Day 64 - The Second Iteration

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You know you are back in America (from whatever other land you may have been in) when a gigantic American flag "welcomes" you into the country. Nothing wrong with that, yet it's also kind of vulgar too. Ionno. It's like yeah, I get it, I'm in America, I know, red white and blue, etc.... yeah.

Customs and stuff are a breeze, if somewhat inhumanly cold and unfriendly. Now, I've been through customs in a few different places, and they are all cold and unfriendly. I'm pretty sure it's part of their job description and duties. So it's like, maybe it's because i don't look white? Cuz the guy at the next counter is getting a nice respectful, and if not warm then at least not-cold welcome. Of course, he's also white. Back to being second-class citizen.

Good times.

I would recommend replacing customs inspectors with robots, but I'm not sure there'd be any real difference.

Luggage. Lord. my wrist hurts still... despite having tried icing it on the plane (which is pointless, as it's not swelling... and therefore cold treatment is near worthless). People absolutely MOB the luggage carousels. They never learn. I have a feeling, as one of the first to check in, that my luggage would be out late (not always the case, but accurate this time).

It would seem that I don't learn either, as I make a joke to a nearby girl eyeing the crowd in much the same way, saying, "Times like these you think about how heavy your luggage is and wonder if you really want it back."

This earns me a second review of my customs papers and passport from a nearby officer who overheard. That may (in fact is) be a bit of an over-reaction on their part (as well as utterly pointless course of action), but I guess I had that coming. Airport = the new gestapo. I'd much rather they did their jobs, this is true, and I'm happy there was no probing...

But let's think about this. First off, when leaving America, I DID in fact accidentally bring a knife onto the plane. It was connected to my pocket-watch and in the rush I'd forgotten. No one stopped me. I noticed overseas, without being gestapo-like, they did confiscate ALL lighters and knives and such (I guess that's because they actually DO their jobs). Additionally, let's consider the profile of a terrorist and goals. Goal here, beyond blow shit up, is to stay as inconspicuous or innocuous as possible until they decide to blow shit up.

So, honestly now, what terrorist goes around saying shit like "Hey, i'm not sure I want to get my luggage, cuz the bomb inside is just really heavy, know what I mean?" This, I can only assume, is the interpretation of what I said. Now, if that IS the case... what the HELL is looking over my passport and papers again going to do? If that really is your fear, isn't it smarter to check my baggage or bags yet to be claimed? But I guess since that would entail Labor and Work, it was dismissed in favor of gestapo tactics.

"Hi Jack"... yes. I'm sure somewhere some terrorists were like "Stupid Americans, they will NEVER crack this code!" Jesus. Well, they got the first two words right... =P

The girl I talked to earlier get's her luggage at the same time I do, and so we end up striking up a conversation (actually, she noticed the totally ridiculous secondary review). Turns out she came from Korea, and is visiting America... she's 1/4 american, 1/4 each of the big three asians. Speaks perfect english though. There's yet another customs table (I guess the first is actually immigrations... customs is more like an information kiosk) where the officer first makes a joke about us being back from a honeymoon (well, at least less inhumanly cold), then gives me confusiong directions.

Ok, dude, YOU should be going to jail, cuz little miss is all of "almost 17". =P Rather cool though, to go visit a foreign country all on your own at the age of 16 (although if you look native, thigns are bit easier). Still though, family she's supposed to meet isn't around and she's got not contact info =P I dunno how this happens to me =P Her uncle (or something... someone she clearly knows) finally shows up, so that's that...

Shuttle ride to my brother's place... I'd hope to get back before my Nephew was born, but he was actually born day that I was meant to leave japan! Take a quick shower and change of clothes, and pray my car's battery still starts =P I know it should, but apparently on some of my friend's cars, inactivity of a few weeks leads to a dead battery. How I don't know. But Shiva and I are on the road again.

On the RIGHT side of the road. Although I didn't drive, and rarely road taxis, I was starting already to get into the LHD frame of mind, shifting with my left hand, etc... Once in the seat, things are natural again... maybe going a little faster than I should =P No stalls at least.

My nephew is soooo small ^^;;; Well, yeah, all babies are. But he's like, a tiny man. It's like a bundle of cloth has a face or something. I'm sure years from now, he will be appreciative of my current thoughts.

Ran a few errands for family, before running to do a few myself (catch up a bit on manga [irony, no?], and unable to get replacement beads grrr)... then it's over to Hotel bRu and STurtle (Thank you ^^) In the coming week, there's quite a bit I intend to do, whether or not I get to any of it... Car wash and oil change, see friends, watch episode 3, see friends, tool about, and see friends. And move boxes =P

Day 64 - The First Iteration

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Time travel is tricky business.

No really, I mean setting aside issues of paradox and re-deja-vu and grammar and such, there is the whole complicated mess of departing and arriving on time.

Somehow, and I wont bother speculating on なぜ　なに, I became convinced for the past few weeks that my flight was departing June 3rd, friday. Well, "fact" is highly suspect here, and "deluded to" is probably a better substitute for "convinced of".

