAP OF THE DUST JACKET or the last page of the book (=both are encased in that plastic), meaning if you want to buy a book you haven't heard about or not is a decision made pretty much entirely on the cover art and title alone. the thing is, on manga they do stuff like draw a character on the cover that doesn't even appear on that volume (happened to my wife), or they get another artist to draw the cover than what's actually inside the manga (happened to me as a kid)!!

i bought what i thought was clearly going to be BL (there was a crossdressing/transgender character on the cover) and what's inside? NO BL!!! it's a collection of oneshots that really are NOT meant to be oneshots (they all feel like prequel chapters to longer series) about two guys making friends with each other, that friendship would clearly lead to a gay relationship if we just had like 3 more chapters (ex. mom saying homophobic stuff and the kid's going like i don't care about that; student doing all this stuff to get his teacher's attention after a girl steals it away) but in all these it ends with the "oh and then they didn't hate each other anymore and they remembered each others' names" kind of relationship level. which is really annoying. i bought it for the crossdressing but even THAT was like, not even explained at all - the guy is crossdressing only for his job...? i guess...? maybe? or is it because he's actually trans?? and the other chapters don't have any crossdressing, etc.

anyway, both my wife and me were tricked. i really prefer to preview before i buy!! you get all this stuff that literally only started being sold TODAY so there's no one else who's read it and summarized it, and if you want to find and buy it later you'd sure better have some good luck...

yesterday we both got permission to work (since due to my special situation - being almost blind, i was led into a different line - we didn't get it at the airport), it took maybe half an hour from start to finish and the people working there were REALLY nice and could even speak english. some guys came to the school saying there's a job where they WANT foreigners to work, which is selling "international" food at the train station, i have to get the detailed info from my classmates so i can go apply!!