Hawaii Arrival

Well, I'm officially back in the US now. It's 7:15AM according to my computer, which is theoretically what time my body should think it is. On the other hand, I did kind of jerk around my sleep schedule right before I left, so who knows? I slept for about two hours on the flight here to Honolulu, and watched a movie.

It's weird being here. I mean, first of all, there are so many... white people. I want to say "foreigners", because that's... just how it works. In Japan, less than 1% of the people in any given sample will be foreign, and 80% of those people will be Chinese or Korean, so seeing a white person is fairly rare, though much more common in Kyoto (where I lived) as it's a big tourist destination.

It's a little hard to say "I lived in Kyoto" instead of the present tense "I live". It's a year of conditioning to say "京都に住んでいます", and the simple act of putting it in the past tense makes it feel really final. I think that is has made my departure sink in the most. Because of my plane-boarding failure and my six-hour layover in Hawaii, I've been slowly sort of fading out of Japan and Japanese culture on the whole. I keep apologizing to people in English, and I feel kind of ADD because I'm so used to going "OMG ENGLISH WHERE?!" that having it spoken all around me is kind of overwhelming.

And I don't have a nice way of saying this, but I never realized how much of our population is overweight. Like, I've seen the statistics. I get that. But there's a big jump from knowing a number and seeing it firsthand. While I was in Japan, seeing people that were even slightly overweight was fairly rare. At 90 kg (190 pounds) I was, at almost any given time, the largest person for half a mile. After being in a country full of short, thin people for a year, being back here where I'm short and merely average weight is very strange.

Security Ordeal...

...Not!

I managed to get through security and customs with no problems.

... Really!

I'm now in the secure area right above the wireless access point that I have been using for the past two days. Though that it happened to be right here where I pulled my laptop out is kind of strangely coincidental, I think. There also just happens to be a power plug right here, as a random bonus.

Surprisingly enough, they didn't even pat me down or have to have me do anything weird. I even made it through the metal detector without having to take my belt off - a first! More surprisingly, I'm wearing my huge brown Marine desert boots and didn't they didn't make me take those off either. I was a little worried that they were going to say something about the fact that my ticket says I'm coming back in three weeks, but that my visa ends in about two, but I said I wouldn't be coming back for a while, and it was okay.

One guy at security was determined to talk to me in English, but after struggling his way through "Check... you... plane... on... [gesture at passport]... 20 o'ten... ride." he let us finish the conversation in Japanese.

Now, I'm killing another 45 minutes while I wait for them to begin boarding the plane.

Status Updated: Missed Flight, part three

See the previous two posts for detailed information on the extent of my foolishness as it relates to international air travel.

Alright, they were able to get the fare difference down to $800 ($2,000-$1,200) and I think they completely dropped the change fee - for reasons unknown to me - but we were able to get it paid for. By "we", I mean Dean, in case you're wondering. One stack of various cards later, I have in my pocket my boarding pass.

Now there's only one more thing to worry about on this end, which is security. The boarding time is listed as starting at 8:10PM for my flight at 8:50PM, but I fully intend to go there around 7:15PM or so and stare at them until the time comes. Then they will, no doubt pat me down. I've made sure that I don't have a bunch of stuff attached to my belt this time, and the only even vaguely dangerous things I have with me are two pens and a notebook.

Bets they confiscate the notebook?

Status Updated: Missed Flight, part two

I am (as of 10AM February 19th) still at the airport, and I'm doing alright. It's looking like my, uh, little mistake is going to cost my family about $1,500 on top of the $1,200 it already took.

Moral of the story: Don't miss your flight.

[Update:
The moral of the story is still "Don't miss your flight". The people at Northwest have been very helpful, especially when compared to the nice, if rather English-challenged lady I talked to who was with Travelocity. They were able to get it down to $1,200 by waiving a couple of fees and doing some kind of magic - this is actually what the woman said - which is pretty cool. If I were to wait a week, I could get it for "only" $300 on top of my current ticket price, but that flight was taken by the time I talked to them about it again.]

[Edit: Oh, and this is the 400th post to this blog. Beth put up two or three, so it's not my 400th. I had been hoping to hit 500 before I left, but I guess the number's not really important.]