This is as much my fault as the company's (if nothing else, we both needed to be on top of things... and I was the only one asking for reconfirmations, etc. =P). They, I think, originally planned to have me stay in a hotel the entire time, and thus there would have been no problems with check out times, moving etc. As things changed and they moved me elsewhere, that was no longer possible... in changing one thing, you need to measure the effects of that change on all other things (cheapskates really need to attach more leeway to schedules as they learn how to do business internationally). It would have been impossible for me to checkout, pack, move, teach one last class, get ready for the airport according to the original schedule (and judging by how things went day of). I should have, perhaps, been more time concious (as I never am anyway)... subconciously, the printed deptarture time had been bothering me for a while.

So anyway, pushed my luggage, through the rain, at 430am, to the bustop. There I waited an hour, alone for the greater bulk of that time, starving, before I bought a ticket. When the bus arrived and we left, I was first on board a fairly full shuttle =P

We arrived not just on time, but rather more early, due to the lack of traffic... I was hesitant because it was a weekday morning, and traffic could have been a bear (another hour and perhaps it would)... you may recall, arriving from Narita to Shinjuku took 3 hours, due to traffic. In any event, it was about 7am or so when I arrived, and airport check-in counters were not yet open. I am, of course, still starving.

The nice lady at the counter informs me (after a fuckton of people cut in front of me at the inspection... bastards) very sweetly that my ticket is for yesterday, and did I make a mistake (such a question ought to be rhetorical, as I am still obviously in the country of departure =p)? However, as there is space on today's flight, it did not pose a problem.

Whew.

Luck when it counts the most I guess. I think my karma, or luck, or what have you gets expended on this sort of emergency important stuff such that I get shafted on all the other things which tend to be little-r by comparison (in any event, an interesting theory for my ongoing bacherlorhood).

FINALLY breakfast. At Big Boy. Which I hear a lot about you know? It's expensive. Also, it sucked. No really, it was horrid. I dunno if it's that one or what, but it's like if Denny's decided to actually try and make bad food and then pee on it... that's what I ended up with.

Go wait at the gate. There is some kind of JP tour group getting ready to go to Korea, as my flight makes a stop over there. Things look packed. Take a moment to jack some free wireless internet with the PSP that I do not own. Of course, this does not happen on the flight itself... hence the PSP and Nintendo DS both sort of fail there... it's actually impossible to play with anyone else on a flight (the mother of all long travels that might require such an activity) as neither system has any means of multiplayer that does NOT involve highly illegal wireless connections. I've noted that the PSP has an IR port (that one cannot yet access or otherwise utilize), so that is potentially a saving grace... but I imagine even that could be a problem... a cable of some sort would be a real good idea. The Nintendo DS does not even have IR capability of any kind to my knowledge.

Then I arrive for a 3hr stop over in Korea. Korea is, as far as I know, a nice airport terminal. One that is filled with extremely rude people. The less said the better. It could simply be that only assholes go to this airport's international terminal, or they become transformed past the threshold of the airport entrance or something. I don't know. All I know is, before this moment, I had been a big koreanophile (for the women at any rate...). Those days, sooooo way over.

Also, BoA* apparently does not spend her days waiting to meet me at international airport terminals. I lose (perhaps it's just as well though; see above =P )

This next, 11 hour leg of my journey is even worse than my previous, two hour flight to korea (which apparently was long enough to merit them serving breakfast... and inquiring if one would like beer with their breakfast. gross.) Now I'm not especially fond of my seat. It's the very front row of a section, meaning The TV screen is about a femur's length away =P I also have no leg room or carry-on room. I've had to sit in this spot before (for longer flights too I think), and it's never pleasent. It's worse though, when the guy next to you is a total jackass. A gigantic mass of rude, korean male impatience and self-importance. Ugh.

Maybe it's me, but I think it has something to do with the widespread acceptance of christianity. Under the tenets of that faith, you can be as much of a shitfucker as you like, provided you eventually get around to apologizing to God. You don't even need to apologize to the people you sinned against, just to God is fine. Say some Hail Mary full of grace or whatever, and everything's cool. Don't do it again, but you know, if you do, just apologize to God again.

Anyway, the PSP and DS really come into their own here. Even without the MP (which is too bad, because I saw at least one other PSP owner). Certainly meant I wasn't say, sniffing a packet of cigarettes =P I get addiction and vice and such... no really, I understand it... but jeez man. If ever there was a sure sign that cigs are bad...

Movies shown were Coach Carter (which is an EXCELLENT film, very powerful... I would consider it compulsory watching for intercity kids as well as rappers and other black people who continue to use the word "nigger" and then get all uppity when someone else uses it) and Hitch (which I ended up passing on). Tried to sleep to reestablish the right cycles of day-night, and I think I about got it right... "Jet lag" has never really been a problem for me (compared to 'net lag').

Finally land... 10 am June 3rd. Which is 30 minutes After the I left before. Or something.

I told you the grammar gets weird.

Day 63 - Pre-flight Sequence

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I wake up... and it's time to get going. I spent the last night packing so I'm mostly ready... just doing a final load of laundry and not thinking about how I have to push two ungodly heavy pieces of luggage to and fro.

Checking out of the 西日暮里 house went fine... very straight-forward and no problems. A new prospective tennent was visiting... he was a jerk. He kept asking for this and that and claiming not to know how things were... making the poor girl (from sakura-house) work entirely too hard for nothing. Not only was he making her life hard, he was making it hard on my (now former) flat-mates.

