Books and Hot Pizza

 Travel  Comments Off on Books and Hot Pizza
Oct 232012
 

Yesterday was kind of a blur, but I still remember what I was doing.

I slept in until 8:30, ate breakfast with my SO’s folks, and set out for Book Off at around 10 a.m. I probably spent two hours there, just looking at books. All kinds of books. I was looking for some inexpensive light novels, some books about business etiquette, maybe some manga, anything, really, that was cheap and interesting.

I found four books on business manners, and a textbook that teaches business Japanese through role playing. That last one was a bit pricey, but it looks really interesting. The other books were cheap– $9 or so. Considering I’d usually pay three times as much, it was a bargain.

I carried my backpack with me for carrying any books I bought. I learned that in Japan. Backpacks rule for carrying heavy stuff, just make sure they don’t open up on you. Mine did that in Book Off. That was slightly embarrassing.

The Manhattan Book Off has a pretty good selection, but don’t expect to find that obscure book you’ve been searching for there.

Done with Book Off, I walked over to Kinokuniya again, because I didn’t get to spend as much time there as I wanted to yesterday. I looked at some more business books, and wound up getting a good book on keigo by Kotoba no Oji-san (sorry, that’s I how I know him), a book on Embarrassing Japanese (things people say in Japanese that are just bad Japanese, according to the authors), a book of business e-mail expressions, and a book on how to write proper business letters.

I also found a novel to read for later.

While I was in the basement, I found their stationery store. I love Japanese stationery stores. There’s so much interesting stuff to look at, I could easily lose track of time there. I didn’t. But I did find a good brush roll for my calligraphy brushes. The one I have is getting a little too full of brushes, and I picked up 500 sheets of A4 copy/printer paper, so I can send of A4 stuff if I need to. (I’ve been looking for that!)

A lot of the stuff I went to the trouble to buy in Japan, I could have just bought at Kinokuniya.

That made me want to facepalm a bit.

Okay, a lot.

But at least now I know where to get all of this stuff. I wish they had an online stationery store. That would be great.

HOT!

I headed back to the apartment, because I needed to hit the road soon, but I decided to stop off at Frank’s Pizza on 23rd Street to get a bite. Frank’s has good, fast cheese pizza, New York style, which is my favorite. It’s what I grew up on.

Frank’s pizza is great, but I burned the hell out of my tongue. I should have been more patient and given it a chance to cool, but I felt like I was in a hurry, so I roasted my tongue pretty good.

Pain aside, that was good pizza. But it’s hot.

I also had a genuine New York Experience. A guy walked into the store, which is kind of small to begin with, and started barking and howling like a dog. No idea why. That’s just New York for you.

With a lot of help, I got my car loaded up and I left the apartment building at around 3:30 p.m. If I didn’t stop for anything, I might make it home by 12:30. I got an e-mail from one potential employer who was interested in me, and wanted my English resume as soon as possible, so I didn’t want to spend the night on the road.

The traffic around the Holland Tunnel was heavy, so I didn’t get to the Turnpike until 4:30. I had to skip Mitsuwa. Sorry Sis, I’ll buy it online for you.

Traffic was pretty smooth all the way to Baltimore. I saw another photo speed zone, and saw the camera catch a guy ahead of me, so I made sure I pegged it at 55. I don’t want a ticket.

It’s a long drive to NC from NYC. While I was in Virginia, I noticed that at some point, those three yellow lights on the dashboard finally went out. So whatever it was either fixed itself or fell off of the car.

I got home around 1:30 a.m., and got unpacked by about 3.

I slept like a log after that.

All in all, it was a very good trip, and very productive. I’ll have to wait and see how it pans out with the various companies.

Boston to Manhattan

 Travel  Comments Off on Boston to Manhattan
Oct 212012
 

I made it to Manhattan.

I thought about going a different way to Manhattan, because the traffic on I-95 through Connecticut was so unpleasant last time. The valet at the hotel suggested taking the Mass Pike to 84, and just riding that to 287 into the city, I think. It sounded tempting, but I wasn’t feeling adventurous today. I wanted to get to the city quickly and not get lost along the way, so I went the way I came.

There were only one or two areas where traffic jammed up, and it was only for 10-15 minutes or so. Not bad. I made it safely to Manhattan, and got unpacked. I’m staying at my SO’s mother’s apartment, and she took the extra time to help me figure out how to get to B&H Photo on 9th Avenue. She figured it out for me, and I set out.

