I just saw the most ridiculous commercial. Tommy Lee Jones visits a maid cafe. You have to see it to understand.
So freakin' weird. I hope deciding to go to Akihabara on a Saturday let's me see this kind of stuff =)
Friday, February 29, 2008
Friday (2/29)
Today I went to Ueno to see Ueno park and go to the Ueno Zoo. I went after the morning rush hour, so that I didn't get packed into the train .. I'm not interested in being a sardine while I'm on vacation. When I got there, I just randomly wandered around the park for a while.
There's something weird about a minivan in front of a temple / shrine.
After looking around for a while, I decided to head into the zoo. There were a bunch of kids there on a field trip. The zoo was a blast, and I could understand kid talk a lot better than adult talk .. of course, most of the time people were just saying "kawaii" (cute) over and over.
One lady wanted me to take a picture of her with the polar bears with her digital camera. When I showed her the picture I took, she jumped a little when I asked "ii desu ka" (is that okay?) and she realized I had understood all the things she was saying (she had been speaking pretty simply since she didn't expect me to understand any of it, anyway).
I overheard one group of kids say "amerikajin" (American), and I turned around, and they said "Haro", and I responded "Konnichiwa", and they got all excited and ran over. One of the kids asked me where I was from, and I told him California. They gave me high fives, said "bye bye" and ran off. I think its a game for them, finding as many Americans as they can on a field trip. I saw them giving another guy the same treatment later.
This bird was so cool .. I've never seen (or heard of) a secretary bird before
Here's one group of kids on their field trip
Then, the sloth cage had a hole with a rope coming out of it to a tree. I guess they're pretty sure the sloth won't try to escape
Then, because the sloth might poop on you, there was this sign hanging from the tree
Then I was sitting on a bench watching the birds, and a little kid runs up and says to his mom, "debu tori" and points at the pelican. His mom and I both laughed a little .. "debu tori" means fatso bird
When I had seen all I wanted to see at the zoo (and I was getting pretty hungry), I left and headed toward downtown, and I found a giant shopping district squeezed around the area under the train tracks. There were people selling fish, clothes, and plenty of little restaurants. I found a stand that was selling takoyaki (octopus in a ball of delicious batter), and bought four. They were extremely hot .. my mouth is still one big blister. Then I found some milk tea with boba (balls of tapioca), and then a little restaurant where I finally had a proper meal. Then it was time to head home.
They love their KFC in Japan
And then the inside of Ueno station just as rush hour is picking back up
Tomorrow I head to Akihabara .. the nerd mecca =)
Here's the rest of the pictures I took today, in case you want to look through all of them.
There's something weird about a minivan in front of a temple / shrine.
After looking around for a while, I decided to head into the zoo. There were a bunch of kids there on a field trip. The zoo was a blast, and I could understand kid talk a lot better than adult talk .. of course, most of the time people were just saying "kawaii" (cute) over and over.
One lady wanted me to take a picture of her with the polar bears with her digital camera. When I showed her the picture I took, she jumped a little when I asked "ii desu ka" (is that okay?) and she realized I had understood all the things she was saying (she had been speaking pretty simply since she didn't expect me to understand any of it, anyway).
I overheard one group of kids say "amerikajin" (American), and I turned around, and they said "Haro", and I responded "Konnichiwa", and they got all excited and ran over. One of the kids asked me where I was from, and I told him California. They gave me high fives, said "bye bye" and ran off. I think its a game for them, finding as many Americans as they can on a field trip. I saw them giving another guy the same treatment later.
