Where the flavor is

Ain't Marlboro country! It's the Asian market! I had a nice dose of culture at the Mitsuwa market the other day - hadn't been there in a while. I bought a bunch of bean-filled pastries and killed some time. I whiled around most of the grocery: the cooking utensils, the cooked-rice endcap, sushi and sashimi, poultry, beef, seafood, the refrigerated desserts section...also spent time in a long line in the bakery, walked around the food court and checked out the mag offerings in the bookstore. I can't wait to get my yakisuba and yakitori on. A magnificently-smelling dude walked by, rolling off a nice olfactory dose of cherry tobacco. There was also a dude at the little travel agency who nicely pulled off an argyle cardigan with a diagonal stripe tie, weird but cool...i think he was rockin a glen plaid sportjacket as well. Nicely done, travelguy-san. Here's a funny thing: in a far-off back corner there was some kind of doll-making-surgery-dressing center going on with a bunch of caucasian adolescents. I may have seen some scrapbooking happening - I can't be sure, because this crazy-mulleted kid was pretending a huge tripod was a machine gun and giving me the eye. All the Asians getting rice and octopus were pretty styling, like out of Tokion. Too bad the market's done at 8 pm everyday. I think I'm feeling the pull of the masago.