People already had schedules for moving and such worked out, he insisted that they change it to accomodate him. He wanted a study-lounge area, which he certainly isn't going to get. He didn't know how much the room was, or about deposits. Basically, being a little shit. If you are not living in a US-college dorm, there IS NO study lounge dipshit. You KNOW this. You are looking at a house converted into apartments. You KNOW this. There is a deposit for ANY place you are renting. You KNOW this. I almost told him "look, you're going to be living with these people for at least a month... it would be best not to make enemies of them before you even move in." But, in the end I didn't think it would matter.

Just a rude kid... korean guy, seems like he's spent a fair amount of time educated in the US, as well as living in Korea. Funny, except for like, ONE person, koreans have been a very negative facet to this trip. Go figure...

おじゃま　しました。

Funny too, I'm checking into a hotel right after because my flight leaves tomorrow (which, in fact, it does not) and is not compatible with checkout times. However, the first hotel is overbooked, and as I am out all day, I do not get the notice until rather late last evening. See, that's the stupid thing... I get the notice. Me. Why me? I'm not handling the booking or anything. The company did this, but then they have to have ME forward to THEM the emails I get that THEY need. It's totally retarded. Hey I know, how about you get all the emails going to you, and then just forward me whatever I need when it's all done?

For a company that teaches logic, they sure have a lot to learn... Of course, the office staff doesn't teach the logic, so I guess that somewhat forgiveable.

So the next hotel I get is also "in Tokyo". By which it is meant, an hour west of Tokyo (Tachikawa) and realistically, no longer in Tokyo. Seriously, Kamakura is outside of Tokyo, and closer I think =P. This conspires to make it impossible for me to make my rigoddamndiculously early flight.

I finally end up with a room at the Southern Tower Century hotel, where I had that one Lesson. While it is still unpleasent and difficult to be on time, it is now no longer impossible. I'll settle for that, when all's said and done.

Last minute operations all the way up to the last minute. It is a bit of a wonder that the company does as well as it does. On the other hand, I can certainly see how this company could be turned into a real powerhouse... but also how that just wont happen.

Once laundry is all done and I've said my goodbyes, it's time to push and drag (simultaneously =p) my "Twin Sins"... I really did bring too much stuff, but there really wasn't any helping that I think... Anyhow, I pushed and pushed and pushed to the wrong place where there are no taxi's (that early) to pick me up ;_;

So now to push a net of 4 blocks in another direction to the station where I should have gone first =P Incidentally, at the airport, these two totalled ~70kg (max limit of 80). That number does not account for the two messenger bags I am carrying, one over each shoulder (one at ~25-35 lbs and another at 15-20 lbs). It's my own fault =P Keep in mind I bought cds and plenty of other shit since coming to Japan. The number does include, however, my laptop =( It's not the smartest move, but I don't really have much choice otherwise... too many pieces. So I stow my laptop under a heavy jacket in one of my bags. I am of course worrying that it will be stolen or break... In the end, it's working fine.

So, サーザン　ターワ　センチャリ　ホテール。。。 pretty high up again, although the hotel starts on the 20th floor, so I guess that's just a matter of course... the view is nice though, overlooks west Shinjuku and the park... I don't have that cool futuristic blue glow like at Hilton Tokyo. It's raining though, so there's the cool gray mist of rain reflecting lights from below.

One more night in Shinjuku. One more night of tooling about in Kabuki-cho, one more meal of "Cheap" ramen (at a not very good ramen place =P Curry would have been better).

Well, "one more" for now anyway. As our "illustrious" governor of California would garble in his alien tongue (in several movies) "I'll be back". I've no doubt that I will be back, if not sooner, then later. Ignoring continental drift, Japan isn't going anywhere.

Well, unless Bush declares war on Korea and nukes the wrong nation. Which is not as far-fetched as one would really pray.

Come back to my room rather earlyish... got some more Sangokushi cards (hahaha), but no DDR (rainy ddr = bleh =P ), and didn't find a decent virtua cop 3 machine either =P Anyhow, I've got to wake up at 4am.

Now see, that shit sucks. My flight departs 02 June 2005 (check the date of this entry) at 930am. Since it's international, I ought to be there at 7:30am. AND since the shuttle bus from Shinjuku takes approximately 2 hours according to their website, I need to be there at 5:30am. Which means I need to wake up early to check out and push all my stuff there AND buy a shuttle ticket =(

Jesus. The Shuttle stop is ~2 blocks away. The hotel does have a shuttle stop, but the first shuttle to stop there is at 7:30. The first bus from the station is 5:45... no helping that though. Everything is on a taught chain and all it takes is for just one link to break.

And so I have to wake up ungodly early. To go home. Well, actually, pseudo-home. I am, once again, flying over a sea to be homeless when I arrive.

The adventures never end.

Day 62 - The Last Meeting

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Pretty good chance the next few days wont be updated for a while. Am Currently packing things to prepare for check out tomorrow, followed by brief stay in Shinjuku and then flight home. Or should I say TIME TRAVEL. But yeah, this is really the last post that I am guaranteed any sort of definite net connect to before heading home.

Today was my last class. At first it seemed like no one was coming ;_; In the end, 4 students showed up. It was a good class, ran smoothly, and a fond farewell... My student who is taking the test in tokyo was very worried because the other students are taking the test in either october or other parts of the globe... to help ease her anxiety, I gave her the charm I bought in Meiji Jingu... in fact, the very first charm I bought here in Japan ^^. I said it was so she would never feel alone on the test.

