Samurai Spirits

I'd been wanting to attend some festival activities here for a while now and I finally managed to take a little matsuri in. Not to say these were the festivals I've wanted to attend, but there are some similarities. There were food stands around, and people in traditional clothing... This is one reason I want to be around for the New Year. There will be a festival like I've seen in pictures and video then at the very least.
So on to the festivities. First was one around Halloween.. I should say something about Halloween in Japan. It's a little thing around here. No kids are going around for candy, at least not generally, there may be a few parties, a theme cafe here and there, and Disneyland Japan does a thing, but it's not the big production it is in America.
That big production is what confectioners here in Japan want it to be, but even then the displays at stores and such are small by comparison.
Heedless of any western holidays, there was a street festival held by a local shopping district that weekend, and so I went. It was really a small affair, no more than about a city block in length, but it was crowded and full of a fair degree of awesome and let me tell you why. Some of you may know about this little 'Power Ranger' thing. Well, it comes from 'Sentai' or hero team shows in Japan. And these aren't just tv shows, they come out and do live performance shows at malls and shopping districts and... It's something that must be seen. I took video of some of the performance, but it's so crowded I had to stand quite back to have a spot. Even then I had to move while taking it for the crowd and intervening pavilion. I'll get it posted.. it's a little large as is now. But it's an audience participation thing, the narrator, the villain, the heroes, they all call out to the audience, sometimes they even reach out to touch them.. I can't imagine that happening in America anymore!
But between seeing the last half of it at the first performance, and the first half at the second performance, I got to pound rice cakes, listen to some alternating fun and kinda weird music... Chatted it up with the guys from Gottsui (An okonomiyaki store I frequent) some too. All in all a fun time.. I took all video at it too.. I should've gotten some pictures, they're easier to post.
Oh yeah, there were world champion yoyo guys there too. *also* took some video of them in action.

So November 3rd is Culture Day, one of the National holidays of Japan. It also happens to be the Meiji Emperor's birthday. So at Meiji-jingu, where he is enshrined, there's bound to be something interesting. And indeed there is. Lots of people... ooooh, the people... This picture was a bunch of guys who were doing some sort of chant.. I'm not sure what it was really. There were beautiful flowers, what looked like some noh dance, adorable children in classic clothing... and did I mention horseback archery?

Yeah, that was really cool, and packed. There are martial arts displays going on all day long. I personally saw Aikido, Naginata-jutsu, Iaijutsu, displays of single katana vs katana and wakizashi, Judo, the combat simulations involving the classic armor was cool too... Seriously, you had to be there. and I've gotta go early next year... get a good seat.

Bolstering the Ranks

I mentioned to a lot of people last week that I'd had a very long Sunday, not to say it was a bad long, just a busy long, one much more strung from one event to the next than any Sunday I ever participated in anywhere else.
A lot of this is my fault for attending 6 hours of church that day.
It's quite normal to hear complaints about the length of even a 3 hour block of Sacrament meeting and then instruction. I've grumbled quietly to myself on the topic more than once. It was not one of those days.
It's a slightly odd building as church buildings go, but when you're dealing with property in Shibuya, really just about anything is amazing. 6 floors of it, from basement on up. Everything feels less spread out, there's a efficiency to the space that really lends itself to a comforting, familiarizing atmosphere. As a space where you cannot remain isolated for long. My first thoughts were of the building I grew up meeting in, but even that was spacious comparatively. Not that it fit more people, or had more square footage, no, It's more a matter of the hallways and walkways. In this building, two people cannot pass without interfacing, for to do so would result in a collision. I'll spare all of you the play by play of the layout.
It was a buoyant experience. From the moment I gave an introduction to myself and mentioned why I've come to Japan I was met with encouragement. I'm particularly fond of the comment an older gentleman made on the spot. Translates roughly to 'Somebody help this man get a job!' I'm sure it's mostly to do with my own predilection, but I felt very comfortable, like with this simple and honest phrase I'd come somewhere that could be so much more than just a stop along a way. And that's how my time from 9am until a little after 4pm continued. Very relaxing... refreshing. I received an invitation to a get together that night and thought momentarily about it. Normally I'm quite reserved over such matters, I would hesitate to intrude on nearly any invitation, but for some reason, and I'm not certain why, I went for it, as troublesome as making it there in time would be. The meetup was in 2 hours. Now normally, that amount of time would allow for a lot to be done in it, but this... oh no, this is japan, and I am pedestrian! Taking the trains home would eat up about 35 minutes including the walk from the station. With a quick change of clothes and checking a map for where the station is I'd be meeting people... but I digress.. the real clinch in the situation was I had not eaten yet. At all. I estimated I had about 20 minutes for food. And with no instant food at home from poor planning on that part... okay, i had some very bad tasting great value curry noodle cups... they taste somewhat like eating salted styrofoam, not that I know that flavor intimately.. I'm severely tempted to be rid of them without eating. I digress again. I popped off to a local nagasaki-style shop, they've got a very good tasting fried rice, some excellent donburi (meat and veggies over rice) and some noodle dishes too, and I get a gyoza meal. I cram it down as fast as I can manage without making an utter mess. Even speed walking at all this and I still didn't manage to make the meeting location in time. Thank goodness for pay phones.
One more thing. someone may remember I had a picture of shibuya crossing on my desktop for a while, well here's my parting image. I attempted to get something similar with a 1 second exposure. Wow things wash out quick. I've got to figure more out about this camera. By the by, this was taken around 11pm. This doesn't really capture how busy the place was even then. I'll try again soon.

