I’m killing time waiting for the subway to open, much like those passed out girls here in the Samurai Club. I’ve ambled over to the Family Mart to get my Coca-Cola Zero fix. There’s a drink card option in the capsule hotel but they only have fully leaded drinks:
I love my genetically modified, scientifically concocted and unnatural diet soda so no matter how good a deal the all-you-can-drink-whilst-staying-at-the-capsule-hotel might be, it’s not anything I want to drink. Supply and demand, my friends. Supply and demand.
As a result, I ambled out to the 24 hour Family Mart around the corner. There’s one closer to the hotel but it doesn’t have diet soft drinks (the Japanese are apparently not such huge consumers of the unnatural carbonated beverage). But like many chains the world over, walk past one convenience store and within half a block you’ll spy another… and THIS Family Mart is rich with Coca-Cola Zero.
There’s no Coke Light anywhere in this city that I’ve found. Coke Light (CL) is the usual equivalent of Diet Coke (DC), but honestly the Coke Zero mix outside of the US borders is closer to US DC and the CL is closer to Diet Pepsi. I’m a coke-oisseur. I drink Diet Coke and I know things.
Anyhoo, it’s a brisk, but very pleasant morning and since the capsule hotel we’re at is a little farther afield the streets are very empty. I always like early mornings wherever I am — to be honest, I should throw on my running gear and do a couple of miles but, shrug, I’ll do that tomorrow at the Kyoto Marathon. I will regret it I’m sure but in the meantime we’ll call this a “taper” week.
Having returned to the Samurai Lounge, I grabbed one of the tourist brochures that caught my eye. This advert for a Japanese Kanji name pendant caught my eye for a variety of reasons. Steve and Mom already conspired to get a giant “Run Kevin Run!” sign in Kanji so Steve’s already converted my name into the text of the realm. But this advert had Mom’s “Karen” conversion in the ad which was a nice bonus… and then I saw the ultimate endorsement. “Mr. Johnny Depp uses our goods habitually!” Everything about this ad hits me right in my UNC Communication Studies degree-d heart.
We all have habits, good and bad. In the game of marathons, you run or you die… and I’m not dead yet.