Well another week of living in Japan is in the books. The thing that I am starting to realize is that not much changes around here. The faces and places might shift but being a Navy town there are things that will always be constant. The higher than usual concentration of restaurants, convenience stores, and bars a block off base. The weather which is currently "sticky" not very warm but humid enough to make one uncomfortable.
The food was standard fair for me. Tonkatsu near base, Ramen, Pizza, Thia, Za Watami all good food.
On Saturday Dave, Bryan and I went up for a half Tour de Tokyo. This was mostly the same sites as usual, Asakusa, Akihabara, Shimbashi, Daiba. We did go to the 47 Ronin grave sites in Tokyo. There is a movie coming out next year which I am sure like most movies will do an accurate job portraying the facts. Basic honor revenge story. Pictures below.
Nice and cloudy here today, slept a lot. Rolled my ankle a little bit, hurts but it will be fine. Had my favorite curry at Nirvana's for lunch. Went to dinner at a Restaurant called Family Garden, basically like a Denny's. As it was fathers day here it was packed, took around an hour to get in. Had the Japanese version of Pizza which is different but still very good.
Another successful trip. I will fill in the details later, however it was nice that I was on a flight that took off prior to the United computer system failure.
Well the weather and food have been great. The last week was a very good week to pack in as much great food as possible. I had Korean BBQ, Teppanyaki (Japanese Steak, helps to lighten the wallet), Mexican, and Yakitori. All in all this was a great trip.
Saturday morning after walking around Yokosuka. After getting caffeinated and feed I headed over to the Costco in Yokohama. Always an interesting experience to go to Costco, a lot like US Costco's but with a lot more people.
After getting a little lunch I walked over to the Yokohama Marina Outlet mall. Hit up another MontBell. After finally settling on a messenger back I headed up to check into the New Sanno hotel.
It is a very nice hotel operated by the Army. Active Duty and DOD Civilians can get rooms for under 100 bucks a night. It is a couple of stops from Shibuya which can get you anywhere else in Tokyo within 40 minutes.
First I headed over to Asakusa and got some pictures of all the crowds out for Golden Week. There is a street on the backside of the area that has a lot of street food places. I got a few sticks of Yakitori and watched as some interesting people walked past. There was one Japanese women that had pink hair, which you really don't see that much. In a sea of black hair that would really show up.
After that I walked back and went through the Asakusa area again and got some night shots that came out pretty good. After going to walk around Shibuya at night I went back to the hotel to get some rest.
In the morning I took a few different trains and went out to Machida where they had a Shrine Sale. Basically it is like a big flee market with a lot of different things for sale. If you like second hand shops it would be a good thing. It was interesting to see and I did pick up a couple of smaller things. It did actually mark the first time that I bartered to get the price lower.
From there I headed back to Yokosuka, and came back to the rain. After being nice up in Tokyo for Saturday and Sunday it was dumping. I had my usual at Nirvana's for dinner. And then went to Church afterwords.
Friday is the start of Golden Week in Japan, it kicks off every year on the 29th of April for Showa day, the Emperors day. There are a few other holidays over the next week, it is a time where most of the Japanese workers are off and the schools get out. One per trip I like to arrange a met up between the Japanese and American workers to spend time in a non work environment. Burger King has just released a new burger last month. It is made of two Whopper patty's, cheese, bacon, and chicken. Totaling at 1300 Calories and 65 grams of fat we figured there could be little better to bond over. In total we had 8 people hanging out, so when I ordered 8 Mega Meat Burgers at Burger King the woman thought that she had misheard us. It took 10 minutes to put together. It took much less time to eat them, the surprising thing was they were really good and it seemed like there was more room left. So we went out and got Gyro's at a stand down the street. Not the best food night, but it was good to get out. Most people tried to 3DS, which makes you look foolish but can be fun.
The weather has just been great, not from the aspect of recovering from a sun burn. After work I headed up to Yokohama to buy a new jacket from MontBell, it is very orange. After that I tried a restaurant in China Town called Dalian, very good. They serve a Black Sesame chicken dish that is up on the list of best foods I have eaten.
Well after the spread at the BBQ place Tuesday night combined with the large rain drops I decided to forgo the gym this morning. There is also a bug going around work right now that I think I picked up, so the extra sleep helped a bit.