This was good class...

Prior to class, I was in Akihabara, shopping... got Hellboy on UMD... Ironically, although there is probably a greater market here in Japan for music/movie UMD on PSP, there are fewer titles. America actually has more (and cheaper) UMDs, of which a few are rather good. Japan only has a few movies, of which really only Spiderman 2, Biohazard, and Hellboy are any good (and as I have biohazard on dvd already [and BH2 was an unmitigated incomprehensible mess] I passed on that... and SM2 well... the first hour and a half is just an unending wave of misery and depression that do not really justify the poor acting and final few moments of the movie). Music Vid titles are more numerous here, but not long enough to justify their cost. Very odd.

Was also hoping to watch more Clone Wars Animated Series, but they didn't have that on today ;_; ah well... and played some ddr before class =) Also, last lunch (for now) at Pepper Lunch (lol go figure... =p ).

It's amazing how quickly time goes... that inexolerable march forward. Maybe it isn't people who need to stop and smell the roses, but time itself... not that you could ask a river to stop it's slow and steady flow if only for a moment. Well, time is time and I am me.

Haha, just remembering my first night here in Japan... and Royal Host. =) I am coming back though... I feel certain of it. Well, as certain as I can be I guess.

I am but a pebble in a garden of rocks...

Christ, packing. Jesus. This I do not look forward to. Tomorrow promises to be mostly hectic as well, though I should be able to spend the evening in Shinjuku. I guess the feeling that I will come back prevents this departure from being as bittersweet as my departure from LA. On the other hand, I didn't lay down roots for 5 years either (although... i don't think that's it... certainly I feel a greater connection with the land here than I did in LA...)

Nothing to it but to procrastinate. I mean do it.

Day 61 - あつい おみくじ

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For me, the Bay Area has always meant two things. 1) The San Francisco Bay Area (no Long Beach and SoCal, you don't count) and 2) That area north of San Jose that is hip that San Jose seems magically excluded from.

The latter may or may not be true, but to me and I think many people (in California at least I guess), the Bay Area means the SF bay. Nothing else really comes close for me.

Today I went to Odaiba, which is the Tokyo Bay area. Well first I went to Shinjuku and got lunch, that was pretty uneventful. Then rode to 新橋 to take the Yurikamome "new transit" line to the Odaiba area. For such a short ride, it's expensive =P But the waterfront area is a very trendy place now it seems, and has attracted many upscale businesses, so i guess that's just in keeping with it all. Or I could, I dunno, walk the whole distance =P Which I had initially planned, but then wisely thought better of.

Getting off at Aomi station, the idea was to wander around the mini islands in a coutner clockwise fashion to see the Raibow bridge during the day and at night, and then to try Oedo Onsen Monagari until it was time to go home.

Plan was largely a success. Today was a fairly wonderful day. Allow me to relate.

So the first stop was "MEGAWEB" which, for some reason, turned out to be a bunch of show rooms owned by Toyota. Which means cars. Which is not a bad thing at all. Apparently they have a track that goes around the immediate area and computer controlled Vitz' that you can ride around in as it takes you around on a tour. Pretty cool. They also have a lot of cars on exhibit (who would have guessed??) but few sporty ones. They had quite a few displays regarding their racing teams, as well as hands on activities. There was a "Star Tours" type ride (free! =) that was geared towards the view point of a Toyota Supra going around the Newly Renovated Fuji Speedway in two or three laps. About 7 min long, and kinda blah. Hard gear shifts and cars actually bump each other without spinning out of control. Real driving simulator my ass.

They also had a more hands on approach to the same thing... special GT4 stations wired to a tilt cockpit type contraption (I think this is the thing that was at some E3 type event or some junk)... however, you only get one lap in the same supra =P AND I was forced to drive automatic.

Although the steering wheel is MUCH better than the POS gt3 Logitech one (90deg to 90deg lock is NOT even close to being realistic to ANY car =p ) and the moving pit does provide some feedback, even this 'enclosed' simulator fails, and shows Gran Tourismo's (and indeed, ANY driving sim's) fatal flaw in conveying reality... lack of sensitive feedback.

Although perspective and such do make a difference in how a driving sim may not be accurate, the biggest culprit is the lack of sensory feedback... the wheel does not resist you (as many cars today have power steering and just about every car in GT DOES =p ), nor do the pedals have ANY feel to them at all (to say nothing of resistance). It's hard to get braking timing right or accel modulation right when the pedals don't tell your foot how far they are being pushed down. There's no real sensation of speed or gravity/inertia as there is int he real world that your body subconciously relies upon for additional driving input.

First corner was completely muffed because the guy gave me AT =P Thought I was driving MT. When you don't down shift or up shift like you plan, it's pretty much impossible to attack a corner in the same way. Next turn getting used to the steering wheel, turn after that brakes... after that, drove rather nicely. The funny thing is, that means I get 'penalized' because I finish my lap faster and have to get out =P

From here walked to 夢橋 but did not feel like walking all the way across =P Looked... far. Sorry Panasonic Dinosaur Creation Center, I shall have to play god with saurian genetic code another time...

Went north to the oddly named "Tokyo Teleport Station". I can only imagine. Tele-Tokyo 2000gil.