Status Update: Missed Flight

I missed my flight. I'm accessing the Internet from a free terminal that's set up by Domestic Arrivals at Kansai International Airport. I have the beginnings of a nice set of blisters from carrying my luggage around, as a bonus.
So, for the "WTF HOW?":
- I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get everything moved out of my apartment and packed, etcetera. Even with the massive - and I don't want you to think I'm overstating that - amounts of help I got from QB, Yanavy, Angela, and Cassie, I ended up leaving nearly an hour later than I had planned to.
- In an effort to avoid spending massive amounts of money on sending a bunch of books to the US by mail, I picked up a surplus duffle bag and shoved all the books in it and a bunch of clothes. I then stuffed it and my decent-quality duffle bag (with wheels!) until they were at the the weight limit, 23kg or 50 pounds, and preceded to attempt to lug these around on the train system. Now, I think what got me here is that I somehow was thinking 23 pounds when I was thinking about how much the whole thing would weigh. But that's 50 pounds times two is 100 pounds, plus a further 15kg (35 pounds) of backpack, camera, etc, and I'm hauling 140 pounds of crap around, and 50 pounds of it is in a completely static sack - i.e., a duffel bag.
That wasn't so bad, but what is usually a five-minute transfer became a thirty-minute ordeal with rest breaks at each flight of stairs.

Long, Strange Day

For reference in the rest of this post, I need to explain the "levels" the Japanese train systems use. Also, I'm talking trains, not subways. Every subway I've ridden has stopped at every stop on the line, which is why they tend to be fairly short in terms of overall distance.
Now, if you look at the following table, you can see a bunch of squiggles that are kanji. The top row shows the Japanese as it's written, the middle shows the reading in roman letters, and the last is the meaning when translated. None of this is really important, but what you should know is that as you move to the right on the table, the train will stop at more places. A 普通 ("local") train stops at every stop, while a 特急 ("special express") will only stop at large transfer stations.

快特	特急	快速(快急)	急行	準急	区急(区準)	普通
kaitoku	tokkyuu	kaisoku (kaikyuu)	kyuukou	junkyuu	koukyuu (I think)	futsuu
Special Rapid Express	Special Express	Rapid Express	Express	Semi-Express	Sub-Express	Local

To get to Umeda, for example, you can take the Hankyu 普通 train bound for Umeda (a part of Osaka) and it will take roughly an hour and 10 minutes because it stops for a little while at e-v-e-r-y stop along the way. About 15 stops, I think. On the other hand, the 通動快速* stops at, I think, four, and gets me back to my house from Umeda in about 40 minutes.
*As I mentioned in this post, these are a near-mystical creature, and that's why it's not on the table.

I dropped off Roxanne at the airport (KIX) today, and it was relatively uneventful. After going to get Jes and dropping her off, this third time back felt kind of old hat. I guess Japan decided that meant it would be a good time to throw me a curve.*

There was some kind of accident - that's the extent of the details I have, before anybody asks - on the normal Japan Railways line that I've used to go back and forth to the airport, so it wasn't running until some later time. They let me* board the Nankai (a different railway company with different tracks that uses a different part of the same station) line free of charge, which I thought was pretty cool. Not only that, but they apparently got the word out fast enough that, by the time I got to my first transfer, they knew what was going on and let me through all well and good. That's a pretty good system, if you ask me.
*By "me", I mean "me and all the other people who were too stupid to listen to the announcement and bought tickets on the JR line". And no, not just us stupid foreigners did that.

On the way back, I took a 区急, which I don't know how to read and can't find any useful information on. I think it may be kukyuu but it may be koukyuu. The latter sounds more official-sounding, so that's what I went with on the table.
I also took a 快速 kaisoku ("limited express" - it skips more stations than a semi-express, but less than a special express) sat by someone who I think was a hobo. Japanese hobos have a special smell about them, and this guy had that fairly strongly. He also had this super-old MP3 player, though, so I don't know what to think about that.

To top it off, I went to ask a random person a question on the way back and he ignored me, looked away, and quickened his pace. I quickened my pace a little to match him and put on my gloves. After about a block of this, he took a sharp corner - backwards - and I went on my merry way and asked a couple of people that were down the road who seemed quite happy to talk to me. Or well, you know.