If you’ve never been to B&H, you should go once. It’s crazy. It’s packed full of people, and there are conveyor belts carrying green boxes full of gear all over the place. It feels like something out of a movie. I wanted to pick up some film for my mom, who still uses a small Leica point-and-shoot film camera, and I wanted a spare battery for my Nex.

You really have to listen carefully at B&H, and pay attention. Things move fast. I blinked for a second and wound up at the wrong counter to pay, but they quickly sent me to the right person. I’ve bought a lot of gear from them over the years, and they never disappoint. I usually buy online because the 10% NYC tax is rough.

I grabbed the 34M crosstown bus to Herald Square Station, and grabbed a train to Bryant Park. From there, Kinokuniya was easy to find. (Well, I used Maps to find it.)

I spent about an hour in Kinokuniya, and I could probably spend several more there. Unfortunately, I needed to get back to the apartment for dinner at 7, so I cut my visit short and went back.

Tomorrow I’ll go back to Kinokuniya, visit Book Off, and we’ll see about anything else. I’m planning on going to Mitsuwa in New Jersey to pick up some stuff for my sister, but I don’t know if I’ll have time.

Makes Me Want to Eat My Phone!

 Japan, Japanese Language, Travel  Comments Off on Makes Me Want to Eat My Phone!
Nov 132011
 

Started off the day by going to Book-Off in Okazaki on 248 to check on a few things. For starters, don’t even bother trying to find Japanese textbooks at Book-Off, because they don’t seem to carry them. I did find some other cheap books there, though.

I headed back to the apartment to drop off my used books, then headed to JR Okazaki to head off to Nagoya again. It was a late start, so I didn’t get to Nagoya until 3:30, and I finally got to Maruzen in Sakae around 4:30 or so. I spent a lot of time looking at book covers. Maruzen has a lot of book covers there, and in a lot of sizes, but unfortunately, they don’t have any big enough to deal with the ultra-thick books I’ve been buying lately.

I went back to the 3rd floor to look at the Japanese language education books again. They have a really good selection. I picked up some good practice books, because for some reason, I suck at particles. I really want to fix the stuff I keep getting wrong.

I Discovered Oatmeal!

Then I went to the grocery store next door, it’s in the Meiji-ya Sakae building. (Look for 明治屋栄.)

The store had a lot of neat “foreign” foods, and a nice selection. It even had Odlum’s Steel Cut Oats, which are sold in the U.S. as McCann’s. Of course, now I feel like a fool for shipping so much oatmeal over in the first place, but I had no idea they would have oatmeal, let alone proper steel cut oatmeal, in Japan. It’s really smashing stuff for breakfast.

Book-Off was having a 105 yen sale, so I grabbed a few books (yeah, I just bought some in Okazaki, now I’m buying more in Sakae).

After that, I headed over to Osu to see if I could find the Kenkyuusha dictionary for my electronic dictionary at the big electronics store there. No luck. I went to one of the used video game stores there, and found Valkyria Chronicles 3 for the PSP for 1200 yen.

This Time, Try Asking Someone

I decided to go back to JR Nagoya and check Bic Camera again to see if I could get my hands on that Kenkyuusha dictionary. This time I decided to ask around a bit. After some asking around and explaining, the salesperson found a copy of the dictionary I wanted. It’s the Kenkyuusha 5th edition 和英 dictionary for the Casio electronic dictionaries. Score!

I used all of the points I had saved up for now to reduce the cost of the dictionary by about 2500 yen. See, this is where point cards are really handy. A 12,000 yen dictionary only cost me about 9,500 yen. Still expensive, but much cheaper than the paper version, which runs around 20,000 yen, and it fits in my pocket. (Sort of.)

Makes Me Want to Eat My Phone

I looked around to see if I could find a privacy guard for my Nexus One. I couldn’t find one that would fit, but I did see a lot of crap I can glue on my cell phone.

They had all kinds of fake crystals and candy and cupcakes and such… I think I’ll pass for now. I don’t want to cut my hands to shreds on platic candy. (Or see plastic candy all the time and get hungry.)

All of this running around made me hungry, so I headed to Mokumoku again to store up on more vegetables and that great beef stew. I really needed those veggies, even if they cost 2500 yen. (Hey, it’s all you can eat.) Dinner was once again delicious, even if my wallet took a hit. I’ll make up for it during the week by eating cheaply.

I know, I could buy local vegetables and make them more cheaply, but I don’t have the time for it right now.