Northward and onward, browsed stores on the northside... there was, apparently, some sort of Cat theme park store... thing. There was an admission fee, so I didn't bother, but apparently the whole place is just about cats. I guess you can go in and play with cats? or watch them sleep and totally ignore you otherwise just like your own cat would? I dunno.

Tried going to Sega "Joyopolis" but that was closed. Happy land was closed ;_; You figure a place called 'Joyopolis', which consists of several floors, must be pretty awesome. In fact, 4 cute girls were trying to go there too. Case in point right?

Stopped at Odaiba Aquacity. Heard that there is, uhm, a sony... thing... here =x But more than that, there are multiple floors/terraces outside which afford a rather nice view of the Rainbow bridge. The sun was setting, so I dunno how good those pics will be. Also of the Mini statue of liberty they have here...

It should be noted that the shit brick has something to say about this. They feel it highly worth noting that the statue of liberty has it's back turned to the bridge/tokyo, like this is some kind of insult or something. Hey dipshits... it ever occur to you retards that if it were facing any other way, you could not get a good picture of it? You would be in trees, or else in the water. PLUS, it's facing this way SO you can get NICE pictures with the BRIDGE in the BACKground. Christ. So much of the shit brick carries all this non-asian bias, it's really depressing. For a bunch of people who purport to love asia so much and travel so much, you fuckers haven't yet got a clue... Just ignorant tourists who wrote a book.

The Sony bits are kinda spread out through the building and not really concentrated like the Ginza building. I think it's more like Sony owns this "Aquacity" building, which is more like a mall. So just a lot of browsing.

Bought some omiyage for everyone... FROG STYLE! yes, more =P I think it's cool ^^;; So definitely people I will be crashing with, you get one =P The machine said 200Y but the sign inside the box said 100Y ;_; So I got 1000Y change so I could get 5... but after the second time, I kept turning the crank, because... it seemed odd... and more frogs kept popping out. It was like a frog factory. So I have 10 now... and on the very last one, I got one that I wanted! ^^. So I have 9 to give away, and 8 are definitely going to someone. so that leaves 2 out in the open.... ^^;; I have ONE Camoflauge G. Frog (Top Row, far right), TWO Minsar Frogs (Top Row, Middle Right), Three Rainbow Frogs (Middle Row, Far Right), and Three DokiDoki Frogs (Middle Row, Middle Right). The ones I would have wanted were the Sakura Mochi Frog (Middle Row, Middle Left), or else the one I did get Omikuji Frog ^^ (Bottom Row, Middle Left) すっごくラッキー indeed ^^; Of course people I am crashing with back in LA get first dibs... [Edit: Camo Claimed, 1 Rainbow Claimed, 2 DokiDoki Claimed]

Also sold at this "Edo Omiyage" store (was not aware that encapsulated frogs were from the Edo period) was saplings culled from the Progentior Pocky. Seriously. I think this is the Pocky to end all pocky, one that you can plant which will grow into the pocky tree (provided it does not melt), from which you can harvest pocky and giant pocky. It makes giant pocky look like regular size. I mean, if you trip and fall while eating one, you'd probably die, impaling your head on the end of the pocky medieval style. I'm not sure what they call it... giant pocky is already taken right? So I guess this is gargantuan mutant pocky or something. It's アメリカン sized. Wow. Your pocky SOO big.

It was nightfall by now, and wow. Rainbow bridge is beautiful at night. During the day, pretty much every waterfront neighbor hood is the same really. Blue. Like, yeah, the water is blue the sky is blue there is a fuckton of blue, I get it, can we pick another color now? Everything else tends to look kinda washed out by the blue. But at night, these areas really come into their own somehow... with the proper lighting, the city scapes and such... actually look nice. Rainbow bridge especially is lit just right... and you can Tokyo Tower in the background, and the Statue of Liberty thing in the foreground... it all looks so nice. Definite Date spot. You would get to grope at least I bet. Anyway, I took a number of very nice night photos of the scenery... the night photo function has a LONG shutter delay speed or whatever... so you have to hold it steady or else blurs. So I have Many more that are blurred and icky. But I got off quite a few nice shots. Would not have been possible methinks with the Clie or the film cam (flash is pointless for night pics unless you are taking a picture of a person).

Went to a Hawaiian burger place (Aina Kua? or something like that?) which hails itself as the best Burger place in the world. Now, i'm not even sure how something like that would even be determined... the sheer logistics of it are mind boggling, to say nothing of objective vs. subjective measurements. And maybe it's because I have not tasted a good burger in a very long time (even while in america), but this place is goddamned good. There's one In Haielea (I can't spell hawaiian places for shit =x), Honolulu, Tokyo (Odaiba) and Santa Monica (apparently). GO.

After, I walked a fair bit to the Oedo Onsen. It's about 9pm, and the place doesn't close until 9am... last admittance at 2am. I'm a little hesitant to go in though. It's kinda pricey, although apparently the price is reduced at night? And well, don't really want to fuck up =P This is one of those areas where it's pretty easy to make a social mistake, and it would be viewed by many =P Plus the whole getting naked with strangers thing has never appealed to me =P

Well, went in anyway. Would seem stupid otherwise, since this was primarily the reason why I came to the Odaiba area anyway =P Price was indeed lowered for after 6pm. Now, here's where karma is a funny thing. Some cantonese tourists where annoying the almighty hell out of me on the short Yurikamome ride. I mean, I'm not especially fond of how cantonese sounds (nor of women, given my love life history). But like, chinese tourists... gawd. So it's fitting I guess that they come here RIGHT as I do ><. Jesus. The funny thing is, they are getting explanations in english (because they are, apparently, clearly foreigners for which I guess it's roughly either english or japanese), whereas I get everything in japanese. Oddly, there's a nice feeling to that.