Japanese Airfare

Well I'm trying to book a plane ticket and I got a recommendation for a travel agent from my teacher, Mr. Aikawa. Here's my conversation with him, if you're interested. The important thing to take away from this is that my Japanese has improved at least a little.

Anyway, here it is.

------------------------------

From: Will <>
[name removed]様
こんにちは。
相川まさおさんから教えてくれましてウェッブのサイトでちょっと検索しました。
北アメリカのポートランドへの空港権のTYUUNUSASP-Y002をみつけて、私にちょうどいいじゃないかと思いました。本当に安いですから、特別な条件があるんですか？
ご連絡お願いします。
- ウィル・ロクド
Mr. Aikawa told me about your company, so I did a search and I found a ticket to the North American airport in Portland, TYUUNUSASP-Y002, and thought "Wow, that's perfect!" It's really cheap, so are there any special conditions or something?

From: IACEトラベル　[name removed] <>
Will 様
お世話になります。こんにちは。
お問合せありがとうございます。
こちらの商品は東京成田空港～ポートランドの往復になりますので
大阪からでは無いですが大丈夫ですか？
ちなみに出発日と帰国日お決まりですか？
To Will: Thanks. Good day. Thanks for checking us out. Our tickets right now are only from Tokyo Narita Airport, and only round trips to Portland. Is it okay that there's nothing from Osaka? By the way, is your departure date decided?

ＩＡＣＥトラベル　[name removed]
From: Will <>
本当に詳しいですね！実はここから一番安い方法でポートランドへ行きたいだけです。二月に出発できたらいいんですが、値段がほぼ一番大切なことです。と言うのは、貧乏な学生なのですから、出発日はそんなに大した物ではありません。
新幹線で一万三百円をかかっても、東京までできると思います。それでも関西空港からのチケットがあると、そちらのほうがいいのです。
-ウィル
Wow, you're good! Actually, I just want the cheapest way to get to Portland. I'd like to leave some time in February, but whenever's cheapest is good. Price is pretty much the most important thing. When I say that, I mean that I'm a poor student and the departure date doesn't matter that much. It's about $130 to get to Tokyo by Shinkansen, so if I can get a cheap ticket from Tokyo, it's all good. But if you can find a ticket from Osaka, that'd be cool. - Will

From: IACEトラベル　[name removed] <>
Ｗｉｌｌ　様
お世話になります。東京まで交通費を考えますと下記の関西空港発が
お安いですがいかがでしょうか？
[generic intro] Thinking of transportation to Tokyo, how about the following? It's cheap, but, what do you think?

２月１０日 UA 886便　関西空港～サンフランシスコ　　 18：55 11：18 KIX>San Francisco
　　　　　　UA5886便　サンフランシスコ～ポートランド 13：11 14：58 San Francisco>Portland
２月１９日 UA 372便　ポートランド～サンフランシスコ 07：15 09：04 Portland>San Franciso
　　　　　 UA 885便　サンフランシスコ～関西空港　　 11：46 16：35 San Francisco>KIX

※日程は暫定です。

◆航空会社：【ユナイテッド航空】
航空券代金 ３５，０００円 Airfare: $350
出入国諸税　　　　　　　５，０００円 Export tax: $50
燃油特別付加運賃　　　４４，０００円 Fuel surcharge: $440
空港使用料　　　　　　　２, ６５０円 Airport usage tax: $26.50
　
合計　　　　　　　　　８６，６５０円 Total: $866.50

From: Will <>
わあー。。。速く高くなちゃいますね。サイトの値段の全部に50,000円が追加されますか？
じゃあ、もし自分で東京へ行けたら　（例えば新幹線でいけるかな）、どれぐらいの値段できますか？
- ウィル
Wow, that gets expensive quickly, doesn't it! Will all the prices from the site have $500 tacked on? If I can get to Tokyo on my own (for example, maybe I could go by Shinkansen), about what kind of price should I be thinking about?
[That's about the end of random English I'm up to translating for now, 'cause it all goes something like this and it's boring as hell.]

