Nov 302007
 

I carried a lot of useless stuff with me to Japan. It’s the sort of stuff you see in a catalog, and think, “Wow, that looks really useful!” when in reality you may use it once the whole trip, if you’re lucky, and end up having to lug it all over the place.

“But it’s so small, and folds away. It’ll hardly take up any space at all!”

Sure, that one thing is small, thin, and light, but when you add 10 or 15 of its little friends together, they start to take up a lot of space and add a lot of weight.

Think logically, and take only what you absolutely know you’ll use repeatedly with you.

Castoffs

  • Inflatable seat cushion: was actually less comfortable than the rock-hard chair.
  • Clothesline: never used it. I just found laundromats and did my laundry there.
  • Money belt: never used it. It’s Japan, not Europe. Sure, you might need one in Europe, and you might want to keep one on you just in case, but even the silk ones are uncomfortable, and in a country like Japan where even petty thievery is just unheard of, it felt totally unnecessary to me. Naturally, if you’re worried about losing your stuff, then go for it. I wasn’t too worried about being robbed in Japan. Now Europe is a whole different story.
  • Bicycle clips: didn’t need them. The bicycles there don’t eat your pants.
  • Luggage locks: didn’t need them. I bought one of the locks with a short cable on it… didn’t need that, either. Locking your luggage is one of those marginal things. If they want to steal your stuff, they’ll get it, and the hasps on those locks are a joke. If you really want to break into a suitcase, all you need is a pointy object to undo the zipper, then just run the locked zipper over it again to close it.
  • Travel wash/Travel soap: the little stuff you can buy in a bottle? Yeah, you don’t need that. Hotels have soap and shampoo, and it comes in big dispenser bottles, so you don’t have to worry about ruining the planet. That goes for any soaps/shampoos you bring from home, too. You just don’t need them, and all they do is add weight. If you stay in dorms, then buy your soap and shampoo there. You’ll smell like a local.
  • Little travel packs of toilet paper: just as scratchy as the stuff you’ll find in the toilets there. I never used it. If you must bring something to take care of business down there, I’d recommend getting those little moist wipes that are individually sealed, if you want to avoid the sandpapery stuff.
  • Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink pouches: Seemed like a good idea, but added a lot of weight, and drinking milk in the morning was just tough on my stomach.
  • Flashlight: Never used it. Might still be good to have one, anyway.

Marginally useful stuff

  • Travel blanket/bedsack: These are useful if you plan on staying in dorms. I used them a lot in the dorm I spent 2 weeks in, but after that, I sent them home because they were too bulky. I borrowed the bedsack. The blanket was too short, making it very uncomfortable as a blanket replacement for sleeping in beds/futons. Find a bigger version if you’re a taller person and you plan on sleeping in dorms.
  • Foam neck pillow: Really comfortable, but a royal pain to take with you. Find an inflatable one instead.
  • Foam head pillow (really small version): Useful for dorms and in-flight, but doesn’t store particularly well. I sent this home after I left the dorm. If you’re only staying in hotels, you don’t need it.
  • Portable travel radio: Wasted money, wasted space. The only radio I would take would be one that’s integrated into something else. Besides, 99% of what you can hear is in Japanese anyway. If you want to hear stuff from home, there’s always the internet.
  • Protein bars: Oh jeez. I took a ton of these with me, because I wasn’t sure about the whole sodium thing over in Japan. They were useful in spots, but not 10 pounds’ worth useful. Bring a few if you like to hike, but don’t bring too many. The food in Japan is wonderful, and there isn’t a protein bar out there than can compare. If you’re on a special diet, then check labels on the food at stores and conbinis. Even the food at conbinis compares pretty well to food you can get at any restaurant chain in the U.S., and it contains less mystery-ingredient stuff that comes in a chemical drum.
  • Blindfold/Ear plugs: I had them, just in case. I didn’t need them, but I had them. Avoid earplanes. Chewing gum is cheaper to unblock your ears.
  • Folding Travel Tray: Marginally useful, but I kept forgetting to use it. It does keep your stuff organized in hotel rooms, but you can just put it all in little piles on the desk, too.

Surprisingly useful stuff

  • Woolite pouches: If you’re smart and bring clothes you can wash in the sink, you’ll need Woolite. You can get packs of pouches at places like REI, and some kits come with a very handy flat plastic flap that works as a sink stopper. Or just pour Woolite into a tube and save a few bucks.
  • Coat hangers: 2 plastic ones are good for drying laundry, and less hassle to set up than a clothesline. Just bring two you don’t mind having broken by baggage handlers.
  • Clothespin with hanger hook: 2 of these, if you can find them, are even better for drying laundry or wet towels. Also good for wet underwear. Doubles as a good way to keep hotel curtains shut.
  • Microfiber towels: I used one small and one bath sheet. I sent the bath sheet home when I left the dorm, but it was a good towel. I kept the small one with me at all times as a hand towel. Most bathrooms in Japan don’t have paper hand towels, so BYO. Make sure you wash these a few times at home before you go abroad, and make sure you like them, because you may be using them a lot.
  • Plastic Knife/Fork/Spoon set: Usually, you will get chopsticks and such when you go to a conbini, but sometimes they forget, or they run out, or whatever, and you’re left with nothing. That’s when your KFS set comes in handy.

Best of the Best

  • iPod: It’s an iPod. It fights boredom. ‘Nuff said.
  • Sony eBook Reader: I love books. I especially love trashy science-fiction and fantasy books. So I managed to cram about 30 or so of my favorites into this thing, and it totally saved me. It has solid battery life, so you can fight boredom wherever you go.
  • Electronic Dictionary: In Japan, they call them denshi jisho, but I call them awesome. The latest models have a small touchpad on the base that you use to draw kanji on. It made my life there much easier. If you don’t know any Japanese, this won’t help you. It’s only useful for those with some Japanese knowledge.
  • Bose Noise-Cancelling Headphones: I can’t get on an airplane without these anymore. The only downside is that they’re bulky, but they are worth the trouble. Enjoy the cone of silence.
  • Carabiners: Yes, carabiners. They’re the hooks mountain climbers use to secure ropes. They’re also handy for clipping small bags to large bags. I love them.
  • Cell Phone: I’ll go into more detail in a following post, but a good cell phone in Japan is really nice to have. It doubles as an alarm clock.

What I wish I had done/taken

  • Better non-cotton clothing: I love cotton. I love how it feels on my skin. It makes me feel civilized. What I hate about cotton is that every drop of sweat stays on you all day, and sweat stains look nasty. I also hate how long it takes to dry when you wash it in your room. It’s not good for washing in the sink. Next time, I’m going to bring well-worn polyester layer-able clothes that wick sweat better, wash in the sink better, and dry in under 2 days.
  • Less Luggage: I wish I had just had one small-to-medium sized roller.
  • Stain Sticks: Both the pre-treating wash stain sticks, and the ones that remove stains on the go are things I pined for while in Japan. I’m sure I could have found them there if I searched long enough, but that’s wasted time, in my opinion.
  • More Packing Cubes: These are great just for keeping stuff organized in your suitcase. I already had some gear pouches for cords and rechargers, but something a little bigger for things like brochures I wanted to keep, but didn’t need, or a small cube for dirty laundry, one for clean shirts, etc. When everything is just dumped in the suitcase, it takes forever to find the little things.
  • A Good Compass: I needed one of these every now and then. When I needed it, I really needed it.
  • Good Rain Gear: I still haven’t figured this one out exactly, but I think next time, I’ll bring stuff with Gore-Tex in it. It does rain a lot in Japan, and if you’re not prepared, you can prepare to suffer. Also, try to find a big umbrella that folds small. The ones you buy in Japan tend to … well … suck. Spend the extra money to avoid needless suffering.

In the end, you have to figure out what your specific needs are, and do what you can to meet them. But try to find things that multi-task, if possible. Pack everything early, and that way you’ll see just how much room the little gizmos will take up. For a long trip, try living out of your planned bags for a few days before you go, and see what you use/don’t use. Figure out what you think you’ll need, and then only take half. (Except medicines.)

Try everything out in real-world situations. Use the rain gear in real rain. Use the bedsack in bed. See how dark that blindfold makes the room. See if the radio is any good at picking up anything other than static. Try to avoid repeating my mistakes, please!

Returning and Recovering

 Japan, Travel  Comments Off on Returning and Recovering
Nov 242007
 

It’s been 10 days since I got back from Japan, and I haven’t had much of a chance to post on my flight back and on readjusting to the U.S. again.

On the flight back, I met a nice guy, Dave, who shared similar gaming interests as me, so we chatted away in geek mode for a few hours. Then I had to rest my throat, because the desert-like atmosphere of the airplane just kills it.

So I went into cocoon mode, where I put on my noise-canceling headphones, listen to podcasts, and try to doze off in between meals. The food wasn’t bad, but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to order the fish on an airplane.

I spent a lot of time adding up all the various things I bought to fill out my customs forms, too. The last thing I wanted to do was submit anything that looked weird or out of place. I hadn’t really done the U.S. Customs arrival thing in a while, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I figured I’d prepare for anything.

OMG America

When I arrived in Chicago at 3:00 p.m. the same day, my slightly scrambled brain had to deal with being back in the U.S. all of a sudden. It was a weird feeling. I’ve spent the last month or so trying to adapt to Japan, and suddenly having to be an American again was a bit jarring.

Immigration was amusing in a way. When I arrived in Japan, the huge line was for foreigners coming into Japan. When I arrived in Chicago, the huge line was for Americans coming home. I guess it makes sense. After I got processed, I had to go pick up my luggage for customs. One thing to keep in mind– the signs say no cell phone use or camera use. They aren’t messing around. Turn off your phones and put them away.

Now, the whole time I’m going around here, I’m lugging my two backpacks, and my back is hating me the whole time. We’re talking, “I’m gonna get you when you sleep,” hate. This underlines my resolve to change the way I travel from here on out. Keep chanting, “One bag, one bag…” until I remember to carry just one bag.

At customs, I declared my Pocky, and then breezed on through without having to pay. I think the agent said that my books weren’t subject to duty, so I was under the limit. (Woot.) Then they took my bags and moved them on to the connecting flight right there, so I didn’t have to recheck them.

Now the fun part. Back through airport security. One thing I noticed that kind of irritated me was that first-class passengers had a different line for TSA screening. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the TSA was a government agency. Why is the government playing favorites for first-class passengers? Meanwhile, the rest of us in coach are standing in a 40-minute line. Some poor guy with diabetes passed out twice in line. It doesn’t seem fair. We have to suffer in cramped seats, we pay these guys’ salaries in taxes, yet we suffer in line? I don’t get it.

After doing the TSA shuffle, it was off to find the Admirals’ Club. It’s totally worth the $50, because it’s nice to have a comfortable place to recover from your flight while you wait for the next one.

The club in Chicago wasn’t as nice as the one in Tokyo, though. The one in Tokyo had free food. The one in Chicago had one of those nut mix things you get in bars, and some broccoli. I think there were apples, too. But everything else was a cash bar. Tokyo’s Admiral’s Club had free sushi and free drinks. That’s tough to beat.

My flight to Raleigh was only 40 minutes late departing. I wish I had spent those 40 minutes in the Admirals’ Club, but like a dummy, I went to the gate early. No, I don’t know why. Since I was in group 5, I was the last person on the plane. I don’t know how I got put in group 5, but that’s where I had been put, and I wasn’t going to get on the plane any sooner.

My goal for my next trip is to get the hell out of group 5, and move up a bit.

On the flight, I met another nice person, and we chatted about the news and current events before arriving rather quickly at Raleigh-Durham. After that, it was standard stuff. Met my girlfriend at baggage claim, sprained by back getting one of my heavy suitcases, and limped on home.

Home Again Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I would have posted sooner, but I was busy recovering. When I got back, I felt like hell. They say that it’s harder to travel east than it is to travel west, and based on my experience, I agree. Coming back to North Carolina after being away for five weeks also had another effect. As soon as I got back on the ground at RDU, every single allergen that I had escaped for the last five weeks attacked me. I noticed it when my eyes started itching like mad on the ride home, and then the next day when my Eustachian tubes started acting up, too.

The other main problem I had was sleeping. I couldn’t. It took me about a week to get back on an almost-normal sleeping pattern where I could sleep for more than 5 hours a night. I still get very sleepy at weird hours.

Of course, coming back right before Thanksgiving added a certain amount of stress as well. Hey, it’s Thanksgiving. Everything has to be perfect, right? So trying to recover while also getting ready for Thanksgiving had its own impacts.

Finally, the hardest thing to get used to was the change in lifestyle. I was so used to walking a lot and riding trains, and suddenly I’m back in my car, muttering at the other drivers just like every other American. That was a jarring experience. To be honest, it’s the one part of coming back that I liked the least. I’ve gone from feeling like going out and rubbing elbows with millions of people to being in my house-pod, jumping into my car-pod, then doing my shopping in Controlled Shopping Zones, and scuttling back to my house-pod, with precious little unnecessary interaction.

Having a car is handy for carrying groceries, but I’m wondering at what cost.

I’m also not walking nearly as much as I used to, and I’m not even looking forward to going out to walk. It’s weird.

I do know one thing, and that is that I really want to go back to Japan, and spend some more time there. Despite the pain, frustration, and stress, I haven’t had so much fun in a long time. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life, and I’d highly recommend going, even if it is a difficult thing to do.

I think the difficult things are probably the best ones for us to do, anyway. You have to break out of your habits and get over yourself every now and then, you know?

Later, I’ll post some info on what I learned, travel-wise, for a trip to Japan, and for traveling in general. It’s not like I reinvented the wheel or anything, but I figure that if you’re willing to read this, you’re looking for any kind of information you can get.

Last Day In Japan. ;_;

 Japan, Photos, Travel  Comments Off on Last Day In Japan. ;_;
Nov 142007
 

I managed to get packed last night, but I was up late doing it. No surprise there.

First thing this morning I backed up all of my photos to DVD. I just had this horrible image of a security guy ruining my laptop, all 3,000 photos, with no backup… *shudder*

Then it was off to Shinjuku Station to reserve a seat on the Narita Express. This time I did get the Green Car, because I wanted the extra room for my luggage.

Yeah, that’s it. My luggage.

While I was there, I decided to make a very quick trip to Shibuya to get a photo of 109 and Hachiko. Gotta have a photo of Hachiko, right?

Hachiko:

Shibuya-- Hachiko

109 (a famous fashion mall, I think):

Shibuya-- 109 Building

The World’s Busiest Crosswalk:

Shibuya-- World's Busiest Crosswalk

Shibuya-- World's Busiest Crosswalk

Then back to Shinjuku, and a last stab at Kinokuniya, and this time, score! I found all of the novels I was looking for. Woot! Too bad I’m too illiterate to read them yet, but I’ll get to it.

On the way back, I saw a one-hour long line at the Krispy Kreme. Oh well. No time for that.

Shinjuku-- Krispy Kreme

Now it’s just time to put the novels in a suitcase, and get out of here by 1:30 or so so I can make my train, and then my plane.

All packed!

Shinjuku-- My Hotel Room

The last photo!

Shinjuku-- My Hotel Room-- The View

Leaving Japan

(time skip)

So I’m on the Narita Express, heading to the airport, and I have to say it’s a very nice train. For 4700 yen, I get a big comfy seat all to myself, and there’s plenty of baggage room in the front of the car… since I got on in Shinjuku. If you get on in Tokyo, you’re going to have to improvise.

But anyway, I’m on the train, and I get my first taste of America in a while. Sitting in front of me is some random American Guy, who had to have heard the several announcements saying not to speak on cell phones in the middle of the car, but to move to the area between cars instead. Because really, nobody gives a crap about your parts supply issues, and we don’t want to hear them.

But this bonehead didn’t care. He decided to regale the entire car for 30 minutes about his supply issues, and how he doesn’t want to be here. Well, I’ve got news for him. None of us wanted to be there hearing him blather, either. And unless he’s just deaf or stupid, he couldn’t have been in Japan for 10 days without hearing this announcement in English at least 100 times.