Scouting out new territory.

These walks I've been going on have been getting more and more expansive. It's not that I'm walking to extraordinarily distant locations, no, no that's not it at all, in fact, if I compare my walks to those my father takes daily they're probably hardly anything to mention, although I haven't marked any sort of distance at all. I just walk and wander and see and stop and look... well, there is a process generally. I think I'll try to talk about that in context of my walk today. Because today was an extraordinarily typical walk for me.

I started out with a very clear goal of where I need to go and what I need to accomplish with this walk. But I hardly make a beeline to my goal. The normal Japanese person, in attemptingwhat I did, would have instead taken a train or two and a short walk. What I did instead was take a look at a map, looked at it in terms of larger locations, landmarks, etc that would aid in navigation, then set out. My first stop was a bread store I've stopped at a number of times now, they have delicious breads, and it makes a good walking breakfast. I eat one of them immediately and set out in the general direction of my destination, which today happened to be shimo-kitazawa. I need an alien registration card so I can get a cellphone among other things.

Oh, mosquito... it's so tiny... and trying to snack on my thumb. Squish. This reminds me of another topic I need to address sometime.. the japanese and spiders. Look forward to it.

So, back to topic, I actually took the first leg of my walking trip to Shibuya the other day. From there I started walking up a large road. It wasn't long before I came across an expansive Japanese wall surrounding a grounds containing a building with a traditional style roof. I immediately diverted from my path to investigate. It was a Buddhist temple, one undergoing some renovation, so I didn't take any pictures, I stood and read about a canal that had been developed and turned into an underground canal at the location and moved on. Perhaps a few times on any given walk I'll come across something like this that catches my eye, or I look down a tiny street cluttered with shops and suddenly divert down to take a look. Doing things like this has made my walks about Setagaya-ku and beyond quite entertaining. Now, another part of all this comes when I'm done in one particular diversion. About at the part where I get to the other side of that shopping district and take a guess as to which way it is to my destination. It's a fun way to find new routes. Today was especially so because of what I did after I reached kitazawa's town hall.

As it turns out, that's not the place I need to go to get my registration card initially. I really had to go to another place.. that's a couple blocks away from my apartment. One that now that it's been pointed out to me, I realize I've passed by it once or twice before. Heh heh.. he... hehhehhehheh...

But that's just the start! I walked out and went down a couple of the young people's shimo-kitazawa town. (that's literally what's marked on a map I saw.. I should've taken a picture)

There's.. too much to even start on. It's like a huge outdoor shopping zone. I passed by at least 8 bookstores, I stopped into a record shop where this guy behind the counter started djing a bit (have you seen the record shop in Faking it where the cellist becomes a dj? Amazing how the record store looked so similar. Or maybe I'm remembering a different televised record store. So much vinyl.)

The streets there are so random it's hard to keep a solid bead on direction in the middle of the day... I exited the street with a clear understanding of how to return the way I came, but my directions had been moved 90 degrees. I started walking in the direction of my next objective, and you can imagine my surprise when I started walking on a particular street... and recognized it from my walk to shibuya after about a block! I turned off it immediately after.

