Brian’s Japan Adventure

December 31st, 2007

New Years Eve

Got up around ten, no special plans for the day. I supposed I ought to head over to Megalo and check in to make sure the Internet was still there. It was cold and blowing, and I didn’t want to go, but there wasn’t anything important to do around the house, and I knew it would be my last chance to get out for a few days. So I read a bit, wandered around the house for a bit, and then finally gave in headed outside.

Cold! Wind! Brrrrr!

There was no snow today, but it was colder and windier than yesterday. I see the TV weather is predicting snow tomorrow for all of Japan. I can’t tell how much, or even if it will be enough to measure, but I can sure tell what the little snowman symbol on the map means!

I put on the coat, gloves, and even my hat today and rode to the little station to park my bike and take the bus down to Tenmaya Station, where Megalo, the Internet café, is located. There was literally nowhere to park at the station. I have never seen so many bicycles there before, not on a workday, a school day or any other time, ever. All I can figure is that people rode to the train station to take the train home to their families. New Years is the big “go home to visit family” holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas is in the States. Anyway, I ended up riding a few blocks farther and parking at Happy Town in order to get on the bus there. I considered just riding the bicycle all the way downtown since traffic was light, but it was just too cold. It was obvious on the ride between the little station and Happy Town that most all the little shops were closed. I guess they decided to start the holiday a little early.

I waited about fifteen minutes for the bus to arrive, and I must have debated with myself the whole time about whether or not I should just turn around and go back to the apartment. I wasn’t even sure that Megalo would be open today, and I didn’t want problems getting back if the buses shut down early. But I knew that I wouldn’t even have this option until the weekend, and I needed to look up a few things anyway, so I continued. The buses are on a limited schedule this week, but they do have the times posted, and the bus showed up as planned. As I watched out the window as the bus drove downtown, I saw more and more closed shops. I am really glad I stocked up on food.

Megalo

The bus let out at the Tenmaya station, and I went to McDonalds there. I wasn’t really in the mood for that again, but I figure it’s better than a noodle bowl, and I don’t plan on walking all the way to Co Co Ichiban today. Finishing that, I walk a few hundred feet down the Tenmaya Arcade to Megalo. I handed over my Megalo card, and told them I wanted the Internet for 3 hour special, and they sent me to booth #20. This booth was very near the attendants counter and was very clean and quiet. I unpacked the laptop computer and linked in to their wireless system automatically.

My first order of business was to check email. There wasn’t much this time. Then I posted my blog reports that I had typed up since last Friday. I checked out a few comments about all those pictures I took in Kyoto and then got into Chat with Ptuny, Dreamy, and InstantHuman, three members of my message board. They were mostly discussing art and photos. Dreamy and InstantHuman are photographers, while paints. My Kyoto images came up a few times in the discussion, but I’ll not go into that here. If you haven’t checked them out, they’re at the gallery.

My “big” project for today was to find something for use in K-Sensei’s class next week. It’s the only “serious” lesson I have next week. If you remember back, he asked me to come up with some article or paper to discuss with the class. Actually he suggested something poetic. I think he figures because my degree is in English that I know something about poetry. I all honesty, I actively avoided poetry classes. I am not a “poetry person.”

I did a Google search for “ESL Poetry” and came up with a few things. Some people suggested “Jabberwocky” which I do in fact like a lot for this sort of thing. Ptuny came suggested “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth, while my Sister In Law came up with “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening,” by Robert Frost A poster on an ESL Board suggested “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service. I was pretty much unfamiliar with all these, but I found them and downloaded them. What did teachers do before the Internet came along? I have to figure out which one I will use. I have to be able to talk about one of them for 30-40 minutes and make some kind of useful lecture out of it. I suspect this is my last class with K-Sensei, so I want to impress him. I need to give him a copy of whatever I am going to use on Monday, so I have time to decide.