This bird was so cool .. I've never seen (or heard of) a secretary bird before
Here's one group of kids on their field trip
Then, the sloth cage had a hole with a rope coming out of it to a tree. I guess they're pretty sure the sloth won't try to escape
Then, because the sloth might poop on you, there was this sign hanging from the tree
Then I was sitting on a bench watching the birds, and a little kid runs up and says to his mom, "debu tori" and points at the pelican. His mom and I both laughed a little .. "debu tori" means fatso bird
When I had seen all I wanted to see at the zoo (and I was getting pretty hungry), I left and headed toward downtown, and I found a giant shopping district squeezed around the area under the train tracks. There were people selling fish, clothes, and plenty of little restaurants. I found a stand that was selling takoyaki (octopus in a ball of delicious batter), and bought four. They were extremely hot .. my mouth is still one big blister. Then I found some milk tea with boba (balls of tapioca), and then a little restaurant where I finally had a proper meal. Then it was time to head home.
They love their KFC in Japan
And then the inside of Ueno station just as rush hour is picking back up
Tomorrow I head to Akihabara .. the nerd mecca =)
Here's the rest of the pictures I took today, in case you want to look through all of them.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Thursday Evening (2/28)
So, I went back to those little streets once everyone was getting off of work, and they were lined with people. It was a normal day, and yet it kinda seemed like a carnival or a convention. I went to a place called Yebisu, and had some spicy soba with onions (negi soba), and a Yebisu beer. Then I walked around some more and found a Club Sega Arcade
Ryan suggested that I visit a Club Sega, so I went in to see what it was like. Like most things I've seen here, it wasn't all that spacious, but it had 3 floors. The top floor was for games like tetris, soccer games, and an interesting card-based game called 「三国志大戦」 or "SanGokuShi TaiSen" which means something like "Tales of the Three Kingdoms : Great War". The game was a real-time strategy where the player would choose the cards they want out of their deck at the beginning, and then use those cards to position and direct things on the field of battle. Here's a page that has some pictures of the arcade machine. There was one guy that came in wearing a utility belt with decks of cards for this game in the various compartments of his belt.
Anyway, the bottom floor was for fighting games, and was labeled "Battle Arena". The middle floor was for things like crane games for getting prizes, and this, MarioKart Arcade 2
I had seen this before online, but had completely forgotten about it until now. I know how I'm going to spend my 100 yen coins now =) They've gotten a lot better at making arcade-goers want to part with their money. When you first sit down, it asks you if you have a card. I had no idea what it was talking about, so I said "no". Then I find out that you unlock courses, drivers, weapons, etc by winning various races. So I paid the extra 100 yen to get this
Which is where all your data is stored. I'm kinda glad that my commute home doesn't include the possibility of stopping by a club sega and dropping 10-15 bucks on unlocking more courses, etc. I'd be flat broke =)
Finally, I went to a coffee shop with the intention of just sitting there a while and reading. So far the two years of studying has been entirely useless. I haven't had any practice actually listening and speaking, and my vocabulary is too small to understand most things. Anyway, I ordered a drink in my standard manner, saying "caffe latte o kudasai", and then unsuccesfully trying to understand when they say what appears to be "is that for here or to go". Anyway, they figure I can't understand, and they start talking about me in terms that I'm somewhat familiar with .. and they weren't nice. That kinda pissed me off. Kind of a sour end to an otherwise nice day. I just wish I could speak well enough to respond to something like that without needing 5 minutes to figure out how to say it.
Thursday (2/28)
After I got situated this morning, I walked around Shinjuku from 8am to 2pm, with almost no stopping. This trip is going to be a pretty good workout.
Since I was out so early in the morning, most places were closed. One store was about to open around 10am and a bunch of employees were standing in two rows facing each other, and they were yelling "ohayou gozaimasu" or "good morning" back and forth at one another. I'd heard that employees have a kind of pep rally before the day starts, but that was just strange.
Then I saw a Mister Donut, and had to stop in to try it out (I'd heard of them before).
I had a sandwich that was some shredded chicken and cream cheese on a croissant-like roll, a bacon quiche and some hot tea. It was really good. It was nice and warm, which was a must, since it was 6 degrees Celsius outside (42.8 F), and I'd already been walking around for 2 and a half hours.
Then I saw a huge Yodobashi camera, which is actually a general electronics store with all the different sections stacked up on different floors (there were 8 of them), and I got a cheap wrist watch and a 3-prong-to-2-prong converter so that I could plug in my laptop.