I found a very nice park in that wandering that I had to stop in, I read a chapter of a book on a bench and walked around, it's a nice park. But then we come to where I am now.

That's right. 東大 - TouDai. (Tokyo University, one of the most, if not the most prestigious university in Japan) And what's the first thing to happen on the campus of this prestigious and beautiful campus? I'm asked if I'm a teacher. Hold on a minute while I process this. In fact, the rest of this will just have to wait for the end of my walk.

I love my netbook. So convenient for just sitting and writing anywhere. I've gotten a suggestion from my good friend Jeff tonight that perhaps I should attempt to seek employ at TouDai. I hesitate, but perhaps if they had something available. There certainly was delicious peach drink at the co-op store... yum.

No more job responses today, but I feel confident that once I can get an interview, I can get a job.

The appetite for battle

I should bring my camera with me at all times, I really should. Instead of pictures of the church I'll be attending, this week has a night shot from my window, looked pretty so I tried to capture it. I obviously need more practice.. and a tripod, I discovered some lens features I didn't know this thing has... I keep liking this little Canon SD870IS more and more every time I use it.
I've mentioned to a few of you that I've been losing weight, about 15kg overall since I came to Japan, that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 33 pounds. This is not a difficult task though.. I'd gotten quite heavy before I left. This is easily seen in the recent pictures of me on facebook. What does all this mean? Well, for one, when I got up to go to church today, I put on a pair of slacks that's always been rather tight in the waist (This is being very generous, if I didn't tighten my belt, I was quite sure the button would pop off of them)... and they fit like they were designed to. Easily clasped, not extraordinarily loose or tight... just fit. Now if I could only say the same thing for my neck.. that at least still seems to be trunk-like and massive. Though, that shirt I was wearing was short in the arms as well, it might be an improper fit.
This was my nice discovery for the morning. Right up until I arrived at the designated meeting time at the meeting place for church... and nobody was there. The building was locked up. I need to make contact.. I've got phone numbers, it's just late now, I'll do it tomorrow, during the holiday, maybe something is going on.
And now, a moment of humor. There are lots of comments about how 'big' I am in Japan. This is very true, I haven't taken any pictures of crowds or anything yet, but I certainly have taken a couple at dwellings and hotels. Here's proof positive that I am, indeed, huge in Japan. Hrothgar at the door of one of the hotels he stayed in.

Beating paths

I walked out my front door today with a mission, pay the rent. I can hardly believe I've been in Japan for over a month now. What has been accomplished? What do I have to show for it? I'm glad I can answer that question.
For the most part, my 'productive' moments have been in the mornings. I get up and search job listings. Occasionally I unearth yet another website I can use to search from, but as yet I've only applied to specific translation jobs. Today changes all that. From the applications I've sent out, I've only received one response, and that response to tell me that they're not hiring anymore, but they'll keep my information for potential freelance work. Admittedly that's had me a bit down. But I'm clenching my fists and stamping my foot, I've found an English editing position and a techie job to apply for, but regrettably I've squandered the evening writing a short story. It's almost 1am now, I'll have to postpone the actual application to tomorrow, or rather, when I wake up later today.
It's been a heartening day, if a bit wearing overall. Like I said, I set out to Shinjuku today, which is normally a 20 minute walk and a couple train rides. I decided to cut one of the train rides out somewhat randomly. It's a lot longer walking to Shibuya than I thought. The bread I bought myself at the start of my walk was long gone before I even crossed this shrine, the namesake of this area Shoin Jinja-mae (Meaning in front of Shoin Shrine) I've linked it's website in english. Interesting little story there. By the time I'd made it to Shibuya, I was feeling that prickling tingling sensation of skin separating, forming a blister on each foot. I'm getting quite familiar with this sensation. I may need to find some walking shoes for all of it I do around here.
... Also.. my internet is being exceptionally slow tonight. Picture uploads are not supposed to take this long in the post-dialup era.
I've been impressed with the positive attitude and helpfulness of my landlords, paying my rent today, the guy I was dealing with took an interest in how things were going, how's the job search... etc etc. He directed me to a job agency locally and was pretty surprised at the lack of response I've gotten because 'you can speak Japanese.' We talked a bit about freelancing, which is how a lot of people residing at sakura house have done jobs while attending school and such. Anyhow, with forming blisters I took my leave and went to find this job agency.
I went, following the directions I'd been given.. but for all my searching (and another couple kilometers of walking) I found korea town... but no job agency. Here's another picture, not of that area, but of a shopping district near my apartment. I either passed right by it, or didn't go far enough. This is easy to do.. as I'm scanning signs, it's not just street level, there's little signs everywhere, pointing to businesses on different floors, advertisements for everything... and try as I might, scanning the signs did not yield what I was looking for. The positive here is I recognized the name of the place, I'd seen one in Shibuya a week ago. I'm going to find an address and go there in person as soon as I can.