Then my 3 hours were up. Time goes so quickly when the clock is ticking. So I paid my 995Y and walked to the bus station, which is conveniently close. The bus arrived about five minutes later and took me right to Happy Ton, where I got on the bike and rode home. There was no problem at all, but I know not to go anywhere tomorrow for sure, and probably try to avoid it on the 2nd and 3rd as well. I want to go to Miyajima this week while I still have vacation time and spots left on my seisyun juhachi kippu ticket. I think Friday or Saturday look like the best weather days, so I plan to do it then. The weather report says snow tomorrow, and cloudy and cold on the 2nd and 3rd, but then it gets warmer and sunnier as the weekend progresses.

Arriving home, I read a bit more of the Haiku Apprentice, and now I am about halfway through that book. I could easily finish it tonight or tomorrow. I watched a bit of TV, and they had on a dance contest. It was a lot like “Dancing With The Stars” in America. On another station, they had a bunch of celebrities singing Japanese-style songs in what appeared to be some kind of memorial show for some guy. They kept showing a picture of the man, and looking somber. I’m guessing he wrote the songs or was somehow involved in the music world. I flipped back and forth between the two shows for about an hour.

Japanese New Year

So New Year’s Eve is progressing. Every night for the past week, men have walked past the house a little after 9pm chanting and hitting pieces of wood together. It’s obviously something they do the week preceding New Years, but I don’t know the point of it. Tonight at midnight, people will go out and visit the various neighborhood Shinto shrines for good luck next year. Then they will spend the next three days at home relaxing with family. They don’t do wild drunken New Year’s Eve parties here. They don’t do football on New Years Day. They give presents, send cards, and just enjoy family time. There’s really nothing for me to do, although I’ll stay up to midnight and see if lots of people walk past the house. If they do, I may follow them to investigate. Or maybe I won’t.

One side benefit of being in Japan is that I can sleep in and watch the Times Square ball drop at 2:00 in the afternoon tomorrow. Bwahahahaaa!

[update] I was up till around 1:00am, and nothing happened. There was no procession to the shrine, no fireworks, nothing at all. It was dead quiet outside all night.

December 30th, 2007

What’s That White Stuff?

I slept late and woke up in pain; my back is still messed up. My feet are fine, but I seem to have pulled or pinched something in my back. I’m not even sure that I can blame the backpack on this; it may have been something else. Ow.

I spent the first few hours of the day reading. I finished the book Brother Odd by Dean Koontz around 1:00.  That was the last of my Christmas gift books. It was hard to put down. I put about four hours into it last night another few this morning. Overall, it was a very fast-paced book.

I figured after that it was lunchtime. Wanting to save the noodle bowls for a more desperate day, I decided it was time for McDonalds. The wind was blowing pretty hard outside, and the whistling of the wind had gotten my attention several times this morning. There’s a banner hanging on a pole across the street from the apartment, and it was making quite a racket this morning. I decided to wear my heavy coat this time. It’s the first time I’ve tried it on in ages, and now I remember why I never liked it much; it’s way too big for me. Still, it’s very warm, so I can make it work.

As I moved my bicycle out of my foyer and into the street, something hit me in the eye, making me blink quickly. It was snowing!  This is the first time I have seen snow all year. It’s 46 degrees Fahrenheit, so there’s no fear of it sticking, but it was falling from the sky, vanishing on impact. It wasn’t even wetting the street.  So I rode the bucycle to Happy Town in the snow. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, not at all.

I did the usual McLunch order, then bought some candy at the 100Y store and some bread and butter in the grocery. I figure I can at least make toast; that’s as close to real cooking as I plan to get this week.

On returning home, the snow had stopped. I picked up the new book, The Haiku Apprentice, which started out pretty good. I am already about ¼ of the way through it; so I doubt it’ll take vary long to finish.

[update]

…This is of course until I ended up playing a 6-1/2 hour marathon length version of Civilization. It was neck-and-neck all the way, but I did finally manage to scrape though with a “Time” victory, narrowly beating out Saladin and Mao Zedong.