For dinner I met up with a few coworkers and went to the Tonkatsu expert. The way that he prepares the food is a show in and of itself. Very good, sad that I have not been back in a few trips. It is very difficult to get a seat and when the place is full he is closed.
Before the sun came up it was off to the gym, you have to offset the amount of great food here somehow. By the time I left the gym the sun had come up and stayed up unimpeded for the remainder of the day.
For dinner a few coworkers and myself headed up to Chinatown in Yokohama for Brazilian BBQ of all things. It is called the Travesso Grill and is located in a building called "China Square". It was interesting to see the different ways that we approached the meal and how the Japanese handled it. For the Japanese it was a great time to get out and try a lot of different meats grilled well. For us it was a challenge, probably speaks to the weight difference between our countries. The train ride was nice and packed. I opened the window in the middle of the train and received the look of scorn by one of the passengers. Perhaps it is a challenge to see how hot and sweaty it can get before someone cracks and opens a window.
Started the day by going over to the gym and working out. This helps set the tone for the day, and it flew by at work. After work I enjoyed some of the sun, before crashing to wake up on Tuesday for more fun in the gym.
As much rain as was here yesterday was answered in sunlight. There was not a cloud in the sky the entire day. I went for a walk to find the large metal sculpture that is in Yokosuka. With a little help from Google Maps I found it. Very impressive views from there, you can see Yokohama and Fuji and the same time.
The next spot I decided to get roasted a little bit by hanging out on the beach in Kamakura. I used sun screen, however I didn't reapply it on the normal schedule. So I am slightly red currently, consequences that are soon visited. For lunch I had pizza at an "Italian" restaurant in Zushi. I was good, but different. Went to church on base and then had CoCo Curries for dinner.
A much slower paced day, which is good not sure if I could have done two Super Tokyo Tours back to back.
The adventure started out like all of the previous by catching an early train to Shinagawa. The forecast was for rain and it was heavy at certain times. Leading to around the last half of the day going around in wet socks and shoes. Anyways back to the timeline.
Starbucks opened a new concept store in Tokyo to celebrate their 40th anniversary. So the first stop was the Otomesando B-Side Starbucks. The interior was done very well and it felt more like a place where you could get some amount of studying or work done over that of a traditional SB location. This location can be reached just off the main street that is by Meiji shrine entrance.
After going and enjoying breakfast and coffee the walking portion of the day began. We walked through the Meiji Shrine. There was a wedding party going around getting their pictures taken before the cermony. The rain made it such that you needed to move quickly from covered area to covered area.
After walking out of the Shrine we went over to an area that sells a lot of vintage Tee Shirts. The only downside was that the shops stock Japanese sizes and they opened at 11. At the very least you can take the private railway out of Shibuya and it is on the first stop.
We made our way to Ginza to go to the Sony building. This is basically a big showroom for their upcoming technology and the current lineup. 3D factored very heavily into all of the their strategy.
For lunch we had Katsukura, which is the same place that I had down in Kyoto. Easily the best Tonkatsu I have had. Lunch specials are also hard to beat. While walking to the train station we got caught in an absolute downpour. There was around an inch of water running over the sidewalks, hence the wet socks. We finally made to the train station and made our way to Asakusa.
A quick walk through the Shrine/Temple and it was over to Kappa Bashi Dori. One of the guys bought a Japanese knife that he got engraved. The whole area is a great place for anyone who enjoys cooking, lots of ideas you can get from all of the equipment for sale.
Then it was time for the standard Akihabara stop. Doughnut plant, Yodabashi, etc. To finish off the out of Yokosuka activities we headed down from Akihabara to Sakuragicho and walked around Landmark Tower.
After a very full and humid train dinner was at Nirvana and now its off to bed. The one major thing that I noted as I traveled around was that lack of people. Easily there is probably a tenth of people out in the normal places. A lot of electrical things have been shutdown to support the lowered production capabilities of the TEPCO. It all is very interesting.
Finally made it back over to Kamakura for dinner. The thing that is striking is how few people are out, now given it was later in the evening. I had a Korean dish for dinner and then it was time to prepare for the next Super Tokyo Tour.
More and more people are rolling back into town. It was extremely quiet on Monday, but over the week it has gotten much louder at night. The bars are back in full swing. Hopefully this means that some of the restaurants will open again.