Seriously, guy, they’re saying it just for your sake.

So if you travel, please, please, I’m begging you– don’t be that guy!

I jokingly call this blog “The Stupid American Tourist,” but I don’t mean that I’m “The Stupid Rude Inconsiderate American Tourist Who Annoys the Crap Out of People.”

Hot Doughnuts Now! Shinjuku, Takashimaya Times Square, Krispy Kreme!

 Japan, Photos, Travel  Comments Off on Hot Doughnuts Now! Shinjuku, Takashimaya Times Square, Krispy Kreme!
Nov 132007
 

Busy day today, with ups, downs, and a Krispy Kreme sighting.

I started off at 9:30 by running to Ikebukuro to buy a suitcase. Ugh. But I did find one. It’s not the best one I could find, but it was the right mix of cheap and not too shabby.

Then breakfast, which was more department store food. I love the depachika. (Depachika is Japanese for the basement, or bottom, so chika, of the department store, or depaato. So depachika.)

After that, I ran to Akasaka to meet up with Peter Galante, the host of japanesepod101.com’s many podcasts. I really like the podcasts, and it helped me a lot in getting ready for my trip here. I highly recommend the survival lessons. Especially the ones about trains and buses. Seriously. Don’t underestimate the importance of understanding the mass transit system here, because otherwise you’ll wind up like that poor lost Norwegian guy, adrift in Shinjuku.

You’ll probably feel overwhelmed and confused the first time you get here, anyway. No need to add to it.

It was fun meeting Peter, and I appreciate his listening to me ramble for 40 minutes. Sorry about that, Peter. I’m not always that talkative.

No, really, I’m not.

After that, it was back to Akihabara to raid some more shops. If you’re a nerd, you need to go to Akihabara, and be prepared to spend money. Of course, spending money implies buying things, and buying things implies carrying them around with you. If you live somewhere like New York City, you know this already. If you’re like me, and you live in the suburbs, then you need to consider it. I’m used to buying things, and putting them into my car. So I can buy a lot of heavy stuff without much thought. (Not that I do it often, but I do it.)

I went with my trusty backpack, which my girlfriend gave me before I went off to grad school. It has a lot of nice memories attached to it, but it has one little problem. Not to gross people out, but it makes my back sweat. And back sweat is probably one of the least appealing things you can show when wearing a charcoal gray shirt.

If you’re buying crap, consider your carrying strategies.

I raided Yodobashi Camera’s big store in Akihabara again. I found some nice game-related books there… so much data, it makes me want to cry when I look at the U.S. books.

After that, I went to Gamers’, and bought more manga there. There are sooo many good series over here that either haven’t or won’t come to the U.S. anytime soon. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering in and out of various stores, browsing. If I did live here, I’d have a serious space problem, because I’d have a house full of gadgets and books.

But no Hello Kitty robots.

Probably.

Hot Doughnuts, Hot Doughnuts!

By around 4 or so, I was exhausted. So I headed back to Shinjuku before the crowds on the trains got out of hand. I took a break, rested up, started going through all of my receipts for Customs (ugh), and then decided to go to Tokyo Cityview in Roppongi for evening fun.

On the way there, I decided to stop at Kinokuniya to try to hunt down a few novels again. (Last time was a miserable failure.) So I got there at 7:50…. just as they were about to close at 8.

Seriously, can’t I get a break?

I did see something interesting on the way– a Krispy Kreme. In Shinjuku. Not 100 meters from my hotel. And the Hot Doughnuts Now sign was lit. But the line was not only out the door, it wrapped all over itself about 5 times. No hot doughnuts for me. But I did have a nice warm fuzzy feeling seeing it, and the thought of Krispy Kreme in Japan just made me laugh out loud. People looked at me funny, but I’m used to it.

Photos:

Is that… a Krispy Kreme?

Takashimaya Times Square

OMG It IS! Look at that line! And the Hot Doughnuts Now sign is lit!

Takashimaya Times Square--Krispy Kreme???

Mmm… Hot Doughnuts… sadly, no time to stand in line!

Hot Doughnuts NOW!

Some shots of JR Shinjuku from the bridge to Takashimaya and Kinokunia:

Takashimaya Times Square--View of JR Shinjuku

Takashimaya Times Square--View of JR Shinjuku

Christmas Lights at Tahashimaya:

Takashimaya Times Square--Christmas Lights

Takashimaya Times Square--Christmas Lights

Takashimaya Times Square--Christmas Lights

Takashimaya Times Square--Christmas Lights

Takashimaya Times Square--Christmas Lights

Takashimaya Times Square--Christmas Lights

Roppongi

Then it was off to Roppongi. And I finally figured out what made my headache on Sunday worse– the Oedo line. Seriously, it’s the loudest subway line in the world. It screams and groans like an angry rusted giant robot who hasn’t been oiled in 1,000 years trying to run across Tokyo.

By the time I got to Roppongi, I was feeling icky again, so I looked around a little, and wisely cut my trip short. It’s not going anywhere. I’ll catch it next time.

I took a few photos.

Roppongi Hills:

Roppongi Hills

Roppongi Hills

Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills:

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower

Back to Shinjuku

Then it was back to the conbini, then the hotel. Now I need to finish packing and get ready to head home tomorrow.

I’ve had a great time in Japan. It hasn’t always been easy. In fact, there were some frustrating times, some hard times, and some times I just wanted to go home. But those times tended to pass, and the more I stayed here, the more I loved it here.

When I travel, I like to have “Wow!” experiences. I usually consider myself lucky if I have one or two. I had so many on this trip, I lost count.

I highly recommend coming to Japan, but not just planting your butt in Tokyo. Yes, Tokyo is great, but Tokyo isn’t Japan. Japan is a big country with a wide range of regional variation, and a lot of interesting cities, both big and small. Just going to Tokyo to judge Japan is like just going to NYC to judge the U.S. What about the Grand Canyon? Or … well, there’s a lot of other stuff out there. I’m tired.

When I get back home, I’ll sort out my thoughts properly, and post them on the blog.

Nov 122007
 

Akihabara

So on to Akihabara, or Akiba as everyone calls it here.

First, I stopped at Asakusabashi station again, as I transferred from the subway to the JR line. I had a wait, so I took some more photos of Asakusabashi station:

Asakusabashi platform:

Asakusabashi Station

Asakusabashi Station

Roof detail:

Asakusabashi Station--Roof Detail

Asakusabashi Station--Roof Detail

Signal lights:

Asakusabashi Station--Signal Lights

Asakusabashi Station--Signal Lights

My train came in, and I made it to Akihabara.

First off was Yodobashi Camera. It’s just.. wow. A 10-story monstrosity full of electronics. It’s where nerds go after they die. It’s like 4 or 5 Best Buys stacked on top of each other, only with really cool stuff, and no lame junk.

No joke, it’s big:

Yodobashi Akiba

Yodobashi Akiba

But since I didn’t have a point card there, I decided to search for Bic Camera in Akiba, because I do have a Bic point card with a lot of points on it.

Thus begins my Fool’s Errand.

You see, there isn’t a Bic Camera in Akiba. But I didn’t know that… yet.

Before I started searching, I had some business to attend to. As you exit the JR Akihabara Station on the Yodobashi Camera side, off to the left you’ll see a small glass building called Oasis. It offers two things. A smoking room and a 100 yen pay toilet.

Oasis@Akiba

You might scoff at a pay toilet, but it’s a damn fine pay toilet. That was easily the best 100 yen I spent in Tokyo so far.

You enter, and a receptionist greets you with a polite bow. Then you head to the bathrooms, where you can deposit your 100 yen coin or just tap your Suica card and it’ll deduct the 100 yen automatically. Then the frosted glass door opens, and you walk into the nicest public toilet in Tokyo. (Well, the nicest I’ve seen so far.)

There aren’t stalls so much as there are small rooms with sliding, locking doors, and plenty of room to maneuver. You also get a powered-up shower toilet, soft fluffy paper, and a touchless sink. You can wash your hands and dry them without touching anything. So nice.

Inside Oasis@Akiba (Japanese Toilets Are Fun!)

Inside Oasis@Akiba (Japanese Toilets Are Fun!)

Controls!

Inside Oasis@Akiba (Japanese Toilets Are Fun!)

Then it was off to Chelsea Market in JR Akiba for a burger. Nice, but kind of odd. Had a weird curry-based sauce on it, but pretty good.

After that, it was time to begin my Fool’s Errand! As I was walking around Akiba, I found the Toranoana Main Store. Oh, look! Manga! So I started climbing the stairs.

Hmm… they sure do sell a lot of comics here with guys with no shirts on hugging other guys… with no shirts on.

Oh, wait– comics without shirtless guys are next door. I guess that would explain some of the looks I got from some of the patrons on that side of the store.

So I looked in next door– ah, this is more like it! No more shirtless guy comics! Stuff I might actually read!

But before I started to load myself down with more manga, I needed to make a trip to Bic Camera. (Which still doesn’t have a branch in Akihabara, but I didn’t know that yet.) So more walking around.

My Fool’s Errand completed, I went back to Toranoana, where I loaded up on manga and light novels…. you know, to help me improve my Japanese. I got into manga while learning Japanese. It’s really handy to read, because the language is usually pretty simple, and some titles (usually aimed at younger audiences) provide furigana readings over the kanji, so you can look them up more easily.

Of course, I also like electronics, and the weirder, the better. So Akihabara is a natural sort of place for me. I found some stores selling all kinds of weird old stuff, and some stuff that brought back good memories.

I could spend a week in Akihabara and not have spent enough time there. All kinds of electronics, video games, and books. Fun.

Then it was back to the station to pick up some dinner for later at Vie de France, then on the train back to Shinjuku.

JR Akihabara platform:

JR Akihabara Platform

Densha no Koto

A word about trains (again? Yes, again.) As you go from Shinjuku to the east, the Chuo and Soba lines run parallel until you hit Ochanomizu, then they split. The Chuo goes on to Tokyo Station, and the Soba goes to Akihabara. So in order to go from Shinjuku to Akiba, you need to switch lines at Ochanomizu.

It sounds like a pain in the butt, but it’s actually amazingly smooth. As the Chuo Rapid pulls in, a Soba local is pulling in the other side of the platform. So just hop from one train to the next. Smooth as silk. Same for hopping from the Soba to the Chuo. That’s brilliant.

Tonight I’m going to hit Kinokuniya one last time, then hit Bic to buy stuff. (And an extra suitcase. Yeesh.) If I’m careful about how I work it, I’ll be able to plow through all of my remaining Bic points. *Fingers crossed.*

Tomorrow is…. well, that’s something I’ll worry about later tonight. I’m going to stop by the japanesepod101.com studios to say ‘hi!’ (they said I could), then I’ll try to hit Shibuya to get a photo of Hachiko and see 109. Then… MORE AKIBA! Maybe I’ll go to City View in Roppongi tomorrow night, too. Dunno.

For Wednesday, I’ve already scheduled a late checkout for 2PM. It’s a little expensive, but worth it. That way, when I check out, I can just head straight for the airport and crash at the Admiral’s Club until my flight leaves at 7PM, and I don’t have to mess with having to find a place to put my bags for 4 hours. I’ll probably just take the Chuo to Kanda, then the Yamanote to Ueno, then the Keisei Skyliner to Narita Terminal 2. Or I could just take the Narita Express from Shinjuku, huh?

Time Jump

A few hours later…

At 6 or so I headed to Ikebukuro to the Bic Camera store there, because it’s supposed to be the biggest one in Tokyo. It’s actually in 2 different buildings. In one of the buildings, they have some stuff, and in the other, they have more of the same stuff. The difference is that in the newer building, they have luggage on the 8th floor. I should have bought it there. I should have, dagnabbit.

But I figured that if they had it in Ikebukuro, they’d have it at Shinjuku. So anyway, after futzing around in Ikebukuro for a bit, I couldn’t seem to find anything that I wanted.

Don’t Worry, that Stunned Look is Normal

So I went to Shinjuku. And helped a Norwegian guy buy a Suica card. The poor guy was so lost… he said, “I just came here from Kobe, and I’m totally confused.” I reassured him– Tokyo does that to everyone. It took me a little time to digest Tokyo as well. But now that I have a basic grip on things, and the Tokyo Street Map by Kodansha (in EN and JP), I’m okay.

Seriously, if you’ve never been to Tokyo, you’ll have that same stunned look on your face, too, when you try to navigate it. Eventually I got the hang of it, but at first, I felt like I was walking in mud as my brain tried to process everything. It felt good to help someone through that, even if it was only a little bit.

After helping the poor lost dude, I went to the Bic there. I found one of the things I wanted, and some privacy screens for my DS and my PSP. (Ah, privacy!) But no luggage.

Laundry Time!

By then it was 8:45, and everything was closing, so I headed back to eat some dinner, crash for a few minutes, and then head out to find the laundromat in Yoyogi they told me about at the front desk.

It took a little figuring out, but thanks to the street atlas, I actually found it. Right next to the neighborhood sento (public bath). Fortunately, it was open til midnight, so I could get all my laundry done. It was getting fragrant. Not like a flower.

When all was said and done, I got back around midnight.

But I had to have my clothes clean– I was down to the emergency clothes, and they were a little… ripe.

Rick Steves talks about doing laundry on the road. He says it’s a good thing to do, to meet locals and get local flavor. I agree this time. While it can be a bit of a nuisance to find a laundromat in Japan (or anything else that isn’t a tourist attraction), it’s totally worth it to see daily-life Japan. And by doing laundry and packing less, you save money on expensive hotel laundry, and you save space for those important souvenirs. (Or books, in my case. Lots of books.)

Tomorrow I’ll get up extra early to make a quick run to Ikebukuro to buy a suitcase. They open at 10, and I plan on rushing the door.

Then I’ll run back to Shinjuku, and my day can actually start.

In 42:30, I’ll be on a plane back to the States.

Shoot.

Nov 122007
 

Reversal!

I was at about 70% today, but I was good enough to go.

I decided to keep my plans simple. First off would be Senso-ji in Asakusa.

On the way there, I had to change trains at Asakusabashi station. So I took a photo.

Asakusabashi Station Platform

I got to Asakusa, and headed to Senso-ji. It’s a nice place to visit. The Kaminarimon is a must-see. It’s the big gate in front of the temple with the massive red lantern hanging down. It’s the sort of thing us goofy tourists from all over want our picture taken in front of.

Like me:

Senso-ji Kaminarimon

More Kaminarimon:
Senso-ji--Kaminarimon

Senso-ji--Kaminarimon

Senso-ji--Kaminarimon

As you pass through the Kaminarimon, you’ll see a vast expanse of souvenir shops selling, all kinds of trinkets, just like every other famous sight in Japan. This row of shops is called Nakamise Dori, and it’s been around for a really long time:

Senso-ji Nakamise Dori Shopping Arcade

Closing in on the Houzoumon:

Senso-ji Nakamise Dori Shopping Arcade

Senso-ji Nakamise Dori Shopping Arcade

Now we’re approaching the Houzoumon, or Treasure House Gate. The gate is surrounded by many paper lanterns today:

Houzoumon:

Senso-ji Houzoumon

Senso-ji Houzoumon

Senso-ji Houzoumon

Lantern detail:

Senso-ji Houzoumon--Lanterns

Senso-ji Houzoumon--Lanterns-Detail

Inside the Houzoumon, there are two Touro lanterns, and the one big red Chouchin.

Touro:

Touro of Houzoumon

Touro Detail:

Senso-ji Houzoumon-Facing Nakamise Dori-Touro Detail

Chouchin:

Chouchin of Houzoumon

Chouchin Detail:

Senso-ji Houzoumon-Facing Nakamise Dori-Chouchin Detail

As I pass through the Houzomon, I see more lanterns:

Lanterns

Lanterns

Then on to the temple proper. The big main building is called the hondo. That’s where you pray. You’ll see a big pot-thing filled with incense and billowing out smoke. You’re supposed to rub smoke on whatever ails you, so I just walked through the entire cloud, because I was hurting all over.

