"Everyone here is Asian."
Well, I can now check the box on forms asking if I've been out of the country in the last 5 years. Take that, background checks.
During my trip to Japan I took notes. Actually I took lots of notes. And when I didn't take lots of notes, I wrote stuff down so I'd remember to write it all down later.
The following is the transcription of my notes, with further explanation where necessary. Original notes are in italics, follow-up notes are bolded.
For those curious, "Everyone is Asian" was me scribbling in the margins of my notebook when I first got off the plane. Not being racist, just stating a fact. Which I thought was kind of funny.
Portland Airport, Sept 24th, 8:05AM
Starbucks Clerk: "We haven't served orange flavoring for two years." Josh: "Sadness. Raspberry?" Starbucks Clerk: "Yep."
I've never really liked Starbucks. And never really will. And for being around 7 in the morning, the lady didn't have to be mean about it. I'm sorry if some people come from places that have such wonders as orange flavored mochas (my favorite, if you wanted to know). I'll also note briefly here that Japan didn't have them either. I guess I can't move outside of Alaska.
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Northwest Flight 5, ~3:30pm Japan Standard Time, Thursday, 25th, Sept.
Trying to use the restroom on the flight from Portland to Tokyo
Josh: "Is...there a handle on this thing?" Japanese Girl: (confused) Josh: (pushes on door) "Oh."
The madness is near over. They've served us our second helping of hot lemon-scented napkin. Delicious.
Also: Professor Layton can still go [expletive] himself. I don't care if he got me through 10.5 hours of excruciating boredom. Some of those puzzles...goddamn.
I beat Professor Layton. Or rather, I beat the curious village. But I like to think I beat Layton. Senseless, in fact.
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Ogawa, Japan, Friday, Sept 25th, 2008
Here I am. 8:00ish, and wide awake, despite nearly 48 hours of traveling. I didn't brush my teeth for two days. Exhilarating, and disgusting. Sorry, Nasuke. I tried to talk in the other direction.
Nasuke was a girl on the shuttle bus I took from Narita Airport to Ogawa-mura. She spoke pretty good English as a result of her studies in highschool, and definitely more so than what I am capable after my meager two years of Spanish.
Amanda's coffee table plugs in to a wall socket. I think that says a lot. She has a pretty small place, but it is intricate. For instance, why are the toilet, shower, and sink all in different rooms? I'm thinking because they intended heavy use, and wanted to make sure three people could use other facility at the same time. Intricate. Also, maybe it was my travel delirium, but it seems the Japanese have an obsession with reflective decals and flashing LEDs. I can't explain why other than to solidify the feeling like I was driving in a video game. Maybe it's art mimicking life...or maybe just the other way around.
Raining out today. Tried to get out an take some pictures. Got to the end of the street and saw a huge [expletive] spider enveloping a road sign in their web. I would have gone farther, but the camera was getting wet. And the spiders were yellow and black.
Nagano City, Zenkoji Temple. Neat! Consumerism. No camera. Baskin Robbins. Two hours outside playing Mario Kart DS. Chinese food with JETs.
I went to Nagano City to tour around and get a feeling for Japan. I got to see the Zenkoji temple, which was awesome, and yet I forgot to take pictures. I later revisited it and got a few, but I was kicking myself until then.
Later in the evening, I got to hang out with some of Amanda's JET friends, who were pretty neat folks. Also, I've gotten to where I can get the staff time trial ghosts on Mario Kart DS on all but two levels.
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Nagano Station, Sept 27th, 7:00AM
McDonalds is equally terrible in Japan. I immediately regret my curiosity. Even more so that this only compounds existing intestinal distress. And now I'm going to get on a train for 5 hours Logic escapes, and greasy egg McMuffins prevail. Buuuuh...
Nagano is an interesting city. I'm told that it's just about the poorest province, despite hosting the 1998 winter games. Which I'm also told that the city is still trying to pay off.
I wish I'd gotten a picture when I was talking around yesterday, but in addition to the Zenkoji temple, I saw one of the Olympic pedestals turned into a parking lot. Sorta had to laugh.
Making my way to Hiroshima in an hour. Shinkansen! Should be fun.
Okay, not exactly the Shinkansen, "Limited Express" Or: the slow train from Philly__.