For work I met up with a coworker and had an excellent Thai meal. This time I didn't go with anything spicy and it worked out much better. I guess that I am just not built to handle Thai spicy.
Well finally got a good night of sleep and was able to make it through the entire day without a brain lapse moment. Besides a little bit of wind being outside was great today. After work I walked around for a couple of hours to further help in the acclimation process.
Started planning the next great Tokyo tour tonight.
The forecast had called for rain and it came as predicted. I ran over the 7-11 and bought an umbrella, which didn't top me from getting my pants wet. The next time I went outside the rain had gone and the sun had returned. It was like that for the remainder of the day. I walked around 7 miles after work in hopes that it would help me adjust to the time. Only time will tell.
I am still on UK time or somewhere in between. So a short post. I have noticed that fewer people are out and about. While going through grocery stores I have noticed that there is probably around 30 percent of what is usually out for sale. The meat selection is also reduced. Hard to put a concrete reason as to why, but perhaps it is related to all that happened.
There was an earthquake this morning, however I slept through it. The earth continues to move around as things settle out. There was a massive amount of energy released during the quake and it stored some of that in other places.
Well it feels good to be back. Had my favorite meal and now am attempting to stay up as late as possible to reset my body clock quickly. Well back to the details of the day.
The guy who sat next to me on the flight graduated in Mechanical Engineering from WSU in 84. We had a good talk about Cougar athletics and discussed the best and worst moments. Always good to run into another Coug.
All in the all the flight was smooth and we made good time. We landed at 1447, then we taxied for 17 minutes before getting to the gate. What happened was that we came in on the newest runway and our gate was on the exact opposite side of Narita, got to see so different areas. However there is a bus which departs south at 1530, so I was motivated to move expeditiously through the airport to try to get to the bus. After getting off the plane I walked past everyone to get through Immigration first, then I waited for the baggage to come out. By having business class my bag was the 7th to come off the belt. I grabbed that and hurried to Customs gave them my slip and headed to check in. There was someone from work who was waiting for people on the flight, he told me that if I hurried I could make the bus in the parking lot. I got to the bus just as they were closing the cargo areas. So I got checked into the hotel by the time the next bus left the airport. It is always good to move with a purpose.
Of course one of the stops that I had to make was Starbucks. Just like the US stores there is a broad selection of Tea Lattes, although they are heavily advertised here. The Earl Grey one is definitely in the drink rotation while I am here.
I recently replaced my netbook with a laptop, and it is a much better experience. For basic web stuff netbooks are great, but for any photo or video stuff they suffer greatly.
Well after getting back from the UK on Tuesday evening, I got a call saying that I was needed in Japan. After sorting out all of the details, I got my flight setup and finished unpacking and then packing again.
I used Miles to upgrade to Business Class for both ends of this trip. Originally it showed that I was wait-listed for the upgrade. When I got to SEATAC there was no line for check-in. When using the Check-in machine it told me to contact a United representative. What had happened was the my Business Class ticket had cleared and I was all setup. So I got to use the short security line getting through and into the Red Carpet Lounge in record time. It took my 15 minutes from the curb to my seat on online.
The flight leaves in a couple of hours so now it is just time to sit back and enjoy some Top Gear on Netflix.
The plane was brand new. This is the first flight I have been on with the lay flat seats in business class. My seat was facing backwards so it was an interesting takeoff and landing. I could see the wing and engine bouncing with each bump. The gentleman I was sitting next to was a retired Boeing engineer. He had worked on the fly by wire systems on the 787. It was pointed out to prevent from losing all control of an aircraft you have to project where the turbine blades will go when the engine breaks apart. Our seats were right in the kill zone, at least it would have been quick. However air travel is extremely safe and we arrived at SEATAC a little ahead of schedule, despite being delayed at Narita for de-icing.
I got a taxi from Bryan's to where the bus picks people up on base. With no house phone or working cell phone I had to use Google Talk. Worked very well, as do most Google products. Of course the taxi was waiting for me by the time I got down to the lobby. A quick stop at Starbuck's and I was ready to go. The bus ride only took an hour and a half today slept the whole way.
After wandering around the mall for an hour we checked in and had lunch at a great Korean place in the mall. Then it was through security and into the lounge. The snow has really picked up. Soon back to the Northwest.
I have found out a new thing today. If you are traveling alone in Japan you likely will not have an English conversation all day. I have people try to talk to me in multiple languages which were not mine. Good times.