Senso-ji Hondo

Senso-ji Hondo

Pray here:

Senso-ji Hondo

Facing the Houzoumon, you can see the smoke better:

Senso-ji Houzoumon-Viewing it from the Hondo

After that, I sauntered over to the side, where they sell omikuji for 100 yen, and I got #69, which is… kyou, which means “bad luck,” (凶 so you can recognize it.) It said that I wouldn’t have any luck finding a job, in relationships, etc., etc.

Bad Luck Omikuji

Bad Luck Omikuji

I did what any smart person would do. I tied it to one of the racks you’re supposed to tie bad luck fortunes to. *Whew* Dodged that bullet.

I hope?

In order to counteract any ill effects from the kyou, I picked up a good health and safe travel charm for 1000 yen, and I picked the red one, because red is a lucky color. I started to pick white, then I stopped and said, “Iie, akai onegaishimasu.” The lady behind the counter laughed.

So with my charm obtained, I wandered around the temple some more, took a few pictures, then went to the long row of tacky souvenir shops. I spent a good 20-30 minutes just looking around at crap, and buying some, too.

A tall building:

Senso-ji Pagoda

On the way out:

Senso-ji Houzoumon-Facing Nakamise Dori

Senso-ji Houzoumon-Facing Nakamise Dori

Senso-ji Nakamise Dori on the way out

Senso-ji Kaminarimon

On to Akihabara, in Part Two…

Odaiba

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Nov 112007
 

I woke up feeling really crummy today. But I decided to head to Odaiba anyway. (Bad idea.)

I should have had a clue when I was feeling wonky riding the subway… but I didn’t. I pressed on.

The longer I rode the Oedo Line, the worse I felt.  I had to ride for 15-20 minutes with the  wheels screeching all the time, even in the straight stretches.  The sound just went right through my ears and into my brain, making me dizzy. I kept on going to Odaiba, though, because sometimes I’m more stubborn than smart.

I changed to the Kamome monorail at Shinsaibashi:

Shinbashi-- Buildings around the Station

Shinbashi-- Buildings around the Station

You can kind of see the station here:

Shinbashi-- Buildings around the Station

And here:

Shinbashi-- Buildings around the Station

Odaiba is weird. It’s totally different from the rest of Tokyo. It’s got a lot of empty space in between these giant buildings. It just feels… odd. Now I get why it’s seen the way it’s seen– as something sort of artificial. (Well, it IS a man-made island, but still…) It has the feel of a large corporate office park. Sort of like Las Colinas, TX, in case you’ve ever been there.

Anyway, I rode the monorail to Ariake, to check out the Panasonic building:

Odaiba--Ariake Area

Panasonic Building

Odaiba--Ariake Area

More Panasonic:

Odaiba--Ariake Area

Then I walked to Tokyo Big Sight (a very large exhibition complex)

Tokyo Big Sight

Saw a saw sculpture in front:

Tokyo Big Sight--Saw

Then came back to the hotel. I had planned on doing a bunch of stuff there, but I was just feeling lousy.

I’ve been lying down in my room all day for the most part. I guess it was a case of just pushing myself too hard or something. Anyway, I should feel better by tomorrow. My plans for Monday are going to be severely scaled back. I don’t want to make it worse.

My mission will be accomplished if I can make it to Akihabara and get my goods. Anything else after that is gravy.

Besides, I plan on coming back here, so I need to leave some stuff on the plate, you know?

On the upside, I’m glad my hotel room is so nice. It’s made feeling like poo a lot more bearable.

Guess I should go hunt down dinner now.

Mind the Gap, Please

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Nov 102007
 

Long day. I got up early, researched some ideas, and settled on hitting Nakano Broadway, because it’s full of all kinds of shops, some of which I may be interested in. Since Time Out recommended a trip, I figured I’d give it a shot. I hopped on the Chuo Rapid to Nakano, got there, and all the shops were closed. Most didn’t open until noon. D’oh. This is just another example of how being over-eager can backfire, I guess. I did see a store with a cool name.  It’s a used computer/old computer supply store called “Junkworld.” I like honesty in advertising. I also found an umbrella that doesn’t fail. It’s big. So big, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it. 75cm is apparently the biggest you can find for under 1000 yen. The downside is that it doesn’t collapse.

Ueno and the National Museum

So on to plan B, the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park. 30 minutes of train riding later, and I’m there. And it’s pouring rain. Well, I can do rain, I’ve done it before. Trudge, trudge. As I approached the big fountain in Ueno Park, I saw there was some sort of giant tent thing there. Ueno Park--Flea Market Was it a festival? No, it was just a flea market/sale thing. They were selling Japanese housewares. Stuff like plates, bowls, teapots, iron rice pots, chopsticks– all neat stuff. Ueno Park--Flea Market I refrained from purchasing, however, in an amazing show of restraint. I thought about buying a set of 4 pairs of chopsticks… it was awfully tempting. I’ve gotten used to using them for salads. I think they make salads taste better. No metallic tastes. But I didn’t particularly want to carry them all over Tokyo with me, and to be honest, you can buy chopsticks just about anywhere. Moving on, the big fountain in Ueno Park: Ueno Park--Fountain Ueno Park--Fountain Then it was on to the Tokyo National Museum. Tokyo National Museum Since I didn’t want to spend all day there, I decided to just visit the Honkan, which is where they store all of the important Japanese Art. And boy did they have art. All kinds of neat stuff. The downside is that not all of the exhibits have English explanations… in fact, I’d say 10% do. The rest just have English descriptions. It’s a little frustrating. It’s more incentive to study Japanese. The price is right, too. 600 yen for admission. Just buy it from the vending machine. I went to the gift shop, and found 2 great books in English on Shodo (Japanese calligraphy.) I’ve studied Chinese calligraphy for a couple of years now, and it will be interesting to study the stylistic differences.

Legend of the Fall

I left the museum and headed to Ueno Station: Backside of Ueno Station Then it was time to get food. Andersen in JR Ueno Station is always a good choice. They’re the same sandwich shop that chipped my tooth in Kyoto, but I think their food is the best of all the bakeries I’ve tried so far. After that came the turning point of the day. And not in a good way. You know how they say “Mind the gap” on the Tube in London? Yeah… I didn’t. I was stepping on to the Yamanote Line to head to Tokyo Station to pick up the Chuo Line, when I slipped and my right leg went right down the gap between the train and the platform. Owwwww. The shock of falling aside, my biggest fear was that the train would pull away without me, or worse, without knowing that I fell, and before I could get up. The thought of what could have happened still makes my blood run cold. Fortunately, I pulled myself up quickly and managed to get on the train okay… but I tweaked my ankle (on the side that didn’t fall down), and I’ve got a huge nasty welt on my thigh where it slipped down the gap. I also ruined my pants, I think. Train grease and filth… I dunno if I could ever get that out. I’m just going to bag them and give it a shot when I get home. Meanwhile, everyone on the train just sort of stared at me like I was a freak or something. It was really kind of weird. Nobody offered any sort of help or anything. I guess they didn’t want to get involved. If that happened in the U.S., I would probably have gotten a few offers of help, and some business cards for attorneys.

Limping Off to Jinbo-Cho

Then I headed back to Shinjuku to ice down my ankle for an hour.  But since I was bloody-minded about not wanting to miss more than an hour, after some rest and some Advil, it was off to Jinbo-cho. Jinbo-cho is the book district in Tokyo. It’s full of used book stores and indy book stores. Of course, everything is in Japanese, so while I’m sure it’s a great place, it’s a little over my head at this point. I was there mainly to see if I could find a few more prints. Time Out lists a couple of print stores, and after a LOT of hunting, I did find both, but neither really had anything I wanted. What I really want are some more prints of the 100 views of Tokyo from the 19th century. No luck. Both had a lot of the 36 views of Mt. Fuji, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I did manage to find an Ace bandage for my ankle, so it wasn’t a loss. And Jinbo-cho will be a fun place to visit again when my vocabulary improves. I also saw a really cool shop or two. There was a kendo supply store with a wall full of bokken (wooden swords) that went up into the $500 range; a store full of nothing but brushes of any and all kinds, from toilet brushes to artists’ brushes; and a promising-looking calligraphy shop that closed before I could get in. (Dangit. They’re so fast on the trigger.)

Nakano Broadway Again

After that, it was time to try to head to Nakano Broadway again. So back to Shinjuku, and then back on the Chuo line. Good lord, was it crowded. They almost had to get the guys with the white gloves out to cram us all in. And man, was it hot. Tokyo is the only place I know where it can be 50F outside, but every train, station, store, and bus is 90F. I’m not sure how that works, but it’s like that wherever I go. Everyone else is bundled up, and I’m in a T-shirt, sweating like Sydney Greenstreet. So Nakano. It’s a dumpy little shopping arcade. But you probably knew that anyway. What it does have is a ton of nerd shops. Tiny stores with lots of action figures, toys, old games, old books, all kinds of stuff. I didn’t buy anything, because I’ve already got too much crap already. Most of the toy shops are on the second and third floors. If you like toys, it might be your thing. I also saw some old Godzillas for sale… I wanted one. Oh, did I ever want one. But they were in the hundreds of dollars. I watched a LOT of Godzilla movies when I was kid. Then it was back to Shinjuku to find a few more stationery supplies. If you ever need a cardboard tube to secure your posters, go to Sekaido. Just Google it. Their HQ is in Shinjuku. I took some photos of Shinjuku on the way to Sekaido: Shinjuku at Night Shinjuku at Night Shinjuku at Night Shinjuku at Night Shinjuku at Night Sekaido is nice. Not as nice as Itoya, but it’s close to my hotel. Then I limped back home. And I think that pretty much does it for me for tonight. I’m totally wiped. Depending on the weather, I may either head to Shibuya/Harajuku to watch the Sunday fashion parades, or I’ll head to Odaiba and Akihabara to do other stuff. The forecast is more rain so far, so I’ll probably peek in at Harajuku, then head to Odaiba and Akiba. Oh, before I forget– subway signs and posters! Subway Signs: Subway Sign: Keep to the Left Subway Poster Subway Poster Today, I was the cucumber! Subway Poster

So I Was Shopping in Ginza Today…

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Nov 092007
 

I’m going to use my new favorite phrase now.

So I was shopping in Ginza today…

… yeah, that’s my new favorite phrase.

Some massive stores in Ginza (with matching prices, I’m sure!)

Seibu department store:

Ginza Wandering

Anyway, I was shopping in Ginza today, looking for two stationery stores mentioned in Time Out Tokyo. But first, I hit the Sony Building to look at their shiny toys.

Sony Building, Ginza

I saw a 70″ 1080p (not i) HDTV that’s coming out soon. Drool.

They also had some great artist-designed laptops, but not only weren’t they for sale, but they had chiclet-style keys, which aren’t my favorite. I also saw those same kinds of keys on the new iBook at the Apple Store, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Sony building isn’t as big as you’d think. But the way it’s laid out is interesting. You start on the first floor, look at stuff, climb 3-4 steps, look at more stuff, and so on… until you hit the 6th floor, where you can buy stuff. There really isn’t anything earth-shattering here, just a lot of Sony stuff. Some of it is neat, most of it I’ve already seen at Bic and Yodobashi. The 70″ Flat panel 1080p HDTV was nice. Very very nice. Probably costs well over $20k, though.

Kyukyodo

Ginza Wandering--Kyukyodo

Then I got my bearings again, and went to Kyukyodo, a very nice stationery store. I looked around a bit, then saw an interesting calligraphy exhibit on the 3rd and 4th floors, and moved on. It’s a nice store, with some really good-looking calligraphy tools, but if you really want stationery, head a few blocks down Ginza Dori to Itoya.

Paper Paradise

Itoya. It’s like heaven for those of us who love pens, paper, paint, brushes, and all of that good stuff. I found all kinds of neat things there. I found brushes for my brother-in-law, and I also found brush markers for myself (don’t worry Bill, I got you a few as well.) They’re black ink markers, but they have a synthetic brush tip. Not felt. It’s an actual brush. Very cool. I got my mom some fine paper and envelopes, and I bought myself a pretty printed calendar and some flat bar paperweights for calligraphy.

If I had time, I would have spent all day there. They have 3 different buildings. They even have a scrap-booking center, if you’re into that. (My sister is.) The main building has 8 floors and a basement full of goodies. Just look for the big red paperclip next to Matsuya department store.

Just a ways back towards the station and across the street is the Apple Store on Ginza Dori. It’s nice. It’s an Apple Store. I checked it out, but it didn’t really do much for me. Really, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all. It’s not like they have anything special there you can’t get at the mall, you know?

Look, it’s LV! So it’s Ginza!

Ginza Wandering

Ginza is nice, but it’s mostly overpriced. Itoya was one of the more reasonable places I found there. Most of the other stuff is boutique stuff with names of people I couldn’t care less about.

But then those who know me, know that I’m not one to worry about names as much as I worry about pockets. You can’t have enough pockets!

Maruzen

After that, it was time to move on to Marunouchi, and a visit to Maruzen, the other wonderful bookstore in Tokyo. After a short ride on the Marunouchi line, followed by lots of wandering underground, and offers of help from nice people, I found exit B-4, and found the way to Maruzen. (I wound up closer to Tokyo station than to Otemachi station, though.)

So Maruzen. Ahh… so many nice Japanese books. I did find a really nice JP-> JP dictionary that was mentioned on another site here:

http://tinyurl.com/2cx9x2

I thought I was looking in the right area, but in the end I had to cave in and ask for help.

I also raided their manga section. Manga is a great way to learn Japanese while being entertained at the same time. The downside is that it’s pricey outside of Japan. $3 for manga here, compared to $9-$15 in the U.S. I’d buy more from Amazon.co.jp, but the shipping is too painful.

So I’m stocking up here.

The downside– it’s all heavy.

Carrying it all around drained me. I was starving, so I stopped at a cafe underneath Maruzen, grabbed a bite, then hit the Marunouchi line back to Shinjuku. Then I took time to grab a quick shower and rest a little.

Harajuku, Kiddy Land, and Roppongi

Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be rainy, so one priority tonight is to find an umbrella that does not suck. Most of the umbrellas you can get here fail utterly to cover my American bigness. I’m not fat, I’m just tall with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. (Wait, am I fat???) I’ll put it this way– I’m not fat for an American. In the U.S., I use a golf umbrella, and that works okay.

After a little rest and recovery, it was off to Harajuku to go to Kiddyland, a 5- story toy store. But it’s not the kind of toy store you’d expect. They have some cool stuff, and some weird stuff. Not all of it is for kids, either. I found some presents there. Prowling all the various levels was fun. The 4-foot high stuffed Hello Kitty was a little creepy, but Kitty-chan is popular here.

One thing you’ll notice pretty quickly is that most stores in Japan are multi-floor, so there will be a cashier on each floor to take all of your purchases to. I suppose it’s not really different from US department stores, really. Stores are taller in the big cities in Japan because it’s cheaper to build “up” than “out,” unlike most of the US.

I guess because I live in a more suburban area in the U.S., I’m not used to going to stores with a lot of floors. I’m more used to 20,000-50,000 square foot one-story monster stores with just one checkout area.

I set off for Roppongi to see Tokyo Midtown and have dinner there. Tokyo Midtown is a huge building with lots of expensive stores and some expensive and some kind-of-reasonably-priced restaurants. I had dinner there, because I heard there were a lot of good restaurants there. And they do exist. It’s just that some close at 9 p.m., some close at 11 p.m., and some close at midnight. It’s a little confusing. Most of the carry-out restaurants close at 9 p.m., so if you remember that, you’re one step ahead of the game.

