Train Training - February 3rd

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.

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Train Training - February 3rd