Tokyo with a bullet

Bullet trains are a lot like airplanes. Except for without the excessive waiting in terminals, baggage check, baggage claim, or cramped seats, and with little power outlets at your feet, vending machines, wide walkways and... well.. okay, I guess it's not like an airplane... the similarities are there though, it's really fast and I did pop my ears a few times when climbing and decending through the hills and mountains. Accelleration, also, gives a similar impression to takeoff, but it's smoother, and just when the plane would be taking off, the train just keeps speeding up.

The trip to Tokyo itself was rather rocky. But all of it comes down to how I entered Japan. There are a number of things the normal traveller will have set up already that I did not, or at least did not know of. I didn't notify my bank that I was out of the country, I didn't have an address/hotel set up, I didn't have any friends over there, just some friends of friends. I was flying by the seat of my pants in about as much of the meaning of that idiom as can be done. Travelling with Jeff, I'd, by design, left the first 'little while' unplanned completely. I was going there to meet a friend of his, see some stuff and then go to Tokyo at some time in the future.
This friend of his (and friend of mine now) had a lot on her shoulders I found out. Our 'no plan' adventure was anything but like a typical vacation. None of this is to say that it was not a good one. Just anything but typical. It's in this set that I arrive in Fukuoka from Kumamoto after a smooth bus ride. I go to the counter to buy my ticket... and my card is declined... easy enough, I'm carrying traveller's checks, so I search out a bank for some currency exchange, this takes less than 10 minutes, banks are everywhere, unlike garbage bins. But I do need an address to do currency exchange. This is not a problem, I can call Hiromi and get hers! If she weren't in drive mode and unreachable... Hmm.... How to proceed. I lumber my way through underground passageways and streets in Fukuoka in search of an internet cafe I might use to skype Wells Fargo and I find one. A couple hundred yen can get me half an hour. And I can hook up my own pc to their Ethernet. Seems like a deal so I hook in. And call... call drops at 40 seconds... and call.. call drops at 50 seconds.. and call.. call drops at 40 seconds.. and call.. call drops at 43 seconds... You get the picture. I got so frustrated with their *wired internet* connection that is offered so people can come and play games on it I start surfing for wireless connections. It takes about 5 minutes to find a 2 bar wireless connection that's more reliable than this wired one. I check out and pay my bill. Still not having made the call I need, I try a pay phone to get ahold of Hiromi, no luck. Down on street level the wireless signals have dried up so I try the station and a few other places.
I've long since missed the connection I wanted to make.
Finally I sit down in front of a cafe on a piece of infrastructure. Holding aloft my netbook there's a free network broadcasting close enough that I can send a call. So for 20 minutes I hold my little computer aloft and call into a late night Wells Fargo line.
About 3 hours after I started attempting to buy my ticket to Tokyo, I finally got one. I think I'll forever have a sour aftertaste in my mouth at the mention of internet cafe's and Fukuoka, though the city itself is not to blame.
From there it's been a nice time. There's been lots of walking, the trains are really convenient. I'll have to write more later. It's very late now.