Nothing too new on this trip, just hit up Akihabara, Asakusa, Roppongi, and then Yokosuka. I did go to the top of Roppongi Hills this time, very nice day for it.
After the vacation starts another vacation. I didn't meet my goal of leaving Bryan's place by 600, I actually got to the train station around 830. I decided instead of heading back to Yokosuka to instead go to Kurihama and then transfer to the JR Line. After the transfer I could ride the train right to Kamakura.
After I left the train in Kamakura I went to Starbuck's for breakfast. I really do enjoy coffee shops that have real mugs that you can sit down and enjoy the handcrafted drink.
I then walked up to the Kenchoo-ji a temple around a mile away from the station. At the very top there is a temple and then a view point. I made my way to the top, and then kept climbing. At some point I thought about turning around, but just kept going. After around 4 miles I was finally back to the station, always moving forward.
I then rode the Eoden line to Enoshima. My previous time to the island was during a weekend and the train was very busy, this time everyone got a seat. After a quick walk to the Island I went to the top and down to the caves on the far side. I wouldn't recommend the caves, check the pictures you will be 500 Yen ahead. On the way back there was a side path that I had seen on my previous trip, so I took it. Turns out it is how all the supplies get to the top, just a regular road back to the bottom of the island.
After getting back to Kamakura I transferred to the JR line. I was planning on going back to Yokosuka and walking around there. Instead, I ran up to the platform and hopped on the first train that I saw. This was headed to Yokohama, as soon as the doors closed I realized that the train was heading away from where I wanted to go. No worries the plan just changed a little. I went to UniQlo in Yokohama and tried on sports jackets. Then I got onto the Keikyu line back to Byran's apartment, the timing worked out well I got back just before him.
We had wanted to go the a Brazilian restaurant in Yokohama on Saturday but he was a little under the weather. We decided today was the day and headed back to Yokohama. The Restaurant is in Chinatown and is great. It is an all you can eat place that has high quality options. Servers walk around with meet on swords and cut you off pieces as you request. The only downside is the price, but a great experience to have once in a while.
At Yokohama I had never seen so many people on the platform. We went to the last car and then realized as the train was pulling in that we need to be two cars ahead. We ran and were the last two people on. It was as full as any train I have been on here. Fortunately most people departed at Kamiooka.
Another day in the cold. After breakfast it was back out into the cold. We went over the Susukino to see the ice sculptures and how they had progressed over night. It was impressive to see what had been done in such a short amount of time. After we stopped at Starbucks for some warmth it was back through Odori street and then to the hotel. From the Hotel we went to the Sapporo Beer History museum and outlet mall. They had the largest UniQlo I have seen outside of Tokyo there.
We then went over to another Factory Outlet mall for lunch. We ate at a Ramen place in the basement that was really good. I did forget one thing about ramen, it is very salty. So we then went and filmed these.
After that excitement it was to the airport. After getting some last minute shopping done it was onto the plane. The plane ended up leaving around 30 minutes late, because someone in our travel group was not there. Finally we took off and left them behind.
At Haneda I decided to pass all of the people in front of me while getting out of the airport. When I got outside it felt really good. The one thing that I will remember about Sapporo is that it was very cold outside and very warm inside.
Today was the free day of the tour, so it was up to us to find stuff to do. Breakfast at the hotel is included with the trip so it was Japanese style western breakfast. This basically means that everything is slightly cold and undercooked. I mean you wouldn't want to ruin something by cooking it. The most interesting piece at breakfast was the pancakes. They were around 1/3 of the size but 4 times the thickness. Pretty good, it was almost like an English muffin.
The first idea was to head over to Otaru. This is a small fishing village around 40 minutes north west of Sapporo by train. We did stop at a MontBell store to pick up grippers for our shoes. These have turned out to be the best purchase of the trip. It is very icy everywhere we go. After taking a couple of local trains we got to Otaru. There was a restaurant that I had heard about on the Japantimes website. Very cool little German Pub, very happy German music being played. We got to the pub at exactly the right time as a flurry kicked up. I part of me was hoping that there would be a TV to see how the Superbowl was going, but that is not the purpose of this vacation. Also pretty cool to have a WSU commercial shown for a few folks in the Northwest during the SB.