From: IACEトラベル　[name removed] <>
Ｗｉｌｌ　様
お世話になります。東京からの料金は下記になりますが
新幹線で行くと実際は大阪からの料金と変わらないと思いますが
いかがですか？

１９，０００円　航空券代金
４４，０００円　燃油サーチャージ
　５，５００円　現地空港税
　２，０４０円　成田空港使用料
６８，７４０円　合計
ＩＡＣＥトラベル　[name removed]

From: Will <>
アメリカのＶｉｓａ・Ｍａｓｔｅｒｃａｒｄで支払えますか？私に代わって、両親が支払っていただくつもりですからね。
因みに、その６８．７万円の航空券、いつに出発しますか？それと、いつまでその値段が使っていただけますか？

From: IACEトラベル　[name removed] <>
Will　様
お世話になります。こちらに関しては現金振込み専用とります。
また基本的にカード利用の場合はご本人様限定となりますので代理は不可となり ます。また成田発のキャンペーンの分は残念ながらお時間とルートが未定となり ます。その分ご料金がお安くなります。２月基本的に同じ料金ですが出発日に
より変わりますので先に往復の日にちを決定して頂ければ思います。
ＩＡＣＥトラベル　[name removed]

From: Will <>
あっ、すみません！片道の航空券だけが必要なのですが。それで、もっと安くなりますか？一年間前に片道切符で来たので、も一度それをしたいのです。
それで困らさせますか？

From: IACEトラベル　[name removed] <>
Will 様
お世話になります。片道になりますと東京発で７２，０００円となります。
諸費用全部込みでトータルは１０１０４０円となります。少し片道は
割高なのですがこれのみとなりますのでご検討よろしくお願い致します。
ＩＡＣＥトラベル　[name removed]

From: Will <>
じゃあ、結局、本人のカードしかを利用できないのですかね？
- ウィル

Jes Visits! - Himeji

So while Jes was here, her, Roxanne, and myself went to Himeji, a city to the South where Himeji castle is located.
As you approach the castle, there's a large field that was probably used as a staging ground or something. It's just a big dirt field. You can see Jes wearing her new jacket in the center of the picture at left. This is a panorama that is composed of, I think, 12 different pictures.

As you come closer to the castle, you can see some of the battlements and the arrow slits and stone-throwing holes and suchlike. At left, Jes is just about to look out one, and you can see another square one at the right side of the frame. There were circular, rectangular, and triangular slits. I would guess they were for different purposes, but I don't know how those specific shapes would be advantageous to anything.

At right is a sign that I liked for the "No danger!" symbol in the lower right. The blue text above the sign says "Plastic bottles are allowed".

This just occurred to me now, but the walk up the walkways was pretty tiring as-is, so I can't imagine what this would be like while constantly trying to dodge rocks and arrows and oil and fighting well-rested sword-/pike-men.

Oh, feel free to add musketeers to that list as well.

This was one rack of guns that was to be seen, but there were probably racks for well over a thousand longarms such as this.

This is "Princess Sen's room" or one of them. She had a whole section of the castle devoted to her and her serving girls, if the signs are to be believed. I don't know what she's doing with the rocks, but I would guess it's some kind of prayer ritual or something like that.

This room is not very high up in the castle and kind of off to one side, but as you go up into the main castle area, you see these little fish guys (left) at random. I think they signify some kind of dolphin (though the tails are sideways for that) or dragon or something. I dunno.

Of the stuff at the castle, I think these fishy statues are probably the most artistic, useless thing there. The rest is fairly bland and militaristic, largely because it consists of empty rooms and hallways.

And doors like the one seen at right. They still work, I think, but were locked so you couldn't open them.

From the top, you have a great view of the city, and I managed to get something like a 280-degree panorama, as you can see.

On the way down, we saw a couple of really neat sights, and I got what is probably my favorite picture of the castle proper, at left. The sunset is what's causing it to turn that nice orange color, though I think they have lights that come on at night to keep it that color. If not, I don't know what they use the massive lightbanks that they had set up for.

Here's that same sunset, a few minutes later, looking the other direction.

And some cats we found. A little after us, an old guy came with two little girls and they fed the cats.

These pictures could really use some warming up, but I guess I missed that when I was working through this set. Oops.

And then there's the toilet. We went to an okonomiyaki place on the way back to the train station, and the place we ate had this toilet. The picture at right really doesn't do the horror of the thing justice, but suffice to say that it had the strangest color scheme of any bathroom I've ever seen.