I found a nice little restaurant and had some fried cheese wontons, followed by some squid tempura (which was incredible: so soft, and not chewy), and some small slices of roast duck with grilled spring onion. With 2 ginger ales, that wound up costing 3,300 yen.

Ouch.

But it was so good.

A tip– if you go to a restaurant and can’t make heads or tails out of the menu, ask if they have an English menu. A lot of restaurants do.

Eigo no menyuu ga arimasu ka?” It’s a very handy phrase to know.

Then I made a blunder. I got Tokyo Midtown’s tower confused with Tokyo Skyview, which is also in Roppongi. Midtown does NOT have an observation deck available to the public, or so the sign told me.

Shinjuku at Night

It was almost 10, so I caught a train back to Shinjuku, and after consulting the 4 squids trying to hump each other, also known as the map of the Tokyo subway and train lines, I figured out which tentacle to ride back.  I’ve consulted many versions of this map, and nobody seems to be able to make it not look confusing.

Just go with it.

The train ride back was crowded. Even at 10 p.m., the trains are packed. Get used to it. I recommend wearing clothes that breathe. Much as I love cotton, it doesn’t breathe. That’s one big regret right there.

When I got back to JR Shinjuku, I took a few photos from the bridge:

JR Shinjuku at night:

Shinjuku at Night

Shinjuku at Night

Times Square:

Shinjuku at Night

Shinjuku at Night

Time Square decorations:

Shinjuku at Night

The rain has already started, and I don’t have a decent umbrella, so that will be my first objective for tomorrow. Or maybe my second. First I need to figure out what to do in the rain. At least in Tokyo there are a lot of underground passages to get from one place to another, and that’s pretty darn handy.

I’m thinking I may head to Jinbo-cho to check out some print stores, and some book stores there. One other thing I need to locate is a cardboard tube, and maybe someone there will know where I can acquire one.

There are SO many things I want to buy here… ugh. Must restrain self, must restrain self…

Yeah, right.

Tokyoverload.

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Nov 082007
 

Leaving Sendai

Finally made it to Tokyo. A brief synopsis of the day: First, a jar of KitKats. Jar of Kit Kats Yep, a glass jar full of KitKats. Never seen one of those! Jar of Kit Kats I got up early to make my 10 a.m. checkout, went to the station, and made some calls overseas to the family. (Hi family!) I took some photos of the area around JR Sendai:Sendai Ekimae Sendai Ekimae Sendai Ekimae Sendai Ekimae Sendai Ekimae I headed into the station (JR Sendai): JR Sendai A little closer in: JR Sendai Here’s my ride to Tokyo, another Max Yamabiko: JR Sendai--Platform--Max Yamabiko JR Sendai--Platform--Max Yamabiko JR Sendai--Platform--Max Yamabiko Then I hopped on my last Shinkansen, the Hayate 10. It only took an hour and a half to get to Tokyo from Sendai. Nice. I’m a little bummed that I can’t ride anymore for a while. Riding super-fast express trains is really nice. I love the idea of getting somewhere without having to mess around with airport security. I can just grab my bag, grab a train, and get somewhere fast without the body cavity search.

Arriving in Tokyo

When I got to Tokyo, before I left the platform, I took some photos of the shinkansen engines in the vicinity. These were taken with my cell phone camera, so they’re kind of grainy: Tokyo Station Tokyo Station Tokyo Station Tokyo Station One last shot of the platform: Tokyo Station Tokyo station is big, full of shops, and it can be a little overwhelming. The info desk was my first target, and it turned out to be a miss. No English language info I could find. Oh well. I went to the map and figured out how to get to Shinjuku by myself. I grabbed a Rapid train on the Chuo line, and got to Shinjuku in about 15 minutes. I’m glad I picked the Chuo line instead of the Yamanote line, because there was an accident on the Yamanote line, and it was delayed. The Yamanote line is a very useful train line in Tokyo. It goes in a huge loop around the “center” of the city. I use quotes because the city is so huge… and really center-less. But the Yamanote will save you, usually. The Chuo line is useful because it cuts across the middle of the Yamanote doughnut, and it has rapid and express trains that skip the custard in the middle. Anyway, I made it to Shinjuku.

Shinjuku Shuffle

Shinjuku is a bit chaotic. For starters, the station is big, and it’s got a lot of people trying to go in 800 different directions all at once. This can make things confusing. Since I already knew where I wanted to go, it wasn’t such a big deal. I just chose to move a little slowly to get there without getting crushed. Finding the hotel wasn’t too bad, either. I just used my powers of deduction, and found a map. (With North pointing down again, of course.) This is where having the Tokyo City Atlas by Kodansha, or Time Out Tokyo can be a real lifesaver, because both have good maps, and you will need good maps. Now, the hotel. It’s the Hotel Sunroute Shinjuku. Granted, I’m paying a little bit extra for this room. It’s running me $120 a night. But oh my god is it awesome. Right now, I’m staring at the best room view I’ve had in a loooong time, and the best one in Japan so far. (Sorry Hiroshima.) I’m looking out over the skyscrapers in Shinjuku. It’s an impressive view. (Photos were taken on a few different days.) Shinjuku-- My Hotel Room-- The View The View from my Hotel Room The View from my Hotel Room The View from my Hotel Room The chair is comfy, the room has A/C or heating, whichever I want, a full range of soaps/shampoos, even shaving cream, an HDTV that doesn’t suck, ethernet (although the connection is a little sucky), a fridge, a humidifier, pants press, you name it. 10/10 so far. Even the keys are cool. They use RFIDs instead of swipe keys, so you just touch the key to the door, and it unlocks. My hotel room is really nice (taken the day I left Japan, actually, but it fits in this post): Shinjuku-- My Hotel Room The only freaky thing is the glass door to the bathroom, and the window in the bathroom. That’s kind of… weird. In a sort of cool but not altogether uncreepy sort of way, if you get my drift. Shinjuku-- My Hotel Room Oh! And before I forget– I found out why rooms are so scarce– the Tokyo Motor Show is still going on. At least I think that’s the reason… Either way, as soon as I can translate the flyer, I’ll go find it and check it out. I think. Maybe? There’s so much I want to do here, I’m suffering from overload. Ugh. (time jump of a few hours)

Shopping

I just got back from wandering around a bit. I went to the big Kinokuniya (a book store), the one by Takashimaya (a huge dept. store), and just wandered for an hour or so, totally lost. There are so many books I want to get, but I honestly don’t know where to start. Add to that 6 floors of books, and, well… I have a feeling that when I go to Akihabara, I’m going to be a mess. I know one thing I really want to buy, but I can’t afford… a laptop with a JP keyboard on it. I used a JP keyboard in Okazaki, and it makes switching over from EN to JP soooo much easier. But yeah… Kinokuniya is totally overwhelming to me. I guess I’ll just have to go once a day until I get comfortable or something. After that, it was Takashimaya’s basement for dinner. So much good food… but so expensive compared to the other department stores I’ve been to. Yikes. I had some tonkatsu chunks (yum), some more yakitori with negi, a sandwich, and some salad. One bummer- the person I was going to meet to talk about working here… had to go back to the US for an emergency. Shoot.

After Dinner Stroll

After dinner, I headed out to the electronics stores in Shinjuku. There’s a huge Bic Camera there, as well as a monstrously huge Yodobashi Camera. I think that one spans eight buildings. After checking out Bic, I headed over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building for the free observation deck on the 45th floor. Heading to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building: Shinjuku at Night Shinjuku at Night What’s the best thing you can say about the 45th floor observation level? Well… it’s free. The views are nice, but forget about getting a really good picture. Too much glare on the windows. And yes, there are some horrendous souvenir shops there, too. And evil toy machines from hell. Views from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building: Shinjuku at Night Shinjuku at Night After that, I started to head back “home.” I stopped at Yodobashi Camera, and they were still open. They only closed at 10:00 p.m. Wow, Tokyo sure is different from the rest of Japan. If this was Nagano, all we’d see are tumbleweeds at 10 p.m. Nice store, but it was too close to closing time to check it out. I stopped by the conbini across the street from my hotel. No decent food there. I need to find a 7-11 or a Lawson or something. I did some research, and the Tokyo Motor Show is in Chiba, so I’m not going. Chiba is way out by Narita, and that would just kill a day I can’t afford to kill. Tomorrow will be a shopping day, I think. I’ll do some of that to clear my head and then settle on some touristy stops later. That way I can make sure to bring home what I want to bring home, ya know?

Buses in Japan. How to Cope.

 Japan, Travel  Comments Off on Buses in Japan. How to Cope.
Nov 082007
 

I’ve mentioned buses in Japan before, but I thought I would mention them again to give them a little special attention. In order to get to some out-of-the-way places, you will need to ride buses.  They can be the most intimidating of the various forms of mass transit, because they can be a bit confusing, and because many don’t have a whole lot of English support.

Here’s what you need to know.

In most places that aren’t Tokyo, you enter in the middle of the bus. But not always.

Look for these two guys: 入口 . That means entrance (iriguchi.) It’s the character for “enter,” followed by the character for “mouth.” Handy, huh? So it’s the mouth of the bus you go through to enter.

Don’t enter through the door marked 出口 (deguchi), because that’s the exit.

After you enter, you will need to do one of a few things:

  1. Pull a paper ticket with a number on it from a little machine. This is the stop number where you got on the bus. You’ll need this to figure out your fare later.  If you walk in without doing it, the driver will tell you to pick one up. (That’s why he’s talking to you! Get a ticket!) OR
  2. Tap your electronic fare card if you have one. This is much easier, but isn’t available everywhere. OR
  3. Insert your pass if you have a day pass or a multi-day pass. OR
  4. Pay a fixed amount there.

The first bus you ride in a town will be a bit confusing, but once you figure out the drill, you’ll be fine. Just get a few steps back in line and watch what the others are doing. (They already know how it works!) Then use your observational data to forge ahead!

While you’re on the bus, you need pay attention. You should either pick up a bus map, or have some other way of knowing what stop you need to get off at.

Look around: you’ll probably see a linear map of the route on the interior of the bus, with the stops marked (usually, but not always) in English. Make a note of the stops before yours, and keep an ear out for them. Of course, this advice does you no good at all if you can’t read the map. In that case, ask the driver, or just ask around.

Just don’t fall asleep.

Assuming you’ve remembered your stop, and you’re about to reach it, if you have a numbered slip of paper, now is the time to look at it, then check your number on the board by the driver’s head. That number is how much you pay in yen. Pay in exact change if at all possible.

What do you do if you don’t have exact change? Well, there’s usually a change machine right in the front of the bus, and it’s part of the whole fare-receiving unit, usually. Fares get dumped in the hopper at the top. You just dump the slip and the money in there, and it goes along a little belt so the driver can see you’ve put in the right amount. Use the change machine to break any 1000 yen notes or 500 yen or 100 yen coins.

Just don’t drop a 500 yen coin in the hopper and expect to get change. You won’t. Once it’s in the hopper, it’s in the hopper.

Ask the driver which bit is the change machine before you start putting money into things. Sometimes the driver is the change machine.

And try to ask a lot of questions before you get on the bus to make sure you know where you’re going, and which buses you need.

A little research will make it a lot easier.

Matsushima, Seagulls, The Magnificent View, and Taiyaki. Part Two

 Japan, Photos, Travel  Comments Off on Matsushima, Seagulls, The Magnificent View, and Taiyaki. Part Two
Nov 072007
 

Oku-Matsushima, A Hidden Gem… If you could hide something that big.

At the station, I got on the train to Nobiru. When I got there, I talked to the lady in the shop at the station, and rented the bicycle (there’s only one, and it was available!) for 300 yen for 4 hours. I was warned– the shop closes at 5 (of course), so I had to get the bike back by then.

I got my bike at 3 p.m., so I had to hustle, just like in Togakushi. I’ll admit it. I like working to a tight deadline, because it focuses me.

It’s 5 km to Otakamori, which is a really big hill/tiny mountain. According to Lonely Planet, it’s the best way to see the islands that make up Matsushima. So I got on the bike.

The ride was easy on my legs and my eyes. The terrain was mostly flat, with small, gentle hills, but nothing too taxing. There was lots of pretty scenery I didn’t have time to photograph, but it’s worth the trip. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get there, because at the 2.5 km to go point, the signs don’t say much more until you get there. (It reminds me of New Jersey in that regard.) But it’s pretty much a straight shot.

When I found the mountain, I saw that there were 2 trails. I just picked one with a parking lot nearby to park my bike and leave. (First I grabbed some water because I was already hurting. Vending machines really are everywhere!)

If the view from the parking lot is this good, then the Magnificent View must really be magnificent!

Oku Matsushima

Now we climb a big stairway:

Climbing Otakamori

I stopped for a few photos at the top of the stairs:

Climbing Otakamori

This is the road I came in on:

Climbing Otakamori

Climbing Otakamori

I started climbing again. It hurt after a long bike ride.

Then I see the first sign– 700m to the top.

Climbing Otakamori

The part of me that didn’t die in Togakushi… dies. It’s not a fun climb at all. It’s steep, uneven, and painful after a 5 km bike ride. My thighs officially hate me now. More climbing. More pain.

Climbing Otakamori

I pass through an area full of dragonflies. Neat. Then I pass an area full of bluebottle flies. Not so neat. I hate those. I think they could sense that I was exhausted, so they buzzed me constantly.

400 meters to the summit!

Climbing Otakamori

Catching glimpses of the view:

Climbing Otakamori

More climbing:

Climbing Otakamori

And more glimpses:

Climbing Otakamori

I liked this sign as I got near the top. It’s telling you to put out your cigarettes completely! So do it!

Climbing Otakamori

After about 20 minutes, I made it to the top.

Wow.

The Best Matsushima Experience Money Can’t Buy (The Magnificent View)

It’s another one of those OHMYGOD moments. The views were stunning. Just incredible. The sun was about to set in about 30 minutes, so the light was dramatic and golden, and just wonderful. There were five of us at the summit, and we were all sort of grinning to ourselves, because we were having the best Matsushima experience you can have.

And it was free.

No boats, no tour groups, no megaphones, no broken English explanations of rocks, no  seagulls, no cheesy souvenirs. Just a couple of benches, an info map thing, and a little covered area to sit.

Oh, and some of the most incredible scenery ever.

In Japan, this spot gives what’s called the “Magnificent View” of Matsushima. Indeed.

I felt smart again. I was feeling dumb earlier in the day when I first got to Matsushima. Now I felt like I was smart again. Whew.

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

That road is the road I rode my rental bike on:

The Magnificent View

close-up:

The Magnificent View

More of the non-Matsushima side:

The Magnificent View

Back to the Matsushima side again, with a wide-angle adapter:

The Magnificent View

 

The Magnificent View

 

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

This guide stone shows the names and locations of islands and landmarks:

Guide Stone

Pull out a bit and you see it on the summit:

Otakamori Summit

Some close ups of the bay:

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

The Magnificent View

Close up of the town:

The Magnificent View

Now the hard part: getting back. If I thought uphill was bad, downhill was worse, because it was a controlled crash down the hill. I was trying to keep momentum up without falling, and everything was uneven. Not fun. But I was still glowing from the view and the pictures.

I took a few photos from the top of the stairs, since it was sunset. Or almost sunset:

Sunset from the top of the stairs. The conical buildings are a museum of ancient artifacts:

View from the top of the Stairs on the Way Down

View from the top of the Stairs on the Way Down

View from the top of the Stairs on the Way Down

Last shot as I left on my bike:

Parting Shot

Then the bike ride back. Ouch. 5 km of more pain. I made it back in time, though, with about 20 minutes to spare.

I got on the train (it was a local. Dang.), and sat there for a minute. Then I saw a limited express come in… and I thought it said “Sendai” on it. So I jumped on board… and promptly went the wrong way. D’oh. 2 stops later, I wound up in Rikuzen-Ono Station. It was the tiniest train station I’ve seen. Ever. The scenery was pretty, though, so I didn’t feel too bad about the screw-up.