Then I kept walking around with the intent of getting thoroughly lost .. and it worked. There are areas where the streets are really narrow, and cars end up avoiding them almost entirely. These areas have lots of little shops in them. I also walked through some neighboring residential area. Occasionally there were temples right in the middle of otherwise exclusively urban surroundings. It was weird to suddenly see something like that.
Then I came back and took a LONG nap. I was so exhausted. But now, it's 5:30 and I need some dinner. So I'm going back out to the streets.
Random pictures of the streets of Shinjuku:
The residential area:
Again, I seem to just get pictures of uninteresting things. When I see something interesting I don't think about taking a picture until later, when it's too late.
Random note:
I just looked in my wallet and it seemed like there was too little money left. But then I remembered the coins I've been collecting, and there are a few 500 yen coins .. which is effectively $5 in a single coin. I need to break my habit of not using coins.
Since I was out so early in the morning, most places were closed. One store was about to open around 10am and a bunch of employees were standing in two rows facing each other, and they were yelling "ohayou gozaimasu" or "good morning" back and forth at one another. I'd heard that employees have a kind of pep rally before the day starts, but that was just strange.
Then I saw a Mister Donut, and had to stop in to try it out (I'd heard of them before).
I had a sandwich that was some shredded chicken and cream cheese on a croissant-like roll, a bacon quiche and some hot tea. It was really good. It was nice and warm, which was a must, since it was 6 degrees Celsius outside (42.8 F), and I'd already been walking around for 2 and a half hours.
Then I saw a huge Yodobashi camera, which is actually a general electronics store with all the different sections stacked up on different floors (there were 8 of them), and I got a cheap wrist watch and a 3-prong-to-2-prong converter so that I could plug in my laptop.
Then I kept walking around with the intent of getting thoroughly lost .. and it worked. There are areas where the streets are really narrow, and cars end up avoiding them almost entirely. These areas have lots of little shops in them. I also walked through some neighboring residential area. Occasionally there were temples right in the middle of otherwise exclusively urban surroundings. It was weird to suddenly see something like that.
Then I came back and took a LONG nap. I was so exhausted. But now, it's 5:30 and I need some dinner. So I'm going back out to the streets.
Random pictures of the streets of Shinjuku:
The residential area:
Again, I seem to just get pictures of uninteresting things. When I see something interesting I don't think about taking a picture until later, when it's too late.
Random note:
I just looked in my wallet and it seemed like there was too little money left. But then I remembered the coins I've been collecting, and there are a few 500 yen coins .. which is effectively $5 in a single coin. I need to break my habit of not using coins.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Thursday Morning (2/28)
So I'm up .. at 5:00am local time (noon california time). Time to get started. Here's the view out of my hotel window.
And this is what I saw when I went to the bathroom this morning. The icons are funny, and a little scary =)
And this is what I saw when I went to the bathroom this morning. The icons are funny, and a little scary =)
着いた！！！
(That means "I'm here!!!") And, here I am, indeed. I'm finally in my room at the Shinjuku Washington Hotel. I'm exhausted, so I'll keep this short. I apologize for not taking any pictures at the airport, but I was a little stressed out.
When you get off the plane, you go through immigration, where they take your fingerprints and photo (newly introduced procedure). Then you get your luggage and head to customs. This all would have been easy (just waiting in lines and doing what you're told), but I sat there waiting for my luggage, and it never came. Finally, they sent a little sign around on the conveyor belt that just says "Last" to let you know that if you haven't seen your luggage by now .. you're screwed. So I started getting a little panicky, and was told to go to the "Luggage Information" counter. But the panic didn't last long, because I went to the counter, and my luggage was sitting on the ground beside it.