Had a weird dream. Or type of a dream. I dreamt that Amanda and her friends had somehow set it up so the train system would say my name on the signs for where I had to go. However, my technological mind, apparently still awake...always awake, kept rejecting this fact, and wouldn't let the dream progress. Woke up and had to use the restroom. Now you are privy to my inner landscape. Welcome. The tour will start shortly.
Nine stops until Nagoya. Maybe I should take some pictures. Done.
By the way, Baskin Robbins here is pretty good. Had a Mocha Blast (Japanese translation: "Mocha Blast"). They topped it with real cinnamon. Not sure why this is exciting.
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World Friendship Center, 6:43pm, Sept 27th
I'm officially a tourist. I've ran to catch a train I was about to miss. I've help up an entire bus trying to figure out the fare. And I've been horribly ashamed of my nationality as a result of atrocities committed by my country. Pretty much seals the deal.
Today I got up at 6:00AM to catch a train to Nagoya. Then in Nagoya, I had about 3 minutes to
a) De-train b) Run to the Shinkansen terminal, dodging varied populaces, and show getting the ticket reader to work. c) Board
It was fun. SO FAST. Seriously. I can fly in a commercial jet for hours and not be able to fathom my speed of ~600mph. But when you're that close to the ground going about 100mph, and then you hit a tunnel such that the force of the air being pushed through the tunnel pops your ears, you get an inkling. So fun. The dude next to me wasn't that impressed, most just focused on what looked like a delicious lunch.
Finally getting to Hiroshima, I managed to board a tram, get socially anxious, get off too early, and ended up wandering the streets until somebody could tell me which way was north. Nothing like losing yourself in a city to get to know it better. And to test your skills at map reading, improvised sign language, and dead reckoning.
I finally found my lodgings. Changed into shorts and headed to the Hiroshima Peace Park. Took a ton of photos. And then entered the Hiroshima Peace museum.
I was born in 1985 and I was still feeling guilty. Despite numerous other tourists doing so, I felt bad, almost distasteful taking photos. Worst, I guess, were the pictures of burn and radiation sickness victims. And wall after wall of burned clothes that belonged to children that were being forced to work outside in a rebuilding effort when the bomb went off. I'm getting used to the stares around Japan, but I could help but feel the ones in the museum were somehow accusatory.
Walked around the park some more, but the light was fading, and I decided to walk home. Felt dehydrated, so I decided to try one of the ever-twenty-feet ending machines. I picked the biggest for the the purpose of reuse. What was originally contained tasted like dirt-flavored water, with something distinctly gritty. Dehydration solved, but I feel like I lost something else.
--On the tram
Josh: "So where are you guys headed?" (to other Americans) American 1: "Here." American 2: (laughs) Josh: "Well, alright then."
Jackasses.
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4:00pm, World Friendship Center September 28th
Just returned from the Itsukushima Shrine on Myajima Island. 30 minute tram ride, followed by a 10 minute ferry, which isn't bad.
The place I'm staying at feeds us breakfast, and the employees/volunteers aid it was going to rain. They brought me cereal, fruit, toast, juice, coffee (yes!). And then the rest of the guests came down. Two were journalists from Wales (U.K.), and two were newly fiancees from Belgium (one a network engineer and one a marketing strategist).
While figuring out where they were from and what they did (and finding my grasp of the English language weak and worthless), I hear an interesting thing. The journalists were taking a ear off from work, such that even though they weren't being aid, they still had their jobs waiting for the when they got back. The Belgian network engineer concurred, saying that in Belgium it is prohibited by law for a company to terminate an employee or otherwise harm their employment should they choose to take a while off. Apparently, in European countries sabbatical is both a command and accepted practice.
I also noticed something about Japanese culture and employment, in that they all take their jobs extremely seriously. From the train attendants, to the deer-poop sweepers on Miyajima: everyone has a uniform, a routine, and they all address everyone in the most polite way possible (I think). This may have something to do with the fact that despite walking around what I would consider to be a "downtown area", I have yet to see a homeless person. Maybe unemployment is low here. Maybe there isn't such an ant-establishment culture in Japan as there is in U.S. Maybe they have homeless zones somewhere far away from where tourists tread. Just saying, the Japanese like their jobs.