After we finished lunch the plan was to walk around Otaru for a while longer, but the wind was making it too cold. We decided to cut that portion of the trip short. We got to the station just prior to the Rapid Express to the Airport left. Got a perfect seat by the window and got nice shots of the Sea of Japan. After we got back to Sapporo it was back to the hotel to get some energy back.
We then headed out to find another MontBell store. We finally got there and realized they had another Sapporo factory right by the mall. The mall is huge, inside they have a little garden area with three "Windmills" being as they are indoors I don't think they count. The selection of outdoors stores is impressive, just about every brand you can imagine has a store. The tour bus stops there for lunch tomorrow, so we will get another shot. On the way back to the hotel we stopped by Toys R Us.
Another time back to the hotel to get some warmth back before heading out once more. We walked over to the Hokkaido government building. As the temperatures began to drop the ice started becoming a factor. All vehicles do really well here, but it started to take them more time to build up speed. On the topic of full speed next we went to the snowboard ramp. Lots of people doing tricks. Pretty cool, but there is not a lot of room to stop at the end.
After this we went up the TV Tower. Cost was 700 Yen, but you do get a great view down Odori street. You can take the elevator down or use the stairs, if you do the stairs you get a discount at their cafe. The stairs were interesting, and took around 5 minutes.
Dinner was now in mind. I had seen a place that services Japanese steaks in the Snow Festival pamphlet, and that has become a tradition for the winter/spring trip to get great steaks. The restaurant is called Cairn Annex and is located over by Susukino in the Tokyu Inn basement. It was a great meal and it is very entertaining to watch the show they put on. Some of the high lights included a flaming onion volcano, flaming steak, and Hello Kitty fried rice. The meal was around 8000 Yen, so not cheap but very good.
This dining establishment was also chosen for its relation to the Ice Sculptures. There are around three blocks of Ice Sculptures, two are finished and they were working on the last block tonight. This probably was the most interesting thing that I have seen on this trip, how they plan it out and then use chainsaws and chisels to get the work done. Most of these sculptures were sponsored by different companies.
After we finished walking through this area it was back to Odori to see the Snow Sculptures. They close the walk through around 2200, so we had to move around. They have various groups from around the world competing in a competition. One group of from Oregon and is doing a scene where Salmon are swimming up river. There is also a group from Hawaii. After walking through this for around half an hour it was time to head back to the hotel. Which was a little longer than it should have taken, we got a little over confident and kept walking. Luckily the phone showed that we needed to turn right and then get to the hotel.
Long Day, seems like vacations always are over here. I suppose that is just the way that I do them though. So it was up early at 420, quick breakfast and then the walk to the train station. The walk takes around 15 minutes. The original idea that we had was to get a taxi to the base, but this was a much more elegant solution. We just use the existing services and go that way. We got to the bus and piled on.
It took around an hour to get the Haneda. This was my first time taking air transit in Japan. Very interesting, they do not check your ID at the airport. It is all based off of you boarding pass. You scan your own pass at security and then again at the gate. They have little blocks at the x-ray machines to keep luggage which is too big from being brought aboard the airplane. I was told mine was too big, which I took care of and no worries after that. At the airport there was a Pokemon airplane, it apparently is one of the ones that goes to Sapporo. It was amazing to walk around the gates and look at the schedule for the Sapporo runs, it is like the Seattle to Portland. This is high travel season though, as approximately 2.3 million people will visit Sapporo this week.
The airplane had a feature which I have never seen before, it had a camera facing forward, and one facing down. So you could see what was happening, that was cool. As cool are the temperatures up here in Sapporo. We arrived at the airport and had an hour and a half to eat. We choose the Mos Burger, always a little different. We then hopped on the bus and headed over to the Lake Shikotsu ice festival. Interesting place, very slick everywhere. I wish that I had purchased the shoe grippers around the second time I almost fell. The one really cool thing they had was a room with evergreen branches built into the wall. It smelled awesome, just like home. They use a wire mesh to make the shapes and then spray lake water over it, to form the ice houses. It was back to the bus and then to the ANA Sapporo.
The ride took around an hour and was really quiet. We picked up our hotel packed dropped off our stuff and headed out. We walked around and saw the Snow Sculptures. Some amazing work. I slipped and performed a perfect slide tackle and took out a teenager. Everyone was okay, but they form could not be better. Also the question was asked earlier which I would protect in a fall my camera or my body. The camera won the first round. We went back to the hotel and got on the bus to head to the Sapporo All you Can Eat Buffet. Which turned into around one round of meat and vegis. Apparently they had no negative ventilation and all the smoke from the grills just hung in the air.