Now, this Onsen (hot mineral springs... it's odd to find one on 'reclaimed' land in the middle of a BAY, but as someone pointed out, if you dig deep enough...) is apparently somewhat famous and is kinda like a theme park (styled after Edo period apparently). Much of the staff speaks a fair amount of English and are rather friendly, i HIGHLY recommend coming here at LEAST once in any trip to japan. SERIOUSLY.

After getting the yukata and Obi, I ran into my first problem. The obi is a big sash, unlike the kind I have at home. I'm not too sure how to tie this =x (incidentally, when wearing a yukata, you should wrap the right side first, then the left side over the right [ <--- and then ---> ] as the opposite way is how the dead are dressed... i guess no one cares too much if you are gaijin though?). Had to have the guy next to me show me, he thought it was funny =x

First stop, Ashiyu (foot bath)... it's outdoors, and pretty cool. Rocks are placed everywhere designed to massage pressure points in our feet. I know my parents are into that, but I fuggin' hate it. It's painful as hell (which is supposed to mean i'm unhealthy or something). These rocks are both outside and inside the water. It's a little amusing to watch people walk through the water (a lot of あああ　いたいん！）. Not as amusing when it's you.

After this I went to yuya, the baths. Ok, so this is where people get naked =P You get two towels, a big one and a small one. Everything is fine until i walk into the bathing area. Because if I understand it correctly, I am meant to rinse/shower first then go into the bath, etc. But I'm the only one carrying the big towel... it's all confusing. I have to go in and bother the towel guy (again, and in english ;_;) who explains everything to me (mostly what I already knew though). Just the small towel for hiding your junk (although some don't even =p ). Yeah you are supposed to shower first, but he said it's probably better to show after either way... cuz some people don't shower before going in.

Ok, so put away towel, rinse, bath. Wow. Sooooooo relaxing. You simply have to try it. At this point, you really don't care about people's wangs being out in the open or if you (or someone else) is really doing something that's a social infraction. When you are soaking in the hot baths, it's really hard to give a shit about anything (much less two shits). There's indoor baths of varying temperature, a Sauna (which is just too rigoddamncockulously hot), and outdoor baths (which is just uber).

Seriously, this is (along with things like Hanami, Matsuri, Trips to Nikko and Kamakura, Climbing Mt. Fuji, etc.) something that really defines a trip to Japan. Yeah I'm sure you get the same sort of thing is certain places in america, but whatever. I'm pretty sure that's still different somehow. The interesting thing is, in japan the nudity is considered a social leveller... everyone is the same, or anonymously the same so to speak in the onsen. When you are getting on the train to go back to wherever, it's actually kind of a shock to see these same people now dressed as young punks or salary men or whatever else.

Anyway, this place is reasonably priced imo, and a very safe place to get your first experience at Onsen. I wish I'd tried it sooner, cuz i'd definitely come back ^^. There's food and games and such inside too where you can eat and drink and relax after bathing... and of course, shop. Incidentally, if you are Yakuza or have Tattoos, you will not be allowed to this Onsen (I think small, stupid stuff like lower back tats on girls or whatever are allowed, but bigger or more intricate or potentially gangsta/offensive stuff is prohibited). Pretty interesting. Onsen, short of making the wrong move and about to meet death, is probably the only place where you can really see いれずみ.

Unfortuantely, when I was done, the shops had closed ;_; No souvenirs. Just beer and gyoza and yaki-onigiri. Just a train ride home (still a little woozy from the heat haha) and a very placid demeanor. Oh, on the way out, they had omikuji. I decided I wanted number 16 (long story not worth mentioning here) and one in particular jumped out at me so I took it... it says my lucky number is 18 (as in age? ;), color Deep Blue (zomg), and "Big Lucky" woot woot =) And it's my first and only draw (someone in front of me got something else, and picked a second time lol =p ). It should be noted though, that I think all it had were "small lucky" "medium lucky" and "big lucky" (as well as numbers and colors).

Ah, so nice....

Day 60 - Rain and Fortunes

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Woke up feeling kinda nasty, and this continued on for about half the day. Unfortuantely, that's the half of the day it wasn't pouring rain. Went out kinda aimlessly, thought maybe i hadn't had enough to eat so got a cheap かきフライ＊カケソバセット... but it didn't help. Went back, rested. I figured feeling as I did, it really wasn't worth it to go to Yokohama. Half the day was gone, and there wasn't anything I really wanted to see there per se, other than "new stuff" and the Ramen museum (hopefully they have southern chinese style hand sliced ramen?). 次回。。。

I instead continued my hunt for a cool (and cheap) hand strap for the PSP. I went to Ueno, Ginza, Akihabara, and Shibuya >< In akihabara, there was some promise in Anime stuffs (esp. Full metal Alchemist), but no such luck ;_; Finally, In shibuya, in an "eh why not" event, found two nice ones in a store for digital cameras... one was braided black and gray, the other was a titanium link. Opted for the metal =p =) Teh win!