December 29th, 2007

The Phone Is Off The Hook STILL

I slept in till around 9:30. My ankles are better, but my back still feels pretty messed up. Fortunately, I don’t think there are many places that are even open, much less worth visiting today. So today seems like a good day to get some things done around the house.

The first thing I did was re-read my cellphone manual.  Marc was complaining the other day about how he had used up most of his airtime minutes calling the USA. I told him my phone didn’t allow international calls, and he looked at me like I was crazy.   If his phone can do it, so should mine. So I re-read the instructions, typed in the Parents’ phone number and as always, it said “no connection.”  I am sure I have been doing it right, the instructions in the book are quite clear. Just on a hunch, I dial my brother’s house and it rang just fine. No one was home, but it worked. There is no restriction on my phone after all; it means that every time I have tried to call my parents, their phone has been off the hook. EVERY SINGLE TIME I TRIED IT WITH THAT PHONE. I actually believed that my phone couldn’t call the USA. For four months.

So here’s the plan. If you know my parents, or talk to them regularly in real life (you sure aren’t talking to them on the phone!) tell them to put the damn phone on the hook once in a while!!!   The thing is, I KNOW they aren’t trying to avoid MY calls. I, along with 99% of the rest of the world, am an innocent bystander.

Anyway, I played Civilization for a while, and it killed me pretty quickly this time. My neighbor, Tokugawa, decided he wanted my cities more than my technology and overran me with chariots. Scum!

Finishing my game, ah…prematurely, I decided maybe I should go to Happy Town and start buying groceries for the holiday.  I have found overall that I actually like riding the bicycle as long as it’s not raining, but one disadvantage that nobody can argue is the lack of cargo space. I can carry about two days’ worth of food in my basket on one trip to Happy Town.  A more-or-less four-day holiday means I have to go back for more tomorrow. Happy Town has signs today that say 1/1 – 1/3 on them, but other than that, I don’t know what they say. I’m playing it safe and assuming they say “will be closed.”  If I’m wrong, I’ll still end up eating all that food eventually.

Follow That Signal!

But I don’t go to Happy Town immediately.  For some reason, I slipped my Palm Pilot into my pocket as I left the house. I parked the bike at Happy Town and rode the bus to the big train station. I decided I would search for stray wireless signals. It’s easy with a Palm, you just walk around and look at the signal strength bar graph. Sure enough, I found a weak signal. I followed the signal walking in one direction or another until the signal grew in strength. Yes, I probably looked just a like a spy tracking a homing device in some old movie.

The signal led me to Seattle’s Best Coffee, a coffee shop in the west side of the station that I hadn’t even known existed in Japan until today.  I went in, bought a “Grande Cappuccino” for 390Y, and checked my email and a few news sites just to make sure it all worked. It did. I wouldn’t want to spend a great amount of time there, but it’s yet another backup Internet source if I even need one. And the coffee was pretty good too.

Looks Like Plastic Puke

Since I had pretty good luck with that, I decided to wander around downtown for a little while, since I was there anyway. I walked through Sky Mall 21, for the second time since I came to Japan. There are lots of little plastic food places in here, so I thought I’d check them out now that I am not afraid of plastic food anymore.  It all looked pretty gross, even set in plastic. I walked past the movie theater, although I was half way tempted to see either “I Am Legend” or “Alien Vs. Predator X” I didn’t catch the number on the AVP movie, although I am going to guess it’s still only at number two. 1000Y for a movie isn’t much worse than $8.50 in the States. I may still see one of them this week. It’ll be something different to do.

Not too far fro the end of Sky Mall 21 is Maruzen, the big bookstore. I still have that gift card I received at the Rotary Club meeting, so I went there and used it to buy two more books. There’s no way I can get all these books home, but what else can I do with a book club card other than buy books? I got Essays In Buddhism and A Haiku Life. They both look interesting. Then I hopped on the bus back to Happy Town, where I finally bought the groceries that were the original reason for leaving the house. Mostly I got a variety of noodle bowls. At least they come in umpteen types, and they are cheap enough that if I hate something I don’t mind dumping it.