I made it back to JR Okazaki at 10 pm, and got home at about 10:15 or so. I stopped at Family Mart to get some sandwiches, because I eat Spartan during the week. (If Spartans ate pre-made convenience store ham sandwiches, anyway.)

Installing the Dictionary

I spent about an hour installing the dictionary. I had to run it in Vista emulation mode to get it to run in Win 7-64, then I had to load a piece of software from the Casio website just to get the laptop to recognize the electronic dictionary. Pain in the butt, but it works.

If you have trouble installing dictionaries or getting your Casio recognized by Windows 7, I would head to the Casio Japanese website and look for the bonus software for the Ex-Word series. Installing it will install the correct USB drivers for detecting the Ex-Word series of electronic dictionaries. Now you can run the install software on the dictionary disc.

The good news is that you only have to do it once.

The Student’s New Clothes

Now I need to find some big & tall sports clothes. My North Face shirts are rapidly disintegrating, and it’s getting colder these days. Apparently, the velcro on my pants is chewing up the special knit fabric on the North Face shirts, so the net effect is that my shirts are rapidly getting torn up.

Argh.

The main problem is that Japanese men’s clothing sizes don’t go much beyond the US M size. That’s right, their XL is just a bit baggier than our M.

Shopping in Nagoya. In the Rain. Again.

 Japan, Travel  Comments Off on Shopping in Nagoya. In the Rain. Again.
Nov 052011
 

It’s never a good idea to go to Nagoya without a plan. At least it’s not a good idea for me. But I went anyway, because the idea of sitting around all day on a weekend just gnawed at me. And yes, once again, this weekend it’s raining. Argh!

Every week I’ve been in Okazaki, it seems like the weather pattern has been the same. It’s sunny and beautiful all week when I’m in class, it turns cloudy on Friday, and then it rains all day Saturday and Sunday. Expletive expletive weather. This has been going on for about 5 weeks now, and everybody is sick of it.

By everybody I mean me. Although I’m sure I’m not the only person who hates this pattern.

I slept in a bit this morning, and lazed around a little bit while trying to form a plan. What to do in the rain… what to do…

At around 2 p.m., I decided to just go out and do something in Nagoya, so I grabbed the 2:30 train out of Okazaki, and got to Nagoya around 3 p.m. Part of the plan was to get some of the money I spent on my new electronic dictionary back from Bic Camera, because the day I bought it, I found it for 10,000 yen cheaper, and it turns out that Bic slashed the price by 10,000 yen as well. So I decided to follow V-san’s advice and get that 10,000 yen back!

Flick My Bic

I headed over, and sure enough, after a bit of waiting and some shuffling of papers, I got my 10,000 yen back. They had to “sell” me a new one, and I “returned” my old one, and I lost a few points in the process, but I don’t really care. Cash is cash, and with the yen as hideously expensive as it is these days, I’ll take cash any day over points. 10,000 yen is about $120 these days!

Thanks, V-san! You saved me a ton of money!

And Bic, that was awesome.

In Japan, Skippy is in the Imported Food Store, Next to the Caviar

I did some strolling, and found a 5-story drugstore nearby… it looked impressive on the outside, but it was really cramped on the inside. I kind of got wrapped up in a quest to find Pepto Bismol, just in case… yeah, that was a total failure. Not gonna find that outside of Tokyo, I think. Maybe not at all.

Then I wandered around some more, and went to the back of the station, back around, and found a neat International grocery store, called Seijoishii. It’s kind of wedged in back behind the station, behind the Marriott. If you’re craving some goodies from home (i.e. not Japan), they may have what you want. I picked up some Ricola lemon-mint cough drops, because my throat has been killing me on-and-off since I had that cold a month ago.

This is Now a Blog About Me Buying Books… Or Trying to, Anyway.

Then I headed off to see if I could find Sanseido. It shows up in Google Maps, but after walking around the target building and not seeing anything, I gave up and went to Junkudou instead. I found some nice manly-looking cloth book covers there. I’ve been looking for some of those. When you buy books here, they always offer you the paper book covers, but I don’t like them. I wanted the cloth ones for a long time. Sort of like cloth vs. paper grocery bags.

After that, it was off to Sakae, to look around at the Book-Off there, because it’s big. Book-Off sells not just books, but all kinds of second-hand stuff, like jewelry, clothes, sporting goods, electronics… but mostly used books.

I found a bunch of used books on sale for cheap, so I nabbed them.