Battle at the Source of Hiro River

I had a great post about the 9th, it was funny at times, a bit contemplative at the start and most of all, it was actually complete and ready to post. Too bad that post disappeared from my copy/paste when I shut down the doc I'd been writing it in, and then I didn't have internet for a few days.
It won't be the same, but I'll start fresh. It started out rather slow, I took a walk in the morning around, and took some nice pictures, like this one. There's something very relaxing about taking a walk in a rural area. Good air, occasional smells like fertilizer that quicken your step as you seek a fresh wind, and that rustic feel of buildings that have been there quite a while, and are still in use for the same purposes they were years ago. I get nostalgic no matter where I happen to be when I run into that.
Somewhere in there was some business involving a cellphone, 55 yen and some discussion of how we were attempting to avoid looking suspicious.
After some lunch in the form of delicious sandwiches made by Jeff, it was off to the kikuchi shrine. At the foot of the hill the shrine resides on, there's a large warrior statue and some very beaten grass in several fields for how much they are used. It's a good place for viewing the sakura in spring from what I hear. A group of about 10 boys were tossing a baseball around and called out “Harro!” and “Konnichiwa!” to us at about a 7:3 ratio. We responded, greeting them in Japanese, which really pleased them. They'd been discussing whether or not we spoke Japanese before they'd called out. Kikuchi shrine itself, as you can see here is a good example of Shinto shrines, we participated in the standard donation/prayer, a little omikuji (fortune telling paper) and bought some omamori (charms) for Jeff's studies and my own endeavors as I head to Tokyo. My 'victory' charm is hanging from my bag even now. I'll get a picture up of that one sometime soon.
Behind the shrine a good long way (down the highway a ways, really, but it starts out by wrapping around the shrine hill and heading off behind it) we went hiking up a very nicely maintained trail that follows the Hiro river. Picking a picture for this is very difficult, the falls are wonderful, the water is crisp and clear, the mountains themselves are packed with tall trees and the pools themselves are very nice for wading.
We wrapped up talking about our first week in Japan at a local Joyfull. It's certainly been an experience. I've made some new friends in Kumamoto and look forward to seeing them again. It's been great practice, knocking a lot of the rust off of my Japanese, and it's been fun seeing things just a little off the beaten path.

The seige of Kumamoto Castle

This was a very good day.
… no, scratch that, this was an average day. Because on average, I'm having some very good days lately.
Actually, on third thought, this actually was a very good day. Because any day that starts with a trip to a 99 year old kabuki theater that's been marked a national treasure? Oh yeah. Bricks are flying and red colored sugar water splatters all over the kids.
Yachiyoza is this little place in a shopping district that was popular like.... 30+ years ago. Now, not so much... Seriously, locals don't even go here, and it's a crying shame. (Aside: Do you have a famous place within an hour's drive that you've never been to?) Somewhere in the 70s the roof collapsed from disrepair, kids were calling it haunted. It was almost torn down. I'll look for a wiki or something to link when I'm actually on as opposed to writing in open office writer. There, link entered. Here's the view from the best seats in the house.
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We went around downtown for a bit and hit Kumamoto castle too. Massive rocks piled a dozen meters high forming the foundation; winding, yet still rather wide stairs leading up through turreting.. it felt like I was a mob in a turret defense game, but thankfully whoever was playing had neglected their upkeep and there were no guards in the towers. The castle itself has long since been converted into a museum, but there are several facilities on the premise that are being or have been restored through donations and sponsoring. We toured through the Honmaru Goten Palace. It's extravagant. Lavish rooms continue all the way around, and let's not forget the only underground passageways in a building of it's kind. Oh yeah, hidden rooms too!
Hrothgar interjects: “Ninja are sneakysneaky types, someone said they work behind closed and locked doors, good thing trusty axe is better than a string of keys!”
And back to Yachiyoza, we had a great guide, she was knowledgeable and very clear in her speech. She must have had some english experience too, it sounded like she was making some on the fly conveniences for us. We went all over the building, saw much of the seating, the stage, the under stage, dressing rooms... just amazing... We even got several pictures taken of us at key locations.