I also bought my first capsule toy thing! Gashapon!!!!!! It was Frogstyle! from this collection =) I got the red one "Fire Alarm Frog"... little red led on it's head lights up when you press it's tummy. The black one you can open it's tummy and it think that makes it's eyes light up yellow... the light blue one, the switch turns out yellow lights in it's nostrils ^^;;; White one, eyes light up when you press a button. The green one... apparently it's read lights up? o.O The dark blue one, pull the string and the tummy lights up. Frog Style is cool, I dunno ^^;;;

Also did a slight UMD hunt. Kinda want to get the Naruto Movie... but ionno, no fan sub on that on the disc or anything you know? Pretty sure I would not understand 98% of spoken dialogue (to say nothing of plot) in it ;_; Also kinda interested in HellBoy movie. Better than, say, watching the back of someone's head on the flight. The Screen on the PSP is amazing sharp, bright, and clear. It'd be a shame not to be able to watch stuff on it. On a similar note... it turns out to get videos ontot he mem stick, you need (sic: have to buy) a program called Image Converter 2.1 to change things into Mp4 format -_-;;; boo. I'm already familiar with this though... the Clie came with IC 1.3 (upgraded with patch to 1.5). Either these files can't be read on the PSP (which is possible), or the file folder name is different for teh Clie compared to PSP (which is also possible) or both ;_; So that is stalled.

Even worse, although I really don't _need_ to (what with HiMD and all), I can't get music onto the memstick. Sonic Stage wont recognize the stick in PCMCIA adapter... apparently it's either in the slot (which is not compatible on my laptop with high capacity PRO format) or 'external' reader/writer (by which i assume is meant a USB reader/writer =P and no, PSP in USB mode is apparently not recognized). This wont be a problem when I get my desktop running again, but for now it's just kinda dumb =P

Anyway, on the way back from Shibuya here in NishiNippori I got 'accosted' by some drunk salary man outside 7-11. At first I thought I did something wrong and now he's pissed... he keeps hitting me on the shoulder (shoulder slap, not a punch) and saying thank you and sorry (ありがとう。。。　ごめん。。。） over and over... he just makes no sense, but he apparently wants me to go with him somewhere. This went on for a while, and if it continued, he would have seen umbrella style Wong Fei Hong kung fu. Thankfully, he finally staggered on his way. It was all kind of disturbing. But in 60 days in Japan, that's the first real 'trouble' I've had. If you don't count all the times I've been bumped, nearly hit by umbrellas, bicyclists, cars, and actually hit by umbrellas and bicycles...

Home to emails... talking to my father about being buddhist zen... kinda like coming out of the religious closet so to speak. I wasn't really sure how they would take it, my brother and mom at least. My father is very open minded... he's further along in attaining that zen state of mind like a mirror than probably any of us really knows... but my mom has very strong feelings about things superstitions and such and I just plain confuse her (because I can be so inconsistent and interpret things in such a different light) and my brother seems more secular. But fortuantely, does not seem like much of a big deal =) I guess I was seeing lions where there were only statues...

Incidentally, things are really finding down now... I leave on Day 64 (and I can't really do much that day). So if there are requests for items, now is definitely the time (might not make it either). Email me.

Hopefully Odaiba and Oedo Onsen tomorrow.

Day 59 - Half a Nice Day

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Morning class. Almost overslept =P Since it's review, the only students today are the same two from yesterday. Uneventful, except one left at noon, and the other had no more questions at one. So, I stayed there by myself until 2pm, the contracted time. Just in case someone comes late, you know?

Aftrwards, harajuku! Lot of pictures. Also an annoying white girl whom I was tempted to push down some stairs. Hey listen bitch, this is japan, not "fantasy-take-up-as-much-fucking-space-as-you-like-making-big-gestures-and-leaning-to-and-fro".

=p

This was redeemed by Choco-cro.... a Chocolate filled Croissant. Sooooo good!

Wandered from Meijijingu area to omote-sando area and back again just kinda taking things in... ducked into two antique shops... "Oriental Bazaar" which is not really an antique shop. Yes they have some, but most of their shit is just that... shit meant to be sold to tourists =P Antiques are on the upper levels, and somewhat limited. The other store, next to them, had an amazing collection of items (and very expensive ones at that).

Went back to Akihabara to browse for PSP cases, as I realized today carrying it around in a spare sony soft bag, that wasn't going to work. I ended up getting a soft neo-prene one from the same place I got the unit yesterday. In fact, the same girl I asked for help from yesterday was the cashier today. AND in fact, just like yesterday, she said some stuff I didn't understand ^^;;; Yesterday, because she was so nice and helpful, I came back and bought the psp from them, and on the way out I waved and showed my purchase ^^ Today, although I didn't get it at first, she was asking if I bought it yesterday, and if I had gotten the value pack or not (since she apparently was concerned that I was buying something I already had). Was awfully nice (I finally understood and was able to communicate that... I'm a bit sloooooow eh???). No strap though... just super long neck ones for Digital Cameras, or short ones for cell phones... or else ugly ones =P Blah >< Must hold out for a cool/cheap one!

Started to rain a bit... so I was singing in the rain... or dancing... or both. You pick. Went home with more gyoza (it's easy and cheap =P ) and was able to demonstrate to the other people living here that Yes, the wireless network does indeed work. See here on the PSP? It works =) Wonder of wonders.