After we got back to the hotel, it was mission Starbucks. Using Google and my phone we headed out. It was a nice walk and we eventually got there. The snow had really started c0oming down at this point. We found a boot without an owner on the street. After a little time inside it was off to find the ice sculptures. It was a nice walk and we found some very impressive sections of Sapporo including a Ferris wheel on top of a building. Then it was back to the hotel to recharge and sleep. 420 to 2345 a decent day.
Finally had the experience of transiting mid day with your luggage. I left the hotel around 900 and got to Bryan's place around 1020. It is not difficult, but it is not the easiest thing either. We spent the early part of the day playing games and cooking stew.
A coworker came over and then we headed out to Kamakura. I ran around quickly showing the hi-lights; Starbucks, Shrine, and central path. Then it was back to Yokosuka for dinner. Had to get in one more time at Nirvana.
After a quick train ride back to Bryan's it was time to pack and then sleep for tomorrow we travel.
After work I headed up to Yokohama for dinner with a coworker. I had not had a chance to ride the Yokohama subway line as of yet, so we tried that. After taking a local from Shioiri we transferred at Kanazawa Bunko and transferred to the subway at Kamiooka. Not too much different than any other train I have been on here. Once you get the process down you can navigate around fairly easily.
We wandered around Yokohama for a while before finding this BBQ place that was pretty good. It is always interesting to see what portion sizes are in Japan. Between the two of us it was a decent amount of food. Back home this would not have even made up one portion size. And we wonder why we are fat.
After dinner we walked over to, around, and through Chinatown. The lights are pretty amazing at night. Another nice walk and it was time to pack.
After work I had an opportunity to take a coworker who just arrived and show them the train system. Obviously it is always important to bundle travel with a meal.
After work it was my new favorite stop in Yokosuka. The new Starbucks is awesome. The only downside to the whole thing is that it doesn't open earlier. If 630 was the time they would make so much more Yen it would be ridiculous. They have prime location next to a travel path where thousands of potential customers are being missed everyday because of the fact that Japan sleeps in compared to the western world.
The next stop was the Shioiri station and the crash course as how to use the ticket machine and the important things to remember. My favorite is, "There is always another train, bro." After a quick discussion and throught the wicket gate. A short burst of speed got us onto the Red train to Yokohama. The timing was rather good. When we arrived in Yokohama, we stopped over by Yodabashi Camera. I needed to pick up a couple of things, but additionally they had the 3DS to try. The woman helping tell people about it, was a little concerned that I didn't know Japanese. She apologized for not knowing more English. I like to collect information in my brain so I knew everything she was telling me.
Now onto the 3DS experience. It is a little heavier than a DSi, but very similar layout and feel. The game they were demoing was Nintendogs and Cats. The type of screen that this unit uses is a paralax set of screens, basically two screens which are slightly offset. A slider is on the lid of the unit to adjust the amount of 3D you are seeing. She had adjusted the unit to full 3D, after about 30 seconds I was a little overwhelmed by the experience. My eyes had a little trouble with that much information. This type of technology is different than what you may see at a movie theater. When you boil it down to the simplest terms, the images are into the screen on this unit. Most movie theaters the images appear to come out of the screen. Now I am of the opinion that 3D is a waste of technology and we should be investing instead in holographic images. Things which are truly 3D, and not tricking your brain into interpreting something as if it is 3D. Sorry to turn this into a tech blog, but it was cool to get a quick hands on with the unit.
After that experience it was over to Minatomirai for dinner. We ate at a Ramen place that was really good. As my coworker was staying in Yokosuka I got him to the last train station and gave him some quick tips as how to get back and let him go. It will be good to hear how it went tomorrow morning. It has been one of the more satisfying things in my travels over here that of the people that I have taken out and shown the ropes, they have progressed and surpassed me in many ways. It is nice to be a force multiplier, as an Engineer I come at things from a different way than some of the other coworkers over here might and sometimes engineers need to be with engineers.
I have now timed the commute down to the minute. A nice brisk walk from the hotel gets me to the train station and on the platform as the train is rolling up. I then wait three minutes at the next stop. I enjoyed an episode of Top Gear Series 5 on the train this morning. Then another brisk walk and in at work. A nice and healthy commute.