Kumamoto Clash

The last few days have been busier than I expected.. See, I've come to a less densely populated part of Kumamoto, and it being farming area, with tons of rice growing all around, I somewhat figured I'd be enjoying the rural lifestyle and slow-paced relaxation. Well, there's been some of that, and there's been some definitely not that. A short chronology resides at the end of this post.
I'd wanted to see peace park in Hiroshima, with the bomb site and all. But as I thought about it, and mentioned it, it seems strange I should want to visit it. Let me rephrase that, it's strange to me that people are telling me that it must be because I feel guilt that I want to visit it.. or I want to apologize... These could hardly be more wrong. It's not like the bombings are something I can be more attached to than an average Chinese citizen today to the works of Mao. These are things I could not have had any sway on even if they happened in my lifetime. It doesn't change anything that I personally believe that the bombings saved more lives than they harmed in any way. It doesn't change that nuclear bombs are indiscriminate, devastating weapons that should be handled with the care due to anything deadly. But I digress. No, I wanted to visit the gardens to take in the site.. take pictures of buildings that had faced the bomb and stood. Maybe catch a feeling or something ephemeral in the air itself, lingering radiation or whatnot. I want to see. And being there seemed like a good opportunity. But I couldn't, so sometime I'll come back alone. Or who knows, maybe I'll find someone who understands what I really want to do there and maybe they'll want to do that too.
On to lighter materials. An interesting find on Sunday, we went to a zoo in Fukuoka, and lo and behold, there's the temple, right there, less than a hundred feet from the entrance of the zoo and even closer to the zoofront bus stop. I took a picture of it, but that's just random.
Okay, on to Kumamoto, On the way down I found out there are a lot of onsen down there, and... wow.. I got invited to come with a group of Hiromi's friends. She volunteered to stay with Jeff, who regretfully declined.
Hotsprings, as a japanese pasttime, is something that really has to be experienced to have any context to talk about it in. I got the grand tour. Touru walked me through the process. And really, within a couple minutes of entering, there's no time wasted before you can get to stripping down. We spent some time in the sauna, which was so hot it was actually difficult to draw breath through my nose. After, we spent some time in a couple of the baths, first a normal heat one, then a hot one (about 39.5C). I decided to finish up with a dip in the cold one, (17C). Touru thought I was crazy for getting right in that one without hesitating a bit. A few observations – the people who were most concerned about covering up drew the most attention, it really is very relaxing, and oddly enough (though it makes good logical sense) I was quite thirsty afterwards.
Finally there's today. We went to Karaoke and did fireworks, and there's not too much mysterious about that. Jeff and I sang several times. I think we wow'd them more by being native english speakers (yay pronounciation!) than by any degree of singing. Though I did draw quite a response for singing Ash like Snow (my first japanese song of the session). I did enjoy the fireworks and got a number of nice pictures and one funny video. I'll share those soon.

Saturday, September 5th
Caught the train to Hiroshima proper, found a locker to stow stuff. Saw the Hiroshima castle grounds, ate delicious okonomiyaki, caught a 4 hour bus to Fukuoka.
Sunday, September 6th
Very short doors in this ryoukan (traditional inn). Found brunch, stowed bags, caught a bus to the zoo. Returned, caught bus to Kumamoto, met some of Hiromi's friends, ate a buffet, did the onsen,
Monday, September 7th
Met Hiromi's friends for Karaoke, then met up again for fireworks.

On the move

We've been moving to a new hotel every night lately, it's rather disorientating, but it's been cheap, so I can live with that. Right now we're waking up in Hotel Kamo, in a tatami room. So last night at 11pm we were spreading out our futon to get ready to sleep, and trying on yukata and that was pretty fun, but I've gotta say that the Yukata were too small for me and Jeff though, but they still went on alright. Mine was parted all the way down into the abdomen area before it closed, that was... interesting. New order of business when I get established, try on some yukata that actually fit. (Aside: Yukata are light robes, worn around hotsprings, baths, festivals, they're light and thin fabric so they're good for wearing around when it's hot out. Sometimes I think it might be fun to be the gaijin who's always wearing traditional Japanese clothing.)
But back to yesterday. Probably the highlight yesterday was lunch. We went to an okonomiyaki place that's probably one of the most famously known ones around here. And even famously known, it's still right next door to another okonomiyaki place. I took some video and pictures. It's a sit down place with grills at every table and you grill your own. That was a real experience, we were drawing attention from neighboring tables because of how much we were enjoying it. Actually, I just remembered an incident from the day before yesterday, we were coming back from a supermarket and it was dark out, now one of us gets night blindness and another is pretty directionally challenged and this left me to navigate the way back to the hotel we were staying at that night. Which I'd only been to the once, to check in. Didn't see that coming, but it went without trouble so I hadn't mentioned it.
More from yesterday! Later we went and met with some more friends of Jeff's, a Shin and a Charlie. We went back to Hiroshima University campus after dropping some bags off with Charlie at her apartment, as she has a free room for the next month, very handy, now we don't have as much to carry. Ate at the cafeteria and sat around to chat. It was kinda like sitting back at Table for those of you who know that, or, just like sitting around talking about random things while eating occasionally. Some other friends of Shin and Charlie were there so it was lively and fun. We stayed there for a while then moved to Charlie's apartment and continued chatting for quite a while. About 8am Mountain time (11pm locally) we got back to the hotel. Now I can say I've slept on Tatami, can't say it was too bad.. if you like your bed really firm then you might enjoy it too.