Tomorrow is purportedly Yokohama. Looks like the rain is going to continue though. I'm not even very interested in going, except for like ramen... and just to see another place. New things, you know? But otherwise, I somehow doubt it will be a long trip.

Day 58 - Mission: F A I L E D

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Meh. Early morning class >< And worse, it's one in which I don't do anything: a diagnostic administration. All I do is try to stay awake and keep time... Can't really do too much, because I DO need to keep an eye on the timer (as I also give 5 min warning =p ) and so it's hard to do anything because you get odd portions of time.

Bleh.

Also, 2 of my students showed up. Every class seems to follow this pattern, even the one I was in (so it's not just cuz I'm the teacher =P ).

Soooo I'm sitting there. And sitting there. Sleep a little. Play NintendoDS a little. Snack a little.

Suddenly out of the blue decide I need a PSP. No really. I need one. And It's sudden but subtly well rationed in a completely unstated manner. Wow.

Kinda sad that with 6 days to go, I fail my mission =P Which was "Do not buy a PSP".

So I didn't not buy a jp PSP (all region for games, but jp region for UMD video and such). It was cheaper, and I figure the only time I would watch videos or whatever on the psp I didn't not buy, would be here in Japan. Like, if the ever get BoA* vids or something. There's the Naruto Movie, for example =P The value pack, which apparently nobody in japan wants either, is 5000Y more. Let's see:

1. Headphones and remote: Yeah, no thanks. I already have sony headphones. And I have a Hi-MD, so I don't really plan on using you as an mp3 player. Value to me: zero Y

2. 32 MB Mem Stick Duo: Uhm. If it's free or whatever, I'll take it, but I don't really see a use for it. I plan on getting a bigger Mem Stick Duo PRO so I can load it with videos to watch. This would only be for game data and stuff, but that'd be a pain. Value to me: 500Y

3. Case: It's kinda ugly. I know I can get one at least as nice for about 600Y. Value to me: 100Y

4. Strap: Now that's not bad. Granted it's white while the PSP is black and thus that makes no sense, it's nifty PS branded hand strap that's useful. On the other hand, I should be able to find a strap on the street for like, 400Y. Value to me: 400Y.

So I'd be paying 5000Y for what I perceive as 1000Y value. _no thanks_. I could even opt to buy the case and strap alone for 1780Y (which is still too much). Instead, I go buy a San Disk 512 Mem Stick Duo PRO for just under 6997Y (comparing price to megabyte, this is win... plus cheaper than america). The only thing was, I neglected to check compatibility. Granted, display cases list mem stick for PSP up to 512 (one place even listed a 1gb stick), the psp itself only says MG Mem Stick Duo... and not PRO (the 256mb+ format). That, you may recall, is why my laptop cannot read my PRO stick. Fortunately, this was not a problem.

I don't have any sony soft bags that work well for the psp, so I got a soft case for 600Y. Win. That was the next day. Two days later (omg!) I got a nice titanium strap (originally for digital cameras... the packaging insisted I use only with digital cameras) for 510Y. Win. It's more than the cost of the value pack, yes, but it's also a lot MORE than the value pack. A lot nicer too =P Oh, the mem stick comes with a full size adapter, which the 32 mb would have needed to be read on anything other than a digital camera... and I would have gotten at least 256 mb extra with value pack, which is going for about 5000Y =P

I also didn't not buy Lumines (which doesn't really need english =p ) and WipeOut: Pure (which is super cool because it has full english support).

Now, the PSP is 802.11b wireless compatible. So for laughs, I tried to connect it to the wrieless connection here at the Gaijin house.

It worked. This is perhaps the second piece of wireless capable electronica I have that actually can work and connect to the internets wirelessly without problems (the Clie is the first... although it has problems sometimes, but that's probably due more to mini-web browser proggy). I even downloaded two bonus packs for WipeOut: Pure... and the content integrates seemlessly. You wouldn't even know that it's downloaded, it looks like it was there all along. Did network update too.

Wow.

The only thing that kinda pissed me off was in LAOX when I was hunting prices... chinese saleswoman there was very annoying. Ok, see, when I say thanks, and turn aroudn to go... that means we are done talking. Now if you interrupt me with something you view as legitimate or because you need to make a sale, I can appreciate that... I'll even play along because who knows. But when I do that a second time, we are through. I should not have to do it a third time. At this point you need to understand just how badly you are pissing me off. Maybe you lost a sale of PSP if you had just let me go... you were pretty much destined to since you didn't have what I wanted. But maybe I'll be back. But if you piss me off and piss me off and piss me off, now I wont ever come back to buy ANYTHING. Think about the monetary implications there. If i was your manager, you'd be fired. Especially in Japan, that was plain rude. The final straw is when she explained to me what the value pack comes with. Hey, do I look fucking blind to you? Would a blind man really need a PSP anyway? And then she kept pointing out it came with the one thing I absolutely did not need or want, the headphones. Hey, remember when you interrupted me? Yeah, those things I was putting in my ears? HEADPHONES you dumb bitch. When I motion to those like "hey, I have those, so you can stop already ok?" she asks:

"But are you sure they will work with the psp".

How you still have your job is just beyond me. Good bye.

Tomorrow... more morning work ;_;