this here photo is of a travel agency - Japan Associates - on U Street and 17th in DC. You probably can’t read the sign, because I took the photo on my iPhone which means I couldn’t zoom in on the relevant part - but if you could read the sign you’d see that it has one part that says:

USA*ASIA*AFRICA*WORLD*SPACE

and another that says:

(something illegible)* AMTRAK*CAR*ROCKET

when J. was here visiting recently, he said that when he lived on U Street a half decade ago or so, the sign did not have SPACE and ROCKET on it. so we got wondering if those are jokes, or if you really can book your extra-orbital trips there at Japan Associates. today I went into the agency to ask. the office was small and poky, but charmingly so, and they were some french chocolates for sale on a small wooden table just inside the office door (why isn’t that on the sign??). there was a woman sitting behind a desk, and I asked her what SPACE and ROCKETS was all about. she sighed, and said that was the business of another man in the office - a Mr. Nakamura - and that he really was planning to offer space travel services but that part of the business was not quite up and running yet, and she did not know when it would be up and running. (then she gave me Mr. Nakamura’s phone number, so hopefully I’ll be able to find out soon!)

I asked the woman if people come in a lot to ask about the sign. No, she said.

There was a writer from the CityPaper once who came in and asked about it, but no one else.

posted by Arin at 1:41 pm & filed under CityPaper, DC-type stuff, Japan, bloggy stuff, snarky, travel |