On top of that, the girls commented that the toilet was kidn of strange, so I had to go investigate. It turns out that it's an old-style toilet with what something like a booster seat on it so that you can sit down like a Western-style toilet. I moved the seat aside for this picture so you can see sort of what's going on. And yes, I washed my hands afterwards.

Nara: Sleepy Pre-Post

Yanavy and company (plus me) went to Nara today. I took a lot of pictures, but I haven't really looked through them yet. A couple of them that needed some Photoshopping, though, I did just now.
These picture are from a game center (usually "arcade" in American English") we found completely by accident on the way back to the station. Cool thing: four-player air hockey! I teamed up with Angela against Sara, Cassie, and Yanavy, the latter two of whom took turns.

We also found a super-super cheap place to get takoyaki and I found some really tasty mochi to boot.

Anyway, inside the game center were these banners, which I felt pretty much required to take pictures of. Tails is my favorite character of them, and pretty much always has been. I just noticed that Sonic and Knuckles both have a species name, whereas Amy and Tails both just have their full names.

The quality of the pictures is kind of bleh, at best, but I did what I could for them. Eh.


Here's one last picture so you can see what they look like coming out of my camera:

Busy Days

So the three days prior to today were busy. This is going to be a messy summarization of what's gone on, and it's may not make a lot of sense or be particularly well-connected.

Thursday was a trip, but further information on it is secret pending my Evil Scheme©, but it started at 8:30AM and we got back some time around 6PM. With the other stuff I had to do before I left school, it ended up being nearly 8PM before I got any peace.
So then I worked on Evil Scheme© with a friend and got back here around midnight, when I started working on my presentation for Friday morning. Oh, and I ate a maple メロンパン, which was yummy.

Friday, we give presentations and do some random stuff, and take a break. Halfway through the second period of Basic Japanese, I get a call from a teacher at the school who wants me to teach English for him because he has a television appearance that came up suddenly. We'll call him Jay:
Jay: How'd you like $100? Are you busy tomorrow afternoon?
Me: Not anymore, I'm not.
Jay: You want to teach some English?
Me: I'd love to!
Jay: There will be little kids.
Me: ... [through only slightly gritted teeth] I'd... love to!
Jay: Cool, come on by, then, and I'll show you what to do.

So I come back to class after answering my phone - I wouldn't normally, but I figure if someone's calling me twice in immediate succession, they probably have a good reason.

Class was largely uneventful after that, but I did manage to get a good picture of Valentina. Or at least, I think it's good. She doesn't, but her boyfriend in Italy does, so we've got her outvoted. Ha!
This could've been improved with a a hair light high left, I think, but I'm not about to start setting up light stands in the middle of class.

[Edit: Apparently, I like this picture so much that I've used in two posts... I didn't notice before, but I used it in the previous post as well.]

And then...

Paid my phone bill, tried to find some information, called Jay again to actually have the rest of the conversation transcribed above, and about 2PM finally ate something. Screwed around for about ten minutes, then got ready for work.

Work was... Money? It was work-ish. When you're in a room where there are 30 people and two of them are married teachers, there's one other guy your age, and the remaining 90% are attractive, largely eligible women who want to talk to you, work can only be so bad.

Friday night, I did something until midnight, but I don't know what it was.

Saturday, I got up around 8AM, got prepared for the tea ceremony thing and the work that was to ensue, but was worried about time, and not only at one juncture.

See, I left to get to the tea ceremony place around 11AM, and I was supposed to be there at 11:30AM. I originally had planned to get there ten minutes early, but then I looked at a map one last time and realized that it would take quite a bit more than half an hour if I didn't hurry, and that short a time only if I didn't get lost once and could find the place. Half an hour later, I get there right on time, out of breath, covered in a nice layer of sweat, with the sleeves of my T-shirt rolled up to my shoulders. The greeter, with his suit and tie, did not look particularly impressed, but told me exactly what I should do with my bike and indicated that he didn't think I understood.

So I came back, now wearing a button shirt with a collar and sans one bucket of sweat, and go in.