After picking up more cold weather clothes from MontBell I went to dinner with a coworker. It was the Okinomiyaki place in Landmark Plaza. Always good.
I got in a nice walk after dinner then it is off to bed.
What better way to start out the day then waking up late and running to your train. Now normally I am all for waiting for the next train, but I really wanted to start work at 600 so ran I did. Normally I deplore the practice of running, I think humanity should have moved beyond an activity like that by now. We can come up with much more creative ways to exercise. Running did pay off in this case though. I hit the top of the platform and jumped on the train and then slept on the way to work.
After work I met up with a coworker and went to the Thia restaurant that I enjoy. Turns out that it is a lot of food, but as always it was great. On the way back to Yokohama I stopped by Starbucks and tried the Earl Grey roll. Basically it is a cinnamon roll covered with a frosting that tastes like the tea. Very good, but I am really sleepy now.
I also noted today that the Cosmo Clock 21 (Ferris Wheel) is on a 12 hour clock, not the standard 24 hour that you see with digital displays. In an effort to not run tomorrow off to bed.
One thing that I had forgotten to mention yesterday was the it was snowing up in Tokyo. The commute this morning was a little later than I would have preferred, but for one day it isn't that bad. It was interesting to see a bunch of people on a train platform that passed the which one is not like the others test.
When I got off the train and headed in I realized that it had snowed down in Yokosuka as well. Needless to say it was amazingly cold.
After work I was able to meet up with Art again at the New Starbucks by the mall. It is really impressive, two story building and has a great view. Easily the best Starbucks this side of Kamakura. For dinner we met up with my coworker and his wife for Nirvana's. Always a good choice.
I headed back to Yokohama and was in the right car to get off and transfer to the JR line and would have made it to next train if it weren't for a gaggle of people coming down the stairs. No worries though because there is always another train. A nice evening stroll and I was back at my hotel. It is really mellow here, which I enjoy quite a bit.
It is always difficult to adjust to the time change when traveling multiple time zones. Japan also operates on a different time scheme all together. Such as, normally if one were up before 6 you would be able to find somewhere to eat in a Major City. Not so in Japan, the earliest Starbucks to open was 700. So I got a little more bit walking in this morning.
Another nice things about being in Yokohama is that you are much closer to Tokyo. I met up with a couple of coworkers and headed up to Tokyo. I just hopped on the train and 20 minutes later we were at Shinagawa.
The first stop was the Tsukiji Fish Market. As it was the weekend there wasn't much happening, but it was interesting to see where the highest percentage of fish in the world is sold. Using the cached map feature and the PDF map for the Tokyo Metro Subway, I was able to get to the next place the shortest route possible. It was over to Korean Town which is right near Shinjuku. Bryans big mission was to find a whole chicken in a bag. I think this might catch on if Costco ever gets wind of it. All you do is boil the bag for 5 minutes and BAM chicken. We then ate lunch at a Korean restaurant. All of us had the hot stone bowl thing.
The next stop was over to Ikebukiro to go to Namjatown. I had heard of this before, it basically is a theme park for food. Bryan was looking to go the this Ice Cream Musuem. They literally have hundereds of flavors from the mondan to Viper or Salt. Between the three of us we got: Viper, Creme Cheese, Garlic and Mint, Pistachio, and Custard. Surprisingly the Pistachio was on par with the Viper we how terrible it was. Basically it was like just taking the whole nut and shell and grinding it up.
We then headed back to Yokohama and had Idaho Burgers from McDonalds. It has a hash brown, bacon, and a mustard sauce. It was alright. I was beat at this point and took a nap. I walked around the area by the hotel after I woke up. The amount of lights around this area are really amazing.
I got a solid four hours of sleep last night before waking up at 230. I chatted with my eldest sister for a while and then got an hour nap, before heading into work. Using Hyperdia to chart my route I had picked the cheapest train combination to get from here to there. For 480 Yen and around an hour it really isn't that bad. The start time for the journey is rather early to accommodate arriving at a decent time. This morning I took the 507 train, I may pick an earlier one to get into work around 600 on Monday.