And then, I guess, compare that to my job, The only way I can get more than two weeks a year is a) work until they give me more or b) quit. And being a new employee, I had to wait six months to take it. Six months, right after my last job drove me into the ground. MY job is working for now. But there are better things. There have to be. Says the guy no vacation. In Japan. Sitting on a granite bench, overlooking the bay outside of Hiroshima, the famous Otorii, and watching wild deer go nuts over a bag of trash.
Hiking to the top of Mt. Misen was fun. It reminded me a lot of Flattop in that they installed stairs and the like to make the path more accessible. Different in a lot of things. First, there were deer and supposedly monkeys, but I never saw one). Second, the entire path consisted of beautiful stonework to either keep the path from eroding, control water flow, and make the path easier (well-done steps, not the man-crushers they have on Flattop). The view at the top was spectacular. Pictures were taken. Small children were small children, and parents puffed exhaustedly after them. Sat there for a while, looking like I was contemplating the view, but really I was waiting to dry off. Singing to myself, "I am an opera singer / I sing in foreign lands."
Before I left this morning, I caught the Belgian network engineer outside having a smoke. After uncouthly informing him that he was killing himself, I get to field a couple of questions about Alaska (Sarah Palin, ANWR, whether you can snowmachine from Alaska to the Rockies, etc). Made me feel good, I guess, being my state's representative all the way over here. And if you're curious, I told him that Palin was under investigation (directly or indirectly), ANWR is a mostly barren wasteland for which the environmental impact of oil drilling is minimal, and one would most likely die in an attempt to reach the Rockies via snowmachine. That's Alaska!
A toddler walked up to me today and called me "rukia." No amount of dictionary searches turn up the meaning.
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7:00AM, World Friendship Center September 29th
I swear, the emergency vehicle sirens here sound more than a little like air raid klaxons. Which makes things interesting in a sleep-delirious state.
5:22pm, Shunko-in Temple
Found our room. Has a Buffalo A/B/G Airstation wireless access point. Pretty awesome.
Went to see Ryoanji and the Golden Pavilion. Both impressive feats of landscaping and landscape maintenance. Raining the entire time, unfortunately, but beautiful nonetheless.
Kinda sad that I didn't get pictures of these, but I was kinda afraid I would get my camera too wet. Oh well.
Went to see Iron Man at a Japanese theatre. Awesome over here as well.
Food? "Japanese Pizza" Oya...oyukurimore? Basically, a cabbage, carrot, and squid omelette, smothered in something like barbeque sauce, and make like a pancake. It just wouldn't quit.
Also, first experience with an Internet "cafe." Not as shady as I imagined. Actually, it was more like a study hall than anything. A study hall that smelled faintly of cigarettes. Ran WinXP, obviously pre-SP@, w/IE6. Odd choice.
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~8:45AM, Shunko-in Temple [September 30th]
Traditional Japanese toilets. You know: the squatting kind. Normally, I associate trips to the bathroom with release and relief. Instead this is fevered aim and precision. Oh my.
Not sure what we're doing today. But it's still drizzling a bit. My clothes aren't ever going to dry. Umbrellas, though: not as lame as I thought.
Evening, Shunko-in Temple
Today: Walking to breakfast, Njio-in Castle. Imperial Castle Failure. Eigamura/Toei Movieland/Hollywoodish. Amanda playing DS.
We spent the day walking around Kyoto. We walked around being indecisive about breakfast, until finally we were hungry enough to warrant a visit to an all-you-can-eat buffet right outside Nijo Castle. We also attempted a visit to the Imperial Castle in Kyoto, but found that one needs prior arrangements, and those have to be made at least two months in advance. Instead, we made our way to a place called Eigamura, basically a Universal Studios like place for a famous Kyoto movie company.
Later, I showed Amanda the New Super Mario Bros on Nintendo DS. For someone so keenly opposed to video games, she sure seemed to enjoy it. I may have been mistaken.
Debating whether food will come if we just lay around and do nothing. I say that eventually wild animals may eventually wander in.
Being that its been raining all the while, we're debating heading home earlier and not suffer an overnight train. The thought is tempting. Getting in early, devouring Hot Tamales, and inducting yet another helpless soul to the Dr. Horrible fold? Hmm...