I took some photos with my Motorola Razr V3X, so they’re not all that hot:

Rikuzen Ono Station:

Rikuzen-Ono Station

Rikuzen-Ono Station

Rikuzen-Ono Station

Dusk on the platform:

Rikuzen-Ono Station

Rikuzen-Ono Station

I waited another 15-20 minutes, enjoyed the scenery, and caught a limited express back to Sendai. (This time I double-checked.)

OMG Taiyaki

Then dinner. More raiding of various department stores. The department stores here totally rock. You can find just about anything there. I got some yakitori with negi… it’s grilled chicken and spring onions on a stick in a sweet soy-based sauce, then I grabbed some more tonkatsu chunks (breaded deep fried pork.) For dessert, I stood in line 30 minutes for taiyaki.

Taiyaki is a grilled pastry (sort of like waffles) with paste inside in the shape of a carp. I mentioned it a few posts ago. It was very hot, and very good. They had red bean paste and cream, so I got one of each. I think I like the cream better, but if they had chocolate, I’d never leave.

Probably because I wouldn’t fit on the airplane anymore.

Then I headed back here to the hotel to collapse.

I think I walked about 5-6 km again today, with about 10 km of cycling mixed in. No wonder I’m so hungry all the time.

The Lonely Planet guide isn’t 100%, but it got this right. Definitely go to Oku-Matsushima and climb that blasted hill. It’s another one of those, “Oh yeah, this is why I travel,” moments.

Tomorrow is my last Shinkansen ride– to Tokyo for 6 days of sight-seeing and rabid purchasing.

Fun.

Then I can come back to the U.S. and experience reverse culture shock.

Note from 8/2011: The 3/11 tsunami caused a lot of damage to the Tohoku region, and it pretty much wiped out Nobiru, a lot of the buildings and the road I rode to Otakamori, and the little station I wound up in accidentally, Rikuzen-Ono, which was near Higashi Matsushima. The tsunami even got one of the local trains as it was moving up the coast.

Miyatojima, the island that Otakamori is located on, was cut off from the mainland by the tsunami, but I haven’t heard any updates recently.

Matsushima itself didn’t get much in the way of damage, because it was shielded by its bay, but parts of Sendai (especially near the coast) got heavily damaged. Choumei-Ana in the last post was destroyed.

Before venturing to the area, you should definitely call ahead to make sure that the roads are clear, and that you won’t be a burden.

Otherwise, it’s a great place, full of great people who could really use your help and your tourist dollars. (And maybe while you’re there, you could volunteer a little, too!)

This is yet another reminder that every place I visit, I should treat as though I might not ever get the chance to see it again. If the events of 9/11 and 3/11 didn’t highlight this lesson for me, the recent London riots have underlined it for me.

Matsushima, Seagulls, The Magnificent View, and Taiyaki. Part One.

 Japan, Photos, Travel  Comments Off on Matsushima, Seagulls, The Magnificent View, and Taiyaki. Part One.
Nov 072007
 

Today I went to Matsushima. Matsushima is one of the traditional Three Famous Sights You Have to See in Japan. Miyajima is one of the others, and the third is the Heavenly Bridge, which I had to skip due to time constraints.

Matsushima is Japanese for Pine Island or Islands, since nouns in Japanese can refer to either the singular and plural.

In this case it’s really plural.

There are more than 250 islands, covered with scraggly pine trees. And because it’s on the Top Three list, it means there’s never any shortage of tourists coming to see it. Raises hand.

I slept in again today until 9:30 to make sure I was really well-rested, because I knew I’d need all of my energy to get through this day. Sure enough, I went through all of my reserves.

To get to Matsushima, I took the Senseki line to Matsushima Kaigan. Don’t take the other line to Matsushima, because it’ll add a bunch of time to your trip. It took me about 40 minutes to get there. Try to aim for a limited express train, and not a local. Local trains are really slow.

The Bird Boat

The Lonely Planet guidebook says that Matsushima is overrun with touristy stuff. Yep! They also say that the cruises through the bay are really cheesy. Yep again!

Approaching the docks:

Matsushima Docks

The boat I didn’t take:

Ryuuhou's Final Cruise

It looks impressive on the water, but a little cheesy:

The Ryuuhou

Cheesiness aside, the cruises do offer a few interesting points:

  1. It’s a boat ride. Fun! At one point, we left the bay and were in the Pacific Ocean.
  2. It’s an opportunity to dump 1400-2000 yen into the local economy. I bought a ticket for 1400 yen, then was offered the chance to upgrade to first class for 600 more yen. It’s a no-brainer, if a bit of a bait-and-switch. But I went first class anyway, because that way I could go outside and take pictures from the upper deck. Otherwise, I would have been stuck in a stifling hot cabin packed in with the other tourists. If I was going to the trouble to come all the way here, then I might as well go first class! (They already got me for 1400 yen anyway. 600 more? Sure, why not.)
  3. There are English explanations, albeit a bit odd. I think the woman giving them was doing it in a Russian accent.
  4. You get to see Japanese people enjoy themselves feeding seagulls.

Wait. Huh?

Yes. The big deal with the cruise for me was to see the islands. For everyone else outside on the deck, they were more interested in feeding snacks to aquatic sky rats. My brain totally jumped the tracks on that one.

Seagulls.

Seagulls.

I’ll admit it.  I’ve never thought much of seagulls. They’re just pigeons of the sea, and pigeons are sky rats. So I was totally and utterly confused as to why anyone would think feeding garbage-picking birds would be fun.

Maybe it’s because I was born on a beach, and spent a small chunk of my life near there (in spite of my pale skin). Maybe that has colored my perceptions.

The other annoying thing about the seagulls– they got in the way of half of the pictures I took. There was a huge swarm of them all over the boat, flying around the back end. Ugh. Just… ugh. I wanted to shake the other passengers. “Do you know what you’re doing?!?”

Even if you happen to like seagulls, it’s bad to feed them people food, let alone junk food.

Anyway.

I got some decent shots, I think. And I met a nice retired couple. We had a nice exchange consisting of English and Japanese.

The islands were very nice, when I could see them. See for yourself!

Futagojima (twin islands):

Matsushima Cruise--Futagojima

Close-up (the angle of this island changed as we were moving, if I remember correctly):

Matsushima Cruise--Futagojima

Kaneshima:

Matsushima Cruise-- Kaneshima

Close-up:

Matsushima Cruise-- Kaneshima

Komonejima–Choumei Ana (Update: the thin bridge of rock was destroyed on 3/11 in one of the massive earthquakes):

Matsushima Cruise--Komonejima--Choumei Ana

Komonejima rocks (rocks around Komonejima, to be more accurate!):

Matsushima Cruise--Komonejima

Nioujima:

Matsushima Cruise -- Nioujima

One of many pretty islands I don’t know the name of:

Matsushima Cruise

People work here, too:

Matsushima Cruise

The town of Uratoishihama:

Matsushima Cruise--Uratoishihama

Matsushima, the town, as we start to finish our loop:

Matsushima Cruise

Matsushima Cruise

Coming into port, hoping we don’t all collide:

Coming into Port

Safely approaching the docks! The next groups are already waiting for us to get off the boat already!

Matsushima Cruise

If you want to take the cruise and feed the seagulls, the boats leave at the top of the hour. Just find an old guy with a blue baseball cap. There were dozens of them all over the island, and they all work for the cruise boats to get people there. (That was another Weird Thing. I saw them all over the place.)

Yet another thing about Matsushima you need to know– there’s barely anything in English here. I don’t know if it’s just not popular with the foreign tourists or if it’s something else. You can get a very basic map, and that’s about it.

Oshima

After my adventure among the gulls, it was time to explore some more. There are two islands nearby that you can explore. The little one is Oshima, and the big one is Fukuurajima. There are also famous temples here, but I skipped them. I’m totally burned out.

I was cold, so I went inside the ferry office and got a can of hot cocoa. Canned hot drinks are awesome. You can usually get them from most vending machines, depending on the season. Coffee is the most popular, but you can also get cocoa and then there’s weird Japanese stuff, too, like hot sweet red bean soup. The cocoa is actually pretty hot. You can use the can as a warmer in a pinch. Man, I wish we had those in the U.S.

Heated up, I went to Oshima first. It was very small, very quiet, very nice. Lots of old Buddhist statues, an old shrine, a nice red bridge. Nice stuff. Have a look:

Heading to Oshima:

Looking for Oshima

The path feels like I’m heading to a secret base of some sort. It’s pretty cool.

The path to Oshima

Path to Oshima

Path to Oshima

The bridge is very picturesque:

Bridge to Oshima

Bridge to Oshima

Crossing the bridge!

Bridge to Oshima

The views from Oshima are great. Futagojima:

Futagojima from Oshima

Futagojima from Oshima

Fall colors–a Japanese Maple:

Oshima--Fall Colors

Oshima--Fall Colors

There are a bunch of stone carvings and statues around Oshima:

Path to Oshima

Oshima--Stone Carvings (Statues?)

Oshima--Statue

And a tunnel of sorts:

Oshima--Tunnel

Heading back to Matsushima, I saw this scene:

Oshima Bridge

Fukuurajima

Then I hiked 1 km to Fukuurajima. It has a big red bridge you can’t miss.

Fukuura Bridge, from the boat earlier in the day:

Fukuura Bridge (Toll)

As I approach it from land:

Fukuura Bridge (Toll)

Fukuura Bridge (Toll)

And a 200 yen toll to cross that bridge.

Fukuura Bridge (Toll) Toll Gate

Aww, man.

I paid the toll, anyway.

Mid-bridge view:

Fukuura Bridge (Toll)

Scenery of Fukuurajima from the bridge:

View from the Fukuura Bridge (Toll)

View from the Fukuura Bridge (Toll)

View from the Fukuura Bridge (Toll)

Map:

Fukuurajima Map

I walked across the 280-meter bridge, looked around for 5 minutes, saw there wasn’t much to see besides more shrines and tour groups, and headed out. I decided it was time to move on.

There are other things to see in Matsushima, but it’s touristy in the same way a lot of big Japanese tourist spots are.

Last shot of Matsushima from the bridge before I left for Oku-Matsushima:

Matsushima from the Fukuura Bridge

I headed back to the station to go to Oku-Matsushima, the hidden gem that the big tours skip. Well, that’s what my guidebook said, and so far it had done a good job.

As I was heading back to the station, I bought some french fries in a cone.  It’s pretty clever if you ask me. The fries stand up perfectly straight, so you can eat them hands-free as you walk. Multitasking!

Continued in Part Two!

The Voices!

 Japan, Travel  Comments Off on The Voices!
Nov 072007
 

If you’re in Japan long enough, you’ll notice that everything here talks to you. Everything. And I think it’s all voiced by the same lady. She has a very kind and gentle voice that kindly and gently informs you that the escalator is not a toy, that the bus is arriving, that a train is approaching, that your call can’t be completed, that the elevator doors are closing, that the boat is leaving the dock, that your drink has been dispensed, and so forth.

She’s a hard worker.

It reminds me of one maddening wait in Kyoto for a bus. The bus was running late, so for the next 40 minutes, I heard the same woman repeat the same warning about the escalator every 17 seconds. It took her 9 seconds to gently warn you to be careful when using the escalator, then she would pause for 8 seconds, and then she’d go at it again. I’d hate to work there. I’d go mad after… oh… about 41 minutes.

How did I know exactly how long she took to say what she said? I timed it, of course. I had nothing better to do for 40 minutes.

We Welcome Your Money!

That reminds me of another thing that impresses me about workers in the service industry here: they have to greet every single customer that darkens their door, or threatens to darken their door with an “Irrashaimase!” that has to be perky and energetic, in order to help you part with some of those yen. (Irrashaimase is very polite speech for “I welcome your money.”)

At first, I had no clue what to do. I felt like I had to acknowledge them, so I would nod to them or something. Now I just ignore them like I would any other Wal-Mart greeter. If you try to acknowledge every “Irrashaimase!” tossed your way, you’ll just go mad.

Retail in Japan is hard.

Travel Day. Nagano to Sendai.

 Japan, Travel  Comments Off on Travel Day. Nagano to Sendai.
Nov 062007
 

Today was a travel day from Nagano to Sendai for the most part, just like the headline says. I sent a third package home, and my luggage is still heavy. I still don’t get it. Maybe the junk in my bags is breeding?

The shinkansen is no longer exciting for me. Instead it makes me sleepy. I guess I’m finally used to that bit about being here. The ride from Nagano to Omiya on the Asami was nice, albeit a bit foggy. One really nice part– the Asami cars have a baggage nook I can stick my Big American Suitcase into.

From Omiya to Sendai, I rode on the Max Yamabiko, which is a double-decker shinkansen . It’s pretty cool, except the bit where I had to lug my suitcase upstairs, because there are no baggage nooks. I had to resort to the usual “tuck it behind the back row” trick.

The Max cars are also nice because each car has a little built-in store, so there’s no waiting for the carts to come down the middle of the train cars. They even sell beer, to make the trip a little more relaxing. But, I wasn’t in the mood for beer at 1 in the afternoon. It’s just too early for me.

Finding a Hotel in Tokyo

One thing that really gave me some peace of mind was finally finding a hotel for my 6 days in Tokyo. I was up until 4 a.m. last night trying to find a hotel free for all 6 days, and coming up with nothing. I don’t mind smoking rooms for a night, but for 6? No thanks. So I kept at it. Then I had a brainstorm in the shower this morning, and hit Travelocity. I had tried Expedia, Rakuten, and hotels.co.jp, and had no luck.

Travelocity had a nice hotel in Shinjuku, which is where I wanted to be in the first place. Shinjuku is a great location because it’s where every line runs, so you can pretty much go anywhere from there.

Having the hotel straightened out took a huge weight off my shoulders. I’m sure I could have found something when I got there, but I might not have found something nice. For most of my trip, I haven’t been too obsessed with getting hotels, because it hasn’t been too hard. But certain cities can be a pain to find rooms in. Tokyo and Kyoto come to mind. Osaka and Nara were mildly irritating, but not impossible. Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nagano, and Sendai were pretty easy.

My advice is plain common sense– if you’re going to a big tourist destination, try to nail down a room a bit sooner than you think you’ll need it.

Arrival in Sendai

I have arrived in Sendai, which is on the northeast coast of Honshu, the main island. It’s about 2 hours north of Tokyo by shinkansen. When I got here, I did my usual “Find the information booth” dance, and got some pamphlets, but they were all in Japanese only. It’s a bit frustrating. I wanted some good info on seeing Matsushima in English, but no luck.

I also wanted to see if I could make a short trip to Mt. Zao before heading to Tokyo on Thursday, but that’s going to be a bust. From what I gathered, the buses don’t run all the way to the crater, and only stop at the hot spring. To get to the crater, you have to rent a car in Sendai, and I’m not doing that. Drive on the left? No thanks.

After getting info, I checked in at another Comfort Inn. Another nice room for 6,250 yen a night (go AAA discount). Then some time to play with the TV– very nice. It’s HD, and I think if I feed it money, I can see the HD cable channels. I’m not too sure about that yet. For some reason, someone’s ad text is all over my CNN-J channel, and I can’t get rid of it.

It reminds me of the guy in The Diamond Age who got infected by a virus that made him see Indian TV ads in the corner of his eyes 24/7, and he eventually went insane and killed himself.

But it’s not that bad. It’s more background noise than anything else.

Wandering in Sendai

I did some strolling around Sendai. It’s a very lively city, and a very cold one, too. There are some nice shopping arcades as well. I found some department stores and raided their basements for dinner. I scored some chicken-katsu, a potato croquette, and a sandwich with a chocolate croissant.

On the way back, I saw a very busy taiyaki vendor, and I would have stopped if I didn’t already have food… and hunger. Taiyaki is a fish-shaped pastry filled with sweet red bean paste, and in this shop’s case, white pastry cream. I will go back there tomorrow to sample some of their taiyaki. The line was huge, so it must be good.