Getting back to the apartment, it’s 4:30 right now. It’ll be dark soon, and I am done for the day. I think I need to take my revenge on Tokugawa tonight. Forget this “peaceful coexistence” crap. Tonight I am building tanks!

December 28th, 2007

Return From Kyoto

It was an easy decision to come home today, since it was pouring down rain when I woke up and the forecast looked like it was going to continue all day. So I checked out early and left Kyoto at 8:04. Nothing eventful happened on the way back, I simply retraced my steps city by city that took on the way there. It took longer this time due to the train schedules, but not too much longer than expected.  I ended up getting back to Okayama around 1:00 and then had to walk home from the station. I actually got to the apartment at 1:15. It had let up raining while I walked home, but it was still wet, and would rain again before too much longer.

When I left for Kyoto, I emptied my wallet of anything I wouldn’t need on the trip. You just never know what you might lose on a trip like that, so I prefer to carry as little as possible with me. When I got back today, I put my library card, bus card, and bookstore gift card back in and set off for the library.  When I got to the bus stop the bus wouldn’t accept my brand-new bus card. I ended up having to pay for the bus ride in change. I was halfway to the library before I noticed that it was my Hiroshima bus card; I’d left the card for Okayama back on my desk. They look almost identical!  No big problem, but it was confusing for a bit.

I posted all my pre-written blog reports and more than 350 photos from Kyoto. I think some of these pictures are fantastic! I should have some spare time toward the end of my stay here in March, so I may go back and do some more exploring. Kyoto ought to be called “Temple City” of something; I could go somewhere different every day for a month.  I really had wanted to see the Imperial Palace, but it was closed for the Holidays; in March, it should be open.

Ya Gotta Love Youtube

Since I was there anyway, I also watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special on Youtube.  The next real season of who doesn’t start until late spring, so this is the only new show for a very long time. I walked back to the Tenmaya bus station in the rain but at least I had the forethought to take my umbrella this time. When I got to the station, I noticed that the buses to the Hokaiin part of town stop running at 5pm. It appears that the buses are now on holiday hours, from TONIGHT until January 3rd. I looked at my watch: 5:05. ARGH!

I hop on another bus to the train station. I would normally walk, but in the rain, after all the walking I’ve already done, I just wasn’t going to bother tonight. I picked up some “food” at the French bakery inside the station. I got a slice of some very garlic-y pizza, a very spicy hot dg with some kind of pepper sauce, a “tortilla sandwich” (aka a “wrap”) that turned out to be a little fishy, and a chocolate donut. 935Y wouldn’t be bad, but the portions were small it really felt more like a snack than dinner.  Maybe I was just super-hungry, but even the “fish burrito” was pretty good.  I ate it on the train platform, waiting for my train to arrive at 5:47. It showed up as always, and I was at the station to pick up my very wet bicycle before 6:00, and home by 6:05.
With nothing special to do, I turned on the TV for a little while, and watched an hour or so of some karaoke show. It was not the same thing that was on the other night. This is a different karaoke show.  One is never enough.

Closed for New Years

So what’s the agenda for tomorrow? I have no idea. Everywhere I go, I see signs that say “blah blah blah 12/29-1/3.”   I think there are going to be a LOT of places closed tomorrow an the rest of the week. I know the library is. I can do the Internet at Megalo, but since I was just at the library tonight, I probably won’t go tomorrow. Sunday or Monday though seems likely. I certainly am going to have to stock up on groceries before New Year’s Eve. EVERYTHING is closed for New Years.

Marc left me a note aying he’d be back on Thursday or Friday, so I am going to have a quiet week, if nothing else. He’s meeting his friend in Tokyo, and left either this morning or yesterday. The next five days or so are going to see me sitting at home a lot due to the holiday.

All photos have been uploaded to the gallery. The link to the gallery is over on the right-hand side of the page.

Also, here is a link to the various walks I did in Kyoto:

www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/rtg/pdf/pg-503.pdf