Sunday May 20, 12:44 p.m.
It's my first Victoria Day weekend in 18 years. Couldn't ask for a better reunion: high of 28 C and absolutely gorgeous out there. So, why am I inside typing this? Well, I won't be here for that long. I will be heading out in a few hours to meet up with The Anime King and The Anime Jester for a quick dinner and then "The Avengers". Yup, I'm finally getting to see the "Ocean's Eleven"of superhero movies. And apparently this movie will make tons more than the entire George Clooney/Brad Pitt trilogy made. At the beginning of the year, folks were kinda looking at "The Avengers" with a bit of jaded cynicism with "The Dark Knight Rises"being considered the superhero movie of class. Now, the pressure is on Batman. Of course, Comic Book Guy would probably scoff at the comparison, but critics AND fans make a pretty potent combination when they agree on something.
Victoria Day is the unofficial beginning of the summer in Canada, but back in Japan, Golden Week is the first major holiday. Starting from late April and heading through the first week of May, depending on what days of the week GW falls on, the Japanese can get as much as 10 days off. Basically, it's 3 or 4 national holidays stuck together with some strategically placed regular days as the glue. Of course, the traffic jams and crowded stations & airports take on epic proportions when a huge population and limited transportation facilities are involved. Luckily, I was one of those people who had absolutely zero incentive to travel, using my time to enjoy a half-empty Tokyo. And equally as luckily, I had a few friends in the area who agreed with me so that we could meet up for movie and a dinner.