The rest of the evening will be spent resting, doing laundry, and puttering around. Matsushima will take a lot out of me tomorrow, so I need to rest up for it.

The longer I’m in Japan, the more I’m loving it here. For a while, I was really wanting to go home. Now I really want to explore more here, but that’s not in the cards for now.

I’ll worry about that when I get home, I guess.

I do think I’m going to get serious about looking for work here when I can get my Japanese to an acceptable level. Japan is fascinating, mystifying, and a hell of a lot of fun all at once, but I need to seriously level up my language skills.

Nagano: Zenkoji and Togakushi: Part Two: Togakushi and Notes

 Japan, Photos, Travel  Comments Off on Nagano: Zenkoji and Togakushi: Part Two: Togakushi and Notes
Nov 052007
 

Togakushi. Tooi.

After some false starts, I finally got communications with the travel and tourism office people to work. I decided to head to Togakushi. It’s a close-ish town with mountains, trees, not many people, and a famous cedar-lined path that leads to a famous local shrine. I know I’m burned out on shrines, but this one is at least out of the way and scenic. I’m game. Maybe I won’t have to fight more groups for photos.

A one-hour-plus bus ride later, I’m at Togakushi Chuu, which is the shrine in the middle of the town. It has a massive set of stairs you have to climb to enter the shrine. After wheezing up the stairs, I made it to the shrine itself. It was nice. Nothing too fancy.

Photos:

From the window of my bus:

On the bus to Togakushi

Togakushi Chuu Shrine:

Togakushi Chuu

This is actually Togakushi Houkou:

Togakushi Houkou

The stairs to Togakushi Chuu (foreshadowing!):

Togakushi Chuu

The honden at Togakushi Chuu:

Togakushi Chuu: Honden

Something I should mention first– Nagano claims to be an international city, but I hadn’t seen one English-language sign at any of the temples I’ve been at so far. Not even one telling me to stay off of something, or take off my shoes. Fortunately, I know enough Japanese to find my way, but I don’t know enough to know much about what I’m seeing, which is a little frustrating.

But I like pretty things, so I can deal with it.

Off to the main shrine. The sign points to the trail, and says it’s 1.4 Km away. Better get hiking!

I started heading down this path to Togakushi Oku Shrine:

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine

I think this sign means it’s 1.4 Km to the shrine:

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine

Okay, now it’s in English. 1.3 Km to the entrance. Well, that can’t be too far from the shrine, right? (It’s also 18.3 Km to Zenkoji, if I feel like a nice long stroll!)

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine

It’s a beautiful hike nonetheless:

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine

1.1 Km…:

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine

Still beautiful:

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine

This map gives you a bit of an idea of where I am, where I’ve been, and where I’m headed. In a way.

Path to Togakushi Oku Shrine: Map

I need to point something else out here first. The buses to Togakushi run every hour or so. The last bus leaves at 8-something p.m., but the bus I need to ride back leaves at 5:10 p.m. That’s because the sun sets around that time, and I don’t want to wander in the Japanese countryside in the dark without a flashlight.

There isn’t another bus until 6:00 p.m., and we’re at altitude. (About 4,500 ft or so?) I set out from the first shrine at 3:00 p.m., and I knew it was going to be close to make it back by 5. So I had to move quickly.

The 1.4 Km hike was very pretty and very strenuous. Lots of uphill climbs, lots of uneven terrain, but lots of gorgeous mountains. Also lots of power lines getting in the way of my pictures. That’s one irritating thing about Japan– power lines and poles everywhere. They seem to just jump into my pictures as if taunting me.

So after 20-30 minutes of hiking, I made it to the entrance to the main shrine. Yay! Finally! (Well, I see the souvenir shop!)

Togakushi Oku Shrine

It’s really pretty.

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Really pretty!

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Then I see the sign.

“Main shrine -> 1900 Meters”

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Ah, crap.

I’m already sore, and now I find out I’m not even halfway there. And I still have to go back at some point! I’m not even 1/4 done with walking for the day!

Ah well. Let’s get moving!

Gorgeous Cedar Trees

The path to the mountain shrine is stunning. It’s lined with trees and is straight as an arrow. Lots of views. Also, along both sides of the path are little gutters, or streams, with water flowing down making a lovely gurgling noise. Very nice.

The nicest part? The sparse number of people. It feels like you’re more alone than ever, and it’s good. Nobody is crowding you, elbowing you, out-camping you for things… it’s just a walk down a tree-lined lane in fall. Everyone there feels that same vibe, too, and they actually nod and smile at you as you walk by. They don’t just bulldoze by you like you’re another obstacle.

Starting down the straight-as-an-arrow path:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

The Outer Gate to the Inner Shrine, guarded by komainu:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Then I reached the highlight of the day so far– a 500 meter long path with a straight row of giant cedar trees lining each side. It’s another travel magic moment. As I said in my Nara post, this is why I love to travel.

The cedar rows. Stunning:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Of course, it’s all uphill, the road is a little rough, and it’s tiring. It’s 48F (maybe), and I’m just wearing my long-sleeve T-shirt because I’m sweating up a storm. I have the voice of the Survivorman guy in my head, reminding me that if I sweat too much in cold weather, it could be dangerous, so I’ve already peeled off my jacket until I’m down to just the T-shirt, and I’m still all sweaty. Also, everything is cotton. I’m learning on this trip that cotton is evil. It does a really good job of trapping sweat and holding it against you.

It’s work, man.

But oh my God, it’s worth it. It’s gorgeous here.

Then the main path runs out:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

And then there are stairs. Lots of stone stairs that are uneven. Be careful!

We start climbing stairs:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Looking back down the stairs:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Now that I’m past the cedar rows and forest, I can start to see the mountains:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Made it to the shrine!

Togakushi Oku Shrine

I finally made it to the shrine a little after 4 p.m. For once, I did the whole purification ritual you’re supposed to do when you enter a shrine.

The water was freezing.

Purify Yourself!

So how does the basic purification ritual work? Simple. There’s a pool of water with dippers in it. You grab the dipper with your right hand, pour water over your left, then switch to the dipper to your left hand to wash your right, then switch again to fill your left hand with water so you can rinse out your mouth. Don’t spit the water back into the basin. Then fill the dipper again and let the water run down the handle to rinse off all of your cooties. Put the dipper back where you found it. If you don’t know what you’re doing, ask someone.

When you’re done, you shake your hands dry like everyone else who doesn’t have a towel. (Or just carry a towel or handkerchief with you, like most people do here.)

I probably could have used some extra purification after all of that sweating. Nevermind, I’m thinking of a shower.

The shrine I’ve been killing myself to get to is a lovely little shrine. It’s small, but the views are what make it impressive. The mountains were just gorgeous.

The views:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Togakushi Oku Shrine

And while small, the shrine has its own charm:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

The Honden:

Togakushi Oku Shrine: Honden

One of the other buildings at the shrine:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Some nice ladies offered to take my picture in front of the honden. I gladly accepted their offer.

Togakushi Oku Shrine: Honden + Dork

I spent a few minutes at the shrine, checked my watch, and started to get nervous. I had to go 3.3 Km in rough mountainous country to get to my bus stop by 5:10 p.m. It was ~4:15 p.m. already. I was pretty sure I could make it, but I had to hustle.

Race to the Bus!

To top it off, I was already sore, and getting more sore by the minute.

Down the mountain I went. It was rough going down. I learned a trick from the older ladies– skip the stairs, and go on the terrain on the side– you move faster.

Heading back through the cedars. Still amazing!:

Togakushi Oku Shrine

Racing to the exit!

Togakushi Oku Shrine

I was burning shoe leather pretty well, so I stopped next to the entrance 1.9 Km from the shrine to buy some postcards and a Sprite (which I had to carry home with me– not a recycling bin in sight), then resumed my forced march to the bus stop.

1.4 Km to go.

Everything hurts.

Toga-kurushii?

I decided to rename Togakushi as Togakurushii while I’m speed-hiking, because kurushii means “excruciatingly painful” in Japanese. It fits. I chuckled to myself, but I kept moving. Suddenly, I found myself going uphill. Huh? I didn’t remember this bit being downhill on the way.

Keep moving, I told myself. Finally, I made it back to the bus stop with 5 minutes to spare. Lucky!

I had time to eat the chocolate croissant I didn’t have time to eat this afternoon for dessert.

The bus came on time and I had another bumpy bus ride home, this time in the dark. The main reason I wanted to catch that bus was because after 4:30 p.m., the sun sets here, and you don’t want to go fumbling around the woods in the dark. That’s a really bad idea.

Another thing I noticed– in rural Japan, stuff closes even sooner. Stores were closed at 5 p.m. sharp here. Some even closed at 4:30 p.m.

Other stuff:

Japanese road construction: when I first saw these long ropes of red lights, I thought something festive was happening. Nope. It’s how they mark off dangerous areas. They use ropes of dirt cheap energy-saving LEDs. Smart. And festive!

Also, they’ve replaced the stop/slow sign guy with a robot of sorts. 2 stands are put up, each with a light, one on each end of the work zone. One light will show a blue arrow to the traffic that can go through, while the other end shows a red light with a countdown timer. Neat. (But it puts the Stop/Slow sign guys out of a job.)

I’ve been seeing more and more countdown timers on crosswalks. It’s sort of an inverted pyramid with red bars. One red bar disappears every 5-10 seconds, then you get to go.

Oh, and crosswalk music. Dammit, I can’t get one of the little songs out of my head. Do-do-do do doo do-do-do do-do-do-do-do. I was even humming it to myself while hiking today. Mom informs me that the song is “When a Body Sees a Body Comin’ Through the Rye…” I still can’t get it out of my head.

Speaking of weird music. At 5 p.m. in Togakushi, I heard mysterious organ music, with no discernible source. It was some sort of church music, too, which is really odd for rural Japan, but I suppose there’s a perfectly good Japanese Reason for it.

EDIT: I found out the reason for the music: it has to do with synchronizing government time, so that everyone knows that it’s 5 p.m. It has something to do with disaster planning and preparedness. It also serves as a “gentle reminder” to the kids out playing that, “Now would be a really good time to go home.” Gotta love NHK.

Oh, and my theory of why is there so much weird and random English? Simple. Nobody over here cares if it’s grammatically correct, because it’s not aimed at us foreigners. It’s aimed at the locals, and they don’t think spelling “Lodge” as “Rodge” is that bad. (I did see a Rodge today.)

I have a new theory of why people avoid me. It’s because they think, “Ah, crap. A foreigner. I bet he’s going to start babbling to me in English any second now, and the only English I remember from High School is ‘Hello. Where is John? Are you John? No, I am Peggy.'”

At least that’s what I figure. Can you remember any of your compulsory high school foreign language? I know if I saw a desperate Frenchman asking for help, part of me would want to just keep walking and feign ignorance, too.

The only French I remember is “Ou est la toilette?” and “Je m’appelle Richard,” so I totally understand.

Total kilometers walked today… uh… 1.4+1.4+1.9+1.9+1.4+.5… that’s 8, right? I’m too tired to do the math.

Tomorrow is travel to Sendai, and not much else. I’m not going to be up for much more than that.

Nov 052007
 

Another day in Nagano. Lots of walking.

LOTS of it.

I got up late. I slept in until 9:30 a.m. because I was tired.

I’m sure Nagano has a lot of great Olympic-related sights, but I decided to skip those. It just didn’t do anything for me, and if I can’t ride the bobsled, what’s the point? (Also, I didn’t want to risk injury on the skating rink at M-Wave.)

Zenkoji

First off was Zenkoji Temple. It’s famous. Or at least the mobs and mobs of people there led me to believe that. It was pretty, but I didn’t get much more out of it than that. Maybe I’m suffering from temple burnout. It was just a huge crush of middle-aged and elderly people shuffling around in tour groups having their pictures taken in staged settings. The photographer would have bleachers set up in the standard “Here’s where I take the group picture” place, and they all lined up and dutifully went through with it.

Definitely not my cup of tea.

I did take a few pictures of it:

Heading to the temple:

Outside Zenkoji Temple

Looking back in the direction I just came:

Heading to Zenkoji Temple

The outer gate is impressive:

Zenkoji Temple, Outer Gate

You can see the inner gate in the distance. Here’s a shopping street full of restaurants and souvenir shops:

Zenkoji Temple, Shopping Area

Getting closer to the inner gate, but there’s nothing to see–it’s closed for renovation.

Zenkoji Temple, Inner Gate

Entering the temple (more shichi-go-san, but no children present today, just tour groups of seniors):

Zenkoji Temple, going in.

Turtles Chillin’ Out:

Zenkoji Temple, Turtles Relaxing.

Shots of Various Temple Buildings:

This is a backlit shot of the inner gate, if I remember correctly.

Zenkoji Temple

Zenkoji Temple

Zenkoji Temple

Zenkoji Temple

Heading out to JR Nagano:

Passing down the souvenir shop street again:

Zenkoji Temple, Heading Out.

Zenkoji Temple, Shopping Area.

After the 1.4 Km hike there, I took the bus to the station to get lunch and get some ideas for seeing mountains and scenic stuff. Something that didn’t involve mobs of tourists and bleachers. Since it was noon, the department store was open, so I bought some sandwiches and a chocolate croissant.

I took a few photos of the area around JR Nagano:

Downtown Nagano

Downtown Nagano

Downtown Nagano

Downtown Nagano

Okay, this post is getting long. Time to break it into two parts. Togakushi is in Part Two!

Slow Train to Nagano

 Japan, Travel  Comments Off on Slow Train to Nagano
Nov 042007
 

Today was another travel day. A very long one, at that. Sayonara, Osaka. It was fun. I have to come back sometime. I really loved it there.

Now off to Nagano, which takes a while to get to from Osaka.

Back in Nagoya

The Business Hotel Nissei was good to me. I got to sleep in until 8:30 a.m., because check-out wasn’t until 11 a.m. Then it was time to lug all my stuff all over Japan again.

I left Shin-Osaka at about 11:30 a.m., and got to Nagoya at around 1:00 p.m. It was time to spawn-camp the coin lockers. I managed to snag lockers for my backpack and day pack, but not for my big suitcase. I had to lug that thing around for a few hours. Note to self: how do you like that big bag now?

I wanted to take a break in Nagoya because I wanted to eat and just not think about riding on a train for a bit. Food eaten, shopping done, feeling refreshed, I went about looking for a train to Nagano.

There are 2 ways you can go from Nagoya to Nagano.

Route #1: the shinkansen. You ride for 1:45 to Tokyo, change to the Nagano shinkansen, then ride for another 1:45. You travel over 580 Km in 3:30. Roughly. If your trains connect nicely. If they don’t, it’s more like 4 hours. But traveling on the shinkansen implies a certain level of style and comfort that I have easily become accustomed to, and spoiled by.

Route #2: take the Shinano Limited Express from Nagoya to Nagano. It’s 250 Km, but it takes you 2:50 to get there. It’s called the “wide view” because the windows are, well, wide. It’s a limited express because while it doesn’t hit every stop, it hits about 10-15, and it doesn’t go that fast through the mountains.

I was going to go the shinkansen route, but I couldn’t get a non-smoking seat reservation for about 2 hours. So it was off to the Shinano.

Taking the Shinano turned out to be a good choice.

Shinano Wide View to Nagano

The Shinano isn’t a shinkansen, so it wasn’t going to race down the tracks, but I enjoyed the ride. Once we got out of the city and into the Japan Alps, the views were stunning, especially with all the fall foliage. And the way the train rode, it was very soothing and very sleep-inducing. I dozed off and on. Kachunk-kachunk, kachunk-kachunk…

I hate that we don’t have a rail network like this in the U.S. Amtrak is getting there, but it’s sloooow.

On this train, the shinkansen luggage trick doesn’t work very well. I had to strain to fit my luggage in behind the last seat, because it’s a much tighter fit. Then again, I had some massive bags with me. (Something I keenly regret over and over.)