Then I headed up a stop to Hisayaodori to pick up a few more books. There’s this sci-fi novel series I want to read, and all of the books are about as big a phone books, density-wise. The nice thing about buying them at the store there is that I get freebies for buying them there, but they weigh a freakin’ ton.

Bagging It

I crossed the street to the Tokyu Hands in Hisayaodori to get a cloth shopping bag. I’ve been meaning to do this for a couple of weeks, anyway. The 25 pounds of books that are making my hands go numb have absolutely nothing to do with it.

Okay, it has everything to do with it.

I went up about 5 flights to the floor marked “bags.” No luck. Wrong bags. Up 2 more flights, to “kitchenwares.” All I see are bags that are very much not for me. Then I saw a Trader Joe’s bag.”Well, at least it’s a brand I know…” Then I look over and saw a Whole Foods Market bag, and just laughed, because I shop there in the US. The Whole Foods in Chapel Hill is one of the oldest stores in the chain. It’s been there forever, and before that, it was an independent store called Wellspring, and it was pretty popular even then.

The laugh was on me, though. 1200 yen for a $4 bag. Yeah, I felt like an idiot, but the Trader Joe’s bag was 1600 yen. And all of the other bags had stuff written on it in French, and were too small. No thanks. Give me that American size bag that I can stuff a car or a whole cow into!

It’s Even Carolina Blue!

I’m hungry. On my way to the bookstore in Hisayaodori, I had spotted a nice little restaurant called The Sun Room, in the underground passageway called Cenrtal Park at the Hisayaodori subway station. They serve a lot of organic food there, and some vegetables, I think. Turns out it’s a chain, but it’s fine by me. The spaghetti with mozzarella and asparagus in pesto was good, and cheap.

One thing about restaurants here that’s different from restaurants in the US, and that’s ordering. In Japan, you order everything through dessert up front, then your server never comes back. In the US, the server keeps coming back to make sure you don’t want to order another cow, or another giant tub of ice cream, or whatever. (Now I’m getting hungry again.) It’s something small that I need to remember to adjust to every now and then.

Now it’s 7:30, and I had to rush to Takashimaya at Nagoya Station in a hurry, before it closed, to buy a decent blanket. It’s getting cold, and I can’t run the heater at night without wrecking my throat. So I caught the subway, got to the station, hustled up 9 flights of escalators, and made it to bedding by 7:50. (Hey, I was impressed.) The store clerks helped me find a blanket on sale that would fit my bed that I could wash and hang up to dry without having to wait a month. (Woot.) It’s even Carolina Blue.

And it’s warm and fluffy.

And I did it all in Japanese. Pardon me while I hurt myself patting myself on the back.

Ow.

After that, the store started closing, so the “Get Out!” music started gently playing, to gently tell us to “Get the hell out so we can clean up after you, then get a beer and go home before the trains stop running!”

But in a gentle way.

My Fellow Americans Make Me Want to Facepalm Sometimes. Okay, Frequently.

I decided to go get some Krispy Kremes on the way out. Hey, I had seen them in Sakae already, and I know there’s a Krispy Kreme at Takashimaya here in the station. Sure enough, there it is, and there’s the line. And there was an obnoxious American guy behind me, convinced that this line was just for Japanese people, and didn’t apply to him. He even got out of the line, walked to the counter, and tried to order.

Please dear God, when you go to Japan, don’t be that guy. The lines apply to you, too. You are not special because you’re an American. Get in line with everyone else and have some manners. I really wanted to give him a dope slap with my menu, not that it would make a difference. This is the same kind of guy who goes to a restaurant, orders off the menu, then gives them a bad review online when they can’t get it the way he wants it.

I hate that kind of guy.

Of course, by the time I got to the front of the line, they were out of the good doughnuts, so I got 2 chocolate crullers. I’ll take what I can get.

Then I went back to the international grocery to pick up the last few things. By now, I resemble a pack mule, carrying tons and tons of crap. But I managed to get some peanut butter (Skippy: sadly no JIF available), some more Ricolas, and some chocolate… the good stuff.

I just managed to make the 8:26 train back to Okazaki. The train ride was uneventful, but the bike ride home was… interesting. Juggling all that stuff was not an exercise I wish to repeat. The blanket was very big.

I have to keep unlearning shopping habits learned behind the wheel. If I want it, that means I have to schlep it home; there’s no trunk except my backpack.

Oh well. I have a big bag to carry it all in now!

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