Hiroshima Impact

At the rear, 2 Japanese gentlemen who are talking in real old man japanese talk, it's fun to hear, I think Jeff and I are the only two native english speakers in the passenger list. It's amusing hearing all the announcements in Mandarin, Japanese and then in English, I wonder idly if Jeff is also thinking that they could cut out the English announcements... since both of us are quite the studies of Japanese. Well, naturally, for that very study, neither of us can admit it, it's the Japanese way.
Oh yeah it is. The day we spent out in Taipei was full of adventure and all of feeling like a fish out of water. Knowing not even enough of the local language to be able to say 'I'd like that' or 'how much' or 'where's the bathroom?” Getting back to hearing a language that I can comprehend (even if not natively) is very comfortable indeed
There are several men to my left in suits, but they appear younger than me. One is very interested in this netbook I'm typing on. His eyes are getting larger with every piece of tech I'm pulling out.. headphones and mp3 player really shouldn't be drawing attention like this. Well, I suppose the fact that they are large, over-the-ear, noise cancellation headphones does something.
Ah, there's immigration papers that must be filled out.
I'll have to post more about Taiwan, and the 7 7-11s I saw in a small radius there another time. Or maybe about all the starbucks? ah, here we go... those tiny little shops off the tourist-beaten path that students and locals know about. The ones with the incredible grean bean, passionfruit, or black plum smoothies that Starbucks can only bring out pale imitations of for twice the price... literally. 150NT for the starbucks imitation, but about 80 or 90NT for the one from that stand we were led to. Oh, it seems I've talked about Taipei now. Maybe I'll come back to it later.
Immigration in Hiroshima... Wow I should've booked a guest house or something. They literally wouldn't let me in without a pre-arranged location. and since I had none.. we had to come up with something... Jeff's dormroom was it and that's how it went. They then fully searched my bags. I was, after all, the last passenger out of the airport that night. They were courteous, and surprised I opted to speak with them in Japanese, everything went alright though, and I'm in Japan. Hiroshima... well, more specifically Saijou. We did lots of running around errands and stuff today, and then had a little party at Bistro PaPa. That was something else. 3 people ate well, for about $20. And they had good fries. As I finish off this glass of CC Lemon, I'm pondering the things that need to be done. If we move hotels again tomorrow, I'm getting close to going off and finding a more permanent room sooner.

Taipei invasion

So, as I've alluded to in facebook, I'm no longer in the western hemisphere. A short flight from Reno to San Francisco with a fairly short layover there and then it was 12 and a half hours to Taipei.
... I didn't sleep very well on that flight, and now it's been more than a day since my last shower, take all that in with the necessity of economy class flying?
Imagine a picture of Hrothgar, devourer of souls, wedged in a tiny airline seat between a mother with a crying baby and sleeping fatman here and you have the gist of what I was expecting. But no, that was not the case. In fact, thanks to the seating arrangement Jeff and I had gotten when getting our boarding passes (in between security areas, as SFO is not laid out for coherence, at least not for the security zones (and all of this thanks to a very nice chinese lady helping us. Chen, you don't know who I am, but you and others at China Airlines are truly marvelous employees, I hope you are recognized).

Hmm.. looks like my flight for Hiroshima is preparing to board. I'll continue later.

Reno rumble

I'm sitting here in the Reno/Tahoe airport and thinking, 'Hey, I haven't even started posting to the Hrothblog, it's time to remedy that.'
Sitting here with my friend of many years, Jeff, there's little that I can do to contain the excitement. I'm on my way. Years of planning, work, and saving are at their fruition now.
It's funny how now I can't seem to write now, this is a moment that needs to be chronicled. From the start of today, I've been building steam in excitement. But now it's boarding time. Time to fly.