The shinkansen Luggage Trick

The shinkansen luggage trick involves taking your bloated American luggage and sticking it behind the last row of seats in the car. There’s plenty of room to put it there. But it’s not always the case with other trains.

Only afterwards did I realize that I was a dummy– there is a baggage area in the front of the car on the Shinano that I just didn’t see.

D’oh.

Nagano

I arrived in Nagano, then had to camp the elevator to get to the taxi stand… seriously, sometimes Japan drives me nuts.

I got to my hotel, the JAL City Hotel, and got settled. I get American Airlines frequent flyer points for staying here- huzzah!

Naturally, the department stores had closed at 7 p.m., because Nagano is a small city, not a big one. I found a restaurant somewhere. I went with something safe tonight, because I was tired and not feeling 100%. You can always get decent pizza in Japan.

And Lawson always has something else food-wise. Japan’s conbinis have saved me on occasions so numerous, I’ve lost count.

Wash My Clothes.

I went back to the hotel. Now things got interesting. I found out my room didn’t have any Internet in it, so the guy at the desk switched me out. A bit of a hassle, but I need my Internet, because I have things to plan. It’s something that more and more hotels offer. (And the ones that don’t have Internet should get with the program!)

Then I asked the guy at the front desk where the nearest laundromat was. Well, he gave me directions, but I think he got confused, or maybe I got confused, because all I saw were strip clubs and those guys in shiny suits who ask you if you’re looking for fun.

Yeah… thanks, but no thanks. I just want my laundry done. Some woman who was dressed in some wild outfit approached me, and I asked her if she knew where the laundromat was. I don’t think she was expecting that.

I still have some Woolite with me, so at least I can have one set of not-too-fragrant clothes. Washing in the sink for the win.

Tomorrow is, uh… uh… I’ll have to get back to you tomorrow with that. I still don’t have a plan.

More Osaka: Giant Crab vs. Giant Octopus vs. Guy in a Clown Suit

 Japan, Photos, Travel  Comments Off on More Osaka: Giant Crab vs. Giant Octopus vs. Guy in a Clown Suit
Nov 032007
 

It’s Saturday in Osaka, and time to go see more stuff. This will be my last full day in Kansai, so I want to make the most of it. I got up at 8 a.m., slowly got my act together, and made sure to get to the Osaka Aquarium (Kaiyukan) by 10:00 a.m., when it opened.

Osaka Aquarium

If you wind up in Osaka on a weekend, and you don’t get to that aquarium within 10 minutes of it opening, you’re done for. Luckily, I got there about 5 minutes after it opened, so the crowds were only annoying, instead of mind-bogglingly crushing.

About a block from the aquarium, there’s a Ferris wheel:

Ferris Wheel

Then there’s another building. In front of that, there was an exhibit of art made from recycled objects by kids (You can see the aquarium looming in the background):

Recylced Art

Recylced Art

Then I got to the aquarium:

Kaiyuukan

Which was already decorated for Christmas. (Early for U.S. standards.):

Christmas at the Kaiyuukan

Then up the stairs on the right to the entrance:

Welcome to the Kaiyuukan

The Aquarium is pretty good. If you don’t speak Japanese, then I recommend getting one of those mildly-annoying audio guides in English for 300 yen, because all of the exhibit explanations are in Japanese only. It’s handy because it turns on as you enter each exhibit, and stops talking when you leave the exhibit.

The only downside is that the script and the reader come off as a little difficult to understand. But it’s understandable enough to get an idea of what’s going on.

The exhibits were all pretty impressive, especially the whale shark. That was huge. They also had seals, sea lions, dolphins, sea otters, and fish as well, in all sorts of environments.

There were also plenty of opportunities to buy stuff. I wound up buying some post cards for my nephew, so he can get an idea of the exhibits there. Everything else was in Japanese, so he would have had to learn the language to get anything out of it. Then again, it couldn’t hurt him to have another language under his belt.

As I left the building at a little after 11 a.m., the hordes were arriving in force. The lines stretched out the door. So go early or don’t go on a weekend.

I saw the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga about 12-13 years ago, and while the one in Osaka is good, the one in Tennessee is better. I haven’t seen the one in Atlanta yet, although I hear it’s even more impressive. The Kaiyukan is good at giving you an idea of what’s in the waters of Japan, as well as all over the world.

There was also a double-size replica of the Santa Maria to ferry people over to the area where Universal Studios Japan is.

I have no idea why it was the Santa Maria.

Santa Maria

But this is Japan, after all. They do things here that make perfect sense for them, and confuse the heck out of us foreigners. I’m already used to it by now.

Another shot of the harbor area (near the Santa Maria):

Osaka Harbor

USJ in the Bag

I had mentioned yesterday that USJ was in my plans for today, but I had to make an executive decision– do I blow 1,500 yen to get there, then another 5,100 yen just on admission to see something I pretty much saw in Orlando? Or do I go back to the hotel, eat lunch, rest for a few minutes, then go to Dotonbori?

Well, duh.

I bagged USJ. I’ll visit it the next time I’m in Osaka. Or Orlando.

Dotonbori

After recharging batteries, it’s time to go to Dotonbori, America-mura, Ebisubashi, and the Kamigata Ukiyoe Museum.

Leaving the hotel:

Heading out of the Hotel

First off, Dotonbori.

It’s a bustling area around the river in Minami. It’s this wild collection of wild stores with even wilder signs. Is it fun? Of course it’s fun!

How is it spelled? I’ve seen it as “Dotombori” and “Dotonbori.” This sign says “Dotonbori, so I’ll go with it:

Dotonbori Sign

Wandering Around Dotonbori

I needed food. I found the takoyaki stand with the biggest line, and waited 10 minutes for excellent takoyaki. (Takoyaki is a grilled octopus dumpling that Osaka’s famous for.) It’s screaming hot, so if you’re not careful, you’ll burn the heck out of your mouth.

The line:

Takoyaki Queue

The stand:

Takoyaki Vendors

I took a lot of pictures around the area while wandering around. It’s a fun area to wander and people-watch. Just stay out of the pachinko parlors if you value your hearing. I’m not sure why, but apparently there’s some rule that every pachinko parlor has to be louder than a jet plane taking off.

Hey, don’t look at me. Rules are rules.

Some more photos:

More Wandering Around Dotonbori

Kuidaore Taro, locally famous:

Kuidaore-Taro

Giant Crab!

Giant Crab!

An octopus eating takoyaki? Cannibal!

Giant Scary Octopus Closeup

Hotel with interesting columns:

Dotonbori Hotel

This one is a restaurant with a ship for a sign:

More Big Signs

All Ferrengi will worship this guy (because he has the lobes for business!):

Another Pachinko Parlor

I may have mentioned this before, but Dotonbori is famous for its canals, which people have been known to jump in whenever the Hanshin Tigers when the Japanese Professional Baseball Championship. (Not very often.)

Dotonbori Canal

Another canal:

Canal

A lot of the canals have barriers to keep people from jumping in. I can’t figure out why anyone would want to, but I guess that’s a local thing.

Ukiyoe Museum

After blowing a few hundred yen on a UFO catcher (a crane game where you pay $10 to try to win a $3 toy), it was off to the Ukiyoe museum. I think I mentioned it yesterday, but ukiyoe is a style of art used to depict famous scenes from Japanese Theater in the 19th century. If you think of traditional Japan, you will probably get the image of an ukiyoe in your head. It’s hard not to.

Or just look at the poster in the photo below:

Ukio-e Museum

The museum has a collection of prints from the 19th century. If you’re a history buff or you’re in to art, then I recommend it. The museum itself is a little small, so you can get through it in less than an hour, which is pretty good for an art museum.

After looking at prints, it was time to hit the gift shop. Cute Things were found and purchased. I swear, Japan knows I’m a sucker for Cute Things. (But most of these are souvenirs for other people.)

America Mura

I set off to see what the big deal about America Mura is about. I’m still not quite sure, to be honest, and I was there.

America Mura

I suppose you could buy clothes there or something? I wasn’t really feeling it.

Shinsaibashi

After America Mura, I wandered some more in Shinsaibashi, another shopping district/arcade just north of Dotonbori. It’s basically a long city street with a roof overhead.

One of the entry points:

Shopping Arcade

Shopping Arcade

I found some hard-to-find souvenirs, and had a delicious custard and chocolate crepe. They make great crepes in Japan. You can get them filled with all kinds of stuff, too. I’m sure you can get them in the U.S., but I’ve never seen lines like that for crepes.

Pro tip: In Japan, if you see a lot of people standing in line for a restaurant and you have an hour or two free, join them in line. Whatever they’re waiting for is probably good enough to make your head explode with one bite. Japan is full of people who will patiently wait 2 hours for a cheeseburger if the cheeseburger is the best damn cheeseburger you’ve ever eaten in your entire life.

I also found Atari-ya? Oh, another pachinko parlor. Dang. Got me all excited for nothing.

Atari-ya?

On the way back to the hotel, look! Glico Man! He’s another Thing that’s Famous Because It’s Famous:

Glico Man

I wandered some more then went back to the hotel to recharge.

Heading Back to the Hotel

Den-Den Town, Bic Camera

Recharged, I set out for Den-Den Town, the Osaka version of Akihabara (the electronics and nerd wish fulfillment zone) and realized too late that I was stupid again. Everything in Den-Den Town closes at 7 p.m., or just about everything. A lot of shopping areas in Japan are like that. If you want to fully experience a shopping area, you have to do it by 7 p.m. You can’t just set out at 7 and hope to catch stores still open. You’ll only get 1/3rd or 1/4th of them that way. The rest of the stores– you know, the ones with the really cool stuff? Yeah, they closed at 7. More like 6:50.

There’s always Akihabara in Tokyo, I guess. I’m still kind of bummed about it, but I think I’ll live.

I stopped by Bic Camera, Osaka style. They were having a deal where you got extra points if you bought something today, so I bought a Japanese PS2. Now I just have to figure out how to carry it around with me for the next week or two. Hey, that is considered a learning aid in my book.

I went back to the hotel to rest a little, and play a little FFTA-2 (it’s awesome), then I went out for dinner.

BBQ, Korean Style

Dinner was great. I found a Korean barbecue place right down the street, and after a few false starts and some odd words on the menu I had never heard of before, I got a lot of tasty slices of raw meat, which I then cooked on the grill built in to the table. I love Korean barbecue now. This trip has totally spoiled me, food-wise. I don’t know how I’m going to scratch my culinary itches in the States now. Pardon me while I go sob quietly in a corner to myself.

I still haven’t seen any really weird vending machines here. I’ve seen ones for beer, cigarettes, drinks, laundry detergent, PPV TV at hotels, ice cream, tickets to enter attractions, camera film, newspapers, and that’s about it. I haven’t seen any really weird stuff yet. I’m going to have to find some now.

Homeless Problem

Japan has a homeless problem. They may not want to admit it, and they may want to ignore it, but it’s there. As soon as Den-Den Town was shutting down, lots of homeless people were bringing their cardboard boxes out and building temporary shelters for the night. I guess every society has the same problems, and no good solutions.

But every city I’ve been in now, I’ve seen lots of homeless people trying to build shelters at night, or camped out in parks. I hope for their sake that either the government or local organizations can get a handle on this problem.

Travel Tips (How to Use Public Transport Effectively!)

The best trick for saving money and hassle on riding the subways? It’s the minimum fare trick. Go to the ticket machine, dump in a few hundred yen, and buy the cheapest ticket you can. When you get where you’re going, if you have to pay more fare, you do it at the fare adjustment machine, and it will give you change. Very simple, very easy, and you don’t wind up overpaying for your subway ticket. (And you don’t wind up missing your train while you try to guess what your fare is going to be.) Better than buying tickets is using one of those fare cards, if they have one in your area.

Buses. Buses are very important to figure out  how to use while in Japan, because it’s the only way you’ll be able to get to some places that aren’t served by trains. Also, taxis can get expensive.

Get on the bus. In some places, a little ticket dispenser will issue you a numbered ticket. (Usually something from 1-40.) It’s telling you what stop you got on the bus. Then as you ride, you’ll see a big board with stop numbers and fares by the driver’s head. That board will tell you how much money you pay if you want to get off now.

When you get to your stop, check your number, look at the board, and dump the ticket and the exact change into the hopper. If you need change, use the change machine built into it. You won’t get change back from dropping a 500 yen coin into the hopper. I learned this the hard way. When in doubt, ask. Also, when you’re going to be riding a lot of buses, ask if there’s a card that lets you use it all day. It saves you from having to mess with the tickets and the coins.

But make sure it’s worth the money first– it isn’t always a good deal.

For example, in Kyoto, some of the buses are 220 yen flat fare buses. Those are the ones to places like Kinkakuji. If you’re just going to Kinkakuji for the day, or that area, the 500 yen all-day pass isn’t worth it, because you’ll only spend 440 yen on fares.

I got interviewed by some people from the Osaka Chamber of Commerce or something similar. They wanted to know the most famous Osakan I could think of… and I guessed Toyotomi Hideyoshi. (I think that’s his name, anyway.) He’s the guy who had the castle built. Heh. They also wanted to know what I thought about Osaka’s famous foods. So I told them- takoyaki is good, but the octopus is a little too chewy for my taste. Okonomiyaki is the clear choice. I could eat that every day. (Insert Homer Simpson drooling noise here.)

Tomorrow, I head to Nagano.

Oh, Osaka! Castles and Towers and Okonomiyaki!

 Food, Japan, Photos, Travel  Comments Off on Oh, Osaka! Castles and Towers and Okonomiyaki!
Nov 022007
 

Today I left fun fun Fukuoka for Osaka. The shinkansen ride took about 2:45, and I got there right at 1:45 p.m.

The way the shinkansen works is that it runs on special tracks designed for high-speed rail. This means that not every station is equipped to handle these trains. So Instead of going to Osaka Station, the shinkansen stops at Shin-Osaka (Shin means ‘new’ in Japanese, by the way. You’ll see a lot of shins in Japan.)

On arrival, I went through my now usual drill whenever I get to a new city in Japan. I get off the train, get out of the way, take my bearings for a few seconds, then start hunting down the information booth, and raid it for maps and pamphlets. I find it’s the most efficient way to find the big sights in a town. I’ll cross-check with guidebook opinions, but I’ll go with the pamphlet’s directions, because Lonely Planet Japan’s directions suck.

The maps of Osaka at the station are great, and they’re free.

Free is good.

The next thing I do when I get to a new town is figure out how I’m going to get to the hotel.

Precisely, how am I going to get out of the station? Most major stations, and even minor ones, have at least 2 and as many as 40 exits.

Yes, 40.

40 exits.

So the exit you pick can become important, because if you choose poorly, you can wind up all turned around and lost. Find the station map, make sure which way North is pointing, then proceed to the exit you need.

Namba Mamba

Shin-Osaka is connected to the subway lines, so it’s not too bad. Follow the subway signs.

It’s kind of far away from my hotel, so I decided to just take subways instead of a cab to the hotel. It might have saved me some time to take a cab, but it’s risky to take cabs in big cities over long distances. Japanese traffic can be horrible, and I didn’t want to risk it.

I got off the subway at Namba station, and promptly got lost. No big surprise there. Prepare to get lost in Japan. It’s just hard to find things sometimes, and it’s oftentimes disorienting. This is why you got the map at the station, anyway. I should have brought a compass. It would have saved me a lot of time.

A nice security guard pointed out the way to go, and I followed it for a bit, then thought I could improve upon it, and got lost again. But this time I knew which way North was, so I figured it out on my own. It took a while, but I found my hotel. It’s the Business Hotel Nissei, and it’s 5,250 yen a night. Dirt cheap, the way I like it. It comes with all the usual amenities, except for Internet.

Ah, well. I’ll survive 2 days without Internet.

I dumped my stuff in the room, which is the tiniest yet– I have to go out into the hallway to change my mind– and made my battle plan. I know I can’t see everything in a city, and if I did, I’d wear myself out and not enjoy it. So I picked today’s and tomorrow’s highlights.