Went to a place called "Rock and Rock Kitchen." Cooked/served by one guy, could make pretty much anything you could want. Had so much delicious food, Mochi + Azuki beans = [expletive] oishii
"Oishii" means delicious in Japanese. And I can't stress how neat this place was. The guy was an incredible chef, basically saying for everything we ordered, "Yeah, let me see if I can make that." He was playing U2 and Sublime on his stereo, and amazingly, we were the only people in there for the longest time. And better yet, the guy asked us for our email addresses, and then friended us both on Facebook the day afterward.
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Ogawa-mura, 10:57pm, October 1st, 2008, Amanda's House
Visited Ogawa-mura Junior high school. I brought Hot Tamales, Gummy Worms, Smarties, Orange Slices (candy), and I now have a village in Japan that worships me. They said I looked like Daniel Radcliffe. What?
H-Pot and I may share the same birthday, but not so much the same appearance. Children: you are mistaken.
Interesting experience, particularly in how Japanese schools, teachers, and students are completely different than those in the States. (teachers wrestling students).
Also: Hot Tamales: apparently too hot.
Did a series of question/answer activities with Amanda's two classes. Really fun. Got to talk about all manner of weird things. Bleach, videogames, etc. I apparently share many interests with 13-14 year olds.
I'm not sure how Amanda's ever going to leave Japan.
School lunch, shop, kids teaching themselves, being polite (holy [expletive]__)
Kinda wish I got paid to have fun with kids. Or even just teaching them.
I was pretty blown away by the differences between the Japanese and American school systems. I'd always heard about the insane hours, crushing expectation, and exceptional performance of Japanese schools and their students, but I never quite understood why. Kids are kids, and school is school, and these two things have always seemed to be at odds. However, visiting Japan briefly, I realize that this is just a product of American culture. Japanese kids spend all day (not just until early afternoon) at their school. They're striving to succeed in their public school system for the fact that any smudge on their academic records jeopardizes their chances at a decent high school education, and even more so their chances at college entrance.
This means that rather than being sullen and bored all day, the students are self-driven. Amanda tells me that even if the teachers failed to show up at class, they would attempt teaching themselves the next lesson. Obviously, they all wear uniforms, but also "casual" and "formal" uniforms. They have school festivals, at which everyone shows up. Kids walk 45 minutes to school (whereas I constantly complained about my 10 minute walk to the bus stop). And if some random dude from out of the country comes by speaking a weird language, they rush up to ask him questions.
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7:47AM, Amanda-san Residence October 4th, 2008
Had an interesting day yesterday. Amanda had a regional meeting for her teaching group, at which attendance was mandatory. Rather than be blatantly obvious about my interest in teaching English, I decided it was best to do another day of solo touring.
I got dropped off in Nagano from which I took a bus to a smaller suburb/town called Matsushiro. I twas home to a number of historic battles, castles, and underground tunnels to serve as a last resort for WWII war officials.
I first found Matsushiro Castle, which appears to be one of many castles that have been heavily restored and turned into a park area. I liked the area quit a bit, and stated there for a while getting my bearings.
Then I tried walking to the underground tunnels. Despite having two maps of the area, the hidden refuse remained hidden. Maps rarely contain street names, and when they do it is for major streets. Frustrating. But I managed to find two or three neat looking temples along the way, as well as wander around somebody's private property for a while and also find a hiking path. After my navigation failure, I opted for hiking instead. Which was probably pretty dangerous in hindsight, as nobody would have found me for hours, if not days. I realized this at the top, as well as how many huge-ass spiders I must have dodged by sheer luck on the way up, and decided to come back. But not before using my DS to translate "Oak of Mt. Zozan" I kinda wished the sign was a little more meaningful.
I made my way back to Nagano to take some pictures of the cool temple that I'd missed when I forgot my camera the first time through Nagano. Just as cool, and considerably sunnier the second time around.
Kinda just killed time the rest of the day, either by people-watching or trying to walk off a wicked headache. Met up with Amanda around 7pm and had a delicious curry dinner.
Not sure what we're doing today. I'm still waking up godawful early, and Amanda's still sleeping. I would be mean and take a picture, but the retribution would be at least ten-fold. Maybe I'll just poke around on the computer.