While sitting at the train station a set of fuel cars rolled by, sound like they were empty but hard to tell. There are multiple exits for every large station, depending on which car you hop onto will determine which is the closest exit. This morning turned out to be a good dry run through the real deal. I choose the wrong exit and ended up walking for an extra three minutes for it. I know it is a very minor time, but things add up. I like to seek efficiency in all things that I do, and I assume most other people like to do as well. Also they have numbers for each station. This makes it even easier to travel. Yokohama is stop KK37, and Shinagawa is KK1.
After work I went to the Starbucks and found that they have all of the mugs that I want to get during this trip. This includes refreshed versions of Kobe and Kyoto and the Japan 2011 set. I picked up the Tall travel mug, I will wait until later to pick up the others. The only other one that I want to pick up will be the Sapporo one.
A coworker and his wife joined me and headed up to Tokyo. The train was a standing room only to Shinagawa. The first stop was Akihabara so the Yamanote line was the way to get there. After the required Doughnut Plant stop we looked around the Yodabashi store for a while. They did have the 3DS availble to play, but it was Nintendogs & Cats so I passed. It is going to be released for purchase in Japan in one month. From what I have seen they are advertising it almost everywhere. When we got back into the train station I noticed a touch screen vending machine. It shows pictures of the items that you can purchase. As you put more money in it tells you how much you need for each item. You select the item you want and it pops out. Very cool.
At Shibuya we stopped by the bronze of the dog that was faithful to his master. The real story is that a Japanese man had a dog and would walk the dog to the train station and when he got back from work the dog would be waiting for him. Eventually the man died, but the dog continued to wait at the train station for his master for several years. There has been a Japanese and American film adaptation of the story.
Harajiku was just a quick walk around to show them some of the stores, then it was off to Kawasaki for lunch. California Pizza Kitchen had a Chicken pizza that was pretty good. I went from there to get a quick nap.
There is an annoying trend of Metallic Puffy Jackets in Japan. So I thought if you can beat them join them. What I got from Mont Bell did not have a fake fur coller but it does pack well and has a windstopping layer. It weighs 12.8 oz and is like a sleeping bag. It feels like you don't have a jacket on except for the heat.
For dinner we ate at the World Porters mall at a restaurant named La Salsa. Pretty good.
Flying from SEATAC to Narita on a Thursday makes for a light passenger load. In business class there must have been over half of the seats empty. I sat next to a doctor who works for the Navy. Interesting conversation to say the least. When the plane arrived I used my usual speed to pass everyone on our flight and another flight that had deplaned in front of us. I was out of Customs and Immigration in under 10 minutes. Very fast. There were a few folks waiting to pick up the group and get them down to the Yoko towns. A short bus had been procured to guide our way. Instead we tried something different.
We took a Y-Cat bus from the terminal directly to the hotel it was nice. From the time we arrived in Japan until the time I was in my hotel headed out for dinner was 3 hours, fastest time yet. Being in Yokohama has a lot to do with that, but still.
The hotel is very nice I have two full beds, and the floor space is actually larger than the previous rooms I have been in. This was the same hotel used during the G8 summit back in the fall, so it is fairly nice. The best feature of all .... WiFi. I can use my phone to make calls through Google Voice which is great.
Had dinner at this little American place that was alright. Then hit up the Starbucks by Landmark and picked up a Hojicha latte. Excellent as I remembered them. Off to bed then up early and another adventure.
Additionally is great developments is Google Map Caching. Worked great, all I had to do was look at the Tokyo Bay area before flying, turn on the GPS. The map was stored and ready to use when we were riding the bus down.
It has come time again for another trip to Japan. This should be a good one. I will be staying in Yokohama right by my favorite building (Landmark Tower). This does make a longer commute, but the extra walking will be good. It is around 2 miles each way, by taking the earliest train I should be able to get close to my usual schedule.
I used miles to upgrade to Business class for the flight, they have dropped the amount to 12,500. I am interested to see what the route will be from the airport to the hotel. The train is always an option. They do run a service from Narita to Yokohama station with buses.
Work in the morning and then up to Akihabara to see the sites. Out of all the things I am looking forward to at the top of the list is the food. I have been unable to find decent curry around home. The speed and quality of the food always amazes me.
After the week of work I will be heading to the Sapporo snow festival. It was interesting to pack for it being similar weather wise to home and for a place that has a high of around 0 C. Then I will spend a few days going around the Tokyo bay area picking up a few of the places that I have missed in the past.