Today I was going to go to Osaka Castle, The Umeda Sky Building Floating Garden Observatory, and wander around Kita Osaka. (Kita is Japanese for North. Another handy word to learn.)

Osaka is broken into 4 districts. Kita (North), Chuo (middle), Minami (South), and the harbor. My goal today was to knock out some sights in Kita and Chuo, and then hit the harbor and Minami on Saturday.

Osaka-jou

Osaka Castle is in Chuo, and it’s very scenic. There’s a lot of hiking involved. I managed to get there just as the sun was starting to set, so I think I got some good shots of the castle. I love the “golden time,” when the sun gets low and the light gets really nice and reddish-orange.

Photos! Outer gate:

Outer Gates

Now some photos of the castle exterior:

Approaching the Castle

Fall colors:

Osaka Castle and Fall Colors

Clouds loom overhead:

Osaka Castle

It looks like someone is climbing outside the guardrail???

Castle Detail

Another angle:

Osaka Castle

Golden light hitting the front of the castle:

Castle Front Bathed in Sunset

I climbed up to the top of the castle, and enjoyed the observation deck. The views from the deck are superb. You can see all of downtown Osaka, and with the late afternoon sun, it was all very beautiful.

Great shot of the castle grounds from the top:

Osaka Skyline

And the Osaka Skyline:

Osaka Skyline

Osaka Skyline

Osaka Skyline

Look, another Ferris wheel!

Osaka Skyline

Osaka Skyline

I went down and took a few pictures of the front of the castle again, bathed in the sunset:

Osaka Castle Facade bathed in Sunset Again

Osaka Castle

On my way out of the castle area, some nice shots:

Osaka Skyline at Sunset

Osaka Skyline at Sunset

I went back down and started walking through the castle park on my way back to the hotel, when I saw a band office. That gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Osaka Municipal Symphonic Band Office

The fountain in the park was pretty.

Fountain

Longer exposure:

Fountain

I walked a little further and saw some of the city’s homeless population setting up tents for the night in the park.

Kita~~!

I headed back to the hotel to rest a bit, because I had just walked about 3 miles on an empty stomach, and I was out of gas. I got back around 6, slept until 7:30, grabbed a quick shower and headed to The Umeda Sky Building Floating Garden Observatory, which is in Kita Osaka by Osaka Station. The area is called Umeda.

The Sky Building is two office towers joined in the middle up high by a big 4-5 story sqaure, so the building kind of looks like a boxy Arc d’ Triumphe. It’s a bit of hassle to get to the observation area, but worth it. Only downside– I got there after 9 p.m., so everything but the deck was closed. That was kind of a bummer.

In Japan, if a store closes at 5 p.m., you better get your stuff by 4:45 p.m., because at 4:50 p.m., they’ve already got everything covered up. At 5 p.m., the metal shutters go down. So it doesn’t really close at 5 p.m. It closes about 15 minutes before that. That’s been my experience so far.

Either way, I was out of a chance at souvenirs. Even the restaurants had closed. Then again, I’ve never been a big fan of any eating establishments at the top of Tall Buildings or Towers, except for the late Windows on the World at the old World Trade Center in New York. That was an incredible restaurant.

In general, though, the food at the top of buildings whose claim to fame is their tallness isn’t so hot. The Space Needle comes immediately to mind for some reason.

To get to the observation deck, you climb 3 flights of stairs, take a glass elevator for 32 stories, then go up a 4-story glass enclosed escalator (kind of like a habitrail tube), then you climb 2 more flights of stairs, and you’re there.

At night, Osaka is gorgeous. The views from the observation deck took my breath away. Totally worth it. I tried to take some pictures, but they probably didn’t do any justice.

Kita Osaka at Night

Kita Osaka at Night

Kita Osaka at Night

 

Had to crop this one a bit:

Kita Osaka at Night

It’s worth a trip there, if you’re in the area.

Music to My Stomach

By now it’s 9:30 p.m., and I’m weak in the knees with hunger. I’ve been walking all day on not enough food, and I need calories badly. But I don’t want more department store or conbini food. I want real Japanese food. Real Osaka food.

I started hunting, and I finally found a place that serves okonomiyaki. It’s a little tiny restaurant called Melody that has 4 tables and a bar. And it’s almost as big as my hotel room. So it’s a tight fit.

Melody

Everyone says okonomiyaki is “a Japanese pancake.” It is not. It is similar in that it’s made from batter and cooked on a griddle, but that’s all. Okonomiyaki is made with a batter with veggies chopped up in it, then you add toppings. The toppings are where it gets fun. I ordered mine “modern,” which means that you cover it with yakisoba (grillled soba noodles in sauce). Then I added shrimp, mayo (which is standard), bonito (dried fish) flakes, and a sweet sauce.

It was so incredibly good. Ah, man. I’m ruined. I don’t know how I’m going to get an okonomiyaki fix in the U.S. now. Let alone, a good one.

Stomach filled, I headed back to the hotel, and made a quick stop at a conbini on the wayto get some supplies for later. (Okay, snacks.) All of this walking consumes a lot of carbs.

I like to believe that, anyway.

Tomorrow I’ll try to visit the Aquarium at the harbor, maybe Universal Studios Japan if I feel like it, or the ukiyoe museum in Minami, and Dotomburi for dinner in Minami. Reality will probably dictate that I dump USJ, but I’ll try to see some of it. I do want to see the ukiyoe place. Ukiyoe is an old style of depicting nature and people. It was popular in the early-mid 19th century.

Random Stuff: you can get license plates where the letters/numbers in the tag light up at night. Way cool.

Everything closes at 8, 9, or 10. Main sights close at 4, 4:30, 5, or 5:30. They have a quick trigger finger on closing stuff. Seriously quick.

Hotels are stingy with power outlets. Bring a power splitter if you can.

Shopping arcades are awesome, and there are lots of shopping arcades in Osaka. I could really dig living here.

The other big Osaka specialty is takoyaki, which are little fried dough balls with octopus inside. I’m going to try to find some to snack on.

Filling in the Blanks

 Japan, Travel  Comments Off on Filling in the Blanks
Nov 022007
 

Okay, I figured out what I’m doing next.

After Osaka it’s Nagano, then Sendai, then Tokyo. I just made the reservations for Nagano and Sendai a little while ago. I’ll deal with Tokyo later.

Nagano is smack in the middle of the Japan Alps, which should be beautiful this time of year, and Sendai has Matsushima, one of the three most beautiful sights of Japan. Miyajima was on that list as well, so I have high expectations for Matsushima.

I know I’ve been going on and on about Beppu, but if I went to Beppu, then I would have had to go all the way back to Kyushu from Osaka, and I don’t like to double-back like that. And it would make the next day’s trip hellishly long. I’m trying to keep train rides under 4 hours, 5 tops. Fukuoka to Osaka is going to be just under 3 hours, which is perfect. It’s enough time to read up on Osaka, but not so long as to be uncomfortable.

Osaka to Nagano is going to be longer, because I have to make a quick stop in Kyoto, but Kyoto is on the way there. And the train from Kyoto to Nagano is a scenic view train, so it should be enjoyable.

I really wanted to go to Hokkaido, but I’ll have to save that for another time. The travel times are just too long there for this trip.

By the way, hyperdia.com rocks. It gives you the entire Japan Rail timetable at your fingertips. Click the English button if you can’t speak 日本語, and it will make sense of a sort.

Hiroshima/Fukuoka. Hello Kitty Robot Overlords.

 Japan, Photos, Travel  Comments Off on Hiroshima/Fukuoka. Hello Kitty Robot Overlords.
Nov 012007
 

Last night in Hiroshima I tried to do laundry again. It’s not always easy to find a hotel that has coin-operated washers that work. Even though the 5,000-7,000 yen a night business hotels tend to have them, they aren’t always in the best shape.

I give you the hotel I stayed in last night as an example. The washing machine was fine. It did an admirable job of washing. But the dryers were all way too tiny, and either didn’t dry the clothes or just squealed like a pig being stabbed with a rusty icepick.

I asked the clerk if there was a laundromat (they call them “Coin Laundry” in Japan) nearby, and he showed me where one was.

Now, usually when I stay near the station, it’s a mixed bag. Sometimes it’s shiny and new, and other times it’s a bit on the older side. Hiroshima has a little of both. Some shiny right next to some not-so-shiny.

The laundromat was a tiny little one with some old machines, and an older couple, who were the owners, working on them.

I asked the man which dryer was the best, and he steered me to the one he just finished repairing. Then I wound up chatting with them in half-Japanese, half-English for the next 45 minutes or so. Turns out they were really nice down-to-earth people. It was a lot of fun talking to them.

Leaving Hiroshima for Fukuoka–Err, I Mean Hakata!

I went back to the hotel, got some sleep, and got up at 8 a.m. to catch my 10 a.m. train to Fukuoka/Hakata. If you want to go to Fukuoka, make sure you tell them you want Hakata Station, not Fukuoka Station. (JR Fukuoka is somewhere in Northern Tohoku, like 1,200 Km away or something.) It was about an hour and a quarter to Fukuoka/Hakata, but much of it was in tunnels, so the scenery wasn’t so hot. No photos.

On the way, I planned my trip to Fukuoka for the day. I didn’t have a whole lot of time, so I went by my usual standbys: a museum, a tall thing with a view, and shopping.

First I headed to the info counter at the station for local brochures and maps. Fukuoka doesn’t really have a “You must do this or you will regret it forever” sort of thing, so it’s pretty much up to you. It is a pretty big city, so there’s a lot of fun things to do. On the downside, there really wasn’t a whole lot worth taking pictures of, either.

I stopped by the hotel to drop off my luggage. Some hotels will let you leave your luggage if you show up before check-in. If not, you can dump it in a locker, but going to the hotel can save you some yen on locker rentals. I found another Comfort Inn, and using my AAA card, I cut the rate down to 5,400 yen. 600 yen is another lunch bento box.

Exploring Hakata and Fukuoka

Then I went to explore Hakata. (Which is what they call this portion of town.) I went to the Hakata Folk Museum and looked at some cool exhibits of daily life in the area over the last 150 or so years. I really like looking at old Meiji, Taisho and Showa period stuff. It’s interesting to see the cultural transformation of Japan from an isolated, almost medieval society into an industrial powerhouse, and how that transformation affected the people of Japan.

They also had this really cool telephone exhibit. When you picked up the receiver, you could hear a couple having a conversation in full-blown Hakata-ben, which is the regional variant of Japanese spoken around here. It was so different from the Japanese I’ve been studying, that couldn’t understand a word, but it was fun, anyway.

On the way out of the Folk Museum, I saw the entrance to Kushida Shrine. I’m all shrine-d out at this point, so I took a few photos and headed on. But it looks like a neat place:

Kushida Shrine in Hakata

I decided to check out Canal City, because I saw some interesting pictures of it somewhere online. It was sort of disappointing. It’s just a mall. Yes, it has some interesting architecture, but in the end it’s still a mall. They did have an amazing arcade there, though.

A few Canal City photos:

Canal City

Canal City

Canal City

The old shopping arcade a block away was much more interesting to me.

Shopping Arcade

I found a store that was selling prints of old Edo– that were printed in the USA. So I didn’t buy any.

I decided to begin my search for Robosquare, which I could not find. The map indicated one place, and it wasn’t there. Nothing but more shopping malls. So I wandered for a bit, saw some scenic canals, and ate my first Mos Burger. It was delicious. The burger is definitely good. So were the fries and onion rings. And the iced cocoa. I love iced cocoa. Japan has some interesting beverages.

Here’s the general vicinity of Mos Burger and the non-existent Robosquare (at least not in this location):

Canals in Fukuoka

Downtown area

By then, it was a little after 3, so I decided to go to the hotel and check in. It’s a VERY nice room for 5,400 yen a night. Seriously, not to sound like a shill or anything, but you should check out the Comfort Inns in Japan. They’re dirt cheap, they have nice amenities, and you can book online pretty easily. They only have one hotel in Tokyo, though, so that’s kind of a bust, but otherwise they’re great. They have hotels all over Japan. (And if you have AAA, you get the 10% discount.)

I have CNN-J on the TV, so I get some English language programming to get a rest. I sacked out until 5, then I went out to see some more sights.

Fukuoka at Night

First I went to Tenjin, the big shopping district, in order to catch a bus to the Fukuoka Tower, the 2nd tallest building/tower thing in Japan. The bus stopped nearby, I got out, and presto! I found Robosquare– 5 miles west of where the map said it was.

A nice lady there showed me a number of very cute robots they had on display.

The first one was Paro, a robot baby seal with fur and those sad seal eyes, and it made cute noises when you petted it. Apparently they use it for therapy for kids, the elderly, and people with mental or emotional problems of one sort or another. It helps people relax. It’s very cute and fluffy. I’m sure if they sold it in the U.S., it would clobber Elmo. (And parents’ wallets, too. Those sensors aren’t free, you know.)

Then I got to play with some of the original Sony Aibos. Cute little robodoggies! It was a lot of fun.

Then she showed me a robot whose name escapes me, but it’s designed to assist the elderly with daily tasks. It doesn’t move much. It’s more like someone to talk to who also handles your e-mail and phone duties… sort of like a robo-secretary, I guess. It was cute.

Then came the robot that had the most personality, but which also scared me a little bit. It was Hello Kitty ROBO. It actually said some funny stuff (all in Japanese, of course), but it was just a little bit creepy, and I never could figure out what you would buy it for. It was more of a toy than a tool. Toys are fine, too, but this one looked pricey.

I thanked the people at Robosquare and left to go to the Fukuoka Tower. It was tall. The views were great, the pictures were difficult to get.

A circular polarizer is a necessity for these kinds of places, and you can’t easily attach them to a compact camera.

Some photos of the Fukuoka skyline at night. Don’t expect too much:

Fukuoka at Night

Fukuoka at Night

Fukuoka at Night

Fukuoka at Night

Fukuoka at Night

Fukuoka at Night

I like photographing Ferris wheels at night. I wish I brought a better camera:

Fukuoka at Night

I made a mad dash back to Tenjin before the department stores closed to find dinner. I love Japanese department stores. They all have such wonderful food in their basements, and you can take it home with you.

After picking up dinner, I took a walk around Tenjin. It’s a lot of fun. It reminds me a bit of Tokyo, only less cold. People are nice and lively, and it feels like a lot of stuff is going on all the time. Tenjin is definitely worth the time, especially in the evening. (But a lot of stores close at 8.) I found my favorite chain in Japan so far– Bic Camera. They have 6 floors of nerd toys. I picked up a camera neck strap, and saw the Epson RD1-s, which is a digital camera that takes Leica M Mount lenses, and is only 240,000 yen (~$2200 US).

I must purge all of my lustful thoughts for a camera I cannot afford.

The best thing I found was on the 6th floor. FFTA-2 for the DS! And a thick as all heck game guide! GET!

I went back to Hakata Station, and my hotel. The station gets depressing at night, because the homeless come in droves to sleep in front of it in the square. It’s a whole different place from the day.

The guidebooks all say that it’s easy to find a yatai (food stall) in Fukuoka, and it’s a thing you should do, but I couldn’t find one tonight. I’ll have to do it some other time. I also didn’t find the good Hakata-style Ramen places, either. I saw a few, but they weren’t the ones I was looking for. That’s something else to save for next time.

Fukuoka looks like a good place to live; the people are nice, the food is good, and there’s normal stuff to do. It may not be a tourist haven, but I was only here for a day, so what do I know? I do like the vibe here.

Anyway, I’m going to get some rest tonight, then I’m off to Osaka tomorrow morning. I’m not sure what I’m doing there yet, but I’ll have 3 hours on the train to figure it out.

After Osaka is _____. I need to fill that in tonight. After _____ is probably Sendai, though, then Tokyo.

_____ is probably Nagano, if I can find a room there.

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