Leaving tomorrow. Huh. What'll I be kicking myself for if I haven't done it by the time I get on the plane?
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10:17AM, Oct 5th, Narita Airport
Well. Here I am.
My flight doesn't board until 3:00pm. Which I guess goes to show how paranoid I am about missing my flight I was wide awake at 6:00AM this morning, worrying about how I was going to get here. For future reference, from the Ueno Station in Tokyo, do not use Ueno station, but instead walk across the street to the Keisei line, which after about an hour takes you right here. It's slick, it's quick, it's insincere. Beware.
What to say about this trip? Why did I come? Did I have a good time? Would I have done anything differently? I'll guess that these'll be the first things I get asked. Might as well make an official statement.
I came here for a lot of reasons. I came here because I've been intrigued by the various strange pieces of Japanese culture that make their way to the U.S. by way of TV shows and movies, and have been so for a number of years. I came here because I wanted to see a society that has no familiar religion, a nigh indecipherable writing system, an a spoken language that only seems to intersect English and Romantic languages where the last 50 or so years have been involved. And then I guess I came here to see a friend of mine who in her own adventures had already made her way over to live semi-permantently.
I suppose it's also important to note that I'd wanted to come to Japan back in March, possibly in between jobs if I would have swung it. At the time, it seemed an adequate scape from a bad job situation and an unending Alaskan winter. It never quite worked out, obviously, but I'm pretty sure it was then that Japan became my first choice for a vacation destination, even if I wasn't able to go just yet.
Sitting here thinking, I really did have a good trip. I saw a lot of cool stuff. I took around 700 pictures. For the most part I had no travel mishaps, and aside from a few days of rain, I made it through my various travel plans unsettled. And even more so, on the days where I had all day to do whatever I wanted, I did just that. And usually went to bed around 7pm. I'd like to think I caught up on my sleep, but I'll refrain from passing judgement: I'm about to fly for 15 hours, after which I'll go to work the next day. You have elected the way of pain!
One disappointment (which I was mostly expecting) was how unable I was to communicate in Japanese. I had a few phrases and symbols down, and they got me far enough so that I at least seemed gracious while being an idiot. Despite studying it off and on, I see now that my grasp on Japanese is tenuous at best. I'll just have to increase my efforts when I get home.
As for what I did on this trip, I'm not sure I'd have done anything too differently. I opted out of the onsen business (naked old dudes in hot water, oh my), and didn't have any sake (though I did have a number of really good Japanese beers). I don't feel either of those experiences were absolutely requisite, so I don't feel too bad about it. I can get the same sake at home, and I can see naked old dudes at the gym.
Oh yeah, yesterday. Yesterday was fun, if a little haphazard. Amanda and I made our way to Tokyo by way of train, stopping at Ueno station. Around there was the Tokyo Zoo and surrounding park area, which we toured around. In trying and failing to find a decent movie theater (playing English movies), we made our way through Akihabara and Ginza districts.
Akihabara seemed like fun, but it was just all too much. You can't group that many nerds and otaku in one area without something bad happening. And that something bad was dudes and their girlfriends cosplaying along the crowded streets. Too much.
The Ginza district was too much, but in another direction. The streets were lined with ungodly expensive shops for clothes, jewelry, and other such luxury/silly items. Thankfully, it had a few nice restaurants (we found a decent Spanish restaurant on the 7th floor of some building).
We found a hotel that once again proved that claustrophobia would be a horrendous condition to have. Waking up early, we made our way to the train station, found a caramel latte and a chocolate croissant, which altogether brought me here.
I should probably go find my gate, or get some lunch. Or something. I have a hankering to listen to some Dr. Horrible (it's been a week people, give me a break). I get in at 12:30pm AK time. Which means this is going to be an excruciatingly long day.
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~9:00AM, Seattle
Random inspections at the gate. Randomly inspected. (sigh)
And thus concludes my notes written on the trip. I know this was long (3500 words, I think), but I do have one more note to make. My trip would not have been as much fun had I not had Amanda's help, either in planning the trip, or actually coming along when her job permitted. She gave me a warm, frighteningly intelligent toilet seat when I needed it most, and for that I have to thank her. So yes: thanks kindly.
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