We went in and sat for a while, bowing every so often to people I couldn't see. After maybe ten minutes, they brought out some little candies, which were pretty good, but there was, unfortunately, only one for each of us.

The woman at left in the purple is the one that [verb]ed my tea. Replace "[verb]" with whatever you verb you use for combining hot water with a powder, and proceeding to whip it with a bamboo whisk. "Made" might be an option.

After everybody had their tea, we were allowed to go (and I got these two ladies at right to pose for me) and they gave us some candy and a free admission ticket to a museum that nobody in my group of friends was able to find.

I'm trying to brief with these, but I still haven't gotten the box of underwear from my parents... By the way, pretty much all clothes are expensive here.

I got a lot of pictures like this one of the chick in the pink kimono. She never served anybody near me tea, so all the pictures of her are either while she's walking - and there was too little light to take pictures while they were walking without getting serious motion blur - or of her butt because she's sitting in seiza, which is when you fold your legs straight under you.

The older lady in the next picture (left) gave a little talk while the tea and candy were being distributed. She was definitely American, but I couldn't place her accent well. I'd guess midwest or Pacific northwest, though, given that.

These two ladies (right) were just kind of milling around in front of the place the tea ceremony was held in, rather disturbingly like characters in an RPG. Just kind of wandering back and forth, not for any apparent reason.

This lady (left) was doing pretty much the same thing in a temple right next to the place where I was taking pictures, so I asked for her picture.

She couldn't decide whether or not to include the umbrella, which I think is funny. I have a picture that came out better in terms of lighting and composition, but her expression is weird, so... しょうがない

The temple entrance at right is one of my favorite temple pictures, and I was happy that I got the road and other stuff out of the shot. I guess I didn't quite get that bush at low-right out, though. In case you're wondering, this is the temple that the other pictures were taken in, not a different one. The tea ceremony was in a nont-temple-related building next door.

Another shot inside the temple. Just me playing with my flash. I drained my rechargables trying to get this shot, so I felt I had to do something with it.

And last is a random picture I got while heading to work. I asked her permission first, and she seemed pleasantly surprised.

I got some more pictures, and I hope to get them up soon, but the test tomorrow may prevent that.

And that's what happened weekend-ish.

Ninja

We went on an official trip today and I took a bunch of pictures. As much as I want to post some, I have a presentation to get ready for tomorrow. I'll see about getting some of the pictures up after work and before the party.

I'm also trying to get pictures from other people who took them, and I'm going to try and get them all on a DVD.

Played with my flash a lot while we were working on pottery, and I'm looking forward to seeing how some of those came out.

Tokyo: So Far (Day 0) - Traveling

First off: Apparently, you can buy large JR tickets with a credit card. Good to know.
I had a number of transfers due to the distance involved, but I ran into three other people going the same place as me on the second or third transfer, so I had a good time talking with them and we helped each other find the way. It was really lucky.

I somehow (probably due to the people I met) managed to get here without any major problems except my own stench - big thanks to Kyoto's humidity for that one - which I fixed by tossing one of my prized blue shirts. The last three times I've worn it, it's smelled really bad, really quick, so I think there may be something growing in it or something. It now smells bad somewhere between Kyoto and Tokyo, in a trash can in a bathroom.

It took Shimpei (the guy I'm staying with) a few minutes (~15) to find me due to the massive monstrosity that is Yokohama station. From there, a 15-minute train ride to the actual town he lives in, and a 15-minute walk to his apartment from the station.
Total time from leaving my apartment to getting to his apartment was... Long. 7:20AM to 6:30PM, so nearly 11 hours. Shinkansen (bullet train) would've put me here around 11AM, but would cost more one-way than my round-trip ticket did.

Dean said he's going to send me some cashes, so I should have some money to do some shopping while I'm here, which will be cool. It looks like Akihabara may not be the best place to get camera gear, but there's some pretty good deals at... some place. I dunno if I can find it.

Last thing before I hit the hay: the warm water here has a switch. I'm not kidding at all. You have to turn on the hot water knob, then turn on the hot water heater. Then you have hot water. I thought it was just really, really slow. I figured after five minutes, I was probably just missing something.

[Edit: I was just looking through my pictures I've taken so far, and I found these two signs, which felt left out, so they're getting put in to assuage their feelings.]