Then I rented a sim card for the phone I'm borrowing from Jeremy, and got my JRail pass for 3/5 - 3/18, and went back up to street level to catch a "Limousine Bus". Once I got on the bus, it was about an hour and a half ride to Shinjuku, and then I had to check in and put all my stuff away. Right now its 10:00pm (which they just write as 22:00) and so it's 5:00am back in California, and I still haven't gotten a decent rest since I left Mom's house at 3:00am(PST) this morning. Yea, 27 straight hours without sleep.
With that said, here are some pictures (one from just before I left this morning, and the rest from the limo bus), and a little video of my hotel room, and I'm going to sleep.
And here's a little walkthrough of my hotel room.
When you get off the plane, you go through immigration, where they take your fingerprints and photo (newly introduced procedure). Then you get your luggage and head to customs. This all would have been easy (just waiting in lines and doing what you're told), but I sat there waiting for my luggage, and it never came. Finally, they sent a little sign around on the conveyor belt that just says "Last" to let you know that if you haven't seen your luggage by now .. you're screwed. So I started getting a little panicky, and was told to go to the "Luggage Information" counter. But the panic didn't last long, because I went to the counter, and my luggage was sitting on the ground beside it.
Then I rented a sim card for the phone I'm borrowing from Jeremy, and got my JRail pass for 3/5 - 3/18, and went back up to street level to catch a "Limousine Bus". Once I got on the bus, it was about an hour and a half ride to Shinjuku, and then I had to check in and put all my stuff away. Right now its 10:00pm (which they just write as 22:00) and so it's 5:00am back in California, and I still haven't gotten a decent rest since I left Mom's house at 3:00am(PST) this morning. Yea, 27 straight hours without sleep.
With that said, here are some pictures (one from just before I left this morning, and the rest from the limo bus), and a little video of my hotel room, and I'm going to sleep.
And here's a little walkthrough of my hotel room.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sacramento
I made it up to Sacramento around noon on Saturday, and then I went over to my sister's apartment to have dinner with everybody.
Then my niece, Reanna, got a hold of my camera.
And here are some pictures she took (I'll leave out the pictures she took of the ceiling, floor, her feet, etc)
I like the faces people make when they're posing for a 3 year-old (faces they probably wouldn't have made if they knew I'd be posting them online =)
Then today, I went over and played with Reanna some more and visited with Jeff and Dana. Then I did some last minute shopping and got some clothes and a pillow for the flight. A little more than 24 hours from now I'll be waking up to get ready to go to the airport. Then another 24 hours after that I'll probably be sleeping in my hotel in Shinjuku.
Then my niece, Reanna, got a hold of my camera.
And here are some pictures she took (I'll leave out the pictures she took of the ceiling, floor, her feet, etc)
I like the faces people make when they're posing for a 3 year-old (faces they probably wouldn't have made if they knew I'd be posting them online =)
Then today, I went over and played with Reanna some more and visited with Jeff and Dana. Then I did some last minute shopping and got some clothes and a pillow for the flight. A little more than 24 hours from now I'll be waking up to get ready to go to the airport. Then another 24 hours after that I'll probably be sleeping in my hotel in Shinjuku.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Done Packing
So, we had a short work day today. We finished packing up our desks at the old office and went to lunch.
Derek, Jeremy and I went to Agora for the first time. Unfortunately it took us this long to go there. Really great meat.
Then we went to the new office and looked around, and we each picked where we want to sit.
We've got a giant projection screen in the kitchen / game room / break area.
We have some tables just outside, so we can enjoy some sunlight during lunch.
Then I went home, and did more packing .. only this time it was for my trip to Japan. I'm all packed up, and ready to walk out the door (as soon as I can wrangle my cat into the car).
Derek, Jeremy and I went to Agora for the first time. Unfortunately it took us this long to go there. Really great meat.
Then we went to the new office and looked around, and we each picked where we want to sit.
We've got a giant projection screen in the kitchen / game room / break area.
We have some tables just outside, so we can enjoy some sunlight during lunch.
Then I went home, and did more packing .. only this time it was for my trip to Japan. I'm all packed up, and ready to walk out the door (as soon as I can wrangle my cat into the car).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)